News Center newsletter

New IDALS-Funded Program Aims to Incentivize Expanded Use of Cover Crops to Improve Water Quality
 
Iowa Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig has announced a new program aimed at increasing acres of cover crops in the state. Iowa farmers who plant cover crops this fall (2017) may be eligible for a $5 per acre premium reduction on their crop insurance in 2018. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) worked with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA), who oversees the federal crop insurance program, to establish a 3 year demonstration project aimed at expanding the usage of cover crops in Iowa.

Beginning today, IDALS will open the online sign-up and application process for farmers and landowners to certify eligible land for the program at the following link: www.cleanwateriowa.org/covercropdemo.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that I have often heard radio and TV announcers refer to something happening in Waukon, “way up there in northeast Iowa,” or print media reading Waukon, “in extreme northeast Iowa.” It is almost as though we don’t exist for the rest of Iowa.

So, after RAGBRAI put us on the map this summer, it is nice to see Waukon getting attention on the sports pages for its football team making the state finals.

By the time you read this, you will know if the result was the championship or runner-up. Either is quite rare for the school. We did have a state championship girls’ basketball team in recent years, and I can remember a runner-up finish for the softball team several years earlier. There were the successes of the boys’ cross country teams, but only “major” sports seem to get the attention.

It’s nice to be noticed for pleasant things.

To the Editor:

Forty-plus years ago, a Superintendent of McGregor (Mar-Mac) Schools went on to become Iowa’s Superintendent of Schools. His well-known agenda was that of closing Iowa’s smaller schools and making them move to central locations. Then on to mergers and more centralization. This has been the agenda for over 40 years. Progress.

I recently received a district-wide mailer, generated by a “committee” or “task force”, with many charts and graphs; all trying to close our Waterville Elementary. Progress.

Let’s have our “committee/task force” drag up stats on the drug addiction problem facing our “centralized” schools over the last 40 years! Is that also progress?

We are trying to replace quality education with economic education, for what reason? Progress?

Mark E. Young
Waterville
 

To the Editor:

I attended the public forum for the potential Waterville school closing being discussed to hear what the school board would share in the way of facts. I left with a couple of items of concern I wish to comment on.

A board member represented they receive a lot of “heat” for the disparity in costs per student between the Waterville and Waukon operations and the same taxpaying parents don’t think it’s right that their Waukon attendee children get less from their tax dollars. It would seem a great misnomer that any taxpayer expects a proportionate direct benefit from taxes paid, that is not how the system works.

To the Editor:

I have been an educator for 34 years and never in all  my experiences have I  witnessed such a remarkable celebration of Veterans Day as I did Friday (November 10) at New Albin  Elementary School. The day was coordinated by fifth grade teacher Ms.  Masek and lead teacher  Ms. Thomas.

Each grade level from third grade and up performed, including a power point, choral and instrumental performances featuring  patriotic-themed songs, and war history. The entire school sang a song dedicated to honoring veterans. A “Quilt of Honor” was presented to a World War II veteran, Vern Meiners.

The day was completed by a 21-gun salute performed by the New Albin V.F.W. with a perfect rendition of “Taps” performed by a student, Joe Sullivan, and by retired instrumental teacher Jane Remmen. What a day.

To the Editor:

In the July 12 issue of The Standard newspaper, a lady wrote an article giving credit to Planned Parenthood for all the good it has done providing a variety of services for many people. She, however, failed to comment on the unconscionable horrors of the numerous variety of abortion procedures that are performed, 3,600 times every day resulting in a murdered child. See Exodus, Chapter 20, Verse 13: “You shall not murder.” His laws are treated with contempt and indifference.

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to legalize human baby abortions, Roe vs. Wade, beginning with Baby Doe. The Supreme Court is comprised of nine highly educated judges of supposedly greater intelligence than most all of the inhabitants of the U.S. They couldn’t decide when conception takes place in a woman’s womb, apparently refusing to research the subject.

The 2017 Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation’s Christmas Fantasy was held last weekend, November 10-13 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon, and was a huge success thanks to all of the overwhelming community involvement.

A record number of auction items were donated to this year’s Fantasy by area businesses and individuals.  The 110 auction items were displayed and auctioned on a silent auction bid to the highest bidder Monday night.

Trees on display during this 26th annual Foundation Fantasy included 54 full-size Christmas Trees. Five items were also donated to the Foundation for their use in a raffle. A one-year membership to the new Waukon Wellness Center was donated by the Wellness Center Board, a beef meat bundle was donated by Fareway, a framed print was donated by the Foundation board, and two raffle prizes of a half hog each were donated by Welsh Family Organic Farms with  the processing donated by Jet’s Meats and Wayne and Joan Burk.

Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care will be continuing its community flu clinics this month during regular immunization clinic hours on the following dates: November 22 from 1-4 p.m. and November 29 from 1-4 p.m.

The Community and Home Care Immunization Clinic is located on the upper level of Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. Flu vaccine, pneumonia vaccine, and a combination of flu and pneumonia vaccine will all be available. Tetanus shots will be offered as well.

Medicare does cover these costs. Billing for Medicare will be completed by the Community and Home Care staff, but participants will need to bring their physician’s name and their Medicare number with them.

Influenza, also called the flu, can cause fever, chills, headache, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches to people of any age, and can lead to pneumonia and even death. But most deaths caused by influenza are in elderly people.

The next LifeServe Blood Center Blood Drive will be held Monday, December 11 from 12-5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon. Blood drives are held once per month. The LifeServe Blood Center supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with its blood and blood products.

The LifeServe Blood Center is seeking donors to ensure a safe and plentiful blood supply in Iowa. Because there is no substitute for human blood, the need for donors is continuous.

Over half of the United States population is eligible to donate blood, yet less than four percent donate on a regular basis. A single donation of blood can be used to save up to three lives and help in treatment of cancer patients, accident victims, hemophiliacs and surgery patients.  The LifeServe Blood Center is committed to serving the needs of Iowans by saving lives through volunteer blood donation.

By Teresa Myers RN/CDE
Diabetes Educator
Veterans Memorial Hospital

November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Are you aware that the rate of diabetes has nearly doubled in the past ten years? Are you aware that type 2 diabetes has even started showing up in teenagers? That 40% of those aged 40 to 70 have pre-diabetes? Most importantly, are you aware that diabetes and its complications can be almost totally avoidable?

A study released in September 2008 by the Center For Disease Control and the American Diabetes Association shows that about 90% of the newly diagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes are related to lifestyle and eating habits.