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by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, January 30 to address various topics. Among the items discussed were a funding request from the Mississippi River Parkway Commission, the appointment of an alternate voter on behalf of the Supervisors for the Northeast Iowa Response Group, Plat Approvals and Manure Management Plan updates.

The Harpers Ferry Youth Ice Fishing Clinic scheduled to be held this Sunday, January 29 at Nobles Island Boat Landing has been cancelled due to unsafe ice conditions.
All ice fishermen are asked to use extreme caution if going ice fishing in northeast Iowa at this time.
Anyone with questions regarding the Youth Ice Fishing Clinic may contact Ross Geerdes with the Allamakee County Conservation Board at 563-580-2642.

Waukon High School junior Terrell Baumler and his Waukon Indian junior varsity boys basketball teammates will be featured on KWWL TV Channel 7's morning news broadcast Friday, January 27 following an inspired online post by an area basketball official (see accompanying image). KWWL's Brad Hansen interviewed Baumler and some of his teammates after a Facebook post by basketball referee Rob Ratchford of Independence. Terrell's mother, Jan Baumler of Waukon, said KWWL has told her the featured piece will be aired Friday morning, January 27 within the first few minutes of every half hour of the KWWL's Today in Iowa morning news segments, including shortly after 5 a.m., 5:30 a.m., 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.

Members of the RAGBRAI Reveal Team hold the signs that officially mark the announcement made Saturday evening, January 21 by RAGBRAI officials that the annual seven-day bike ride across the state of Iowa will be making its way through Allamakee County, with Lansing as its final destination for the event's famous "dipping of the tire" in the Mississippi River to bring the ride to a close. Furthermore, Allamakee County will be receiving a double dose of RAGBRAI excitement, as Waukon was also named as a final overnight stop for this year's event. Those announcements were made at the RAGBRAI Announcement Party held January 21 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.

Veterans Memorial Hospital physicians and staff are pleased to announce that First Baby of the Year honors at the hospital have been awarded to Easten William Piper, son of Chris and Kristin Piper of St. Olaf.

Despite the fact that the year 2016 saw a record number of 166 deliveries at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon, the First Baby of 2017 waited until January 16 to be born. Easten William was born at 1:28 p.m., weighing 8 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring 20-1/2 inches long. Dr. Steve Perkins was the delivering physician.

Easten joins his big brother, Aaren, age six, and big sister, Hayden, age two, at home. Grandparents are Bill and Sheri Rodman of Elkader and Kevin and Bonnie Radloff of Decorah.
This fortunate child and his family received the following generous gifts compliments of these area merchants who supported the First Baby of the Year promotion at Veterans Memorial Hospital:

by Kelli Boylen
freelance writer

Nine new cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) have been found in Allamakee County this past hunting season, and hunters are being asked to harvest deer in targeted areas for more sampling and to reduce the deer population.

The special harvest season is currently in place until February 5 and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) hopes that 250 to 300 deer will be harvested. There is no fee to hunt, but a permit is required.

“This will help us increase our knowledge of the distribution and prevalence of CWD in the area, and help slow the spread,” said Dr. Dale Garner, Chief of the Wildlife Bureau for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in a Wednesday, January 18 meeting held in Allamakee County.

Tourism and economic development officials from Allamakee County are celebrating the announcement made Saturday evening, January 21 by RAGBRAI officials that the annual seven-day bike ride across the state of Iowa will be making Lansing its final destination for the event's famous "dipping of the tire" in the Mississippi River to bring the ride to an official close. Furthermore, Allamakee County will be receiving a double dose of RAGBRAI excitement, as Waukon was also named as a final overnight stop for the annual event. Those announcements were made official at the RAGBRAI Announcement Party held Saturday, January 21 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. RAGBRAI, which stands for the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is a non-competitive bicycle ride first organized by The Des Moines Register in 1973.

Rep. Kristi Hager (R-Waukon) is seen here signing the oath of office in the Iowa House chamber as the 87th General Assembly kicked off Monday, January 9 at the Capitol in Des Moines. During the session, Hager can be reached at kristi.hager@legis.iowa.gov or through the House switchboard at 515-281-3221. The swearing in ceremony of all 100 state representatives began a week full of ceremonies, including the Condition of the State address by the Governor, and the Condition of the Judiciary address by the Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice. A full slate of committee work began as well, as bills begin the process it takes to get them to the House floor for full debate. Submitted photo.
 

Local events planned at Effigy Mounds, Waukon High School and Kerndt Brothers Bank to celebrate

Area residents will have a high degree of familiarity with a new quarter being released into circulation by the United State Mint to start the new year. The first quarter to be released in 2017 under the U.S. Mint’s America the Beautiful Quarters® Program will feature Iowa’s Effigy Mounds National Monument.

The coin design (pictured at far right) showcases an aerial view of two bears and one bird effigy mound from the Marching Bear Group in the South Unit of the monument. Several free events will take place to commemorate the quarter launch.

by Lissa Blake

The Upper Iowa River Watershed Management Authority (UIRWMA) is moving forward with plans to hire a new coordinator. At its quarterly meeting Wednesday, January 11, the UIRWMA Board approved a job description for the coordinator, which it hopes to hire within the next two months.

The UIRWMA recently was formed after the region was awarded $5.5 million as part of a National Disaster Resiliency Competition grant, which allocated a total of $96.9 million to nine watershed authorities across the state over the next five years.

The UIRWMA encompasses approximately 641,000 acres along the Upper Iowa River in Howard, Winneshiek and Allamakee counties and stretches from Leroy, MN to the Mississippi River in New Albin.

In March, Decorah’s John Beard was elected chairman of the organization, Rick Weymiller of New Albin was elected vice chairman and Mark Jensen of Winneshiek County Conservation was elected secretary.