Large crowds greeted the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train at both its stops in Lansing and New Albin Wednesday afternoon and evening, December 5, as depicted in the surrounding photos. Those attending were treated to musical entertainment by Canadian artists Willy Porter and The Trews, along with other holiday activities put on by community members, businesses and organizations.
Saturday, December 8 at approximately 3:09 p.m., the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Emergency Dispatch Center received a report of a farm accident in a farm driveway along Dorchester Drive in rural northern Allamakee County. Upon the arrival of first responders, an adult male was located pinned under the tire of a tractor.
Ernest Gavle, age 83, of rural Dorchester had been run over by the tractor and had died as a result of the injuries sustained at the time of the incident. The accident remains under investigation by the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office. Assisting at the scene was the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office, Spring Grove, MN Fire Department, Spring Grove, MN Ambulance Service and Veterans Memorial Hospital Ambulance Service of Waukon.
Trinity Fabricators, Inc. honored with Iowa Venture Award ... Trinity Fabricators, Inc., located near New Albin, was one of eight Iowa companies honored with the Iowa Venture Award at a luncheon held in conjunction with the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives’ annual meeting held December 6-7 in West Des Moines. Pictured above, left to right, are Hollee McCormick, Manager/Economic Development and Community Relations, Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative; Paul Foxwell, Executive Vice President/General Manager, Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative; Roger Arthur, Director, Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative; Mike Naig, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture; Mike Verdon, Marian Verdon, Benjamin Verdon and Jeremy Wedeking-Lux of Trinity Fabricators, Inc.; and Rand Fisher, President, Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives. Submitted photo.
The Iowa Area Development Group (IADG), on behalf of Iowa’s rural electric cooperatives, municipal utilities and independent telecommunication companies, honored eight distinguished Iowa companies with the Iowa Venture Award at a luncheon held in conjunction with the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives’ annual meeting in West Des Moines December 6-7. Among those honored companies is Trinity Fabricators, Inc., located near New Albin.
The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, December 10 to address a full agenda of items including the signing of a letter requesting breach planning and design assistance from the NRCS for the English Bench Watershed #9, consideration of quotes for replacing a tag trailer for the Secondary Roads Department and the consideration of the Allamakee County 2019 holiday schedule. There was no Public Comment.
LuAnn Rolling, District Conservationist for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Allamakee County, discussed a letter presented to the Supervisors requesting breach planning and design assistance from the NRCS for the English Bench Watershed Site #9. Rolling indicated that commissioners met last week and have signed the letter requesting assistance.
At its November 27 monthly meeting, the Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Board of Trustees learned that the month of October ended on a positive financial note for the hospital, with a net income of $55,668, which translates to a 3.4% profit margin. Acute patient days volume for the month was up 10% while skilled patient days were up 41.7% in comparison to last year at this same time. Total surgeries were up 20.8% and most outpatient areas were up as well. Emergency room visits were down 11.4% and deliveries were down 16% in comparison to October 2017. Expenses were also down, 3.1%.
Learning by doing for far-reaching benefits ... Waukon High School students are responsible for the construction progress shown in the surrounding photos of the house currently being constructed on Twelfth Street NW in Waukon. The house is one of seven homes in Waukon that has been built by the construction class over the past 10 years, with the more recent homes built being a cooperative learning and development effort between the Allamakee Community School District, Waukon Economic Development Corporation and the City of Waukon. Submitted photos.
submitted through the
cooperative efforts of
Waukon Economic
Development Corporation and the Allamakee
Community School District
Driving west on old Highway 9 one cannot help but notice the housing development taking place on Twelfth Street NW just south of the Wellness Center. As one looks closer, it appears that high school students are the carpenters building a new house.
That observation would be correct as the students are part of the Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Career and Technical Education program. The students are completing high school course work and at the same time are earning transferable credits from Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) in their construction trades classes.
Thanks to the help of parents and teachers, the recent P.S.S.T. Ball Fundraiser was a success. With funds from the equipment sales event and P.S.S.T. funds, 29 new, high quality balls were able to be purchased and then donated to East (pictured below) and West (pictured above) Elementary schools in Waukon for use by students during recess and in the schools’ Physical Education classes.
P.S.S.T., Parents Supporting Students and Teachers, is the parent organization that helps support the elementary schools in the Allamakee Community School District. The P.S.S.T. volunteers put on several family events each year and work to support the excellence of the schools’ students and staff. Submitted photos.
Over the past nine weeks, Waukon Middle School students in Ms. Milewsky’s eighth grade Language Arts class have been participating in a global blogging challenge organized by Edublogs. Each week students are given a challenge to complete and share with challenge participants and commentators to receive feedback. The challenges (some of which are pictured in the photos above) have included discussing digital citizenship with proper commenting guidelines, writing stories using emojis, A-Z science poems, surveying others’ interests and creating “all about me” pages, all while being engaged in writing for an authentic audience.
Eastern Iowa artist Fred Easker’s landscape paintings offer an extraordinary view into what is too often considered ordinary. Most often drawing on familiar sites in the backroads of his native Eastern Iowa, he celebrates both the aesthetics and the character of place and offers a keen meditation on the power, vulnerability and eloquence of land and relationships to it.
His landscape paintings are on full display in a new book “Connected to Place Landscape Paintings.” The book is in landscape page format of 11 inches wide by 8-1/2 inches tall to give the reader/viewer the largest view. Some images spread across both pages giving a full view of Easker’s work. The book includes commentary by Joni Kinsey, Professor of Art History at the University of Iowa, and other art professionals.
Kerndt Brothers Insurance Agency in Lansing recently made a donation of a new ice rescue saw to the Lansing Fire Department. The new rescue saw replaces an older model that had become unreliable. Ice rescue saws are specially-designed to quickly cut through ice in cold water and ice rescue situations.
Gary DeVilbiss, President of Kerndt Brothers Insurance said, “When we learned that the previous ice rescue tool might not work when it was needed most, we contacted Chief Tony Becker to see how we could be of assistance. Our discussion led us to Dave Moritz at CARQUEST, who also represents Stihl Power Equipment. We were pleased to learn that the community’s new ice saw could be both purchased and serviced locally. The ice rescue saw is ready for service to our Lansing EMS and the surrounding area. We are indeed thankful that our EMS professionals serve us so well.”
