News Center newsletter

To the Editor:

I applaud Katie O’Regan and The Sacred Noise Society, Inc. for bringing a bit of Hollywood glamour to northeast Iowa. The Star City Film Festival and the premier of “Good Morning, Miss America” (based on a true story) was inspirational and entertaining.

A film festival of this sort usually only happens in larger or college towns. It shows how fledgling film makers get initial exposure and a possible toe-hold in the movie industry.

It was great that some local people were in the cast of the film premiere, including Katie. It could only have helped the local economy as well - in printing, advertising, travel, lodging, etc. Appreciation also goes out to Val Reinke with Allamakee County Economic Development and Tourism and anything that group had to do with this production.

The new Town Theater marquis is a welcome addition to downtown Waukon. Our Town Theater is a wonderful asset and should be patronized whenever possible.

To the Editor:

This is in response to one of last week’s letters that mentioned a multitude of items.

Inflation... yes, it’s high... and it’s driven by numerous things... many of which Washington has no control over as we’re a consumer-driven society. “Covid,” and to some extent the “Ukrainian War,” are the biggest factors for the high inflation.

People are buying more, however, manufacturing scaled back due to lack of demand during Covid and still hasn’t caught up... plus, shortage of labor, materials and shipping. Washington could do “price controls” and “wage freezes” and it would stop inflation... but that’s “socialism”... not “capitalism”.

To the Editor:

Google and Facebook have enormous economic and political power in society - especially over the news industry. Many ask if they have played a role in the misinformation that erodes our free press and plagues our democracy.

Google and Facebook have a duopoly of the distribution of digital news content, which drives people to their platforms where they make money. The platforms hoard critical data and use clever tactics, like reframing stories in rich previews, to keep users on their sites - siphoning off the advertising revenue that small and local publishers need and weakening their ability to be rewarded for their own content.

Google and Facebook generated $4 million in U.S. advertising revenue every 15 minutes during the first quarter of 2022. That amount could fund hundreds of local journalists in every state in the country.

To the Editor:

I see neither Mr. Engle nor Mr. Quandahl have made mention of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol of the failed attempt to overthrow the U.S. Government and the U.S. Constitution by both men’s party of insurrection. None of Iowa’s insurrection party members, such as Iowa’s senators, Iowa’s governor or any member of the new party of Iowa, dare mention or condemn what their failed wanna-be dictatorial leader did. If they did, he would banish those from his party or - worse - seek revenge.

All former members of the party of Lincoln are scared to death of one man, and their oath to the constitution and this country mean nothing to them. But they did follow the ex-president down the rabbit hole of crime.

Pat Ward
Waterville

Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
May 15 – August 1: Primary Nesting Season

Commercial Fertilizer is Harming our Soils
by LuAnn Rolling, District Conservationist
Regenerative farming practices emphasize nutrient uptake from soils through natural soil biological cycles. This approach uses microbes and carbon compounds to produce crops naturally rather than relying entirely on highly soluble “salty” fertilizer inputs for plant nutrition.

According to James Hoorman, writing for Ohio’s Country Journal in May, 2022, before commercial synthetic fertilizer, historically, soil microbes provided about 80% of soil nitrogen (N) through the efficient process of microbial N fixation. For the first time, the total fixed N supplied by microbes is less than the amount of applied synthetic N from fertilizer. Excess salt based or soluble fertilizer is disrupting the natural soil balance.

Water quality improvements often happen in fields and underground – places that can be hard to see up close and in one setting.

But thanks to the aid of computer monitors, visual demonstrations and printed material, the water quality team with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is planning to make water quality improvement very visual during this year’s Farm Progress Show, Aug. 30-Sept. 1 in Boone.

Kay Stefanik, assistant director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University, said this year’s exhibit will include a video on the water quality benefits of wetlands, specifically related to nitrogen reduction.

The Conservation Station trailer, developed by Iowa Learning Farms, will show visitors what saturated buffers and bioreactors look like and how they function.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

When Kristie Ringelstetter, of Lansing, first spoke to the Lansing City Council in late September 2021 about forming an in-town trap-neuter-return (TNR) program for cats, she knew there would probably be some questions and concerns.

There was, for example, a concern about what would happen when a skunk got trapped, instead of a cat. “Who gets called, then?” someone wondered. Another person said that it was, after all, against city ordinances to “drop off” cats in town - “which is what you would be doing,” the person noted.

“Well, they’re already here,” Ringelstetter responded to that suggestion. “We’re trying to make sure they don’t reproduce.” On the question of the accidental skunk, she said she’d never had that problem; but she added that she would be talking with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and animal welfare organizations about the possibility.

Coronation of the 2022 Allamakee County Fair Royalty took place Tuesday, July 19 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon, kicking off the 169th Allamakee County Fair. Five area young ladies were vying for this year’s Fair Queen crown, which was bestowed upon Rhianna Jones (fourth from left in photo above), daughter of Eric and Liz Jones of Lansing. Cheyanne Troendle (third from left in photo above), daughter of Darrell and Amy Troendle of Waterville, was crowned Allamakee County Fair Princess. All five of this year’s candidates served as the 2022 Allamakee County Fair Royalty Team throughout this year’s Fair.

New Albin Improvement League (NAIL), a volunteer group dedicated to making the community of New Albin the best that it can be, was honored earlier this summer with a Governor’s Volunteer Service Group Award for outstanding commitment and service. An Iowa Governor’s Award Ceremony was held at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls May 31. However, no members of NAIL were able to attend that Tuesday afternoon ceremony to receive the group’s award in person.

Riders from RAGBRAI XLIX will be making their way into Allamakee County for the final day of this summer’s annual ride this Saturday, July 30. The map images above for Waukon (map image above) and Lansing (map image below) show the various routes and locations of information and interest for riders and anyone in the area that day. Riders will enter Allamakee County near Postville via Highway 18 and will then make their way from Postville to Waukon via Cherry Valley Drive, Forest Mills Road and State Highway 76, entering Waukon from the south via the combined Hwy. 9 and 76/Rossville Road route, past the Waukon City Park.