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Senator Chuck Grassley will hold a town meeting in Allamakee County Thursday, August 4 as part of his annual 99 county meetings. That Thursday meeting is open to the general public and is scheduled to take place from 9:30-10:30 a.m. at the Kerndt Brothers Community Center located at 370 Main Street in Lansing.

With these meetings, Grassley will continue his long-standing practice of holding meetings with Iowans in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties every year. Grassley has held a meeting in every county, every year since he was first elected to serve in the U.S. Senate. His question-and-answer sessions are open topic and cover whatever subjects those attending choose to raise.

These Allamakee County 4-H members pictured above are among those who advanced to the Iowa State Fair with their projects or exhibits presented at the Allamakee County Fair. Left to right - Front row: Miranda Reinhardt, Madelyn Helgerson, Taya Duehr, Katelyn Leiran, Rachel Rosendahl, Andrew Mellick. Second row: Gus Pladsen, Carley Sweeney, Travis Fish, Brandon Bieber, Austin Schutte, Katie Lydon. Third row: Katelyn Monroe, Ashley Liddiard, Allie Bieber, Maddie Moser, Madalyn Palmer, Diana Davison. Fourth row: Denzel Decker, Jeremy Bieber, Katelyn Benzing, Christa Heffern, Shelby Wyninger, Devin Bieber. Not pictured: Jenna Schutte, Daniel Gruman, Teddy Holthaus, Violet Holthaus, Bethany Stock. Submitted photo.

Allamakee County Economic Development (ACED) is seeking nominations for the 2016 Cloy Kuhse Positive Impact Award. To be eligible, the recipient must be a business located in Allamakee County.

ACED will accept nominations until Thursday, September 15 of this year. Award winner announcement and ceremony will be at the ACED Annual Banquet in October. The award recipient will receive a plaque and will be added to the Award Plaque that is displayed at the ACED office.

Mike Ferring Construction of Waukon was the 2015 Cloy Kuhse Positive Impact Award winner. ACED looks forward to announcing another business that is making a positive impact at its annual meeting this October.

The annual Allamakee County Fair Queen Pageant was held Tuesday, July 19 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon, kicking off the 163rd Allamakee County Fair last week. The seven area young ladies pictured at right were all vying for this year's Fair Queen crown, which was bestowed upon Leah Riese (center in photo), daughter of Richard and Sandy Riese of Waukon. Bethany Stock (third from left), daughter of Kent and Rhonda Stock of Waukon, was named the Allamakee County Fair Princess, and Erika Johnson (third from right) was named Miss Congeniality. All seven young ladies served as the Allamakee County Fair Royalty Team throughout this year's fair. Pictured, left to right, are Miranda Reinhardt, Kaylonna McKee, Bethany Stock, Leah Riese, Erika Johnson, MaKayla Manning and Lizzie Blake. Riese will now advance on to represent Allamakee County in the 2016 Iowa State Fair Queen competition to be held in August in Des Moines.

Crews worked this past week to put the pre-cast panels in place for both the interior and exterior walls of the Allamakee County Public Safety Center under construction at the former Makee Manor location just north of Waukon along State Highway 9. Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick has reported that the pre-cast wall installation was expected to be completed early in this current week and will next be followed by placement of a course of block on all inside walls, as well as work beginning on the roof of the structure. The steel girders to be installed for the roof will complete the tie-in with the walls of the structure. Pouring of the concrete floors is expected to follow the initial course of block placement, which will then be finalized after the concrete floors have been poured and set.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, July 25 with a full agenda including the consideration of creating a policy for appointing members of boards and commissions, payments and updates regarding the Allamakee County Public Safety Center, and a presentation about Nationwide's retirement savings plan for County employees. There were no comments either heard or read during the scheduled Public Comments portion of the meeting.

The first agenda item involved the plat approval for property owned by Clinton A. Miller. Allamakee County Zoning Administrator Tom Blake presented information on Miller's request of dividing property into separate lots, which was approved by the Board of Supervisors. The quarterly report for the Allamakee County Veterans Affairs Department was also accepted and placed on file.

State Representative Patti Ruff of McGregor has organized a listening post for Iowans and health care providers who have concerns about Medicaid privatization. The listening post will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, August 3 at the Robey Memorial Library Community Room, located at 401 First Avenue NW in Waukon.

“I’ve heard from several Iowa families and health care providers who have issues with Medicaid privatization,” said Ruff. “Our goal is to gather more information from local citizens and provide more information and answers to those who are affected.”

Rep. Ruff will be joined by State Senator Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City, who is Vice Chair of the Senate Human Resources Committee. In addition to lawmakers, representatives from the Iowa Department of Human Services and the three managed care organizations have been invited to participate in the event.

by Lissa Blake

A local group is hoping there is still time to save Camp Tahigwa in rural Allamakee County.

Camp Tahigwa, located near Dorchester, has been a working Girl Scout Camp for almost 50 years. Decorah native Brecka Putnam wants to see that work continue.
Putnam, a member of Friends of Camp Tahigwa, helped organize a meeting last week in response to recent property recommendations from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois’ (GSEIWI) property committee. Around six years ago, the GSEIWI started cutting back its programming at Tahigwa, an action they say was based on dwindling attendance figures at the camp.

GSEIWI reports losing approximately $92,000 in each of the past two years at the camp. The GSEIWI property committee recently recommended the Board sell the property on the condition that it be maintained for public use.

In partnership with Allamakee County 4-H, Waukon VFW Auxiliary #4117 distributed Citizenship Awards to 4-H members at the 2016 Allamakee County Fair Youth Showcase Tuesday, July 19. County Fair entries that honored veterans were eligible for recognition by the VFW Auxiliary. First place was awarded to Diana Davison (far right in above photo) for her participation in Quilts of Valor that are presented to Allamakee County veterans. Second place was given to Bailee Darnell (center in above photo) for her garden table recognizing America’s farming heritage and national spirit. Third place went to Emma Johnson (far left in above photo) for her red star wreath with the U.S. flag and red, white and blue decorations. Certificates and ribbons were presented to the winning entries along with a cash award. Submitted photo.