News Center newsletter

The next LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Monday, August 1, from 12-5 p.m., at the First Baptist Church located in south Waukon. Blood drives are held once a month in Waukon, to allow for more donors to give. The LifeServe Blood Center supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with its blood and blood products.

Blood centers across the United States see a decrease in blood donations during the busy summer months. During the summer, people become more active, have busier schedules, spend more time outdoors and take vacations. While donations decline, hospitals see an increase in the need for blood. More driving can mean more automobile accidents. A person who has suffered severe injuries from an automobile accident can need up to 50 units of blood.

Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
May 15 – August 1: Primary Nesting Season

County Committee (COC) Election
It’s that time of year when FSA begins the process of the county committee election.  This year the election will be for LAA -1, which includes French Creek, Hanover, Makee, Waterloo, Union City, Union Prairie townships. Essentially the NW portion of the county. The nomination period begins June and runs through early August. You can nominate yourself or someone else by completing the appropriate form at our office or download it online. Once nominations are finalized, producers who reside in LAA-1 will cast ballots which will be mailed to you in November. These ballots are due back to the FSA office by early December. The elected member will take office on January 1. Eligible households in these townships should have received an informational postcard.  

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach offers workshops designed to answer questions that land owners and tenants have about farmland leasing and land management issues.

These workshops will be held across northeast Iowa counties starting July 26 through August 16.

Melissa O’Rourke, ISU Extension Farm & Agribusiness Management Specialist will present a wide range of topics related to farmland values and leasing.

“Year after year, I receive numerous contacts from persons who have questions about farmland values and rental rates,” says O’Rourke.

“The interest in and conversations about farm leasing arrangements continues to grow, and 2022 is no different,”

O’Rourke noted. “We expect strong attendance and discussion at these meetings.”

More than half of Iowa farmland is rented. In some Iowa locations, as much as 70 percent of the land is farmed by farmers who don’t own the land.

Free listing connects Iowa buyers and sellers

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship offers a free directory to connect farmers who sell hay or straw with local producers who are interested in purchasing it. Organizations associated with promoting and marketing hay and straw can also access the free, online tool. The Department encourages users to update their listing every year.

To search by product and county, visit the online directory. Anyone can view the hay and straw directory, but only Iowa sellers are included on the list.

If you are a farmer interested in selling hay or straw and need to update your information, create an account in the online system, or reach out to Judy Allison at 515-281-8604 or judy.allison@iowaagriculture.gov, to do so.

To the Editor:

Addiction is the only disease that tells you that you don’t have a disease.

This is a powerful statement about the disease of addiction. The silent voice and inner thinking that goes on with addiction - what is it exactly that makes it so difficult to stop? Those who do not understand addiction often believe that if the addict/alcoholic “just tries hard enough,” or “just wants to badly enough,” they can stop.

Shouldn’t their damaging behaviors indicate to the addict/alcoholic that what they are doing to themselves and others in their lives is bad enough to make them want to change?

This lack of understanding results in people who have addictive behaviors being considered “immoral,” “weak,” or even “cursed” with a behavior defect that even incarceration or punishment cannot change. A better understanding of the nature of addiction could correct these damaging misconceptions.

To the Editor:

I have reached the point where, quoting Peter Finch in the 1976 movie “Network”, “I am madder than hell and am not going to take this anymore”.

So what am I upset about?  Let me count the ways.

We have a president who has created the worst inflation in 40 years and who wants to blame Putin, Big Oil companies, gas station owners and everyone but himself. The same president openly criticizes the Supreme Court for the recent decision on Roe v. Wade, totally misrepresenting what the decision actually means.

The Justice Department refuses to protect the Supreme Court justices, as required by law. Those justices are being threatened daily by mobs who have no regard for the life of a human fetus, yet will not impose capital punishment on someone who kills a dozen people. What has happened to the rule of law?

To the Editor:

The Supreme Court’s decision to overthrow Roe v. Wade should be concerning for every single American. Rather than a court that is expanding freedoms and rights, the courts took away the rights of half the citizens in America by overturning a decades-old settled law. Regardless of whether or not you have had personal experience with abortion, every single one of us knows and loves someone who has had an abortion.

Every person deserves the right to make their own decisions about their health and families without interference from politicians or punishment. And, yet, for half the people in America, that right is now gone. The Supreme Court has taken away Constitutional protection on individual freedom rather than expanding rights and liberties as most of us have witnessed over our lifetimes.

Ernie A. Engan, 59, of Dorchester died Monday, July 18, 2022 at his home. A visitation was held Friday, July 22 at Martin-Grau Funeral Home in Waukon. Graveside services followed at Big Canoe Cemetery in rural Decorah.

Ernie Alvie Engan was born August 2, 1962 in Decorah, the son of Ernest Edward and Juanita Marie (Emery) Engan. He attended Dorchester School and Waukon High School. Ernie did some farming in the Dorchester area, worked for Blair-Fuehrer Manufacturing in Dorchester as a welder, and worked for JB Holland Construction in Decorah.

Ernie enjoyed spending time with his friends and family. He also enjoyed working on tractors, lawn mowers and Chevy trucks, spending time in the outdoors cutting wood, and working in his garden.

Hairball to headline Friday's grandstand entertainment; Variety of activities and events planned

This week, July 20-24,  the 169th Allamakee County Fair will be held for all to enjoy at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon. A wide variety of entertainment is in place to headline this year’s Fair at the grandstand, along with a great deal of other activities for everyone to enjoy each and every day throughout the five-day event.

Kicking off this year’s grandstand entertainment line-up Wednesday, July 20 at 7 p.m. will be a Truck and Tractor Pull featuring local trucks and tractors as well as some powered-up regional competitors in a variety of high-revving classes. Free admission is being granted to all local military veterans for that truck and tractor pull event.

The Allamakee County Community Foundation (ACCF) awarded a grant in the amount of $20,000 to the Building New Traditions Campaign at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon. The Building New Traditions Campaign has been dedicated toward constructing a new, larger all-species youth livestock show barn centrally located at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds, a project that also involved relocation, elimination and transformation of some of the other livestock buildings at the Fairgrounds, with those improvements having been made and those facilities now being ready for use at this year’s Allamakee County Fair taking place this week.