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by Joe Moses

Allamakee County is moving forward with plans to utilize solar energy at the County’s Public Safety Center north of Waukon. That location will soon be home to a completed solar array, a collection of multiple solar panels that will generate electricity as a system. This renewable energy option will provide electricity not only for the Public Safety Center, but also for storage buildings associated with that facility in addition to the Allamakee County Waste and Recycling facility located just south of the Public Safety Center grounds.

Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick and Vice President John Nielsen of Perry Novak Electric in Decorah recently provided an update to The Standard relating to this project. Mellick discussed how the solar array project came to be, with the County being approached earlier this year by a contractor and an investor expressing interest in developing a solar array.

A rare December severe thunderstorm roared through Allamakee County and the surrounding area Wednesday evening, December 15, not necessarily causing a significant amount of visible damage but certainly having an impact on local electrical utilities. That impact was both immediate for most of that same night of the storm and then forced to return later the next day in an effort to remedy lingering effects.

Weather forecasters had been advising the Upper Midwest of a weather rarity for that mid-December day that would elevate temperatures into the 60s and ultimately bring strong winds and even stronger wind gusts. Those winds began to pick up throughout Wednesday and ultimately reached peak reports of 60 to 70 miles per hour at various locations in northeast Iowa.

City of Waukon officials have just received word that power will be shut down in the City of Waukon for Alliant Energy customers at 10:30 AM today (Thursday), and will be shut down for approximately 2 hours. This is being done in an effort to assist with repairs of electrical lines in the area. Please take necessary precautions!

The Iowa Area Development Group (IADG), on behalf of Iowa’s rural electric cooperatives, municipal utilities and independent telecommunications companies, honored eight distinguished Iowa companies and leaders with the Iowa Venture Award at a luncheon held in conjunction with the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives’ annual meeting. Among this year’s award recipients is Rolinda Acres of rural Waterville, a family farming operation nominated by Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative.

Rolinda Acres, owned by Tara and Pat Reisinger, is located near the northeast Iowa town of Waterville. The Reisingers have five hog buildings, farm 1,500 acres, milk 785 cows and operate a dog breeding business. In 2001, the Reisingers milked 150 cows. They plan to double the current number of 785 cows in 2023.

Veterans Memorial Hospital begins limiting visitors again

The positive tests for COVID-19 reported by the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) in its weekly update hit levels not seen for nearly a year in Allamakee County for the first week in this month of December. Albeit a week ago now, the most recent update provided by the IDPH Tuesday, December 7 reported a total of 70 new positive tests for Allamakee County for the timeframe of December 1-7.

The Waukon Police Department was made aware of a general threat that was said to have been made by a student while at the Waukon High School Tuesday evening, December 7. Although the threat was general in nature, it was taken seriously by the Allamakee Community School District and local law enforcement.

Through a collaborative initial investigation, the student who made the threat was found to be no threat to the safety of the school, students or the community. The student, pending completion of the investigation, was not attending school following the initial claims made.

In a post on the Waukon Police Department Facebook page that also included the above information, Waukon Police Chief Paul Wagner further noted, “I want to assure the public that if there was a threat to the safety of students at our schools, my children would not be in attendance at school, nor would any other children.”

Live-stream viewing option also available Sunday

The Allamakee Ecumenical Choir will present its 45th Annual Candlelight Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols Service this Sunday, December 12 at 7 p.m. The service will be held at St. John’s Lutheran Church located at 8 Fifth Street SW in  Waukon.

Local clergy will be reading the lessons. Christmas carols will be sung by the congregation. Choral numbers will be presented by the Ecumenical Men’s Choir (also known as the Heartland Barbershop and Gospel Singers) and a Women’s Ensemble. Music will also be provided by the St. John’s Handbell Choirs, Waukon High School Brass Quintet, and Baritone Horn Soloist Shauna Johnsen. The program is under the direction of James Bieber with assistance from his daughter, Sarah Bieber, Choral Director at Waukon Middle School and Waukon High School.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, December 6 to address a full agenda of items including the consideration of two participation agreements relating to opioid litigation, the designation of Allamakee County as a Home Base Iowa County and setting a date and time for a Public Hearing for the Ordinance describing voting precinct boundaries.

During Public Comment, Executive Director Val Reinke of Allamakee County Economic Development (ACED) discussed recent and upcoming events within the county including the Lighted Holiday Parade scheduled for Monday, December 6 in Waukon. Reinke provided an update relating to a childcare survey, housing in Waukon and community development in Postville. She also discussed continued communication with Iowa House Representative Anne Osmundson relating to aluminum can redemption issues faced within the county.

by Brianne Eilers

Recent visitors to Oakland Cemetery in Waukon may have noticed a change in the way the cemetery looks thanks to the dedication and hard work of Waukon residents Larry and Shirley Sharp. This year alone, the Sharps have cleaned and given new life to 731 headstones at the cemetery.

Shirley estimated they cleaned around 82 stones last year, and the couple didn’t know how many they have done altogether since they began doing this. The Sharps began dabbling in cleaning up old headstones about five years ago, starting with family grave markers.

“We noticed my dad’s stone was turning black,” Shirley said, and they wanted to know what they could do to fix that. Larry and Shirley contacted Stacey Gossling of Decorah, and learned how to properly clean headstones from her. The Sharps took their newfound knowledge and cleaned up the headstones of both Shirley’s and Larry’s relatives in cemeteries located in Iowa and Minnesota.

The Allamakee County Veterans Museum will observe Pearl Harbor Day Tuesday, December 7 by offering a program to the public in the Program Room of its new museum in the former Vet’s Club building in Waukon.

Tuesday, December 7 at 6:30 p.m. a video documentary will be presented about the Japanese air raid on the U.S. Naval and Air Bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Islands, which marked the entry of the United States into the Second World War.

The Pearl Harbor documentary will be preceded by a video that museum staff are calling “The last summer of peace in Waukon before the War.” It includes movie footage filmed in downtown Waukon in the summers of 1940-1941 by the Cote family for entertainment viewing in their newly opened Town Theatre on Main Street in Waukon.