News Center newsletter

submitted by Eric Novey, Project Coordinator
Allamakee County Soil and Water Conservation District

A local farmer is breaking up his rotation, reducing erosion and providing additional forage benefits for his cow-calf operation by planting cover crops. Aarik Deering, who farms near Postville with his wife, Haley, tried a unique sequence of cover crops on an 11-acre field near his home. Deering is no stranger to no-till and cover crops.  He credits his start in no-till to his father, Dave, who has been no-tilling for the last 25-30 years. The younger Deering has been using cover crops for seven years now, and it has been a learning experience. The first year Deering planted cover crops he was not impressed.

The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Dairy Team is hosting a field day focused on dairy technology on the farm July 27. The day will feature two farm visits where attendees can see automated milking system technology in action and learn about cow monitoring systems and other technologies that are becoming more commonly used on dairy farms.

The first farm visit will be from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon at Rolinda Acres Dairy, 1428 Knudtson Road, Waterville. This dairy recently constructed a new automated milking facility with eight DeLaval V300 milking units and an OptiDuo automated feed pusher. Owner Pat Reisinger will answer questions about the new facilities and equipment.

To the Editor:

Hit by this pandemic, hardworking Americans have struggled to make ends meet and to provide for their families. Millions lost their jobs, couldn’t pay mortgages or afford health insurance and found themselves standing in food lines to put food on the table. Fearing the COVID-19 virus, Iowans drove miles and hours trying to find a vaccination site.

President Biden and the House and Senate Democrats acted quickly to alleviate the suffering by passing the American Rescue Plan and President Biden signed it into law in March.  The American Rescue Plan passed without one Republican vote. The conclusion is that the President and Democrats care about everyday people while Republicans could care less.

To the Editor:

America’s Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 declared this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal (mankind), that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Its author, and America’s third president, Thomas Jefferson, also wrote, “God who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

“Kee Connect” will help students whose learning is impacted by social-emotional, behavioral factors

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The Eastern Allamakee School District (EACSD) is one of six districts in the state of Iowa to win a competitive grant to establish a therapeutic classroom in the district. The EACSD, the smallest school district to receive the grant, will receive $216,000 to support the programming this year.

The therapeutic classrooms will be for learners whose social-emotional or behavioral needs impact their ability to be successful in their current learning environment. The grant was written by the administrative team of New Albin Elementary School Principal Donna Thomas and Kee High School and Middle School Principal Dr. Sarah Updegraff, with support from Keystone Area Education Agency (AEA), specifically Chami DeLong, Carissa Otto, Joleen Doyle and Laura Smith.

Allamakee County Sheriff’s Deputy Ross Kolsrud and K9 Tyr, pictured above, recently participated in the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) Region 12 trials in St. Cloud, MN. Deputy Kolsrud and Tyr, along with police canines from Sheriff’s Departments in Houston County, Wright County and Sherburne County in Minnesota, as well as the Austin, MN Police Department, joined forces to win Top Region Team honors at this year’s event, signified by the event trophy pictured in front of Tyr above.

Police canines were judged on six categories consisting of obedience, physical agility, area searches for humans, article searches, criminal apprehension and criminal apprehension with gun fire. USPCA Region 12 consists of police canines from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States, as well as Manitoba, Canada. Submitted photo.
 

The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) recently announced $2.6 million in grant funding to help 26 communities across the state revitalize their downtown districts. The grants were awarded through the Community Catalyst Building Remediation program. Each community was awarded a $100,000 grant to help redevelop or rehabilitate underused buildings as a way to stimulate economic growth and reinvestment in the community. Among those $100,000 grant recipients was the City of Waukon for use in a proposed development agreement and renovation project for the former JCPenney/Tierney’s building (pictured above) on the corner of Main Street and Spring Avenue in the heart of downtown Waukon to be transformed into a steakhouse restaurant.

Sunday evening, July 4, at 9:48 p.m., the Allamakee County Sheriff’s E-911 Dispatch Center received a report of a utility terrain vehicle (UTV) rollover accident with injuries near 2062 Lafayette Ridge Drive, rural Lansing in Allamakee County.

Drew Cody Gaunitz, age 22, of Lansing was operating a Polaris Ranger 900 off-road vehicle in a wooded area and was attempting to traverse an incline when the machine rolled over. Gaunitz was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of the injuries he received during the incident. A passenger in the vehicle, Jacob David Manning, age 24, of Harpers Ferry was treated at the scene for minor injuries and was released.

Assisting at the scene of the incident were the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office, Lansing Police Department, Lansing Fire and Ambulance, and Gundersen Air Care.
 

The Transportation Policy Board for Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC)/Regional Planning Affiliation 1 (RPA-1) will hold a public hearing at its upcoming meeting to receive comments on the draft RPA-1 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for federal fiscal years (FFY) 2022-2025. The meeting will take place Wednesday, July 21 at 11 a.m. at UERPC’s offices in Postville, 134 West Greene Street.

The RPA-1 TIP document identifies the multimodal transportation projects - street, transit, highway, bridge, planning, and pedestrian and bicycle facilities - on which State and Federal funding will be used over the next four years within Allamakee, Clayton, Fayette, Howard and Winneshiek Counties.

A new round of workforce training agreements between businesses and Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) will help employers remain competitive and hire new skilled employees in the next year.

These agreements, as part of the 260E Iowa Industrial New Jobs Training program, will offset training costs for businesses seeking to upskill their workforce. Training can include hard skills such as welding, industrial maintenance, heavy equipment operation, workplace safety and computer skills, as well as human resources, management and leadership training.

The 260E program allows NICC and its business partners to enhance the region’s workforce through employee upskilling and education. Businesses also participate in the program to retain employee talent.