Community News

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session Monday, February 5 to address a full agenda of items including the former Tierney Building grant application, the Waste Water Treatment Facility financing and repairs to the Waukon Wellness Center heating system.

Mayor Pat Stone called the meeting to order with Council member Gayle Decker motioning to approve the consent agenda with a change to the January 15 meeting minutes to reflect that Decker voted against moving forward with the pre-grant application for the former Tierney building. There was no public comment.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, January 29 to address a full agenda of items, including the Secondary Roads Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Northeast Iowa Community Action Corporation (NEICAC) Annual Report and funding requests from regional service providers. There was no Public Comment.

County Assistance Program Director David Boss and Executive Director Trisha Wilkins of Northeast Iowa Community Action Corporation (NEICAC) provided an overview of the organization's annual report and the Fiscal-Year 2019 funding request. Boss indicated that NEICAC has served 685 Allamakee County households with 1,801 individuals being served by the organization's programs, accounting for 12.9% of the county's population of 14,038.

In an ongoing effort to promote Robey Memorial Library’s (RML) early literacy program 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten (1,000BBK), the library and Library Foundation are observing their first anniversary in partnership with Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon to reach out to families delivering babies at the hospital.

Through a generous purchase by the Robey Memorial Library Foundation, a literacy care package is gifted to each newborn, including the board book "Rock-A-Bye Baby Reader" by Carole Olson (2018 book selection), a tri-fold brochure highlighting the 1,000BBK program plus the many other programs and activities available to families at Robey Memorial Library and coupons for a library tote bag and the Library Foundation Book Sale.

The phrase "laughter is the best medicine" is played out in a new picture book by Waterville native and Minnesota author Mary Evanson Bleckwehl. Following the success of her first two award-winning children’s books, the daughter of the late Melbourne and Helen Evanson of Waterville has now written "Claire’s Hair," just released from Beaver’s Pond Press.

In the new book, Claire loves her tangled tresses where little critters romp and live, and wants nothing to do with her mother’s insistence to comb, wash or cut it. In fact, her hair is a source of giggling delight for Claire and her best friend until he gets sick and the laughter goes missing. Claire looks beyond herself and together with her “big hairy idea” finds a way to bring the laughter back.

Playing the piano with bananas, or the bongos with carrots, or Pac Man with play dough are just some of the things Postville Clover Kids learned about the magic of the Makey Makey and turning everyday items into a keyboard. The Makey Makey is a circuit board that uses alligator clips to send electrical signals to the computer. Anything that can conduct electricity can be connected to the clips, such as bananas, carrots, play dough, and even people. The Clover Kids substituted these items for the four arrow keys, space bar and click on the computer. Once they were grounded to the Makey Makey, they used different apps, such as the piano, to learn how electricity flows. The most important lesson was being “grounded” and holding the specific alligator clip or touching that person. The Clover Kids also made their own marshmallow shooters out of craft sticks. Marshmallows were sent flying to see who could launch the farthest.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in a pair of regular sessions within the past week due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday falling on the board's regular Monday meeting day. Coverage of both the holiday-delayed Tuesday, January 16 and Monday, January 22 regular sessions appears below.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16
The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in a delayed regular session Tuesday, January 16 following the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday falling on the board's usual Monday meeting day January 15. The board addressed a full agenda of items, including updates from libraries within the county, consideration of a tax abatement request and Secondary Roads transfers. There was no Public Comment.

Village Farm & Home in Waukon has been named Iowa Dealer of the Year for 2017 by Powder River Livestock Handling Equipment, a nationwide leader in livestock working equipment for the past 80 years headquartered in Provo, UT. Village Farm & Home in Waukon was started in 1962 by Ray Sweeney and his sons and has been a Powder River dealer for more than 25 of those 56 years in business, selling the company's livestock handling equipment to farmers, feedlots and sale barns in the tri-state area. Pictured above displaying the company's 2017 Iowa Dealer of the Year plaque are Village Farm & Home staff members Beth Sweeney, Jake Sweeney, Brad O'Hare, Steven Sweeney, Joe Sweeney, Matt Sweeney, Barb Howe, Jeffrey Sweeney and Jerry Sweeney. Submitted photo.
 

Robey Memorial Library in Waukon plans to celebrate World Read Aloud Day Thursday, February 1 with events from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. In observance of World Read Aloud Day, people from all around the world read aloud together to celebrate and advocate literacy.

Reading aloud has been found to be beneficial to all, from children to adults. According to the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, “Reading aloud to children every day puts them almost a year ahead of children who do not receive daily read aloud time, regardless of parental income, education level or cultural background.”

Sunday, January 28, a book with connections in the Waukon area will be featured at an event being held at the Good Samaritan Society-Waukon and open to the public. "BECAUSE OF ADELINE: My Life With Antiques," written by John Haltmeyer, will be featured at a program of reading selections from the book and discussions with the author that will take place beginning at 2 p.m. at the Good Samaritan Society, located at 25 First Street SE in Waukon.

Haltmeyer is known to many in the area as a knowledgeable collector of handmade furniture and carved work by early immigrants from Scandinavia. This book tells the story of how Haltmeyer, as a college student at Platteville State Teachers College in Wisconsin, needed some old wooden duck decoys for a display case at the college. He heard that a collector named Adeline might have some, and from her he learned about collecting and marketing antiques.

Tuesday, January 16, the Waukon High School Music Department participated in the Northeast Iowa Conference Music Festival hosted by Crestwood High School in Cresco this year. At this year's event, the orchestra was conducted by Dr. Jacob Tews from Wartburg College, the choir was conducted by Jayson Ryner from North Iowa Area Community College and the band was conducted by Dr. Danny Gaylen from the University of Northern Iowa.