Industrial Machinery And Equipment

All aboard: Steam engine roars into Le Mars (10/02/08)
History came to town on the rail Wednesday Chugging and steaming and tooting the whistle, all one million pounds of the steam engine Challenger rolled into Le Mars for a whistle stop on its five-state tour. Dozens of people gathered at the tracks to catch a look at the 1943 Union Pacific (UP) locomotive...

Le Mars Area Dialysis focus is on fundraising, renovation (10/01/08)
Le Mars Area Dialysis Services is stepping up its fundraising efforts. Currently the not-for-profit group has two main focuses -- one is to continue raising money, and the other is to plan renovation of its newly acquired building in downtown Le Mars...

Open house set for LCS additions, renovation (09/30/08)
An open house at the Le Mars Community Middle and High Schools will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2. The open house provides the public an opportunity to tour the new middle school gymnasium, the three new technology enhanced classrooms at the high school, and the renovations that were completed in the high school following the move of the superintendent's office...

Minnesota woman escapes serious injury in truck, building collision (09/29/08)
A medical condition caused Stephanie Kay Allen to lose control of her pickup and crash it into the Meylor Chiropractic building Friday afternoon, police said. The 39-year-old woman, of Silver Lake, Minn., who was wearing her seat belt, suffered non-life threatening injuries during the 12:45 p.m. accident...

Minnesota woman escapes serious injury in truck, building collision (09/26/08)

Museum gets new LOST money for chimney repairs (09/24/08)
The Plymouth County Supervisors agreed Tuesday Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) money already awarded cannot be redirected to help with chimney repairs at the museum. "We've got a policy issue with that," Supervisor Craig Anderson said. "Money that is not used (for a specific project) should go back into the LOST fund."...

Roadblocks coming down on rec trail progress (09/23/08)
The completion of the 9-mile recreation trail around Le Mars is on the horizon after being pushed back more than a year. The walking and biking trail, which stretches from the south near Wells' Dairy's corporate campus north beyond the little league ball diamonds, then east around the golf course, still has a segment to be completed...

Hinton School Board steps closer to using eminent domain (09/22/08)
Last week Hinton School Board members moved forward to possibly try to obtain agricultural land through eminent domain by scheduling a public hearing in November. "It's a necessary step before we would be able to actually pursue the possible use of eminent domain," said Robert Held, Hinton School Board president...

New feeding clinic may help children eat (09/19/08)
Some children don't like to eat or have difficulty eating. Floyd Valley Hospital's new children's therapy services will try to determine why and how to overcome those problems through its feeding clinic using sensory and motor equipment. Erin Schroeder, OTR/L, an occupational therapist, said those tools, like a trampoline, an obstacle course, a slide and a large ball, can help settle a child down in preparation for eating...

Supervisors delay decision to repair floors at Pride Group home (09/17/08)
The Plymouth County Supervisors put the matter of restroom floor repairs at a residential facility operated by Pride Group Inc. on hold Tuesday. The supervisors directed Mike Porter, CEO of Pride Group, to obtain a firm cost estimate to fix floors in four showers and two bathrooms at the residential care facility (RCF) on Highway 3...

Supervisors to decide if LOST can be used for museum repairs (09/17/08)
The Plymouth County Historical Museum's chimney is crumbling. Judy Bowman, museum administrator, via letter asked the Plymouth County Supervisors' permission to use $1,000 of Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) money for the repairs. Museum board members originally asked for the $1,000, already awarded, to replace a shattered glass backboard in the museum's gymnasium...

AmeriCorps team preps Loess Hills for bison (09/11/08)
Men and women ages 18-24 from across the nation are building fences, restoring grasslands and helping with research in the Loess Hills through Oct. 2. The 10-member AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team, has been working in the Broken Kettle Grasslands and Five Ridge Prairie in Plymouth County since August...

Council delays action on bumpy downtown intersection (09/03/08)
"We've cut $700,000 from the budget, reduced services, cut back on books for the library, and eliminated some mowing of city properties, and cut people's jobs. If we don't have the money, we don't do the project," Le Mars City Councilman Rex Knapp said Tuesday referring to repair of the Plymouth Street/Central Avenue intersection...

