2012 Year in Review Part I: January - June

The items below summarize the top news stories that appeared in The Standard during the first six months of 2012.

January
The results of the Republican Party’s caucus held Tuesday, January 3 across Iowa were somewhat surprising to many, as former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney finished first with 30,015 votes, a mere eight votes ahead of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who had gained momentum in the polls just days before the caucuses. Texas Congressman Ron Paul also made a strong showing, finishing third with less than 4,000 fewer votes than Romney and Santorum. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich came in fourth with 16,251 votes, ahead of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s 12,604 votes and Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s 6,073 votes.
Paul fared much better in Allamakee County, finishing first with 157 votes (just two votes ahead of Romney), while Santorum fared much worse than he did statewide, finishing in fourth with 77 votes, five votes behind Gingrich. Perry received 28 votes from Allamakee County, and Bachmann garnered 18.

In its holiday-delayed session Tuesday, January 3, the Allamakee County Board regretfully accepted the resignation of John Smola from the Allamakee County Planning and Zoning Commission. Smola reminded the Board that planning and zoning must fit the unique geology of the county and that zoning is based on the County’s Comprehensive Plan, adding that those currently serving on the Commission “have the knowledge, drive and wherewithal to follow the comprehensive plan.”

Veterans Memorial Hospital physicians and staff have announced that Kendyl Rae Wedo, daughter of Melissa and Randy Wedo of Monona, is the winner of the First Baby of the Year Contest at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon.
Kendyl Rae was born January 3 at 8:50 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Hospital. Dr. Benjamin Nesseim was her physician. Kendyl weighed 8 pounds, 4.5 ounces and was 22-1/2 inches long when she arrived.

Having accepted the resignation of John Smola from the Planning and Zoning Commission a couple weeks earlier, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met January 16 with the only two applicants expressing interest in serving the remainder of Smola’s term, Doug Mullen of Lansing and Colleen Gragg of Waukon.  Following assurances from Mullen that he understands what is expected, the Board voted unanimously to appoint Mullen to the Planning and Zoning Commission, effective February 1, to serve the remainder of Smola’s term, which ends this September.

Christopher Craig Thompson of Monona, found guilty November 18, 2011 of Second Degree Murder for the October 2, 2010 shooting death of Angela Marie Gabel, was sentenced Monday, January 23 in Allamakee County District Court to 35 to 50 years in prison, the mandatory sentence.
In addition to the prison sentence, Thompson was ordered to pay restitution to Gabel’s estate in the amount of $150,000, $20,094 to the Iowa Crime Victims Compensation Fund, plus court costs, costs of prosecution and jail fees.

In Crawford County, WI Circuit Court Tuesday, January 24, Michael John Burroughs of Prairie du Chien, WI, age 27, pled no contest to, and was found guilty of, First Degree Reckless Homicide, a Class B felony, in the 2006 disappearance of Shannon Fischer, age 23 at the time she went missing.
Burroughs, a 2003 graduate of Waukon High School, had walked into the Crawford County Law Enforcement Center in Prairie du Chien, WI October 10, 2010 and confessed to killing Fischer, his girlfriend, in December of 2006.

Waukon Economic Development Corporation, Allamkakee Economic Development and the Waukon Chamber of Commerce hosted a Waukon Downtown Forum at the Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank Community Room Tuesday, January 31. Over 75 Waukon area business owners, property owners and residents participated in the forum to identify issues affecting downtown Waukon and to offer suggestions to help revitalize downtown Waukon.

February
During its regular meeting Monday, February 6, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met with Will Ament, Co-Chair of the Robey Memorial Library Capital Campaign, who presented a funding request for the expansion of Waukon’s public library. Ament noted that the County has been generous in contributing to other projects, such as the Waukon Wellness Center and the renovation of the Postville YMCA. He asked the Board to consider either a $150,000 contribution over three years or a $200,000 contribution over five years to the $1.4 million project.

The Waukon City Council met in regular session the evening of Monday, February 6. Councilman Dave Sanderson was absent. Following light Departmental discussion, the short, eight-item Regular Business agenda was addressed.
The first issue involved financing options for the Robey Memorial Library expansion project. The room was full of library board members, staff, etc., though little input was required as this discussion involved which funding source the Council would be using to satisfy its $490,000 obligation to the project.

In a ceremony held Tuesday, February 7 at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, Governor Terry Branstad announced that Lansing was one of three Iowa communities selected to join the Main Street Iowa program. Lansing joined Chariton and Jefferson as this year’s Main Street designees, along with 45 other communities that have previously received the designation.

