Having some fun with the next generation ... Longtime KNEI radio personality Chuck Allen (center in above photo) has some fun with more recent additions to the KNEI radio staff, Josh Blake (left) and Erik Kelly (right). Submitted photo.
Started it all... Pictured above are Ralph and Ileen Sweeney. Ralph was instrumental in starting KNEI radio in Waukon in 1967. Submitted photo.
by Lissa Blake
Local radio station KNEI will celebrate 50 years of entertaining local residents next week with an open house Tuesday, June 27 at the current KNEI location on Main Street in downtown Waukon.
The station was started by the late Ralph Sweeney and Dave Hogendorn in 1967. “I remember it took Dad three to four years to get licensing, he had to put up bonding and have the financial backing,” said Ralph’s son, Jack Sweeney. “I remember it (the license) was really hard to get and you had to have a licensed engineer on staff."
When asked what he thinks motivated his dad to start the station, Sweeney said, “Dad was an entrepreneur. He just thought Waukon needed a radio station.”
Sweeney started working as a DJ at the station when he was just 16 years old. His girlfriend, Bonnie Blake, who later became is his wife, worked there as well.
Cousins Ethan Halverson (left) and Zach Halverson (right) display the Benefit Gun that has now seemingly come "full circle" in helping raise funds to defray medical expenses incurred with the treatment of cancer for both young men. The gun, a Remington 721 rifle, was originally gifted by the pair's grandfather, Harvey Halverson, to a benefit event for Zach in 2005. Now, after circulating through a number of other benefit events, the Benefit Gun will return to Lansing at the June 24 benefit event for Ethan, who has also been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Submitted photo.
by B.J. Tomlinson
Last August, in the fall of 2016, while in Iowa City attending the University of Iowa, Ethan Halverson didn’t feel well. Ethan is a 2012 graduate of Kee High School in Lansing and the son of Marty and Faye Halverson of Lansing.
"Not really sick, just not like himself,” said his mother, Faye. Ethan then noticed swollen lymph glands that became lumps in his neck and upper chest.
On first examination, the doctors adopted a wait-and-see treatment plan, thinking perhaps the symptoms indicated a virus. But when the condition did not improve they ratcheted up their diagnostic options to include CT scans, ultrasounds and lab work. As a result of that further testing, in November of last year Ethan was diagnosed with stage three Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a malignant cancerous growth of cells in the body's lymphatic system.
The regular meeting of the Lansing City Council was held Monday, June 19. Discussion circled around MSA representatives addressing the City's radium issue in its water supply, Main Street well inspection, a new hiring for a city lawn mower position, fencing put up in front of the train tracks for RAGBRAI®, an ATV ordinance update, and a public hearing scheduled for the July 3 meeting.
MSA Professional Service representatives attended the meeting to meet all of the council members and let them know that they are interested in preparing the city's radium preliminary engineering report. The town of Farley in Iowa is one of MSA's clients which is having a similar situation that Lansing is having with radium. The project that MSA is proposing to take on would be about a three-year process with three parts, including design, bidding and construction.
The Ferryville Tourism Council is sponsoring the first of three summer bonfire programs Wednesday, June 28 at 8 p.m. at the south end of Sugar Creek Park in Ferryville, WI. Ric Zarwell will be the speaker for a program entitled, “Birdwatching in the U.S., from an Expert like John James Audubon to an Active, Maybe Obsessed Local Man.”
Zarwell was born and raised in New Albin. He has been a lifelong birder and has created, along with his wife, Betty, the River and Bluffs Birding Festival in the Lansing area. They have traveled to 44 nations and all seven continents to view birds native to those areas. Zarwell has a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Biology and a Master of Science degree in Natural Resources, both from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He leads birding trips and conducts monitoring of bird species in various habitats.
Waukon High School/East Elementary Writing Conference … Submitted photo.
by Brianne Eilers
In April of this year, the Waukon Middle School of the Allamakee Community School District (ACSD), along with the Cora B. Darling Elementary School of the Postville Community School District, received $990,000 for the 21st Century Community Learning Center. The Community Learning Center program was one of eight Iowa school programs to receive a grant for the 21st Century program.
The grants are funded on a three-year grant cycle, with an optional two-year extension after a site visit. During the 2015-2016 school year, approximately 1,000 students were served in the local 21st Century programming.
Barb Winters-Kelly is the 21st Century grant director for the elementary schools, middle school and high school in the ACSD. She has been with the ACSD since 1998, when the program was funded by a two-year grant.
