At a Wednesday evening, March 28 special session of the Waukon City Council, the council accepted the resignation of council member Dwight Jones. The resignation notice emailed by Jones to fellow members of the Waukon City Council, Waukon Mayor Pat Stone, Waukon City Attorney Jim Garrett, Waukon City Manager Dean Hilgerson and Waukon City Clerk Al Lyon Monday morning, March 26 simply stated, “Please accept this as my official resignation from the city council effective immediately. Good luck. Dwight.” There was no further explanation offered at the March 28 special session, which Jones did not attend.
The Standard reached out to Jones to offer the opportunity to further explain his resignation decision. His reply follows:
“Eighteen years ago I received some parking tickets from the Waukon PD that I felt were unjustified. I took out my frustration by running for mayor, and no one was more surprised than me when I won that first election.
A regular session of the Lansing City Council was held Monday, April 2. Discussion centered around a public hearing date scheduled, information concerning moving City Hall to a different location, designating a day for citywide clean-up, hiring groundskeeping and maintenance positions for the City and hiring Lansing summer recreation baseball and softball coaches.
There will be an open public hearing Monday, April 16 at 7 p.m. to discuss the Alliant Energy electric franchise. Members of the public are invited to comment on the continuation of the City’s contracted services with Alliant (See Page 5B in this week’s issue of The Standard for further details on the public hearing).
Four Compatibility Determinations (CDs) which evaluate various economic and/or commercial uses of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (Refuge), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are available for public comment through April 9 of this year. The draft CDs re-evaluate the following uses of the Refuge:
The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary has announced a Boating Safely Course to be held Saturday, April 21 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at City Hall in Prairie du Chien, WI, located at 214 East Blackhawk Avenue. This course qualifies for the Wisconsin or Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Boating Safety Certificate.
This eight-hour course provides basic training in the safe operation of watercraft including vessel familiarization, rules of the road, federal and state boating laws and safety on the water and is designed for all ages. Students must be at least 12 years of age to attend the class alone.
Boater education is required in Wisconsin for anyone born after January 1, 1989 to operate a vessel, including a personal watercraft (PWC). In Iowa, it is required of anyone age 12 to 17 years old to operate a boat of more than 10 horsepower or a PWC.
The Kee High School Drama Department will be presenting “Surviving Reality” as its annual spring play on stage this weekend. Show times are Saturday, April 7 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 8 at 2 p.m. Admission will be payable at the door for each showing. The play is a two-act comedy written by Daniel O’Donnell and published by Eldridge Publishing. It involves the owner of a small local television station deciding to produce his own reality show, casting the haughty Tuttletons of Park Avenue, NY with the down-home Hatter family of Hog Holler, KY. The families think they only have to live together in the Hatter cabin for a month, but unbeknownst to them, they must also endure a series of challenges made increasingly impossible so the million-dollar prize cannot possibly be won. Come see if and how the Tuttletons and Hatters comically endure everything thrown at them, including exchanging clothes and accents, to the final, ultimate test of eating worms and cow eyes.
Reegan Benzing... First-place winner at both the district and department levels for third grade. Submitted photo.
Reid Deeney ... First-place winner at the district level for fourth grade. Submitted photo.
Ethan Palmer ... First-place winner at the district level for fifth grade. Submitted photo.
The Lawrence D. Anderson VFW Auxiliary #4117 recently presented awards to local elementary school students who had advanced and won at the district and department level in Iowa in the annual student essay contest. The annual “I Love America Because” VFW Auxiliary Elementary School Essay Contest for students in third, fourth and fifth grades was held last November and winning local entries advanced to the district level in January and then on to the department (state) level more recently.
Third grade students used the topic “I Love America Because…” and winning first place at the district level and also first place at the department level was Reegan Benzing, daughter of Ryland and Shannon Benzing of Waukon. She is a member of Mrs. Sara Retallick’s class at East Elementary School where Mr. Joe Griffith is principal.
Allamakee County will offer a “Last Chance” Private Pesticide Applicator Continuing Instruction Course (CIC) for private pesticide applicators Thursday, April 12 at the Allamakee County Extension Office in Waukon. This program is shown in cooperation with the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP).
Registration begins at 10 a.m. and the course runs for approximately two-and-a-half hours. To register or to obtain additional information about the CIC, contact the ISU Extension and Outreach office in Allamakee County by phoning 563-568-6345.
The course will fulfill 2017 recertification requirements for private pesticide applicators. Topics to be covered include pesticide storage and handling, laws and regulations, personal protective equipment, pesticide stewardship, and pest management and pesticides.
April proclaimed as Sexual Assault Awareness Month ... At its Monday, April 2 regular meeting, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors signed a proclamation designating April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Allamakee County. Pictured above at the signing of the proclamation are: Left to right - Front row: Riverview Center staff members including Sexual Assault Advocate Lacy Jorgensen, Bilingual Sexual Assault Advocate Tirzah Corbin and Sexual Assault Response Team Coordinator Brandi Lewin. Standard photo by Joe Moses.
by Joe Moses
The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, April 2 to address a full agenda of items, including the contract with Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC) for Comprehensive Planning Services, consideration of Road Rock Resurfacing bids and consideration of the Sexual Assault Response Team Proclamation of April 2018 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
During Public Comment, Executive Director Val Reinke with Allamakee County Economic Development (ACED) discussed two recent articles in “Our Iowa Magazine” relating to Allamakee County Reinke also advised that the upcoming month of May is Tourism Month.
Representing Dolphin Gymnastics ... Kaitlyn Krambeer (center in above photo), a sixth grade student at Waukon Middle School and the daughter of Brad and Becky Krambeer of rural Waukon, competes for Dolphin Gymnastics out of Decorah. She is pictured above with her Dolphin Gymnastics teammate Brinley Krivachek (left) and their coach Sheila Ford (right). Submitted photo.
Under close watch ... Kaitlyn Krambeer, daughter of Brad and Becky Krambeer of rural Waukon, executes a straddle jump during a recent floor exercise competition as other young gymnasts look on. Krambeer has competed in a number of high-end regional competitions within the past few months and has qualified for the Regional Gymnastics Championships being held April 21-22 in Minneapolis, MN as a member of the Iowa team. Submitted photo.
Kaitlyn Krambeer, a sixth grade student at Waukon Middle School and the daughter of Brad and Becky Krambeer of rural Waukon, is a Level 6 gymnast who recently competed in the Iowa State Meet held in Des Moines. Participants must qualify for that State Meet at one of the other meets hosted throughout the season.
Krambeer started gymnastics when she was just three years old. She has been competing in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic program since she was seven years old and has qualified for every State Meet since she began her competition in that Junior Olympic program at the age of seven. She is a member of the Dolphin Gymnastics Team in Decorah, and in addition to gymnastics, she is also involved in basketball and softball.
The 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is now officially over, with Villanova winning this year’s tournament championship. Likewise, the 180 entries in The Standard’s 2018 Basketball Bracket Challenge have also played out to one single champion, that being Jamie Kruse of Waukon.
But, quite the opposite of the NCAA Championship game’s final result, a sizable 79-62 victory for Villanova, Kruse just narrowly edged out three other entries by just a single point to win this year’s Bracket Challenge. Kruse ended up with 136 points to finish just in front of Jim Winters, Marlene Houg and Austin Troendle and their Bracket Challenge totals of 135 points each. Those three finished tied for second place in that order listed above based on their championship game combined point total tie-breaker selections of 140, 146 and 148 points, respectively, with Villanova and Michigan combining for 141 points in Monday’s championship game.
