Top Stories

“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.
 

by Lissa Blake

“We’re on two wheels to get you on your feet.”

That’s the motto of Goodfellas Riding Club (GRC), a non-profit group of like-minded individuals who get together to ride motorcycles or operate motorized vehicles in order to raise funds to help local charities or individuals in the surrounding community.

Since its formation in 2012, the group has donated almost $85,000 to local scholarships, businesses and individuals who may be in need. Among the local entities benefiting from those efforts are the local Kids Club after school program, the Allamakee County Food Shelf, Allamakee County Relief Center and the Allamakee Community School District Nurses Fund, to name just a few.

Carson Johanningmeier (pictured at right), son of Roxie Johanningmeier of Waukon and Travis Johanningmeier of Harpers Ferry, has ridden his way to qualification in two different racing classes for the largest and most prestigious amateur motocross race in the world, the Monster Energy American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Amateur National Motocross Championships at Loretta Lynn’s. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the national championship event has been hosted since 1982 at the ranch home of country music legend Loretta Lynn near Hurricane Mills, TN, and it is scheduled for August 2-7 this year.

Public input may still be provided through June 30

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The Iowa Department of Transportation’s (DOT) public meeting held online Tuesday, June 15 dealt with the environmental impacts of building a new bridge to replace the current Black Hawk Bridge over the Mississippi River at Lansing. The purpose of the meeting was to inform the public about the preferred placement and design of the bridge, receive public input and explain the environmental assessment conducted in conjunction with the newly proposed bridge.

by Perry Hesse

Parenthood is sure to bring its share of ups and downs with children, but it doesn’t usually happen as concurrently as it did for Ron and Angie Cooper of Lansing this spring. They watched as younger daughter Kendra, a junior pitcher for the Luther College softball team this season, reeled off six straight wins on the mound as the Lady Norse captured the American Rivers Conference Tournament title. However, in the dugout was oldest daughter Courtney, who missed almost all of her senior season with the softball Norse due to injuries.

“We were disappointed for Courtney as she had high hopes for her senior year. However, we knew with her physical limitations she might not be able to pitch,” said Angie. “Courtney and Kendra would have enjoyed one more year together with the goal of helping the team be the best it could be.”

Madalyn Palmer (center in photo above), daughter of Eric and Stephanie Palmer of Waukon, was crowned the 2021 Allamakee County Dairy Princess at the annual Allamakee County Dairy Banquet held Saturday, June 12 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon. Also honored at Saturday’s banquet as 2021 Alternate Dairy Princesses were Cheyanne Troendle (left in photo above), daughter of Darrell and Amy Troendle of Waterville, and Carly Palmer (right in photo above), daughter of Glen and Holly Palmer of Harpers Ferry. Additional photos of award winners and other recognition from the 2021 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet will appear in The Standard’s Beef & Dairy special publication scheduled to be inserted in the June 23 edition of The Standard. Photo by Paula Enyart.

An eastern Iowa woman who bought a Mega Millions® ticket while on a weekend getaway to her cabin along the Mississippi River has won a $1 million prize.

“I saw a ‘1’ with some zeroes,” Karen Kramer of Urbana said as she claimed her prize Thursday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. “I didn’t think about how many I saw at first, then it hit me.”

Convinced that the information on the lottery’s mobile app was wrong, she checked her ticket again - and again.

“I rechecked everything because I thought, ‘Well, my phone’s wrong.’ And it came up again the same,” said Kramer, 60, who works as a para-educator in her local school district. “So I went on the website, then I went and checked on Facebook and it said that the winning ticket had been won at Barry’s. And I’m going, ‘OK, that’s me!’”