"People wanted after school programming (for the students)," Winters-Kelly noted.
Pictured left to right, Landon Berns, Jared Campbell, Adam Gruman.
Two Waukon High School juniors from the Harpers Ferry area, Landon Berns and Jared Campbell, were selected to attend Boys State, which was held June 11-16 at Fort Dodge in Johnston. Berns is the son of Charles and Peggy Berns, and Campbell is the son of Dan and Carolyn Campbell, all of Harpers Ferry.
Both young men were sponsored by Scenic Post 722 American Legion of Harpers Ferry. Iowa conducted its first "Hawkeye Boys State" in 1938 and has held one every year since, with the exception of 1945, when World War II gasoline rationing made it impossible. Hawkeye Boys State is a six-day course in self-government. Participants learned more about the functioning of city, county and state government in the state of Iowa than 75% of the population of Iowa.
The Waukon Lions Club hosted its annual Waukon High School Honors Banquet at the First Presbyterian Church in Waukon May 3. Students ranking within the top 15% academically of the Class of 2017 were honored. The evening included a meal served by the Presbyterian Women and an inspirational talk by guest speaker Larry Wolfe, a 1982 Waukon High School graduate who currently serves as Associate Principal at Charles City High School and Middle School. The graduates told the audience of their future plans and were then presented certificates by Waukon High School Principal Mike Hardy and Allamakee Community School District Superintendent Dave Herold. Pictured above are the honor students. Left to right - Front row: Lanci Bulman, Regan Wasson, Claire Beyer, Brooklyn Larson, Mason Hermeier, Callie Ferring, Hannah Hennessy. Back row: Sydney Herman, Christa Heffern, Maxwell Swartz, Adam Gruman, Tyler O'Neill, Logan Sullivan, Erika Johnson, Emma Johnson. Submitted photo.
Shawver Well Company's current fleet of rotary drill rigs ...
George Shawver's first homemade drilling rig - 1937 in Kirkville ...
Shawver Well Company was founded in 1937 by George Shawver, who, at the time, lived in Kirkville, located just northwest of Ottumwa in southeast Iowa. During his high school years, George earned money hauling water with teams of horses to help local prospectors drill test holes for coal in the newly discovered coal areas of southern Iowa.
After high school, jobs were hard to find, so George decided to do the only thing he knew, drill test holes for coal. When local prospectors came to town looking for coal, George hired out to do their drilling. He built his first rig from wood and powered it from a power take-off of a tractor.
When prospecting for coal diminished, George turned to drilling for water. His first company was called Midwest Drilling but changed to Shawver Well Company shortly after.
Waukon baseball senior pitcher Tyler O’Neill reaches back on his way to throwing a pitch in the final inning of the Indians’ 14-3 win over Osage at home in five innings Tuesday, June 13. In addition to throwing the game’s final inning without giving up a hit or a run, O’Neill also recorded three singles in three at-bats in the contest, driving in two runs and scoring two as well. Photo by Krystal Johnson. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.
The Waukon baseball team ended up on each side of a string of mercy-rule final results this past week, unfortunately ending up on the losing side of that result in two of three contests. The Indians’ week began and ended with weather-impacted contests, a Monday, June 12 game at Oelwein being suspended in the third inning until Thursday, June 15 and a similar situation unfolding in a Friday, June 16 doubleheader at home against Crestwood, where the Tribe was in the third inning of game one with the Cadets when rain suspended that game also. The Cadets were scheduled to return to Waukon Tuesday, June 20 to finish up both the suspended game and the second half of that home twinbill.
Waukon softball junior designated player Cassey Urell focuses on her swing meeting the ball in the Indians’ 10-3 home loss to North Fayette Valley Tuesday, June 13. Urell was one-for-three at the plate in the loss. Photo by Krystal Johnson. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.
The Waukon softball team had an initially busy week lightened up a bit early on in the week before ultimately ending it with a fourth victory of the season in dramatic fashion. The Indians had a Monday, June 12 Northeast Iowa Conference match-up at Crestwood postponed to Friday, June 23 before falling in back-to-back contests, 10-3 at home to North Fayette Valley Tuesday, June 13 and 14-4 in five innings at Waverly-Shell Rock Wednesday, June 14. The week culminated with a 7-6 home triumph over Osage Thursday, June 15 that happened in comeback fashion in the bottom of the seventh inning.