Questions answered on school levy issue (08/29/08)
Two public information meetings brought approximately 75 Le Mars Community School District residents out to learn about the Instructional Support Levy (ISL) Wednesday and Thursday evenings. A vote on whether to implement the levy will be held on Sept. 9, the same day as school board elections...

Council moves ahead four street project plans (08/20/08)
Le Mars City Council members Tuesday gave their approval to a professional engineering services agreement for four Le Mars highway and street projects. On the agenda are widening Highway 3 near Floyd Valley Hospital, improving Business 75 from Highway 3 to Airport Drive, curb and gutter work on Seventh Avenue Southeast (K-49), and curb and gutter work on Sixth Avenue West...

Hinton School Board looks into legal options to obtain land (08/19/08)
Hinton Community School Board members discussed Monday the possibility of using eminent domain to obtain land on which to construct a new elementary school and gymnasium. The school board decided to find out more about steps necessary to obtain 8 acres adjacent to the current school from property owners, Kevin and Annette Held, through eminent domain...

Wind blows Texas oilman in to Le Mars to talk energy (08/15/08)
He may be 80 but an audience member still called T. Boone Pickens a "rockstar." The Texas oilman and billionaire landed his jet at the Le Mars airport Thursday afternoon to spin to Iowans his plan for reducing U.S. dependency on foreign oil. His idea: shift to using more wind energy and natural gas -- two things in which the nation is rich...

Construction marches forward on new Remsen Medical Clinic (08/13/08)
June rain delays can't stop construction of the new Remsen Medical Clinic. The clinic on Second Street west of the post office is expected to be completed Dec. 1, said Daryl Friedenbach, director of financial services at Floyd Valley Hospital (FVH)...

Remsen urban renewal district in the works (08/11/08)
Creation of an urban renewal area in Remsen could generate money to extend public utilities to a new business and tear down old buildings in its downtown. An urban renewal area is a district which designates where Tax Increment Financing (TIF) revenue can be spent. TIF is created based on taxes from designated structures built within the district. Those taxes can be collected for 20 years...

Building on education: LCS addition nearly complete (08/07/08)
With only two weeks until school starts, teachers and staff at Le Mars Community High School and Middle School are busy putting the finishing touches on moves to new classroom space and computer labs and looking forward to the new middle school gymnasium...

Sen. Harkin suggests alternatives to combat oil prices facing country (08/07/08)
Americans are addicted to oil. Sen. Tom Harkin told Plymouth County residents gathered Wednesday at Lally's Eastside Restaurant that addiction is the reason for the continued increase in oil prices. "When you're addicted to something, you just continue to feed the addiction," Harkin said...

Street closings approved for Scoop da Loop event (08/07/08)
The Le Mars City Council on Tuesday granted the request by the Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce/Main Street for closing streets for the 11th annual Scoop da Loop event set for Aug. 20 in Le Mars. The areas to be closed for the event are the Olson Cultural Event Center and Postal Playhouse parking lots and First Street and First Avenue surrounding the cultural center. The closings will be effective from 5 p.m. to 10 p. m...

City searches for solutions to indoor pool problems (08/06/08)
alse alarms on the fire alarm system. Temperature spikes. Ventilation system running non-stop. Computer lock ups. Since it opened in March 2007, the Le Mars Indoor Aquatic Center has been plagued with heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC) problems...

Help ahead for 102-year-old Akron opera house (07/29/08)
Akron's opera house has weathered many changes since it opened in 1906. Now another phase is planned for the building that towers over the town's main street. "My head spun for two weeks just thinking about this," Akron Community Theater President Doug Olson said Monday evening while discussing upcoming plans for the theater...

2008 fair truck recognizes Belgian owners and beef show (07/23/08)
The ninth annual edition of the Plymouth County Fair collectible truck recognizes the beef show, a longtime tradition, and Dr. John and Barbara Conley and their team of Belgian draft horses. The series of trucks is designed to recognize activities and scenes that make up the Plymouth County Fair...

