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Students at Waukon High School have selected their Homecoming Court representatives for 2021, with the coronation of this year's Homecoming Queen and King set to take place at the "Burning of the 'W'" pep rally scheduled for this Thursday evening, September 16, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Waukon High School gym. Pictured in the photo above are this year's Waukon High School Homecoming Queen and King candidates from the 2021-2022 Senior class, including: Left to right - Front row: Queen candidates Justine Sullivan, Ella O’Neill, Brenna Berns and Faith Schulte; Back row: King candidates Nick Goltz, Braden Hemann, Braxton Stewart and Patrick Hennessy. For the second consecutive year, there will not be any Homecoming attendants selected from this year’s freshman, sophomore or junior classes as has traditionally been done in the past.

Allamakee County Sheriff’s Deputy Ross Kolsrud and K9 Tyr participated in another United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) Patrol Dog 1 Trial in Altoona August 29-31. With a total of 31 K9s from agencies throughout Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, K9 Tyr brought home two prestigious awards (pictured in the submitted photo). K9 Tyr was awarded first place in Criminal Apprehension, where he demonstrated resisting the attack without the handler’s command, recalling back to the handler after he was commanded, and the apprehension itself. These tasks are done with and without gunfire, and also with one scenario of handler protection where the handler is assaulted.

K9 Tyr was also awarded third place in Evidence Search, where he must locate two objects which could be any of the following: keys, driver’s license/credit card, leather, shotgun shell, matchbook, screwdriver and gun. K9 Tyr found the two random articles in an astounding 26 seconds, the fastest of the trial.

The Allamakee County Fair Board has announced the dates for the 2022 Allamakee County Fair scheduled for next summer. Those dates have been set for Wednesday through Sunday, July 20-24 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon. Further event details will be published as they become available.

Public comment due October 11

The Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation (DOT) are holding a public information meeting and providing information online as a means to gather public input for a proposed replacement of the Iowa 9/Wisconsin 82 (Black Hawk) Bridge in Lansing over the Mississippi River, connecting Allamakee and Crawford, WI Counties. The public meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 27 between 5 and 6:30 p.m. at Kee High School, located at 569 Center Street in Lansing.

The Iowa DOT is providing two meeting formats for the public meeting, including the in-person event and an at-your-own-pace virtual meeting available after the in-person event. Depending on COVID conditions in the community, the meeting may need to be moved completely online. If that happens, updates will be found online at www.iowadot.gov/pim.

Park & Recreation project benefiting from the funding is designed to improve safety, usability, health benefits of Mt. Hosmer trail system

The City of Lansing and the Lansing Park and Recreation Board announce the awarding of a Wellmark Foundation Grant to be used in mapping and marking the trails that emanate from the Mt. Hosmer Park at the north end of 6th Street North. The $25,000 Matching Assets to Community Health (MATCH) grant will benefit the Lansing Trails Expansion & Promotion Project, one of 29 initiatives to receive this year’s funding.

“We are grateful that the Wellmark Foundation sees the value in formally mapping this treasured trail system and helping us make the trails more discoverable and usable, as well as safe, for both residents and visitors,” said Maryann Baldwin, Lansing Parks Board Chair.

The City of Lansing will be holding a special election Tuesday, September 14 to elect a new mayor following the June resignation of Kyle Walleser from the mayoral office after a change in his employment would no longer allow him to fulfill the mayoral duties. With no candidate stepping forward to express interest in being appointed to the office within the designated timeframe for that option, the special election was called for.

Walleser had been elected in November of 2019 and served about a year and a half of Lansing’s four-year mayoral term. The newly-elected mayor will take office within 10 days of the official canvassing of Tuesday’s election results and then serve out the remainder of the current mayoral term through the year 2023.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

The Lansing Fire Department recently acquired a new rescue vehicle, thanks to a community effort that began in April 2020.

“The key players in this game were the truck committee made up of various members from the (fire) department, the citizens of our fire district and also our rural board members,” Lansing Fire Chief Stephen Darling said.

The truck is a 2019 Chevrolet 6500 medium rescue vehicle. “It is designed for rapid response and hauls all our department’s rescue equipment - ice rescue, high angle, grain bin, auto extrication, to name a few,” Darling said. “It can haul five personnel and enough air packs to suit up eight firemen. The truck itself ended up costing around $210,000. The funding was done 100 percent by the rural board. They set aside money for fire equipment to maintain and purchase new equipment whenever necessary.”

The Iowa 4-H Foundation sponsors the annual Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. Counties nominate volunteers, community leaders and Extension staff members who have exemplified outstanding service and dedication to the 4-H youth program in their county.

Only one individual or couple per county can be nominated each year. Inductees can also be recognized posthumously.

The Allamakee County 4-H Program nominated Mark and Barb Howe of Waukon as the 2021 Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame inductees from Allamakee County.  The Howes were recognized at the Iowa State Fair 4-H Hall of Fame ceremony Sunday, August 22. They have been active supporters of the Allamakee County 4-H program for over 30 years.

As a youth, Mark was a member of the West Ridge Riders 4-H Club where he served as vice president and president. He participated in sheep, swine, crop production and tractor project areas throughout his years in 4-H.

The weekly update by the Iowa Department of Public Health of positive COVID-19 case numbers continues to show a significant increase in positive cases for Allamakee County, the past reported week marking one of the highest new case counts in a week’s time thus far for this year 2021. As of the last available official positive case update Wednesday, September 1, Allamakee County showed 43 new positive cases of COVID-19 in the previous seven days prior to September 1.

Students from Waukon High School will join thousands of other youth and many others on athletic fields across the nation Wednesday, October 6 to share their Christian faith with fellow students and the general public for this year’s Fields of Faith event. The local event is now in its 10th year and will start at 6:30 p.m. at the Waukon High School football field Wednesday, October 6, or in the Waukon High School gym in the event of bad weather.