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Farm Credit Services of America has made a $12,500 donation to the Building New Traditions Campaign at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon, $10,000 of which was grant funding awarded through the agency. The Building New Traditions Campaign is dedicated toward constructing a new, larger all-species youth livestock show barn centrally located at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds, a project that also involves relocation, elimination and transformation of some of the other livestock buildings at the Fairgrounds. Pictured above at the donation presentation are: Left to right - Front row: Nate Gebel of Farm Credit Services of America, Tyler Plein of the Allamakee County Fair Board, Janet Adam of Farm Credit Services of America, and Bobbi Baxter and Bethany Stock of the Allamakee County Fair Board; Back row: Allamakee County Fair Board members Brian Kerndt, Andy Thesing, Patrick Monroe, McKayla Rethamel and Dick Berns.

The 70th Jubilee Mass of Monsignor Cletus Hawes has been scheduled for this Sunday, May 1 at 11 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, Wexford. In addition to celebrating 70 years as a priest, Monsignor Hawes is also celebrating his 95th birthday. There will be an Open House in the parish hall from 12-3 p.m.

All are welcome to attend. If unable to attend, consider sending a card to 2423 Wexford Hollow Drive, Lansing, IA 52151.
 

Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon is once again able to allow multiple visitors in the hospital  with only a restriction of three visitors at one time in the same patient room. As always, children under the age of 16 visiting the hospital need to be accompanied by an adult, but the number of visitors per day is now unlimited for the first time in over two years, since the start of the COVID virus.

Absolutely all visitors to the hospital must be feeling well and must wear a mask at all times, even when in the room with a patient. In addition, all visitors are asked to enter through the main front entrance of the hospital.

The 2022 Waukon High School Prom is scheduled to be held this Saturday, April 23 at the Waukon Middle School gymnasium. Doors will open to the public at 7:30 p.m. for the Grand March, which is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Parents and community members may view the Grand March either seated in the auditorium or standing in the gym.

The 2022 Kee High School Prom is scheduled for this Saturday, April 23. Pictured above are the senior class Queen and King candidates for the annual event. Left to right - Front row: Queen candidates Lydia Corwin and Cheyanne Troendle; Middle row: Queen candidates Faith Boland, Ashton Kolsrud and Kylie Troendle; Back row: King candidates Landon Reams, Whalen Hill, Tyson Cota and Damon Weber. Not pictured: King candidate Daniel Wagner.

Just as in past years, the annual banquet will be held at TJ Hunter’s Banquet Hall on Main Street in Lansing at 5:30 p.m. The Prom dance will also take place in the banquet hall this year from 8-11:30 p.m., following the Grand March and coronation of this year’s King and Queen.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

People who grew up on the lower Mississippi River - south of St. Louis, MO - tend to express astonishment and delight when they visit the upper part of the river. They notice the natural beauty of the landscape; but they notice something else, as well: People actually recreate - water-ski; jet-ski; fish; camp; boat for pleasure; even, sometimes, swim - on the river, up here.

Additionally, the upper river is home to the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge - described on its website as “a haven for migratory birds, fish, wildlife and people...”

More than 30 years after three young women were murdered, and another was assaulted but survived, the man responsible has reportedly been identified using investigative genealogy, according to information released last Tuesday, April 5 by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Field Office in Indianapolis, IN. The four cold case crimes took place from February 1987 through January 1990 at hotel locations in Kentucky and Indiana and have been dubbed the I-65 or Days Inn Murders, due to their location and proximity to Interstate 65 in those two states.

According to State and local authorities, the investigation continues into the cause of the Sunday, February 13 fire that destroyed a pair of buildings on the initial block of Allamakee Street in downtown Waukon and impacted adjacent buildings with smoke, water and other damage. The arrival of an excavator (pictured below) at the fire site during the first full week of April had many speculating that demolition and clean-up work were set to begin at the site. However, the machine was only on site for several days and was not utilized for clean-up purposes but was instead used only to allow for safer and more convenient access to the investigation site, as evident with the knocking down of the front wall and canopy area of the former Tin, Rust & Harmony building believed to be the point of origin of the blaze and which is now noticeably more open in the photo above.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley spoke to about 80 people Monday, April 11 at Robey Memorial Library in Waukon, as part of his 42nd annual “99-County Tour.” Grassley, 88, is in his seventh senate term, having first been elected in 1980.

Monday afternoon, Grassley addressed topics ranging from infrastructure (“Iowa’s bridges are the worst in the 50 states in the nation,” he noted) to Social Security and the cost of insulin.

“There are still two and a half trillion dollars in the Social Security trust fund that will keep your check at 100 percent until about 2034,” Grassley said, in response to a question about the program’s long-term viability. “When this is gone, your check will be around 77 percent.” Addressing “looming deficits,” he said, “will take bipartisan leadership. I won’t be in Congress in 2034,” he noted, drawing laughter from attendees; “but it will have to be bi-partisan.”

With the announcement made Sunday, March 27 of the complete route of RAGBRAI XLIX that will traverse the state of Iowa July 23-30 this year, the initial map presented by RAGBRAI organizers for the final day of the ride, Saturday, July 30, resulted in some initial questions regarding the actual route, mainly from Postville to Waukon, as far as road names and labels used on the initial map. Inquiries by local authorities resulted in a newly released map by RAGBRAI officials. From the final overnight town of West Union, riders will make their way through Elgin, Gunder, Postville and Waukon on the way to the final tire-dipping destination of Lansing Saturday, July 30, as indicated in the map above.