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A Canadian Pacific train derailed at around 6:40 a.m. Wednesday, June 1 approximately four miles south of Lansing, spilling coal into the Mississippi River. Ten coal cars derailed, but only one dumped what was described as “a small amount of coal” into the river just south of the Alliant Energy Lansing power plant (as evident in the photo above at right by Julie Berg-Raymond). No fuel or other products were spilled and no injuries were reported from the derailment, with railroad crews deploying the yellow floating dams and using other stabilization measures seen in the photo at right to try and limit the impact from the spill and clean-up efforts.

The Allamakee County Cattleman’s Association crowned its 2022 Beef Royalty at its annual grilling event held Monday, May 23 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon. Pictured in the submitted photo above, left to right, with flowers donated by Sycamore Floral are 2022 Allamakee County Beef Princesses Natalie Byrnes and Gracelyn Donahue and 2022 Allamakee County Beef Queen Mallory Mohn.

Mallory Mohn is the daughter of Clint and Noelle Mohn of Lansing and a sophomore at Kee High School in Lansing. Her sponsors are S.S. Houseboat Rentals and Mississippi Meats. In school, Mallory is involved in FFA, Student Council, the yearbook and The Talon school newspaper. After high school, she plans to work and own part of the family farm and be an agribusiness manager.

Waukon RAGBRAI officials say that RAGBRAI event organizers will be conducting their annual pre-ride of this year’s RAGBRAI route within this next week’s timeframe. The purpose of the pre-ride is to assess safety for riders and any concerns with roadways on the route prior to the annual event taking place July 23-30 this year.

Approximately 50 bicycle riders will be making their way along this year’s route from the west side of the state to the east, with that crew expected to arrive in Allamakee County this Saturday, June 11 in late morning/early afternoon at an anticipated arrival time in Waukon around 2:30 p.m. They will be traversing the local route that Saturday from Postville north on Cherry Valley Drive to Yellow River Drive, then east to County Road X16 (Forest Mills Road), north to State Hwy. 76 and into Waukon. In Waukon they will travel Rossville Road to the stop light intersection at Main Street, and then head east on

Area closed to the public during demolition; Access to State Forest trail system adjusted

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) maintenance workers are traveling from refuges all over the Midwest to begin the demolition of the former Luster Heights Prison Camp in rural Harpers Ferry. The maintenance workers will be joined by members of maintenance strike teams.

The strike team members, demolition project and the new office are funded by the Great American Outdoors Act. This crew of six to eight USFWS employees was scheduled to begin work June 6 and is expected to complete the project by June 26.

Seven U.S. Military Veterans with Waukon area heritage received quilts from the Waukon Patriot Quilters at the Memorial Day Observance program held at Oakland Cemetery in Waukon Monday, May 30. Pictured in the photo at right, left to right, following the quilt presentations are Dale Byrnes, Gordon Kaeser, Jim Allison, Doug Haas, Stephen Regan, Brittany Clarke accepting a quilt on behalf of her father, Ralph W. Savoy, and Kenny Budzik. Submitted photo.
 

Lansing is looking for volunteers to help welcome RAGBRAI cyclists from across the nation and around the world. More than 10,000 riders are expected to wrap up an entire week of peddling by dipping their tires in the Mississippi River at Lansing July 30, and everyone is invited to be an ambassador to paradise as part of the town’s “Pedal to Paradise” welcoming event.

Help is needed now through RAGBRAI week, July 21-July 31. Sign up in person at a volunteer meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 15 at Kee High School in Lansing or click on the volunteer tab at lansingragbrai.com.

Interested individuals can choose from many volunteering needs, such as food and vending, parking supervision, set-up and clean-up, transportation, beautification, information center, traffic management, greeting and picture taking, entertainment, housing, hospitality, or campground hosting. Volunteers can work just the day of arrival or help out longer term.

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session Monday, June 6 to address a full agenda of items. There was no Public Comment and the meeting moved into Department Reports with Street Superintendent Keith Burrett discussing that street maintenance continues as normal and that repair work on the street sweeper will be completed soon with the machine yet to be returned.

Wednesday, May 25, a tabletop exercise was hosted by Allamakee Public Health (Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care) at the Waukon Fire Station involving a presentation by John Carter of Emergency Preparedness Consulting, LLC that centered around being prepared for a wind/tornado event occurring during the July 30 final day of RAGBRAI XLIX that will make its way through Allamakee County. In addition to Public Health, entities involved in the preparedness event included Allamakee Emergency Management Agency, Allamakee County law enforcement, Allamakee County E-911, Veterans Memorial Hospital, City of Waukon, Alliant Energy, Allamakee-Clayton REC, City of Postville, area long-term care facilities, Lansing RAGBRAI Committee, Waukon Fire Department and Allamakee Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The regular meeting of the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) Board of Directors was held at Kee High School in Lansing Monday, May 16. The meeting was called to order by Board President Bobbie Goetzinger. Board members present included Tony Becker, Bobbie Goetzinger, Kelli Mudderman and Arla Wagner; board member Melanie Mauss was absent. Also present were EACSD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dale Crozier, Kee High School and Middle School Principal Dr. Sarah Updegraff and Board Secretary Michele Martin.

After the agenda was adopted, the board held the public hearing on the 2021-2022 budget amendment. With no public comment, the amendment was unanimously approved later in the board meeting. This matter was followed by the usual authorizations, which included the approval of the May consent items, minutes of the April meeting, bills for May, Student Activity and Food Service April Reports.

Waukon High School junior Jacob Smith was awarded First Place in the “My American Veteran Hero” essay contest recently sponsored by Midwest Veterans of America. The contest was open to high school students, freshmen through seniors, and the essays were judged on how well the entrant understands, develops and presents the theme, which should be a positive representation of the veteran hero being written about.

Smith, the son of Rev. Duane and Cristina Smith of Waukon, was announced as the winner Saturday, May 21 during the Lil’ Dale Show on KNEI Radio. He was award the First Place prize of $100 and a plaque commemorating his contest victory. Also announced were the second-place entry and winner of $75 written by Dekota Bechtel of Monona, and the third-place entry and winner of $50 written by Jeff Yaun of Green Bay, WI.