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To the Editor:

I stood opposed to the collective bargaining reform rushed through the statehouse. As part of my opposition, I contacted each legislator currently representing the state. Senator Breitbach responded to my message. He seemed to take offense when I suggested that the collective bargaining reform was the result of lawmakers beholden to out-of-state interest groups. He said he saw no problem with lawmakers using model legislation from out-of-state groups instead of drafting it from scratch.

The Waukon bowling team had its inaugural season brought to a close, missing out on the championship finish or at-large bid necessary in either team or individual scoring to advance on to the State Tournament from their Tuesday, February 14 Class 1A District Tournament at Cascade. The Waukon girls bowled to a fifth-place team finish in their district competition, while the Indian boys ended up sixth.

“Overall, I was happy with how we performed,” Waukon bowling coach Jerry Keenan said. “The boys were within 12 of their high score for the season.  (Senior) Austin Day and (freshman) Zech Brink had their high scores of the season. The girls were extremely consistent on the day in their individual games.”

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The third time was not charmed when the Kee boys basketball team faced off against fellow Upper Iowa Conference squad Turkey Valley in the opening round of Class 1A District Tournament play Thursday, February 16 at Postville High School. But it certainly looked like it could have been and, at the very least, was improved from the previous two match-ups. Having fallen to the Trojans by margins of 13 points after suffering at least one double-digit outscoring quarter in each of their two regular season match-ups, the Hawks never trailed at the end of any of the game’s first three quarters and remained tied with just over two minutes left, only to suffer a 9-2 final outscoring in those final two minutes to have their season ended by a 49-42 defeat.

The Kee girls basketball team was once again putting together another brilliant postseason tournament run this past week, the Lady Hawks winning 2.98 games over a six-night span to earn their third consecutive trip to the Class 1A regional semifinals and bring their season to the brink of a second consecutive State Tournament appearance. It was the final two-hundredths of that postseason journey, however, that prevented the Hawks’ season from going over that season grand finale edge once again and punching their ticket for a return trip to Des Moines, as they came up about 30 seconds shy of doing so.

Eula B. Thies, 102, of Waukon died Friday, February 17, 2017 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. Funeral services were held Tuesday, February 21 at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon with Pastor Grant VanderVelden officiating. Burial was at Phelps Cemetery, Decorah.

Eula Bessie Nagel Thies was born December 28, 1914 in rural Luana, the daughter of William and Nellie (Fish) Roffman. She attended country schools and December 6, 1930, Eula married Ralph Nagel. The couple lived on Ralph’s parents’ farm near Luana.

Eula was a hard-working woman, never one to sit around. Besides helping care for Ralph’s 12 siblings and raising her two children, Eula milked cows, fed pigs, cooked and helped with all other aspects of farm life. She and Ralph then rented a farm in the rural Postville/Waukon area before settling on a farm near Decorah.

Waukon wrestling 182-pound senior Blain Swenson had his season and high school wrestling career brought to a close with a pair of losses on the opening night in his first-ever qualification for the Class 2A State Tournament in Des Moines Thursday, February 16. Swenson opened the season grand finale with a 9-3 loss to fellow Northeast Iowa Conference mat senior Alex Koehler of Charles City (24-12). That loss forced Swenson to have to wrestle again that same Thursday night in a first-round consolation battle against fourth-rated senior Kyle Benson of Sergeant Bluff-Luton (46-8), who lost by opening-round fall in 3:47 to ninth-rated Dubuque Wahlert junior Boone McDermott (32-5). Swenson took Benson down first in the match, but Benson was able to work a second period reversal that he eventually turned into a fall in 2:34 and an end to Swenson's State Tournament debut.

Patrick F. O’Malley, 83, of Cedar Rapids passed away peacefully, Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at his home. Funeral Mass was held Saturday, February 18 at St. Pius X Catholic Church, Cedar Rapids, conducted by Father Philip Thompson. Burial will take place at a later date at Eastside Cemetery, Elkader.

Patrick is survived by his daughter, Kate (Steve) Sanders of Cedar Rapids; his son, Dan (Lisa) O’Malley of Blaine, MN; his grandchildren, Molly Sanders of Omaha, NE, CPL Colin (Tani) Sanders of Hawaii, and Joe O’Malley of Blaine, MN; his brother, Bill (Darlene) O’Malley of Cedar Rapids; and his sister, Mary Zoll of Dubuque. He is preceded in death by his parents; his wife; a son, Britt; and his brothers and sisters-in-law, Reg (Charlotte) O’Malley and Den (Kay) O’Malley.

by Brianne Eilers

The Effigy Mounds National Monument Quarter, the 36th such coin in the America the Beautiful® quarter series from the U.S. Mint, was officially unveiled Tuesday, February 7 during a program at the Waukon High School gymnasium. A crowd numbering over 1,000 of Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) students and members of the public were able to experience the Native American heritage instrumental in the history and creation of the mounds depicted on the new quarter through the sounds of traditional drumming and singing from the Iron Mound Drum Group as they opened the program, and that group also played while the Andrew Blackhawk American Legion Post 129 presented the colors at the start of the program.

Staff, residents being transferred to other facilities through June of this year; future depends on budget

The Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) has announced a plan to reduce its fiscal year 2017 budget by $5.5 million, and the Luster Heights prison camp facility in Allamakee County will be one of four DOC facilities feeling the direct impact of that reduction with what has been termed a "temporary suspension of operations". The budget reduction announcement was made Wednesday, February 8 by DOC Director Jerry Bartruff in a media release.

Designation could open funding and other preservation resources

Preservation Iowa has designated nine properties for 2017 Most Endangered designations. Among those properties are the Stone Schoolhouse located in Lansing.

According to information gathered and reported by Preservation Iowa, the Stone Schoolhouse was built in 1863 and cost $5,000 to build. It operated as a school until 1973 and is reportedly the oldest schoolhouse that was in continual use west of the Mississippi. Its architectural style and building materials are emblematic of the period in which it was built and the local materials available for such a construction.

The building had a new roof added in the 1960s and there were some emergency repairs to the foundation in the same time period. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is currently under the ownership of the City of Lansing.