River Valley

Two junior students at Kee High School in Lansing, Kyle Conway and Dawson Sires, have been selected to attend Boys State scheduled for June 9-14 of this year at Fort Dodge in Johnston. Local selection of attendees is sponsored by the Lansing American Legion Post 50, Lansing Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5981 and New Albin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5603 .

Conway is the son of Kevin and Milissa Conway of Lansing. Sires is the son of Joel and Nicole Sires of New Albin.

Begun in 1938, Boys State is a six-day course in self government, consistently taught with a hands-on approach. The young men of 2019 Boys State, all of whom have finished their junior year of high school, will be divided into 32 cities. Four cities constitute a county and eight counties make up Boys State.

The cities are composed of members of the Nationalist and Federalist parties. The citizens within these cities hold party caucus meetings, conventions, campaigns and general elections.

The Allamakee County Conservation Board (ACCB) will be partnering with Gundersen Health System to present the Outdoor Health and Safety Day at the Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center in Lansing Saturday, April 27. For those who have ever wondered how to identify and treat poison ivy, what to do about a tick bite, how to stay safe outdoors in a thunderstorm, or who have had any other questions about how to be safe and have fun in the summertime, this program is ideal. ACCB staff and medical professionals from Gundersen will present and take questions on a variety of topics designed to ensure that those attending and their families can get the most out of the outdoors this summer with minimal trips to the emergency room.

The program will start at 10 a.m. at the Driftless Center and conclude at 12:30 p.m. with a live snake demonstration. Attendees can come and go as they please. All ages are welcome.

Kee High School’s Post Prom was held Sunday, April 14 from midnight until 4 a.m. following the school’s annual Prom celebration. Guests played table games and other challenging activities using play money. The raffle and silent auction prize packages were also very popular with the guests. Special entertainment was provided by hypnotist Michael DeSchalit from Wand Enterprises. Everyone attending was given an opportunity to guess the number of candies in a jar and Makena Peterson (pictured above) won $100 for guessing the exact number. Door prizes were awarded throughout the evening and everyone drew a number to win a prize package at the end of the event.

A special drawing was held and the Kee senior grand prize (32” TV) was won by Jacob Berns (left in photo below). The Kee junior grand prize (Blu-Ray DVD player) was won by Allison Donley (center of photo below) and the Guest grand prize (Fire tablet) was won by Jaiden Berns (right in photo below).

by Macie Hill

The Lansing City Council meeting was held Monday, April 15. Discussion centered around a wide variety of items.

Val Reinke of Allamakee County Economic Development was present at the meeting to explain the Demolition Program through the Northeast Iowa Regional Housing Trust Fund. The program helps ensure that northeast Iowa residents of Allamakee, Clayton, Fayette, Howard and Winneshiek counties have access to well-maintained, safe and affordable housing in both rural and urban areas of each community. No decisions were made by the council on whether or not to move forward with the program as Reinke was there to initially present the idea.

A motion was made and seconded to move forward with the inverted siphon system for the Clear Creek Arial Crossing Project. A progress payment for the amount of $50,000 to Waterworks was also approved for the City’s dock project.

Owen Schobert, an eighth grader at Lansing Middle School in Lansing, has won the 13th annual statewide financial literacy essay contest for Money Smart Week Iowa and has been named Iowa’s 2019 Money Smart Kid. Schobert also received $1,000 from the Iowa Bankers Association to put toward his college education.

An assembly has been scheduled for April 18 at Lansing Middle School to recognize Schobert’s honoring. His winning essay accompanies this article in the shaded box below.

Forty-one students from across the state participated in the 2019 Money Smart Week Essay Contest. Any Iowa student in grades seven through 11 was eligible to submit a 400-word essay. This year’s prompt asked students to explain what income volatility is and who is prone to experience it. Students were also asked to include tips and resources on how to prepare for sudden fluctuation in income.

Falls from windows are a very real hazard facing children in every city in the United States. During National Window Safety Week, the National Association for Child Window Safety (NACWS) recognized Lendlease Communities, at their New York headquarters, for their pro-active efforts to prevent child window falls. Lendlease, with over 40,000 military family residential units, has begun installing child safety screens that are manufactured by Lansing Housing Products in Lansing. Pictured above at the award presentation are, left to right, Lansing Housing Products President Brian Houlihan, NACWS Executive Director Jim Graham, Lendlease Communities Managing Director Claire Johnston and Lendlease Communities National Director of Environmental Health and Safety Dale Moore, who stated they will be installing the new screens across their entire communities’ portfolio.

The Allamakee County Conservation Board (ACCB) will be partnering with Gundersen Health System to present the Outdoor Health and Safety Day at the Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center in Lansing Saturday, April 27. For those who have ever wondered how to identify and treat poison ivy, what to do about a tick bite, how to stay safe outdoors in a thunderstorm, or who have had any other questions about how to be safe and have fun in the summertime, this program is ideal. ACCB staff and medical professionals from Gundersen will present and take questions on a variety of topics designed to ensure that those attending and their families can get the most out of the outdoors this summer with minimal trips to the emergency room.

The program will start at 10 a.m. at the Driftless Center and conclude at 12:30 p.m. with a live snake demonstration. Attendees can come and go as they please. All ages are welcome.

Kee Middle School eighth grader Alyssa Darling, daughter of Mark and Kris Darling of Lansing, was awarded second place by the Department of Iowa Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in the annual VFW Patriot’s Pen student essay contest. Sponsored by Lansing VFW Post 5981, Darling placed first in both the local Post and VFW 9th District levels of the essay competition, advancing to the State level of competition to earn her second-place finish. She was presented a certificate and a check for her award-winning essay by Lansing VFW Commander Dan Hanson at Kee Middle School Wednesday, March 27. Pictured above at that presentation event with Darling are members of Lansing VFW Post 5981. Left to right: John O’Hara, Glen Reed, Tim O’Malley, Dan Hanson, Jon Baker, Steve Morarend and Don Peters. Submitted photo.
 

At the 2019 Main Street Lansing annual meeting held Sunday, March 23 at T.J. Hunter’s Banquet Hall, Judy Schild of the Eagle’s Nest Gallery in Lansing was honored with the Volunteer of the Year Award, as well as the Main Street Iowa Leadership Award. For 20 years, Judy and her husband, John, operated a custom framing shop on Main Street in Lansing. But Judy had more to offer than just frames and glass; she wanted Main Street to thrive, so she became an active Chamber of Commerce board member. As the Chamber faded, she helped found the Main Street program in Lansing, serving on the board of directors and becoming the first chair of the Promotions Committee. She has been a generous supporter of all things community. Pictured above, Judy Schild (left) receives her Volunteer of the Year Award from Main Street Lansing representative Mary Palmborg (right). Submitted photo.
 

by Macie Hill

The Lansing City Council held its regular meeting Monday, April 1. Discussion centered around the adoption of the consent agenda, raising pool pass rates, information regarding the Main Street Iowa visit, the Allamakee County E-911 Board letter of commitment, county hazard mitigation plan and annual review, and citywide clean-up information.

Summer pool passes will be raised to $25 per child and $75 per family pass, which is for families with three or more children.

Ten representatives from the Lansing community will be traveling to Elkader as part of the District exchange for Main Street Iowa. The volunteers will be traveling around the town observing the businesses, the entrance to the community, directional signage and the overall environment and then will take a survey relating to their experience. In return, ten representatives will also be traveling from Elkader to Lansing to do the same.