Plymouth Oil may receive $1.2 million in tax benefits (07/22/08)
The State of Iowa pledged about $1.2 million in tax incentives to a plant near Merrill that will make corn oil for food and cooking. The $30 million Plymouth Oil plant is planned next to the 50-million-gallon Plymouth Energy LLC ethanol plant near Merrill. The projected completion date is July 31, 2013, according to an Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) spokesperson...

New first aid booth turns the page of history (07/21/08)
First aid at the Plymouth County Fair got a whole new look this year. The aging first aid booth was replaced by a new building just in time for the fair this year. "Last year there were concerns about the booth -- it was aging," said Tim Paul, chief engineer at Floyd Valley Hospital...

Hinton residents debate future home for new elementary (07/17/08)
By a show of hands the majority of more than 100 Hinton residents expressed a desire Tuesday to build a new elementary adjacent to the town's existing school. The Hinton School Board met with the public Tuesday to receive comments from the people as to their thoughts concerning the district's plans to construct a new pre-Kindergarten through third grade elementary school and competitive gymnasium...

Farrer says fair is five best days of summer (07/16/08)
When you think of livestock at the Plymouth County Fair, rabbits and poultry may not be the steer or swine you were imagining. Thirteen-year-old Grady Farrer would disagree. The owner of rabbits, chickens and pheasants, Farrer believes that poultry and rabbits are where the real livestock shows occur...

Supervisors appoint new conservation board members (07/16/08)
Chris Beeck and Troy V. Hemmelrick are the two newest members on the Plymouth County Conservation Board. The Plymouth County Supervisors on Tuesday appointed Beeck and Hemmelrick to replace members Ron Wilmot, who died in June, and Eric Julstrol, who recently resigned...

School's out forever (07/10/08)
A Le Mars landmark for more than a century was demolished Wednesday. St. Joseph School, completed in 1905, was torn down to make way for a new Catholic church. A handful of the more than 2,000 students that studied in the building's classrooms gathered Wednesday to take pictures and watch the school be reduced to a pile of rubble...

Officials say crippled highway system won't affect northwest Iowa (07/09/08)
The closest northwest Iowa got to this summer's flooding was photos and video clips in the news. But this region of the state is linked to the flood ravaged areas via a vital connection -- the state highway system. Now the already financially strapped Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) is hustling to fix the bridges and roads destroyed by floodwaters in central and eastern Iowa...

Grassley gives his take on fuel crunch at Le Mars meeting (07/01/08)
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley praised ethanol and drilling for more oil in the United States during his stop at a Le Mars town hall meeting where concern about energy and food prices was the prevailing mood. Speaking to a crowd of about 50 people at the American Bank Monday, Grassley responded to questions about fuel prices by presenting his idea for an energy program...

Hinton school hosts public meeting on proposed expansion (07/01/08)
Hinton Community School is looking at building a new early elementary building and gym, and now officials want to hear what the public has to say. The school board will host a public meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 15 in the school gym to give an update on the proposed pre-Kindergarten through third grade building and competitive gymnasium, anticipated to cost more than $7.5 million...

Smoking in most public places will be extinguished Tuesday (06/30/08)
No Smoking signs started going up last week in preparation for the Iowa Smokefree Air Act which goes into effect Tuesday. Lally's East Side Restaurant, in Le Mars, sported homemade signs Friday telling customers the establishment, which previously allowed smoking, will be smoke free July 1...

SRTS considering 'fuel -saving' designated bus routes for Le Mars (06/18/08)
Le Mars residents could, if interest warrants, find themselves with a new fuel-saving transportation option in the future. Bill Cole, assistant city administrator, Tuesday shared with city council members that among "new ideas" under discussion by the Siouxland Regional Transportation System (SRTS) is the consideration of possible designated routes throughout the city. Such routes, Cole said, is being looked at as a means of continuing to increase SRTS usage...

