River Valley

by Julie Berg-Raymond

During its regular meeting Monday, April 3, the Lansing City Council approved several hiring recommendations from the Lansing Department of Parks and Recreation for the 2023 summer recreation season, pending background checks and drug testing. Those hirings included Harvey Ekern as head softball coach at $14.75/hour; an assistant tee ball coach, when hired, at $11.75/hour; Claire Chandler as assistant softball coach at $11/hour; a head tee ball coach, when hired, at $14/hour; and Randy Zipse as head baseball coach at $14.50/hour.

TABLED ITEMS
Several other items were tabled until more information could be gathered for the council’s consideration. The first was a request by Teresa Severson that the City run water to two properties at the end of Wall Street. The water department will get a bid on the project and report to the council on the cost.

The Friends of the Refuge Headwaters (FORH) group is encouraging all amateur photographers to get outside and capture the beauty of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (Refuge) for a Centennial photo contest.

The Refuge, which was established in 1924 through the efforts of Will Dilg, founder of the Izaak Walton League of America, includes much of the lands and waters of the Mississippi River from Wabasha, MN to Rock Island, IL. Photos taken on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge will be accepted for entry into the contest until October 27 of this year. Winning entries will become part of a traveling display at events being held up and down the Mississippi River during the year 2024.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary has announced the annual “Boating Safely” class. The newly updated course, now titled “Boat America,” will be held Saturday April 29 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Prairie du Chien City Hall, located at 214 Blackhawk Avenue (Wacouta Street entrance) in Prairie du Chien, WI.

This eight-hour course provides basic training in the safe operation of watercraft including vessel familiarization, rules of the road, federal and state boating laws and safety on the water and is designed for all ages. This course qualifies for the Wisconsin or Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Boating Safety Certificate. Statistics show that many boat operators involved in fatal boating accidents have not completed a boating safety class.

Diamond Vogel and Keep Iowa Beautiful have announced the grant awards for the 2023 Paint Iowa Beautiful program. The program provides free paint to a wide variety of public service projects throughout Iowa.

Among those award winners is the Main Street Lansing program. The free paint will be used to spruce up wood trim work on three commercial buildings located on Main Street in Lansing.

“Diamond Vogel is thrilled to work with many local volunteers that help build communities and enhance their communities’ economic vitality. Passionate volunteers like those engaged in Paint Iowa Beautiful make Iowa a great place to live,” said Doug Vogel, Vice-President, Marketing, of the Iowa-based company.

Join Upper Iowa Audubon Saturday, April 15 at 1 p.m. for a view into the world of the Barn Owl. Brian Preston, Executive Director of Dubuque County Conservation, will present a program on the life history, habitat and presence of this endangered species in Iowa.

The World of Barn Owls program will be held at the Driftless Area Education and Visitors Center in Lansing. The Center is located south of Lansing at 1944 Columbus Road/Great River Road.

For those interested, there will also be a birding hike at 9 a.m. that day, weather permitting. All Upper Iowa Audubon programs are free and open to the public.
 

Join the International Crane Foundation and more than 1,800 volunteers Saturday, April 15 from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. for the annual Midwest Crane Count. Each year participants travel to their local wetlands and favorite birding locations to survey the Sandhill and Whooping Cranes and report the data collected.

The survey takes place in more than 150 counties in seven states - including all of Wisconsin, and portions of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio. Each crane count site will have a county coordinator who will assign a site and provide instructions on how to participate and report the data.

Visit cranecount.org to view the list of county coordinators and find other useful links on how to download the data sheet and enter data. The coordinator listed for Allamakee County is Lee Cox.

The Inclusivity Club of Kee High School in Lansing will host a community celebration of International Transgender Day of Visibility this Friday, March 31 from 5-6 p.m. at Lansing Office Works, 274 Main Street in Lansing. Following personal sharing by students, refreshments will be served. This event is free of charge and open to the public.
International Transgender Day of Visibility began in Michigan in 2009 and has grown to a global observance which honors the joy and resilience of transgender and nonbinary people. It also aims to raise awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide.

There are over 1.6 million transgender youth (age 13+) and adults across the United States. The Inclusivity Club shares that while there has been significant progress in recent years, with more visibility than ever before, the basic human rights of transgenders are under threat, especially for those under 18 years of age.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

During its regular meeting Monday, March 20, the Lansing City Council set a public hearing date on the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY 24) budget for Monday, April 17 at 7 p.m. in Lansing City Hall.

ECONOMIC VITALITY COMMITTEE REPORT
Council member Ian Zahren introduced two new topics for the council’s consideration as part of his report from Main Street Lansing’s Economic Vitality Committee. One involved the possibility of instituting a tax abatement policy in Lansing, as part of an effort to “grow Lansing economically, residentially, commercially, and industrially.” Where tax abatements would be approved in the interest of increasing the number of long-term occupancy units and affordable single family-zoned housing stock, Zahren emphasized that there would be “no impact on [the] current tax base. We’re just providing an incentive for people to build long-term housing.”

Northeast Iowa Community Action Corporation (NEICAC) Family Service offices is taking applications for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) through April 30 of this year. All eligible homeowners and renters are encouraged to apply.
LIHEAP customers will need to furnish the following when applying for LIHEAP:
• form of identification for all household members
• a copy of their most recent heating and electric bill
• proof of all household members’ gross income for the past 30 calendar days, the most recent 12 months or for the past calendar year.

All low-income northeast Iowans are encouraged to apply, including senior citizens and individuals with disabilities. Households burning wood or where heating is included as part of the rent may also be eligible for assistance.

Lansing VFW Auxiliary #5981 is holding a Soup & Sandwich Supper to honor Vietnam Veterans and their surviving spouses Thursday, March 30 from 3-7 p.m. at Immaculate Conception Church Hall, located at 648 Main Street, Lansing. A special ceremony to commemorate National Vietnam Veterans Day, which is March 29, and to honor the Veterans and surviving spouses of Vietnam Veterans, will begin at 5 p.m.

Featured in that honoring will be Lansing’s own Don Peters, the one surviving brother of five brothers in the Clem and Helen Peters family who served as Marines in Vietnam. All Veterans are invited to attend.