According to Live Healthy Iowa Outreach Coordinator John Stevens, 1,713 Allamakee County residents are participating in the Governor’s 100 Day Wellness Challenge. The 1,713 adult and youth participants represent 12.8% of the county population (age five and above), and that percentage places Allamakee County third among all counties in the state of Iowa participating in the Challenge.

A judge has thrown out 50 of the 51 counts alleging open meetings violations against Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC), which maintains offices in Decorah and Postville.
The Commission had filed a motion with the court, asking for dismissal of all counts. Plaintiffs in the case are the City of Postville and Jason Meyer, owner/publisher of The Postville Herald newspaper.
Judge Thomas A. Bitter of the First Judicial District of Iowa handed down the ruling Thursday, February 9. The judge also ruled that a trial be held on the remaining count, which alleges UERPC “purposefully” prevented the public from having access at a meeting.
The case originated from a September 23, 2010 meeting in which Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission met to consider whether to buy a building in Decorah to alleviate the overcrowding at the organization’s Postville offices.

March
During its regular meeting Monday, March 12, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing on its proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. Chairman Larry Schellhammer said that the Board has worked on the County’s budget since January, and that department budgets were reviewed “literally line-by-line.”
Hearing no objections from the public, the Board closed the public hearing and voted unanimously to adopt the proposed budget for the 2013 fiscal year. The $20.6 million budget includes $5.6 million raised from property taxes and increases of 10 cents per $1,000 valuation to the Rural Services Levy and 27.4 cents per $1,000 valuation to the General Supplemental Levy.

The Iowa City Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by an open house for a new VA Outpatient Clinic in Decorah March 22. The new clinic is located at 915 Short Street in Decorah, the location of the former Walmart building, and will provide primary care services that veterans in the local area had to previously drive two-plus hours to receive in Iowa City.
Among those primary care services will be chronic disease management, blood drawing, care coordination home telehealth, diabetic education, group and individual nutritional sessions, weight loss/management classes, and mental health services. Those primary services at the new outpatient clinic may not completely eliminate the need for area veterans to travel to Iowa City for further necessary care, but will certainly cut down on the travel time for many initial health visits and primary care issues.

April
The fate of a 2003 Waukon High School graduate was decided by Crawford County, WI Circuit Court Judge James Czajkowski in Madison, WI Tuesday, April 3 in the 2006 disappearance of Shannon Fischer of Prairie du Chien, WI, age 23 at the time she went missing.
Michael John Burroughs, age 27, of Marquette, a resident of Prairie du Chien, WI when the incident took place, was sentenced to 25 years of initial confinement followed by six years of extended supervision after pleading no contest in January of this year to First Degree Reckless Homicide, a Class B felony. A felony charge of Hiding a Corpse had been dismissed.
According to the Criminal Complaint in the case, Burroughs confessed in October of 2010 at the Crawford County Law Enforcement Center in Prairie du Chien, WI to killing Fischer, his one-time girlfriend, by strangling her over missing methamphetamine.

Over 150 graduating Seniors from Waukon, Postville and Kee High Schools attended “Reality 101” at Waukon High School Wednesday, April 4. Over 80 individuals and businesses volunteered their time to create a real life financial scenario for all of these students preparing for graduation.
Each student was given a career and monthly income based on northeast Iowa wages, plus a life scenario which may include a spouse, children and possibly even child support situations. The students were then required to visit each of the 30 stations to open a bank account, pay their taxes, purchase an automobile and insurance, pay for daycare, groceries, household supplies, veterinarian expenses, health and life insurance, etc.

Monday, April 16, Allamakee County Relief Director Linda Kruse informed the Board of her retirement, effective December 21 of this year, and asked for the Board’s permission to advertise for a replacement. Because her replacement would have “a lot to learn,” Kruse said she hoped to place an ad in the middle of May, conduct interviews in June and hire someone to start August 1 at $14 per hour full-time.
Allamakee County Auditor Pam Benjegerdes said that she had received a request from David Boss of Northeast Iowa Community Action for a copy of the Relief Office budget, signaling an intention to submit an offer to take over relief services in Allamakee County. “Please keep the Relief Office as it is,” Kruse said. “Don’t combine with Community Action. You’ll lose programs. They won’t do school supplies, Christmas or swim passes.” The Board tabled the matter for the time being, awaiting a former proposal from Northeast Iowa Community Action before making a decision.

History was made by the Kee boys and girls track teams Tuesday, April 17 when the two teams hosted the school’s first-ever track meet at its new track facility in Lansing. Although the combination football field/track project of several years in the making was completed in time for Kee’s football team to play home games this past fall, the April 17 Kee Invitational marks the first-ever competitive track meet hosted by the school, an event that brought many out to take in the historical event in addition to being able to watch some quality track and field.

