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Communities of Waukon and Lansing encouraged to complete speed test and survey by August 31

August 2, the Iowa Office of the Chief Information Officer published a new version of the Statewide Broadband Availability Map, which is designed to facilitate decisions concerning future spending under federally-funded broadband programs. The Office utilizes maps and data sources made available by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), contractors and other third-party sources in compiling its own broadband availability map.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

Lansing Office Works was stop No. 77 on Senator Joni Ernst’s annual 99-county tour Thursday, August 11, as the senator met and spoke with about a dozen local citizens on the issues they see as being most important in their community.

“So great to be with folks in Lansing today,” Ernst tweeted on her social media account later that day. “Through the opening of the Lansing Office Works co-working space and Main Street Lansing business development programs, they’re making major steps in fostering entrepreneurship within the city.”

Among the attendees Thursday was Kee High School and Middle School Principal Sarah Updegraff, whose appraisal of the situation in Lansing was met with nods of agreement by everyone in the room. “If we don’t start serving our families with housing, with daycare and with amenities, we’re going to have a dying community,” she said.

The Waukon Corn Days celebration this past weekend kicked off with two main events Thursday evening, August 4. Pictured above, a sizable crowd filled both food stands at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon for the traditional sweet corn meal, with an abundance of other activities available for all ages to help celebrate the annual Corn Days event. The annual Corn Days parade through Waukon followed the meal, with numerous people lining the parade route throughout the community. Friday and Saturday, August 5 and 6 continued the draw to Waukon with Crazy Days specials at local businesses, coinciding with the annual tax free weekend observed in the state of Iowa. Additional photos from Thursday’s Waukon Corn Days events appear on Page 13 inside the Wednesday, August 10, 2022 print edition and e-edition of The Standard, and can also be found in the Photo Galleries link on this webpage.

The Harpers Ferry Fireflies traveled to Kansas City, MO to play in the National Granny Basketball Tournament July 30-31. Twenty teams participated in this year’s tournament, including six from Iowa, seven from Kansas, two from Louisiana, two from Oklahoma, two from Texas and one from Missouri.

During Saturday, July 30 pool play, the Fireflies played the Oklahoma Rockers of Jones, OK and won, 65-55. They then defeated Sugar and Spice of Wichita, KS, 50-20, and in the final game of the day defeated the Classic Roadrunners out of Des Moines, 55-37. Advancing to the championship bracket of the Sunday, July 31 single elimination tournament games, the Fireflies made their way to the tournament’s championship game by defeating the Oklahoma Rockers again, 57-41, and the Late Bloomers out of Norway, IA, 40-35.

The Heytman’s Landing boat ramp, south of Lansing, on Pool 9 of the Mississippi River is scheduled to be closed until September 23 this fall. The closure is taking place to accommodate the replacement of the railroad bridge that spans the boat channel along the river’s edge at that boat ramp site.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) encourages boaters to seek other ramps in the area during the Heytman’s Landing closure, including Village Creek on the south edge of Lansing and New Albin Army Road, located north of Lansing. There are also many ramps on the Wisconsin side of the river. The Big Slough and Winneshiek Slough landings are available along Hwy. 82 (locally known as the dike road) in Wisconsin after crossing Lansing’s Black Hawk Bridge. The Blackhawk Park area near De Soto, WI has multiple ramps and the Dairyland Power access south of Genoa, WI has plenty of parking.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting informational meetings on Chronic Wasting Disease in northeastern Iowa. A pair of such meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, August 24 at Johnson’s Hall and Restaurant in Elkader from 6:30-7:30 p.m. and Wednesday, August 31 at the Waukon Banquet Center from 6:30-7:30 p.m. The DNR invites everyone who is interested in learning more about what Iowans can do to help slow the spread of the disease.

Hazard risks can be natural or man-made, and cover a variety of things, such as storms and flooding, hazardous materials, infrastructure, terrorism, human disease and more. The public is invited to be involved in Allamakee County Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee (HMPC) meetings to identify hazard risks and discuss ways communities can prevent, or mitigate, these risks in the future.

Planning committee members require no previous experience to be involved. The planning process will provide the data, materials and questions necessary to engage stakeholders in thinking about hazard mitigation needs for their community.

Planning committee members will attend up to five meetings over the course of the coming year. The initial planning meeting will be held from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, August 31 at Waukon City Hall, located at 101 Allamakee Street in Waukon.

Allamakee County greeted 18,000 bicyclists and also welcomed support crews and other visitors that pushed population estimates to nearly 25,000 people for the final day of RAGBRAI® XLIX Saturday, July 30, as the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) came to a close for its 49th year. As depicted in the surrounding photos, bicyclists celebrated completion of this year’s RAGBRAI journey with the traditional dipping of their front tire in the Mississippi River in Lansing and some also raised their bicycles over their heads in triumphant celebration of their accomplishment (evident in the photos above and below taken by Julie Berg-Raymond).

This article is submitted by Matthew Brandt with assistance from Mark Brandt, Rachel Brandt, and Dana Wind Lorelle (daughter of Julie Brandt)

I grew up knowing that my Great Uncle Arthur F. Brandt of Postville served in the Army in World War I. I grew up knowing he died a hero, having guided his company back to safety while enduring mortal wounds. I grew up knowing he was buried in France along with other soldiers who never made it home.

As an adult, having been reared on this legend, I entertained vague notions of someday visiting his grave and paying my respects. But it wasn’t until my own cancer diagnosis, when my wife inquired, “Not to be morbid, but do you have any items on your bucket list?” that I realized the time to visit Uncle Arthur’s grave was upon me.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

When Kristie Ringelstetter, of Lansing, first spoke to the Lansing City Council in late September 2021 about forming an in-town trap-neuter-return (TNR) program for cats, she knew there would probably be some questions and concerns.

There was, for example, a concern about what would happen when a skunk got trapped, instead of a cat. “Who gets called, then?” someone wondered. Another person said that it was, after all, against city ordinances to “drop off” cats in town - “which is what you would be doing,” the person noted.

“Well, they’re already here,” Ringelstetter responded to that suggestion. “We’re trying to make sure they don’t reproduce.” On the question of the accidental skunk, she said she’d never had that problem; but she added that she would be talking with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and animal welfare organizations about the possibility.