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Mother River is ready to start spring cleaning and Friends of Pool 9 (FOP9) will be there to help, but they can’t do it alone.

Since 2004, FOP9 has sponsored a spring river clean-up day. Since that year, over 130,000 pounds of debris has been collected. This wasn’t done by just a few volunteers.  Over 7,000 volunteer hours, including 890 last year, have gone into this project saving approximately $140,000 in work related costs. Last year alone, 13,000 pounds of accumulated garbage was harvested.

Young and old, fathers, mothers, grandparents and kids are urged to join Friends of Pool 9 Saturday, April 29 in this clean-up endeavor.  Both people and boats are needed. Participants gather at the Lansing VFW building on Front Street in Lansing at 7:30 a.m. for registration, orientation, clean-up assignments and to collect clean-up supplies.  Canvas gloves, garbage bags and water are provided.

Kee High School’s Post Prom was held Sunday, April 23 from midnight until 4 a.m. Guests played table games and other challenging activities using play money. The raffle and silent auction prize packages were also popular with the guests. Special entertainment was provided by hypnotist Blake Powers from Wand Enterprises. Door prizes were awarded throughout the evening and everyone drew a number to win a prize package at the end of the event. A special drawing was held and the Guest grand prize (Garmin Vivofit) was won by Drew Gaunitz (pictured at left above). The Kee junior student grand prize (Sylvania DVD player) was won by Ian Sickles (pictured in center above) and the Kee senior student grand prize (Samsung TV) was won by Clayton Eubanks (pictured at right above). Everyone attending was given an opportunity to guess the number of candies in a jar and Allison Colsch (pictured at right) won $100 for guessing closest to the actual number.

Prohibition and Civilian Conservation Corps in Northeast Iowa will be the next subject  for the monthly Sesquicentennial program at Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library. The program will be presented by author Linda Betzinger McCann Tuesday, May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  A soup supper will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a donation jar available for free-will donations. McCann will be talking about two books she has authored, "Prohibition in Eastern Iowa" and "Civilian Conservation Corp in Northeast Iowa."

Prohibition was the 13-year period when it was illegal to manufacture, sell or transport any sort of liquor in the U.S. So, why did residents choose to break the law? According to McCann, Al Capone did business in Iowa and there were murders in Iowa over liquor. Whatever went on nationwide seemed to happen in Iowa also.

Saturday, April 8, several fifth and sixth grade band students from the Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) traveled to Cedar Rapids to perform in the Coe College Honor Band. They had the opportunity to play under the direction of Robert W. Smith, who is recognized worldwide as a composer of music for bands. The students rehearsed all day and then performed a concert in the evening for a full house. Pictured above, left to right, are participating sixth grade ACSD students Kianna Krueger, Kylie Keilsmeier, Bailey Sherman and Cody Huinker. Pictured below are participating fifth grade ACSD students: Left to right - Front row: Ethan Lewey, Owen Luster. Back row: Kyrie Snitker, Brooklyn Ottaway, Hayden Holzwarth. Submitted photos.

Lukas Larson grew up watching his grandfather and father use a welder to make repairs on farm machinery and semi-trucks and always enjoyed using his hands to build and fix things. As a student at Waukon High School, Larson decided to get a head start and put those skills to the test.

He completed a career pathway certificate from Northeast Iowa Community College’s (NICC) Welding program, and is now qualified for employment in advanced manufacturing. He accomplished all of this during his junior year.
In 2016, Larson enrolled in the Northeast Iowa Career Learning Link program, which assists high school juniors and seniors in northeast Iowa in the development of career goals.

“Northeast Iowa Community College is so close to my high school that I took advantage of the opportunity right away,” said Larson, who also took several concurrent enrollment courses to earn college credit.

The Waukon Post Prom 2017 Committee was awarded a $1,000 donation from U.S. Cellular to help fund the Waukon Post Prom event coming up this Saturday, April 29. The donation is part of a partnership through the online fund raising campaign Pear, which connects groups, teams and organizations with companies that want to sponsor and support local groups. Groups can fund raise up to $1,000 for custom apparel or a direct nonprofit donation by simply engaging with their sponsor online.

The Waukon boys track team competed in another pair of meets this past week. The track Tribe finished fifth out of seven teams at the Decorah Invitational Monday, April 17 before battling to a second-place team finish at its own Indian Relays Friday, April 21.
The Indians were next scheduled to compete at the Oelwein Invitational Tuesday, April 25 for their only meet this week. The track Tribe will then compete at New Hampton Monday, May 1 before taking part in the Northeast Iowa Conference Meet to be hosted by Waverly-Shell Rock Thursday, May 4 and then preparing for its Class 2A State Qualifying Meet to be held at North Fayette Valley Thursday, May 11, details of which can be found in a shaded box on this week’s Sports pages in the print edition and e-edition.

Kendra Cooper makes more history with first-ever Drake Relays qualification in the discus, Chloe Severson just misses Drake Relays but shatters her own school record in the shot put

The Kee girls track team continued one of its strongest seasons in the existence of the program with another solid week of competition that added more entries to the team’s history book. The Lady Hawks posted a fifth-place finish in the larger, 10-team field at the Crestwood Invitational Tuesday, April 18, where junior Chloe Severson unleashed another school record shot put effort. The Kee girls then dominated their own home invitational meet Thursday, April 20, winning 12 of 19 events to claim the meet’s team championship as well.

The Kee boys track team had a busy latter half of this past week, competing on back-to-back nights but not having to travel far at all to do so. The Hawks first hosted their own home invitational meet for the only time this season, finishing third in that five-team event Thursday, April 20. Kee’s tracksters then stayed within the county to travel to the Waukon Invitational the very next night, finishing sixth in those final six-team standings in a limited participation effort against mainly larger schools Friday, April 21.

The Waukon boys golf team picked up its second win of the season in a busy week of three matches this past week. The Indians first fell at Decorah by a 215-170 count Monday, April 17 before picking up the week’s lone victory, a 190-203 home triumph over Caledonia, MN Tuesday, April 18. The golf Tribe then fell at home to South Winneshiek by a 195-184 end result Friday, April 21 in a match rescheduled from April 3 due to winter weather.

The Indians were next scheduled to play at Crestwood Monday, April 24 before playing at New Hampton Friday, April 28. An April 25 match at Prairie du Chien, WI has been canceled. The Tribe linksters will then host back-to-back nights to start next week, Oelwein coming to town Monday, May 1 and Postville doing likewise Tuesday, May 2.

For more complete coverage, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.