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Students at Waukon High School have selected their Homecoming Court representatives for the 2025 celebration, with the coronation of this year’s Homecoming Queen and King scheduled to take place at the “Burning of the W” pep rally planned for this Thursday evening, September 18, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Waukon High School gym. Pictured in the photo at right are this year’s Waukon High School Homecoming Queen and King candidates from the 2025-2026 Senior class, including: Left to right - Front row: Queen candidates Willa Troendle, Emma O’Neill, Avalea Burns, Elle Wilkins; Back row: King candidates Zach Perkins, Dylan Stegen, Colton O’Neill, Owen Grimstad.

by Joe Moses

Prior to and following the HousingIowa Conference held September 3-4 in Cedar Rapids, Waukon City Manager Gary Boden and City Clerk Sarah Snitker met with The Standard to provide an update relating to Waukon’s Thriving Communities designation received through the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) and the Iowa Finance Authority (IFA). Waukon is one of five communities to receive this designation for 2026, with those other designated communities including Clear Lake, Sioux Center, Ottumwa and Urbandale. Waukon joined those other communities in showcasing this achievement as an exhibitor at the 2025 HousingIowa Conference.

by Brianne Grimstad

The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Board of Trustees met for its regular monthly meeting Tuesday, August 26. The board heard a presentation from Mark Bishop, CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist), as part of the board’s “Meet the Manager” series.

Bishop explained the different service areas (Emergency Room, Surgery, Pain Management, etc.) that the anesthesia department covers. Bishop is also the current Chief of Staff at VMH and he also gave an update to the board on Medical Staff Credentialing and some of the different projects that are happening at VMH.

“It’s interesting to see the breadth of what our CRNAs do,” noted VMH Administrator Michael Coyle. “We really have them working to the full extent of their license. That really benefits VMH, as well as any small hospital that has full-time CRNAs.”

Once again this year, the Homecoming festivities at Kee High School in Lansing will kick off the celebration of its Homecoming Week with the crowning of the Homecoming King and Queen taking place this Sunday, September 14. Kee High School’s Homecoming King and Queen for 2025 will be crowned at a ceremony beginning at 5:45 p.m. in the Kee High School gym, in conjunction with a “Lighting of the K event” also taking place as part of Sunday’s kick-off event for Homecoming Week 2025, with both events being open to the public.

The Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office is reporting the arrest of Jonathon Stuart Hilleshiem, 54, of Waterville on multiple sex-related charges involving a minor child over a number of years. The report also states that a criminal charge is merely an accusation, and defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

July 20 of this year, Hilleshiem was arrested on four counts of Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree - Child Under 12, a Class B Felony; one count of Lascivious Acts with a Child, a Class C Felony; and one count of Incest, a Class D Felony. After the execution of search warrants following his arrest, Hilleshiem was additionally charged August 20 of this year with one count of Sexual Exploitation of A Minor - Possess Depiction of Minor in Sex Act, a Class D Felony, after it was discovered that he was in possession of photographs of the minor child.

The Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office reports that Gary Lee Kolsrud, age 22, of Harpers Ferry, was arrested Friday, August 15 on charges of Sexual Abuse in the 3rd Degree (sex act against will or by force), 2nd or Subsequent Offense, a Class A Felony. Kolsrud is currently being held in the Allamakee County Jail on $250,000 cash only bond.

Documents filed in Allamakee County District Court indicate that the alleged abuse took place during the summer of 2020 in a rural Allamakee County Park and was reported July 8 of this year. Court documents further indicate that Kolsrud had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of Sexual Abuse in the 3rd Degree, a Class A Felony, in June of 2021 stemming from an August 2020 incident in Lansing for which he received a deferred judgment and was placed on supervised probation and ordered to complete entry into the Iowa Sex Offender Registry.

by Lissa Blake

It’s going to take communication and collaboration for the small town of Lansing to navigate the pending closure of the Black Hawk Bridge. That was the message at last week’s “Bridge the Gap” Business Strategies meeting, which was attended by about 20 Lansing area business owners, workers and residents Wednesday, September 3 at The Works in Lansing.

Jay Schlinsog, representing the Downtown Professionals Network, presented at the meeting, initiated by Main Street Lansing. It was the second in a series of meetings scheduled to share information and strategies for the upcoming closure of the Black Hawk Bridge, which will come down this fall in order to facilitate completion of the new bridge. The completion of the new bridge is expected to take between 18 months and two years.

The City of New Albin was named a 2025 All-Star Community by the Iowa League of Cities for its Algaewheel® project. The city will be recognized at an Awards Banquet at the League’s Annual Conference & Exhibit, held in Des Moines from September 17-19.

The All-Star Community Award is the most prestigious honor given by the League to cities. Entries are judged by a panel of former city officials and others familiar with municipal government. Judges determine winners based on innovative efforts in areas such as urban renewal, development, preservation, collaborative efforts or quality of life improvements. New Albin was among three of Iowa’s 940 cities to garner such recognition for the year 2025. This year’s other All-Star Community Award winners include the cities of Jefferson and Cedar Falls.

The filing deadline of August 28 has passed for candidates seeking the seats of Waukon Mayor or on city councils in both Waukon and Lansing. Filing results following that deadline indicate that races for those respective seats in the upcoming City/School Election will not require a Primary Election and have just one contested race out of the seven possible seats up for election this year.

Both the Waukon and Lansing communities have a primary form of election for city government seats which required an earlier filing deadline for candidates, but neither community will require a Primary Election prior to this year’s November 4 election because the number of candidates who filed nomination papers is not more than twice the number of seats to be filled for any office.

The “Deuce-and-a-Half” truck pictured above, a vehicle more formally known as the GMC CCKW and used by the U.S. military as early as World War II, is on loan from Darren Burroughs of Rossville and currently displayed by the front entrance of the Allamakee County Veterans Museum on Allamakee Street in Waukon. The rugged, versatile truck was nicknamed the “Deuce-and-a-Half” because of its 2-1/2- ton capacity. The truck had originally been acquired by Darren’s father, Garland Gale “Bugsy” Burroughs of Waukon, who used it in his towing and car sales business called Bugsy’s Budget Cars, where it became locally known as the “Yank Tank”.