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by Brianne Eilers

Local businessman Howard Van Ruler and his wife, Dorothy, are pictured displaying the award he received for being named Waukon’s 2016 “Person of the Year” at the Waukon Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet Friday, February 26. Previous “Person of the Year” awardee and fellow Waukon Economic Development (WEDC) colleague Joe Cunningham introduced Van Ruler as this year’s “Person of the Year” award winner, noting not only his contributions to the Waukon community as a member of WEDC, the Waukon City Council and other organizations over the years, but also his own investment of time, resources and finances to improve and keep the Waukon community moving forward.

Jack Sweeney of Sweeney Real Estate in Waukon was honored as the “Realtor of the Year” by the Northeast Iowa Regional Board of Realtors at the board's December meeting held in Waterloo. The board serves 15 counties of northeast Iowa and recognizes one member each year for having the highest of ethical standards and for outstanding service to the Realtors associations and the real estate industry.
Sweeney has served as a director on the Northeast Iowa Regional Board of Realtors and is a member of the board's finance committee. He is also serving as a director as well as a member of the executive committee for the Iowa Association of Realtors during 2016, representing the members of the Northeast Iowa Regional Board.

Lowell Engle of Harpers Ferry has announced his candidacy for the District 56 seat in the Iowa House of Representatives. Engle becomes the second area Republican candidate seeking election to the District 56 office, as he joins Kristi Hager of Dorchester in seeking the Republican bid to run against District 56 incumbent Patti Ruff of McGregor in November of this year.
“I have been asked by many of my loyal followers to run again for the 56th District House seat in November,” Engle said of running for the District 56 seat for the second time after having done so in 2014. “I am not running against Kristi Hager, whom I consider a good friend. However, the party must choose the most viable candidate to run against Patti Ruff.”

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday morning, February 29 to face a relatively short agenda. Just one comment from the general public was heard, as Dennis Blocker of Waukon, who is spearheading an initiative to establish an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) trail in Allamakee County, shared a recent article from the La Crosse Tribune about a study conducted in Jackson County in Wisconsin that revealed an annual revenue of nearly $8 million from ATV usage within the county.
“It’s not just chicken feed,” Blocker said in regard to those revenues. “We’re not expecting to get that kind of money, but even a tenth of that would be a boost to Allamakee County.” Blocker also said he also forwarded the article to Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Chuck Gipp in an effort to possibly open up State Parks in the area to ATV trail usage.

Late Monday afternoon, February 22, the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office was notified by the Iowa Department of Corrections that Dakota Dale Voves, age 24, of Waukon had failed to return to the West Union Residential Treatment Center in West Union where he was serving a court-ordered sentence. Area law enforcement officials were put on alert for an attempt to locate Voves.
Friday morning, February 26, the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa State Patrol arrested Voves at a residence on Pole Line Road in rural Allamakee County on a Warrant for a Probation Violation. Voves was taken into custody without incident and is currently being held in the Allamakee County Jail in Waukon.
 

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will be hosting two public meetings in Allamakee County to update the public on chronic wasting disease and seek public input on partnering with hunters, taxidermists and lockers to increase surveillance on the area’s deer herd. Two wild deer harvested in Allamakee County during the recent hunting season have been confirmed positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), marking the third year in a row the disease has been confirmed in a wild Iowa deer, all in Allamakee County.
The meetings are scheduled for Tuesday March 1, one from 2-4 p.m. at the Ethel Robinson Meehan Community Center, located at 238 North Fourth Street in Harpers Ferry, and another from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Waukon Banquet Center, located at 612 Rossville Road, in Waukon.

Discussion of Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center draws large crowd again at Tuesday session

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors held a pair of regular sessions within the past week, one of them delayed a day by the President's Day holiday. Coverage of both the Tuesday, February 16 and Monday, February 22 Board of Supervisors meetings appears below:

New Albin Fire Department, local hovercraft owner help rescue man from icy waters of Minnesota Slough

Editor's Note: The following article was first published in the February 10, 2016 edition of the Fayette County Union newspaper of West Union. It is being reprinted here with permission from the Fayette County Union and includes some additional comments from local individuals involved in the rescue effort.

by Chris DeBack,
Fayette County Union
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

Thursday, February 25, the National Park Service (NPS) will begin seeking the public’s comments on a Draft Cultural Landscape Report and Environmental Assessment (CLR/EA) for Effigy Mounds National Monument. The public is encouraged to download and comment on the Draft CLR/EA during the public review period, which will run from February 25 through March 25.
A Cultural Landscape Report serves multiple purposes. First, it documents what is known of the park’s landscape: its origins, its evolution over time, its cultural features, and its current condition. Second, it proposes treatment recommendations for managing the landscape in order to ensure the long-term preservation of its resources and values.