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Dave’s Gus & Tony’s Pizza and Steakhouse, located at 508 West Main Street in Waukon for just shy of 40 years, was completely destroyed by a fire reported around 9:30 a.m. Monday, February 10. Heavy smoke was originally seen pouring from the top of the building, and a mother and two children awaiting the late start to the school day at home in the living area above the restaurant were rescued early on through a second story window by passers-by using a ladder from an A-OK Well Service truck traveling on West Main Street at the time. The entire complex of three business buildings was evacuated, with the adjacent Edward Jones Investments and Waukon Chiropractic buildings, along with their residential living spaces, also sustaining damage but remaining standing as of now.

With this 2020 election year, the State of Iowa has moved up the deadline for filing nomination papers for certain county level elected positions that would appear on election ballots for this year’s June primary and/or November general elections. Allamakee County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Denise Beyer advises that many of the filing deadlines that once were set in August for non-partisan elected positions have now been moved several months earlier to March.

The Monday, February 3 Iowa caucuses brought with them their own respective challenges from both the Democrat and Republican perspectives, but local leaders of both political parties agree that the caucus efforts and overall results in Allamakee County are something to be proud of.

Any concerns of lacking interest by Republicans due to just a single front-running candidate were quickly alleviated by the “much larger showing than... anticipated” turn-out reported by local party leaders and “record-breaking” turn-out reported by state Republican leaders. Despite the overshadowing results reporting challenges faced within the Democratic caucus scenario at the state level, local leaders of that party are very pleased with not only the turn-out but also with how well the Allamakee County caucus efforts played out in their functionality and purpose.

The 11th Annual Oneota Film Festival “Beyond the Crater” is scheduled for this weekend, February 14-16 at Luther College, downtown Decorah, and for the first time in festival history, at the Town Theater in Waukon. This year’s first-ever film viewing outside of the Decorah area for the festival will take place at the Town Theater on Main Street in Waukon this Saturday, February 15 with a total of 14 different films ranging in length from just two minutes to an hour and 30 minutes.

Saturday’s film schedule in Waukon will include a session of seven Iowa short films shown from 1-2:45 p.m., along with a question and answer session. Those films (and their time length) include: The Honey War (2 minutes), Bella (19 minutes), Concourses and Megastructures (6 minutes), Knee High (14 minutes), Leslie’s Gift (11 minutes), Flava (20 minutes) and Blake (13 minutes).

Award nominations due by February 14; Princess applications due by March 1

The 2020 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet will be held Saturday, March 21 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon. The meal will be served from 7-8:30 p.m. with the program starting at 8 p.m. The annual celebration recognizes the importance of the dairy industry in Allamakee County and the contributions dairy families make to the industry.

Every year, top producers from the county are recognized at the banquet. In addition, several other awards are presented that evening. The Allamakee Dairy Promotion Board and the Allamakee County Extension Office are accepting nominations through February 14 for the following awards:

Waukon fire crews responded to the report of a fire at Gus and Tony's Pizza and Steakhouse at 508 West Main Street Monday morning around 9:30 a.m. Monday, February 10. Occupants of the upstairs living area of the building were evacuated safely, with no injuries being reported. Black smoke could be seen pouring out of the upper portion of the building, with no flames initially being reported as visible outside the structure, but flaring up later as the fire grew. The Decorah Fire Department was contacted to bring in its ladder truck for an aerial assault on the blaze and also remained on scene as of late morning. The Waterville Fire Department was also called to assist. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available. Photos and as much of a report as possible will be available in the February 12 edition of The Standard.

Former Indian and Hawkeye stand-out shares his thoughts on early uncertainties with continuation of his football career, making all the transitions and helping his team prepare through a deep play-off run

The past year has been quite a rollercoaster for 2014 Waukon High School graduate Parker Hesse in regard to continuing to play the game that he loves, a game that has provided him with opportunities that have been dreams for many but never before realized by others who have put on a Waukon football uniform.

This past year those opportunities reached a near pinnacle of Hesse’s childhood dream of playing in the National Football League (NFL). He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Tennessee Titans in May of this past year and spent this 2019 NFL season as a member of the Titans’ 10-player practice squad.

Completion of the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) road improvement project for Iowa Highways 9 and 76 through Waukon with the installation this past week of new traffic signals at the only stoplight intersection in Allamakee County has brought some final changes to traffic control at that intersection more locally known as Main Street and Allamakee Street/Spring Avenue (Rossville Road). According to Iowa DOT officials, changes in lane usage and in the controlling of traffic by additional traffic lights were made in an effort to improve the flow of traffic at the intersection.

“The traffic movements through the intersection were changed to help traffic flow,” explained Iowa DOT District 2 Field Services Coordinator Pete Hjelmstad. “Before the project, when east and west traffic had a green light, left-turning traffic waiting for a gap (to make that left turn) would hold up traffic behind them wanting to go straight.

A winner of season 25 of the television reality series “Survivor” who has ties to the Waukon area will be returning to the strategy and strength series on television screens across the nation this month for a chance to win two million dollars as part of the latest installment of the show, “Survivor 40: Winners at War.” In honor of the show’s 20th anniversary, the newest season will feature 20 winners from previous “Survivor” seasons, and it was filmed in May-June 2019 in Fiji but will begin airing next Wednesday, February 12 on CBS television channels.

Denise (McCormick) Stapley, age 48, of Marion is one of the past million dollar season winners who has been invited back to compete for an even bigger prize in the 40th season of the show. She won the “Survivor: Philippines” season in 2012.

The former Shopko location at the intersection of Ninth Street SW and Eleventh Avenue SW in Waukon is one of six former Shopko locations in Iowa that Hy-Vee, Inc. has recently reached purchase agreements on to re-open under the Hy-Vee subsidiary Dollar Fresh brand later this year, according to a release issued by Hy-Vee, Inc. Monday, January 27. In the upcoming weeks, the former Waukon Shopko location will join similar locations in Cresco, Oelwein, Hampton, Dyersville and Vinton in undergoing renovations to open as Dollar Fresh stores by late summer.