News Center newsletter

Anne Osmundson of Volga was nominated as the Republican candidate for State Representative at the Iowa House District 56 nominating convention held Thursday, July 12 in Postville. The Allamakee and Clayton County Republicans met for the bi-county convention, as District 56 encompasses all of Allamakee County and all but three townships of Clayton County.

Osmundson is a lifelong resident of Clayton County, spending most of her time near the town of Volga. She graduated from Central High School in Elkader. After graduating, she married her husband, Steve. The couple had seven kids and she stayed at home raising them while also working as a bookkeeper for their family business.

Wednesday, July 18 marked the final chapter in the history of Mulligan’s Grill Pub in Waukon following the January 23, 2018 fire that destroyed the building’s interior. The six months since that fateful day for owner Dana Ruegnitz and his wife, Jordan, have been a difficult timeframe of follow-up and decision-making, ultimately leading to a decision to tear down the remaining structure and not rebuild. The tearing down process took place in just a single day July 18, depicted in the surrounding photos.

The Red Rock Threshers based out of Pella held their annual Tractor Ride in Allamakee County this year, with more than 220 tractors traversing the roadways of Allamakee County Friday and Saturday, July 20 and 21. After arriving at their homebase location of the Waukon High School parking lot (pictured in wide photo above) Thursday afternoon, July 19, riders departed from that location (pictured in two photos at left and right) early both days of the ride, traveling 86 miles Friday from Waukon to New Albin and then through Lansing, Harpers Ferry and Waterville before returning to Waukon in the late afternoon, and then journeying 62 miles Saturday up Highway 76 to Dorchester and Eitzen, MN before returning to Waukon via Lycurgus Road to then prepare to depart for home.

The Waukon Park, Recreation and Wellness Department continues to move forward with its planned project for outdoor community tennis courts available for anyone to use, reaching nearly two-thirds of its project funding goal. That funding has come from a variety of different grant and coordinated sources, and now the Waukon Park, Recreation and Wellness Department is offering local organizations, businesses or individuals the opportunity to help finish out that funding process.

The Waukon community has been without an outdoor tennis court facility for nearly two decades, with the aging courts previously owned by the City of Waukon and located in the Waukon City Park being removed in the fall of 1996. The Allamakee Community School District also had its two tennis courts removed from the Waukon High School location near the turn of the century to make room for campus and facilities improvements and expansion.

Family and friends of Nancy (Frana) Knutson of Bloomington, WI, formerly of Waukon, will be hosting a benefit event for her this Saturday, July 28 at the Waukon Banquet Center. The benefit event is geared toward raising funds to help pay for medical bills and other life adjustments that may develop for Knutson from recent heightened health issues with diabetes.

Knutson has been battling diabetes for nearly half her life but the past six months have resulted in a series of amputations due to poor circulation and ensuing infection. She had her toes amputated on her right foot in February of this year, but then developed an infection and had to have that right leg amputated as well in June.

She is currently recovering at home but makes frequent follow-up medical visits. She is also in the process of being fitted for a prosthetic leg and is determined she will walk again, according to benefit organizers.

The North Iowa Area Community College John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (NIACC JPEC) conducted the Youth Entrepreneurial Academy July 9-13 sponsored by the John K. and Luise V. Hanson Foundation. The academy is offered annually and free to all high school students interested in entrepreneurship.

Participants receive a $500 NIACC scholarship sponsored by John Pappajohn. This year’s academy included 13 high school students. The aspiring entrepreneurs completed the academy, which is held as a day camp each day. Students were given the opportunity to stay in NIACC’s student housing, and several students elected to do so. Students not staying in the student housing received gas cards to help cover the week’s travel from their homes to NIACC.

The Waukon Middle School 10th Hour June summer program was involved in many activities this past session. The students began the summer with learning the fine points of operating a Canon Power Shot camera so they could document each activity. Brittany Todd, owner of “Photography by Brittany” in Decorah, furthered that education in operating the cameras as the students toured her shop and listened to her explain in-depth instructions on a guided use of their cameras. Nathan Todd, proprietor of the Sugar Bowl in Decorah, also led the group in a tour of his ice cream parlor, which is known for its 24 flavors of ice cream. Students enjoyed the flavors of cookie dough, Zanzibar chocolate, cotton candy, and strawberry cheese cake. During an adventure day the students had at Luther College, they took on the Challenge Course that required nerves of steel, teamwork and large motor skills. Students flew through the air attached to harnesses that were hooked to their teammates.

The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) has been participating in the Free Summer Food Service Program again this year, and its final offering for this year of those free breakfast and lunch meals will begin Wednesday, August 1. Menus for those final August dates accompany this article (both printed at right). Breakfast and lunch will be provided to all children ages one through this past spring’s graduating seniors at no charge and are the same for all children, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability, and there will be no discrimination in the course of the meal service.

Meals will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis at the sites and times as follows:

• Waukon Middle School Cafeteria: Mondays-Fridays, August 1-14. Breakfast will be served from 8-9 a.m. and lunch will be served from 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

The last home games of the 2018 season were special ones for the Lansing Mudcats Little League baseball and softball teams. The July 10 game for the baseball Mudcats (pictured at right) and the July 11 game for the Mudcats softball team (pictured below at right) were each dedicated to the memory of their teammate, classmate and friend, Austyn Seitz, the son of Tony and Becky Seitz of Lansing who passed away suddenly in July 2015 at the age of seven. The players came up with the idea on their own and approached their coaches about doing something during the season as a tribute to Austyn to honor his memory and recognize that he has not been forgotten by his peers. He would have completed fourth grade this past school year and this would have been his first year as a member of the Mudcats traveling baseball team, which fields a combined squad of fourth through seventh grade players.

The mission of an athletic booster club is to provide support for a school’s athletic teams in such aspects as financial, equipment and other resource needs. This year, the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club supporting the Waukon High School and Middle School athletic teams certainly put an extra “boost” in booster club.

That boost came in the form of an additional nearly $35,000 in financial support that helped with the purchase of a variety of equipment, some more sport specific and some that can benefit all sports. These purchases were made over and above what the Booster Club and the athletic teams would normally spend in a year to provide those teams with equipment, training and other preparation and competition opportunities.