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The 2019 Memorial Day Observance Program being held at Oakland Cemetery in Waukon Monday, May 27 is scheduled to commence following the traditional parade that begins at 9:45 a.m. in front of the Allamakee County Courthouse and marches its way to the cemetery. In the event of rain, the program will be held at the Waukon Banquet Center.

In addition to the weather, road construction in the downtown Waukon area may prevent the traditional parade from taking place as well. Should the construction work on Allamakee Street and/or Main Street prevent the parade from beginning at its traditional County Courthouse point of origin, plans are to begin the parade at the St. Patrick School parking lot and travel east down the hill toward Rossville Road and then south to Oakland Cemetery. Should weather and/or road construction not fully cooperate, the Memorial Day Observance Program will be scheduled for 10 a.m.

Issuing the “Next Generation Challenge” to veterans and youth

“I feel an obligation to continue to tell their story, because, like it or not, there aren’t many of them left to keep telling it.”

That’s what historian and author Michael Luick-Thrams says about the World War II Prisoners of War (POWs) that he has researched and written several books about over the past 20 years. That feeling of obligation has further led to the establishment of TRACES, a nonprofit organization started by Luick-Thrams in the late 1980s that has helped gather and preserve those and many more stories of historical significance through which Luick-Thrams says he wants to help “apply lessons of the past to current situations.”

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

Brennan Dolan, Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) Cultural Resource Project Manager, met with interested area residents regarding further discussion pertaining to the Black Hawk Bridge project plan Wednesday, May 2 at the Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library. A full house listened and asked numerous questions as Dolan and colleagues Shelby Ebel, Bryan Bradly and Emily Randall reviewed the findings of the Iowa DOT in regard to the proposed Black Hawk Bridge project.

This was the fourth meeting of DOT officials with the Lansing Historic Working Group. The two purposes of this meeting were to: 1) discuss historic resources identified as a result of the project area for the bridge and 2) discuss the options that the Iowa DOT, Wisconsin DOT and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have considered for rehabilitation and reuse of the current bridge.

Saturday, May 11, a full-scale emergency response training exercise was conducted through Allamakee County Emergency Management in various locations throughout the local area, including the town of New Albin, Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon and the long-term care facilities of Good Samaritan Society-Postville, Good Samaritan Society-Waukon, Northgate Care Center in Waukon, and Thornton Manor Nursing Center and Thornton Heights Assisted Living in Lansing. This training involved New Albin Fire and Rescue, the City of New Albin, the Lansing/New Albin Police Department, Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office, Waterloo Hazardous Materials Training Center, Veterans Memorial Hospital, Allamakee County Emergency Management Agency, staff of the participating long-term care facilities and representatives from the Northeast Iowa Local Emergency Planning Committee.

The Allamakee County Dairy Promotion Board invites the public to its Annual Dairy Days Parade, which will be held in Lansing Monday, June 3, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The parade will start at Kee High School, travel through downtown on Main Street, south on Second Street and back west on John and Center Streets to end up at the school.

Those wishing to have an entry in this year’s parade should line up at Kee High School in Lansing between 7-7:15 p.m. For more information, call Jeremy Peake at 563-568-4120.

Following several consecutive days of subsurface testing during a weeklong closing, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) re-opened Highway 82 connecting Iowa and Wisconsin via the Black Hawk Bridge in Lansing to vehicle traffic Friday, May 3 around 4 p.m. That re-opening, however, has been limited to a single lane of traffic controlled by a stoplight for a nearly 100-yard portion of the highway near the smaller slough bridge closest to the highway entrance to the Winneshiek Slough Landing boat ramp.

Allamakee County Secondary Road crews were kept busy late Thursday and early Friday, May 2 and 3 with a pair of landslides that left some large rocks and other dirt and debris on County roadways. Pictured above is a large rock formation that slid off the hillside and rolled on to Columbus Road near the Driftless Area Visitor and Education Center south of Lansing Friday morning, May 3. Road crews were also called to another larger slide that covered both lanes of County Road X52 near Waukon Junction south of Harpers Ferry Thursday afternoon, May 2, closing that highway for a bit and leaving another large rock formation along the side of that road that was slated to be cleaned up early this week. Saturated soils from this spring’s unpredictable weather could lead to more such instances, with more rain forecasted, so drivers should be aware. Photo courtesy of the Allamakee County Engineer’s Office.
 

As part of Allamakee County’s ongoing strategy of improving readiness, Allamakee County Emergency Management Coordinator Corey Snitker wants to remind residents that there will be several emergency response training exercises taking place this Saturday, May 11 throughout the county. Those training exercises were originally planned for April 27, but had to be rescheduled due to winter weather that hit the area that day. These emergency response training locations include:

• the town of New Albin, where a hazardous material spill exercise will take place;
• a decontamination exercise of patients arriving at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon;
• and also a shelter-in-place exercise at each of the long-term care facilities within the county due to a hazardous material spill.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, May 6 to address a full agenda of items including discussion relating to marijuana dispensary zoning, review of manure management plan updates and consideration of a letter to the USDA requesting Federal assistance for Emergency Watershed Protection funding for flood damage for Secondary Roads.

The Allamakee County Historical Society hosted an All-County Rural School Reunion Sunday, April 28 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon with a good crowd in attendance (evidenced by the photo far below). Event co-organizer Marcia Rush said more than 150 individuals who actually attended a rural school in Allamakee County signed in at the event’s guest book, with many of them bringing at least one or more family members or friends leading to an estimate around 300 people in attendance. That guest book included attendees from as far away as Iowa City, Wyoming and Marshalltown in Iowa, Eau Claire, WI and Rochester and Fountain in Minnesota, as well as two dozen other closer communities in the tri-state area. Others also took advantage of the opportunity to tour the Little Red School House at the Fairgrounds during the reunion, but opted not to attend the reunion itself.