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Lowell Engle of Harpers Ferry has announced his candidacy for the District 56 seat in the Iowa House of Representatives. Engle becomes the second area Republican candidate seeking election to the District 56 office, as he joins Kristi Hager of Dorchester in seeking the Republican bid to run against District 56 incumbent Patti Ruff of McGregor in November of this year.
“I have been asked by many of my loyal followers to run again for the 56th District House seat in November,” Engle said of running for the District 56 seat for the second time after having done so in 2014. “I am not running against Kristi Hager, whom I consider a good friend. However, the party must choose the most viable candidate to run against Patti Ruff.”

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday morning, February 29 to face a relatively short agenda. Just one comment from the general public was heard, as Dennis Blocker of Waukon, who is spearheading an initiative to establish an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) trail in Allamakee County, shared a recent article from the La Crosse Tribune about a study conducted in Jackson County in Wisconsin that revealed an annual revenue of nearly $8 million from ATV usage within the county.
“It’s not just chicken feed,” Blocker said in regard to those revenues. “We’re not expecting to get that kind of money, but even a tenth of that would be a boost to Allamakee County.” Blocker also said he also forwarded the article to Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Chuck Gipp in an effort to possibly open up State Parks in the area to ATV trail usage.

Late Monday afternoon, February 22, the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office was notified by the Iowa Department of Corrections that Dakota Dale Voves, age 24, of Waukon had failed to return to the West Union Residential Treatment Center in West Union where he was serving a court-ordered sentence. Area law enforcement officials were put on alert for an attempt to locate Voves.
Friday morning, February 26, the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa State Patrol arrested Voves at a residence on Pole Line Road in rural Allamakee County on a Warrant for a Probation Violation. Voves was taken into custody without incident and is currently being held in the Allamakee County Jail in Waukon.
 

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will be hosting two public meetings in Allamakee County to update the public on chronic wasting disease and seek public input on partnering with hunters, taxidermists and lockers to increase surveillance on the area’s deer herd. Two wild deer harvested in Allamakee County during the recent hunting season have been confirmed positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), marking the third year in a row the disease has been confirmed in a wild Iowa deer, all in Allamakee County.
The meetings are scheduled for Tuesday March 1, one from 2-4 p.m. at the Ethel Robinson Meehan Community Center, located at 238 North Fourth Street in Harpers Ferry, and another from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Waukon Banquet Center, located at 612 Rossville Road, in Waukon.

Discussion of Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center draws large crowd again at Tuesday session

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors held a pair of regular sessions within the past week, one of them delayed a day by the President's Day holiday. Coverage of both the Tuesday, February 16 and Monday, February 22 Board of Supervisors meetings appears below:

New Albin Fire Department, local hovercraft owner help rescue man from icy waters of Minnesota Slough

Editor's Note: The following article was first published in the February 10, 2016 edition of the Fayette County Union newspaper of West Union. It is being reprinted here with permission from the Fayette County Union and includes some additional comments from local individuals involved in the rescue effort.

by Chris DeBack,
Fayette County Union
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

Thursday, February 25, the National Park Service (NPS) will begin seeking the public’s comments on a Draft Cultural Landscape Report and Environmental Assessment (CLR/EA) for Effigy Mounds National Monument. The public is encouraged to download and comment on the Draft CLR/EA during the public review period, which will run from February 25 through March 25.
A Cultural Landscape Report serves multiple purposes. First, it documents what is known of the park’s landscape: its origins, its evolution over time, its cultural features, and its current condition. Second, it proposes treatment recommendations for managing the landscape in order to ensure the long-term preservation of its resources and values.

Winneshiek Energy District is working with local partners to bring five Go Solar! Workshops to Allamakee, Chickasaw, Clayton, Fayette and Howard counties in February and March of 2016. Attendees can learn solar basics, meet contractors and see solar in action at host sites, among other things.
A solar workshop is scheduled for Allamakee County for Thursday, March 3 in the Community Room at Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank in Waukon. The workshops will be held according to the following schedule:
• February 25: Clayton County; Keystone AEA in Elkader
• March 1: Chickasaw County; New Hampton Community Center
• March 3: Allamakee County; Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank in Waukon
• March 8: Howard County; Cresco Bank and Trust in Cresco
• March 10: Fayette County; West Union Public Library (tentative).

The expressions on faces and numbers on the scoreboard tell the tale as members of the Kee girls basketball team race toward their fans with the State Tournament qualifying banner they received after defeating Lynnville-Sully in a 61-58 overtime thriller Monday, February 22 in the Class 1A Region 3 championship game held at Cedar Falls High School. The Hawk triumph advances Kee to the State Basketball Tournament for the first time in school history, where the Hawks are now slated to match their number-five ranking and 22-2 season record against fourth-rated and 23-1 Burlington-Notre Dame Monday, February 29, beginning at 11:45 a.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Find additional coverage of the Kee basketball girls' historic feat on pages 15A and 16A in this week's edition of The Standard, and look for a celebratory commemorative banner to be released later this week that you can be a part of by calling The Standard at 563-568-3431.

Award nomination deadline February 26; Dairy Princess applications due March 1