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The 2015 Kee High School Prom is scheduled for this Saturday, April 25. The annual banquet will be held at TJ Hunter’s Reception Hall, beginning at 5:30 p.m., with the Prom dance taking place from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. in the reception hall as well. The public is invited to attend the Grand March, which is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m., with a free-will donation being taken at the door. Following the Grand March, this year’s Prom King and Queen will be crowned. Kee’s Post Prom festivities will follow the dance until 4 a.m. at the Lansing Middle School. Pictured above are the senior class King and Queen candidates for the 2015 Kee High School Prom. Left to right - Front row: Queen candidates Winter Manning, Morgan Davis, Megan Vinson and Malerie Mathis. Back row: King candidates Keegan Ahouse, Michael Harris, Sam Hisel and Tom Brennan. Photo courtesy of Kee High School Yearbook.
 

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence has sponsored April as National Alcohol Awareness Month since 1987. This year's theme focuses on early education about alcohol and addiction. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug in the United States and despite laws against underage drinking, 12- to 20-year-olds drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States.

by Kelli Boylen
freelance writer

by Bob Beach

The Allamakee County Public Safety Center Committee will be conducting a series of town hall meeting sessions throughout this next week, April 20-24, in various communities throughout the county. Information regarding the proposed Public Safety Center Project and the May 5 bond referendum vote supporting the project will be presented to the public, and time will also be allotted for members of the general public to ask questions about the project.
All Allamakee County residents are encouraged to attend one of the five scheduled meetings listed below to learn more about the project and to ask any questions they may have about it:
• Monday, April 20 at 7 p.m. - Northeast Iowa YMCA Community Room, 313 West Post Street in Postville;
• Tuesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. - Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank Community Room, 201 West Main Street in Waukon;
• Wednesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. - Kee High School, 569 Center Street in Lansing;

Following the collection of more than 100 deer as part of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) surveillance effort looking for chronic wasting disease (CWD) near Harpers Ferry in late February and early March, the DNR has now scheduled a public meeting to discuss the results of that harvest and testing effort, as well as to solicit input and begin planning for continued surveillance this summer and fall. The DNR has scheduled that public meeting for Thursday, April 16 in Harpers Ferry's Ethel Robinson Meehan Community Center, located at 238 North Fourth Street, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Tissue samples from 85 of the adult deer collected during that intensified late winter harvest were sent to the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames for testing and all 85 samples came back as not detected. All collectors have been notified of those results.

The Allamakee County Community Foundation (ACCF) recently authorized $66,510 in agency and donor-advised endowment payouts for fiscal year 2015. This year's recipients of those grant payouts will be recognized at the ACCF 10th Anniversary and Grant Awards Celebration being planned for Tuesday, April 21 at the Waukon Banquet Center. The event will take place from 4-5:30 p.m., with the program commencing at 4:30 p.m. to recognize this year's grant recipients.
Community foundations are charitable organizations that administer funds to benefit their communities and improve the lives of people in their geographic region. Non-profit organizations and community members can create endowment funds through ACCF to benefit charitable causes. These funds are invested and pay out five percent annually to the designated non-profits, providing a reliable source of income to sustain organizations’ operations forever. Any earnings beyond the five percent are reinvested.

by Bob Beach

by Kelli Boylen
freelance writer

In anticipation of the planned May 5 bond referendum vote for the proposed new Allamakee County Public Safety Center to be built on the current Makee Manor property, The Standard would like to field questions from the general public of Allamakee County in regard to the project and/or upcoming vote. Those questions will then be presented to members of the Public Safety Center Committee or other officials to be answered in a future article in this newspaper. All questions submitted will be considered and those appearing with the most frequency will likely be prioritized for inclusion as issues of greatest importance/concern.