May
Daniel Jones of Waterville was seriously injured in a logging accident Tuesday, May 8 in the woods at 2523 155th Avenue in rural Decorah. The Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Department reports that Jones was struck by a falling tree adjacent to one he was working on and was trapped under that tree when emergency services arrived at the scene. Jones was transported by helicopter to Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, WI.

After winning both the State and National levels of the annual Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest earlier this spring, East Elementary fourth grader Sophie Halverson has made history at the Waukon school by becoming its first-ever Grand National Champion. The Grand National crown means Halverson has been selected as having the best handwriting of any fourth grader in the entire nation.
Being selected from among more than 325,000 entries received from students nationally, Halverson’s handwriting entry made its way to the top of the Iowa fourth grade pile and was further selected as one of 16 National Champions in fourth grade before standing alone as the top fourth grade entry in the nation this year.

During its regular meeting Monday, May 21, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met with CPC Administrator Jan Heikes, who updated the Board on the recently passed redesign of the mental health and developmental disabilities system in the state. Heikes said that under Iowa Senate File 2315, the State would begin to assume responsibility for the non-federal share of Medicaid expenses for services beginning July 1, 2012, which she said accounts for 70% of Allamakee County’s mental health and developmental disabilities (MH/DD) budget.
Heikes said that while the State will be picking up expenses for the non-federal share of Medicaid expenses, counties will no longer receive property tax relief, growth, local purchase of community services funds from the State. In terms of sufficient funding for continuing MH/DD services, Heikes said, “We’re okay.”
Starting in fiscal year 2014, Heikes said counties will levy $47.28 on a per-capita basis, which, based on taxable valuation, would result in a levy rate of approximately 99 cents per thousand, a decrease from the fiscal year 2013 levy rate of approximately $1.15 per thousand, ultimately resulting in a net loss in county revenue of approximately $112,000. Again, Heikes said that with the State paying Medicaid expenses, “we should be okay.”
Heikes said that the County could apply by October 15 for funds to cover expenses during the transition to the new system, but the rules for distribution of those funds would not be established until December.
Another major change under the system, Heikes explained, is that regions will be established to provide “core services” and those regions will be established by counties who chose to form a group with other counties. Counties must submit their intent to join a region by April 1, 2013 or their intent to apply for an exemption from joining a region by May 1, 2013. Counties that have not joined a region or applied for an exemption will be assigned to a region by the Department of Human Services July 1, 2013, when the new core services will begin.

What began as a step in the right direction in January of this year eventually ended up in Des Moines in early May, with nearly a million minutes of physical activity logged along the way, a shiny Community Cup Challenge trophy brought back to Allamakee County, and a healthier lifestyle adopted by many.
The recently completed 100 Day Wellness Challenge started by Live Healthy Iowa in January presented numerous incentive programs to try and promote health and wellness throughout the state. Allamakee County not only rose to that Challenge, but also above every other community involved in the Community Cup incentive portion of the Challenge, to claim top honors in the inaugural year of the Community Cup Challenge. The 100 Day Challenge was begun as a means to help reach Iowa Governor Terry Branstad’s goal of making Iowa the healthiest state in the nation within the next five years.

June
The Primary Election results from Tuesday, June 5 in Allamakee County indicate change in a couple elected positions within the County’s governing system. All contested races in this year’s Primary election were on the Republican ballot in Allamakee County, with no contested races on this year’s Democratic ballot making for very low turn-out numbers among voting Democrats.
A pair of current deputies from the Allamakee County Sheriff’s office were vying on the Republican ballot for the office of Allamakee County Sheriff, which is open due to current Sheriff Tim Heiderscheit not seeking re-election. Clark Mellick garnered 64.2% of the voters’ support (1,533 votes) to win the Republican nomination for the office over John Grampovnik, who received 35.8% of the vote (855 votes).
The race for Allamakee County Auditor had three candidates vying for the Republican bid, including incumbent Pam Benjegerdes. Challenger Denise Beyer edged out Benjegerdes for the nomination, managing 46.2% of the vote (1,071 votes) in comparison to 38.35% (889 votes) for Benjegerdes. Challenger Lana Deeney-Snitker garnered 15.4% of the votes (357 votes) in that race.
The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors also had a contested race for the Republican nomination, with Dennis Koenig claiming 71.19% (1,594 votes) of that support, well ahead of Dan Bechtel’s 28.72% (643 votes).

During public comment time at the regular meeting of the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors Monday, June 11, the Board met with current Relief Director Linda Kruse, who will be retiring in December. “The ball is in your court. It’s your decision to make,” she said to the Board in regard to the relief services decision. “I would appreciate the office staying open under a new director.”
After some discussion, the Board authorized Kruse to advertise for a full-time replacement, with benefits, with a salary commensurate with experience and qualifications.