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by Julie Berg-Raymond

Superintendents from two local school districts in Allamakee County are opposed to Senate File (SF) 159, often referred to as the “school voucher bill.”

Passed by the Iowa Senate January 28, 2021, the bill is currently under consideration in the Iowa House of Representatives, initially being reviewed by the House Education Committee. If passed by the House and signed by Governor Kim Reynolds, the greatest portion of the bill would provide public funds to enable some students to attend private schools if they are currently attending one of 34 school districts in Iowa designated as under-performing schools and currently receiving certain federal support as a result of that under-performing status.

Members of the 14th-rated Waukon girls basketball team celebrate with each other after posting the 60-37 victory glowing on the scoreboard above over sixth-rated and defending Class 2A State Tournament Runner-Up Osage (21-2) in their Class 3A Region 5 championship game played Saturday, February 20 at Waverly-Shell Rock High School. The Lady Indians hustled and muscled their way to a 21-10 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back, more than doubling that early lead throughout the remaining three quarters of the game to qualify for the Class 3A State Tournament for the second time in the past three seasons, following the bucket Tribe’s “final four” finish during the 2019 season grand finale effort  that a couple of this season’s seniors contributed to as sophomores. The Lady Indians (19-4) will now begin their Class 3A State Tournament journey with a first-round game Monday, March 1 against second-rated Clear Lake (18-1), beginning at 9 p.m.

Shipment of vaccine doses for this week have been delayed by weather

Allamakee County Public Health (ACPH) is scheduled to continue to receive 300 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the State of Iowa weekly that need to be administered within one week to those in the Phase 1B group designated by the Iowa Department of Public Health.

However, Allamakee County Public Health officials advised Monday, February 22 that the doses slated to be received for administering to Allamakee County residents this week have been delayed by the same weather situations that have delayed a number of dose shipments across the nation.

Award nominations due by Monday; Princess applications due by March 1

The Allamakee County Dairy Promotion Board has opted not to schedule the 2021 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet at this point in time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the board is still seeking nominations to honor and recognize deserving producers and contributors to the dairy industry in Allamakee County. Should restrictions on gatherings and other mitigation procedures allow, the board may opt to schedule the banquet at a later date this year or, at the very least, will distribute this year’s awards during June Dairy Month, much like was done last year in light of the pandemic situation.

This past week, Allamakee County Public Health (ACPH) received 300 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the State of Iowa to be administered to eligible individuals in tier 1B. These doses were divided among ACPH, The Prescription Shoppe in Postville and Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Clinic in Waukon.

ACPH focused on vaccinating the additional tier groups in Phase 1B of school districts, law enforcement and first responders, while community partners The Prescription Shoppe and VMH Clinic administered to individuals aged 65 and older. Another 300 doses are expected be received this week - a trend anticipated to continue into early March, according to what ACPH officials have been told.

A new book by author James Kenyon of Cedar Falls released in early February features the former New Albin High School as part of its subject matter. Echoes in the Hallways: History and Recollections of 102 Closed Iowa High Schools is a collection of stories from student alumni of closed Iowa high schools, documenting 102 institutions from Iowa’s 99 counties.

In his multi-year research for the book, Kenyon consulted county historical records as well as interviewing former students and teachers, culminating in unique school profiles that include information ranging from the origin and growth of education in each county to sporting records, programs and school traditions. A native of Kansas, Kenyon actually published a similar book on closed high schools in Kansas in 2019, entitled Golden Rule Days: History and Recollections of 109 Closed Kansas High Schools.

What many had described locally as a winter that had “not been too bad” early on certainly took a turn toward the worse late last week with the snowstorm that dumped reports of up to five inches of new snow across Allamakee County Thursday, February 4 and coupled that new fallen snow with winds gusting up to 30 miles an hour that blew that snow around well into Friday, February 5, not only covering area roadways initially but continuing to cover them with blowing snow into the weekend (as evident in the photo of the initially covered road above Thursday afternoon and the road streaked with blowing snow pictured below Friday morning).

Even though the map of vaccine provider locations on the State of Iowa COVID-19 website (https://coronavirus.iowa.gov) continues to show Allamakee County as one of eight counties in the state of Iowa without a list of vaccine provider sites as of Monday, February 8, Allamakee County Public Health officials say the limited vaccine doses that have been alloted to Allamakee County by the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) are being injected into as many arms as those limited doses allow.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, February 8 to address a full agenda of items including the approval of Collective Bargaining Agreements between Allamakee County and the County Sheriff’s Office and the County Road Crew, approving the Fiscal-Year 2022 salary for the Board of Supervisors and the hiring of a full-time maintenance person for the Secondary Roads Department.

There was no Public Comment during that designated portion of the meeting. Manure Management Plan updates for Manderfield Ag 1 and 2, Crossroads Dairy and Steve Weymiller were individually reviewed by the Supervisors with all four plan updates being accepted and placed on file.

Award nominations due by February 22; Princess applications due by March 1

The Allamakee County Dairy Promotion Board has opted not to schedule the 2021 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet at this point in time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the board is still seeking nominations to honor and recognize deserving producers and contributors to the dairy industry in Allamakee County. Should restrictions on gatherings and other mitigation procedures allow, the board may opt to schedule the banquet at a later date this year or, at the very least, will distribute this year’s awards during June Dairy Month, much like was done last year in light of the pandemic situation.