River Valley

Monday, August 14, at approximately 5:25 p.m., the Allamakee County Sheriff's Office received a report of a vehicle being driven into the Mississippi River off of Front Street in Lansing. Upon investigation, it was discovered that Michelle Rose Timmons, age 51, of McGregor had driven her car into the river but was able to escape and swim toward the shore, getting assistance from bystanders in the area.

Timmons then left the scene, but bystanders went to the nearby Lansing Fire Station and alerted firefighters that Timmons had driven her vehicle into the river. The vehicle was retrieved from the water at approximately 10:30 p.m. and a dog was located deceased inside the vehicle as a result of drowning.

Saturday, July 29, the Harpers Ferry Fireflies Granny Basketball team struck gold for the second year in a row. Coached by Bill Nation of Harpers Ferry, the Fireflies traveled to Norman, OK to compete in the Granny Basketball National Championship and won all three games they played to reign once again as National Tournament Champions. Nine teams from Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas and Iowa played a double elimination tournament to decide who would come home with the gold medals. The Fireflies first defeated the Gray Tornadoes from Kansas, 45-27, before defeating the Fire Ants from Texas, 50-14. In the championship game, the Fireflies played a familiar foe, but continued to take care of business, leading the Late Bloomers of Cedar Rapids by 18 to 20 points for most of the game before winning by a final score of 48-35. The state of Iowa actually had three teams in attendance at the tournament and each came home with medals to sweep the top three spots in the tournament.

The non-profit Friends of Pool 9 environmental and educational organization will be presented a one-of-a-kind, hand-constructed hanging quilt created by Karlene Wonderlich (pictured at right in the above photo) of Lansing. Wonderlich, an experienced quilter and career Family & Consumer Science (previously known as Home Economics) teacher, has historically provided strong support to a variety of non-profit organizations, often with her husband, Arlen Wonderlich (pictured at left). She has wanted to quilt the Black Hawk Bridge ever since they purchased a river home in 2007, so she developed a plan which started with Arlen’s photo of the bridge and had it enlarged several times to create an accurate template. She then began the painstaking process to cut and stitch the puzzle together, often spending a full day just to complete one small portion.

by Macie Hill

The Lansing City Council meeting was held Monday, August 7. Discussion centered around a State Forester coming to take a look at trees on Mount Hosmer, fixing street lights around the city, dealing with the radium issue in the City’s water supply, and an update on the South Road bridge project.

Thornton Manor employees Nancy Rethwisch (left) and Janice Pfiffner (right) were recognized at a recent in-service for their 40th anniversaries of employment at Thornton Manor in Lansing. Nancy Rethwisch began her career June 15, 1977 as the Office Manager and Janice Pfiffner began her LPN career April 20, 1977, one day before Thornton Manor opened. Submitted photo.
 

by Julie Berg-Raymond

The Oscar Mayer “Wienermobile” made an unofficial stop in Lansing last week, driven by 2013 Waukon High School graduate Sammi Manning.

Manning is a brand ambassador for Oscar Mayer (a Kraft Heinz company). She and her co-driver, Haley Rohe of Green Bay, WI, pulled up in front of nutMeg’s Bakery & Cafe on Lansing's Main Street Monday, July 17 to a crowd of several dozen people.
“I’m shocked,” Manning said while handing out Wienermobile stickers to the crowd. “I didn’t expect this big of a turnout, but it’s awesome.”

NutMeg’s is owned by Manning’s aunt and cousin, Patty and Megan Manning of Lansing. Sammi Manning said she wanted to stop there so she could show off the Wienermobile to her friends and family in Lansing.

After months of wondering when, or if, the playground enhancement project will happen, the work necessary for a safe, educational, handicap accessible playground in Lansing is underway, according to project leaders. Within the next three weeks, a sidewalk and concrete bench pads and colorful benches will be installed at the South Front Street Playground in Lansing.

Thanks to great support from the Lansing area community, the large, multi-activity playground equipment has been ordered and will arrive the week of September 18. Installation is expected to take place September 22-23. The Lansing Lions Club will need 25-30 volunteers each of those days to help install the playground equipment.

Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library is continuing its series of Sesquicentennial presentations with a pair of events scheduled for the first two weeks in August. A presentation entitled “Explosion of Steamboat James Malbon 1872 at North McGregor,” which is now Marquette, is scheduled for Thursday, August 3 and a Thursday, August 10 presentation is entitled “Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln’s Body Guard.”

“Explosion of Steamboat James Malbon 1872 at North McGregor” is a PowerPoint program created by Robert Taunt with many photographs and visual effects. The program begins at 6:30 p.m., with hotdogs/brownies being served at 5:30 p.m.

The Ferryville Tourism Council is sponsoring a hike this Saturday, July 22 at Sugar Creek Bluff in Ferryville, WI as part of the annual River Bluff Daze celebration. Attendees are asked to meet at the Ferryville Boat Landing (north end of town behind the Cheapo Depot) at 8:30 a.m. for treats, sign-in and handouts. The group will carpool to the trailhead for the gradual hike to the summit.

Sugar Creek Natural Area is managed by the Mississippi Valley Conservancy. Attendees are asked to wear long pants and bring insect repellent. This will be a family-friendly hike to see the summer wildflowers, trees and the view from the top.

Dave Troester from the Crawford County Conservation Department will be the guide for this hike. He has been up on this bluff many times and is very knowledgeable about the plants and area.

by Macie Hill

The regular meeting of the Lansing City Council was held Monday, July 17. Discussion circled around safety management for the upcoming RAGBRAI® visit to Allamakee County, a city tree removal at 230 Third Street, a Main Street well update, hiring extra certified officers and security for RAGBRAI, and having a State Forester come in to look at the trees at Mount Hosmer.