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by Lissa Blake

There’s a new officer reporting for duty at the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office.

K9 Deputy Tyr (as in “tear” drop) and his handler, Deputy Ross Kolsrud, recently graduated from training. Kolsrud, who has been with the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Department for 10 months now, said he and Tyr graduated from the K9 training program at Blue Line K9 of Minnesota, LLC, located in Rushford, MN.

Kolsrud had previously worked in law enforcement as an officer with the Lansing/New Albin Police Department. When he joined the Sheriff’s Department, Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick asked if he would be interested in the K9 program.

“I had always thought that would be interesting and fun to do. I didn’t ever think I would get that position being a new deputy,” said Kolsrud.

Repair projects on both the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing and three other Wisconsin Highway 82 (WIS 82, the dike road) bridges connecting Iowa and Wisconsin will close that route to traffic Friday, June 5 through Monday, June 15, according to Department of Transportation (DOT) officials. An ongoing road project on WIS 82 has been slowing traffic with single-lane closures during the past several weeks, but will require shutting down that roadway entirely for a 10-day period, allowing the Iowa DOT to also conduct some repair work on the Black Hawk Bridge.

In conjunction with the Wisconsin DOT project repairing bridges on WIS 82 on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River, the Iowa DOT will replace two deck panels on the Black Hawk Bridge during that closure. Electronic message signs are already in place along state highway routes in both Iowa and Wisconsin prior to and during the road and bridge closures to alert motorists.

Iowa’s longtime United States Senator Charles Grassley visited Allamakee County Tuesday, May 26 when he stopped at Allamakee-Clayton Rural Electric Cooperative (REC) as part of his annual meetings in all 99 Iowa counties. As threats associated with COVID-19 continue, those in attendance were seated socially distant from each other and handshaking was avoided. Among those in attendance were members of REC’s board of directors and general manager Hollee McCormick.

The Allamakee County Dairy Promotion Board has rescheduled its Annual Dairy Days Parade to Monday, June 15, postponed from its original June 1 date due to COVID-19 restrictions. The parade will be held in Waukon, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The route will begin at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon, traveling south down Allamakee Street to the stoplight intersection and then west on Main Street to the Post Office, where it will then turn north on Second Street NW and travel to Eighth Avenue NW, turning east to return back to its original fairgrounds location.

No candy or other treats or items are allowed to be thrown or shared by parade participants. All parade entrants and parade viewers are reminded to conduct themselves according to the proper social distancing guidelines. Those wishing to have an entry in this year’s parade should line up at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds by 7 p.m. For more information, call Jeremy Peake at 563-568-4120.

Although readers may notice the size of The Standard newspaper has changed a bit this week, they should also notice the quality, quantity and consistency of the news they have come to expect from their local newspaper still remains and will continue to strive to be the best it can be. A change in printing location and print size has been made in an effort to continue to provide The Standard community with the most consistent, thorough and dependable coverage of local news - much of which will not be found anywhere else - in an efficient and effective manner for its loyal readers. The Standard welcomes questions, comments or suggestions by calling 563-568-3431 or emailing news@waukonstandard.com.
 

COVID-19 pandemic forces reduction of polling sites to just three, other considerations

Tuesday, June 2 will be the Primary Election to determine which candidates will be representing their respective political parties in the 2020 General Election in November. A sample ballot of the respective races in each of the Republican and Democratic parties was published in the May 20 issue of this newspaper, listing races at the Federal, State and County levels of government for voters to make their selections in, along with additional ballot and election information, including the polling location time opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 9 p.m. that day and additional information pertaining to the changes needing to be made for this election due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on large gatherings and required social distancing, the Allamakee County Dairy Promotion Board has made a couple of decisions on its annual Dairy Days Parade and Dairy Banquet. The board has chosen to postpone the parade until a later date and has decided to cancel the banquet for this year.

Jeremy Peake of the Allamakee County Dairy Promotion Board says that the rescheduling date for the parade has yet to be determined and will be dependent upon further guidance from state and local leaders in regard to public gatherings. The parade was originally scheduled to be held this coming Monday, June 1 in Waukon.

Wednesday, May 20 at approximately 4:50 p.m., Lansing first responders were dispatched to a collision between two personal watercraft (PWC) in the main channel on the Mississippi River, just north of Lansing.

A report from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) stated that Tyler Wild, age 17, of New Albin, and Clayton Little, age 17, of Lansing, were operating separate PWCs when Wild was coming out of a turn and Little was heading towards Wild down the channel. At that time, both PWCs collided head on. When Little’s PWC hit Wild’s it went up over the top of Wild’s, hitting Wild in the head and knocking him unconscious.

by Heather Homewood,
Director of Allamakee
County Veterans Services

ALLAMAKEE COUNTY, Iowa – On May 20, 2020 at approximately 4:50pm, Lansing first responders were dispatched to collision between two personal watercrafts (PWC) in the main channel on the Mississippi River, just north of Lansing.

Tyler Wild, 17, of New Albin, and Clayton Little, 17, of Lansing, were operating separate PWCs when Wild was coming out of a turn and Little was heading towards Wild down the channel. At that time, both PWCs collided head on. When Little’s PWC hit Wild’s it went up over the top of Wild’s, hitting Wild in the head and knocking him unconscious.

Wild was lying face down in the water until Little was able to assist him into a nearby boat. Wild was taken to shore where he was provided immediate medical attention. He was transported to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, WI where he is recovering from his injuries. Little was treated on the scene and released.