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by Lissa Blake

A series of recent open house forums focused on  area water quality were a success,  according to Megan Buckingham, watershed outreach coordinator for Northeast Iowa Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D).

Around 100 residents and landowners attended one of three forums held in November to discuss plans to reduce flooding and improve water quality in the Upper Iowa River Watershed. The watershed open houses, hosted by Northeast Iowa RC& D, were held in Dorchester, Decorah and Cresco.

New Albin has its first-ever live Christmas tree (pictured at far right) this year in the City Park area, thanks to the combined efforts of the New Albin Improvement League (NAIL), community members and some area children. “For a few years we have thrown around the idea of getting a large, live Christmas tree,” says Alexie Grotegut, NAIL president. “This year - with a very generous donation of the tree and the help of Jeff Meyer and Tom Feuerhelm - we were able to make it happen.”

To help decorate the tree, ornament-making classes for area youth were held at the New Albin Public Library under the direction of Heather Abrahamzon. “The ornaments turned out great, and were added to the tree,” Grotegut says. Some of those ornaments and some of the local youth who helped make them during those classes are pictured in the surrounding photos.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, December 18 to address a full agenda of items, including the discussion of a site plan for an Alliant Energy and Interstate Power Communication Tower, a Hazard Mitigation plan presentation and discussion of joining other counties in support of litigation against opioid manufacturers. Chairperson Larry Schellhammer called the meeting to order with the current agenda and meeting minutes of December 11 being approved.

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors met on a couple occasions this past week, including a work session Tuesday, December 12 and the board’s regular monthly meeting Monday, December 18. A majority of the larger than normal crowd at the board’s December 18 regular session was there for the board’s first agenda item under New Business, making a decision on the future of Waterville Elementary School. Without further discussion or presentation, the roll-call vote on the matter was unanimous that Waterville Elementary will be closing at the end of the 2017-2018 school year. ACSD Superintendent Dave Herold said the next step in the process for closure of the school will be for the administration, staff and school board to begin planning for the transition and that it would be important to keep everyone up to date and involved in the process.

Voters in the city of Waukon elected a new mayor in the Tuesday, December 5 run-off election.

According to now canvassed results released by the Allamakee County Auditor's Office, those voters elected city government newcomer Pat Stone to the Waukon Mayor's office by a 395-236 final vote count over current Waukon City Council member and one-time multi-term Waukon mayor Dwight Jones.

Stone's margin of victory included an absentee vote spread of 83-49 and an election night tally of 312-187.

The run-off election was necessary after the November 7 City Election did not yield a true winner in an initial five-candidate race for Waukon's mayorship. None of those five candidates in that initial mayor's race received the necessary 50%+1 vote majority, pushing the top two vote-getters, Jones and Stone, into the run-off election.

by Brianne Eilers

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors met for a nearly two-hour work session in Waterville Thursday evening, December 7 in the Waterville Elementary School library. The main purpose of the work session was to establish a dialogue with parents of Waterville Elementary students and Waterville community members regarding the board's upcoming decision on whether or not the district will keep Waterville Elementary open at the end of this school year. That decision is scheduled to be made at the board's next regular meeting, scheduled for this Monday, December 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the Waukon High School Library.

Sunday, December 10 at approximately 8:27 a.m., the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a body located in a wooded area in the Fish Farm Mounds Wildlife Area south of New Albin along State Highway 26. Two hikers reported that they had found a body while hiking the area.

Officers from the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Department and a physician did respond to the location and determined that the remains found were those of a male individual and that the individual had been deceased for some time. The body was transported to the State of Iowa Medical Examiners’ Office in Ankeny for an autopsy and identification, which Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick said may take up to two weeks to complete. No foul play is suspected in the matter, according to the initial report from the Sheriff's Office.

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train returned to both Lansing and New Albin this year, with this year's musical performers playing full shows at both locations Thursday evening, December 7. As evident in the surrounding photos, attendance at both events was strong, despite the cold temperatures that gripped the area that evening. This year's musical performers included country music artists Terri Clark (pictured above), Dallas Smith (in check presentation photo) and Kelly Prescott, and Santa Claus also made an appearance. Monetary and non-perishable food donations from attendees in Lansing benefited the Allamakee County Food Shelf, with a total of 1,073 pounds of food and $736 being donated, in addition to the $4,000 donation made to the Allamakee County Food Shelf by Canadian Pacific.

The Allamakee Ecumenical Choir will present its 41st annual "Festival of Lessons and Carols" service this Sunday, December 10 at 7 p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church, located at 8 Fifth Street SW in Waukon. Area clergy will read the lessons, and carols will be sung by the choirs and congregation. Choral numbers will be presented by the Ecumenical Choir, Ecumenical Men’s Choir, Ecumenical Women's Choir and Ecumenical Children’s Choir. Musical selections will also be presented by a Brass Ensemble and the St. John’s Lutheran Church Youth and Senior Handbell Choirs.

The Bixby Children String Quintet will also perform and accompany some of the choral selections. They are the grandchildren of James Bieber, who first organized and continues to prepare and direct the Allamakee Ecumenical Choir for this annual community celebration of Christmas that is open to the public. He will once again be assisted by his daughter, Sarah Palmer, this year.
 

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

Longtime Lansing resident Chris Bolson and her sister, Margaret Walter from Decorah, recently returned from Washington D.C. where they took part in  the 35th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Wall Memorial. Their brother, PFC Lloyd C. Wohlford, was killed in the Vietnam War in 1967 at the age of 20.
Every five years, a ceremony is held where the  58,318   names of the individuals who died in the Vietnam War are read. When Bolson and Walter learned of the ceremony this year, they decided it was a memorial they wanted to be a part of for their brother and they quickly made travel arrangements.
Volunteers read the names over a period of 19 hours from 5:00 a.m. until midnight over a period of four days. They  knew  the approximate time that their brother’s name would be read was at  12:32 p.m. and they wanted to be there to hear it.