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Residents and visitors of Allamakee County will get twice as many chances to see the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train this year, as the holiday spectacle on rails will make its way up the western edge of the Mississippi River Sunday, December 4 to make a pair of stops within the Allamakee County borders. The Holiday Train will be stopping in Lansing this Sunday evening, at approximately 4:50 p.m., and again in New Albin a little over an hour later, at approximately 6:15 p.m.

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train is adorned with hundreds of thousands of lights and serves as a stage for live musical performances. Both stops are scheduled to include performances by country music singer Kelly Prescott and/or veteran blues singer Colin James. Santa Claus will also be making an appearance in conjunction with the train stops.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, along with Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) Director Paul Trombino, recently announced the designation of three new Iowa Byways and the modification of three existing byways in the state, including the extension of the Driftless Area Scenic Byway (DASB) in northeast Iowa and a slight modification to that same route to replace a graveled portion between Lansing and Harpers Ferry with a paved roadway along the route.

Independently ranked as the “most scenic byway in Iowa” the 100-mile Driftless Area Scenic Byway currently weaves through Allamakee County. The slight modification in the far eastern portion of the county will change the route from an original graveled portion along the County Highway A52/Sweet Ridge Drive gravel road between Lansing Harpers Road and Great River Road a bit further to the north to, instead, utilize the paved Lafayette Ridge Drive connecting those two roadways.

The family of the late Daniel E. Regan has arranged for a small fragment of the USS ARIZONA (BB-39), destroyed at Pearl Harbor, to be presented to the City of Waukon and area Veterans' organizations at a ceremony Tuesday, December 6 at 7 p.m. at the Robey Memorial Library in Waukon, the eve of the 75th anniversary of the commencement of World War II. No part of the ship has been re-used or salvaged since it exploded that fateful day, December 7, 1941, killing 1,177 men, including Waukon native Ens. Lawrence Anderson. A few years ago Congress gave the Navy League of the United States 400 small pieces of the superstructure to be used for memorials.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, November 28 to address a variety of topics, including the 2017 holiday schedule for County offices, a personnel matter in the County Sheriff's Office and plat approvals for two properties. Board Chairman Larry Schellhammer called the meeting to order. The current meeting agenda and previous meeting minutes from November 21 were approved.

The annual Lighted Holiday Parade held in Waukon Monday evening, November 21 brightened up the beginning of the holiday season in more ways than one as nearly two dozen entries made their way through the city streets. Seasonal temperatures hovered right around the freezing mark at parade time, allowing a fair-sized crowd to line the parade route to enjoy the festive kick-off to the holidays. Parade entries celebrated the holiday season in a variety of ways, including this entry pictured above honoring the sweetest reason for the season. View and find out how to purchase this photo and more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.
 

Midwest Construction Consultants updated the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors at its Monday, November 14 meeting on the current status of the Allamakee County Public Safety Center currently being constructed on the former Makee Manor property north of Waukon along Highway 9. The contractors advised that the construction project is about halfway to its completion point, with much of the focus now on the interior of the facility, and it continues to be on schedule for completion in March of 2017. Pictured above at left is the exterior and south driveway of the sally port area which will serve as the secure location and controlled entryway where prisoners will be transported to and from the Center. Pictured above at right is the maximum security jail cells, which will remain as the cement block walls pictured above and will have metal doors added in the shown existing door frames.

Crews from Ray's Excavating of Edgewood continue their work on replacement of a section of storm sewer next to New Life Christian Church and heading south underneath Seventh Avenue SE to its outlet just on the south side of that roadway, with this portion of the project expected to be completed by November 30. This phase of the project (pictured in top photo above) involves replacement of 156 feet of the previous corrugated metal pipe (a small section of which is pictured in the center of the photo directly above) with larger capacity, 72-inch concrete pipe (several sections of which can also be seen in the photo directly above). This section of the project is being completed initially after a portion of the metal pipe had collapsed and created a sinkhole that had grown "large enough to fit a small car into," according to project inspector Brian Dunt of Fehr-Graham Engineering, the City of Waukon's contracted engineering firm.

Waukon Economic Development Director Ardie Kuhse recently received word that Waukon Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) was awarded a $250 Shopko Foundation Community Charitable Grant for the proposed Waukon Community Art Project. Shopko's grant program was established to support charitable nonprofit organizations through limited funding of local programs and events in their Shopko communities.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, November 21 to address a variety of topics. Among those items was an update on the County's partially self-funded health insurance policy, discussion of Human Resource consultant options and a recommendation for the part-time Assistant County Attorney position.

Vernon County, WI Sheriff John B. Spears and Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick have jointly released a report on the arrest of Lonnie J. Rockwell, age 44, and Trent R. Rockwell, age 18, both of De Soto, WI. The arrests were made Thursday afternoon, November 10 in the village of De Soto, WI pursuant to a felony arrest warrant issued by the Iowa District Court for Allamakee County stemming from an incident reported early Wednesday morning, November 9 in Allamakee County. At 6:37 a.m. that Wednesday, a farmer on Iowa River Drive near New Albin contacted the Allamakee County Sheriff's Office to report he may have interrupted a burglary in progress on his property. The farmer reported two males fled in a car pulling a small trailer. The vehicle was last seen traveling north on State Highway 35 in Wisconsin, just east of Lansing.