Corn oil plant seeks property tax relief from county (06/18/08)
A proposed $30 million corn oil plant near Merrill inched closer to reality this week. The Plymouth County Supervisors on Tuesday approved five years of property tax relief for Plymouth Oil L.L.C. The first year will be a 75 percent break declining to 15 percent in the fifth year...

Awareness keeps recycling trend on the rise (06/17/08)
Education. That's the reason about 10,000 more pounds have been recycled this year compared to last year, city and county officials said. In Le Mars, as of the end of May,132,060 pounds were recycled compared with 85,000 in May 2007. When the recycling program began in 2005 during this same time period 61,680 pounds were recycled...

LBIC gets city land project reimbursement (06/06/08)
The City of Le Mars is reimbursing the LBIC for costs of two economic opportunity activities the corporation said "do not fit" under the current development agreement between the LBIC and the city. Both projects, Le Mars Business Initiative Corporation's (LBIC) Neal Adler said, took place with prior knowledge of the city. ...

Delivery pains: Trucking industry crunch hits home (06/05/08)
High fuel prices are taking semis off the road. With diesel surpassing $4 a gallon, trucking operations as small as one person and as large as 1,000 drivers are closing down and parking their semis. "In the first quarter of 2008, more than 1,000 companies declared bankruptcy," said Steve Schuster, the president of trucking company Schuster Co. in Le Mars...

School the latest hit in string of graffiti vandalism (06/05/08)
Spray paint on the new construction at the Le Mars Community Middle School and the football stadium may cost the school nearly a thousand dollars. Le Mars Police Officers arrived on the scene to find graffiti on some of the new cement sidewalk and new brick of the middle school addition plus on the concession stand, ticket booth and stop sign near Jim Lorenzen Field...

Local business reacts to scam artists (06/02/08)
There's a new sign at the Le Mars Truck Stop cash register. "We are NOT a bank." General Manager Kent Hanstein posted it after a scam artist asking for change walked away with $90. A quick thinking clerk caught the man's license plates and tipped off the police, who arrested the man and a friend...

Two caught after scam at truck stop (06/02/08)
Two Minnesota men were caught for scamming a Le Mars business just hours after pulling a similar scam on a Sheldon store Thursday, May 29. Scott Richard Coxworth, 30, of Houston, Minn. and Christopher Wayne Swinger, 24, of Minneapolis, Minn. pulled a scam at the Le Mars Truck Stop, stealing $90, before heading out of Le Mars...

Two men caught after scamming Le Mars Truck Stop (05/30/08)
Two Minnesota men were caught for scamming a Le Mars business just hours after pulling a similar scam on a Sheldon store Thursday, May 29...

Future ownership of O'Toole property continues to be a question (05/21/08)
The couple who purchased a "surplus lot" in O'Toole Park is considering getting their money back after finding out there is no water connection there. A former California couple, Al and Rosalie Ladie, who purchased the lot last December for $25,000, reduced from the original city asking price of $30,000 taking into consideration the city's "as is" description. The couple discovered later there were no available water and sewer lines to the site intended to be their new home...

Geiger house retains Italianate look despite remodeling (05/06/08)
Editor's Note: This is the second in a series featuring the stops on Le Mars' annual Tour of Historic Homes. A beautiful Italianate home, much remodeled for today's lifestyle but still retaining characteristics of its beginning, is one of four homes in the Foster Park area in the 2008 Tour of Historic Homes set for Saturday, May 10 in Le Mars. The tour is sponsored by the Le Mars Historical Preservation Commission...

Dull residence on Historic Tour of Homes (05/05/08)
Editor's Note: This is the first in a series featuring the stops on Le Mars' annual Tour of Historic Homes. This year's annual Tour of Historic Homes, sponsored by the Le Mars Historic Preservation Commission, features four homes bordering the Foster Park Historic District...

Remsen Clinic steps closer to construction with bid acceptance (05/02/08)
Frank Audino Construction will build the new Remsen Medical Clinic by an expected Oct. 30 deadline. The Sioux City company submitted the lowest general contract bid of $567,502, which included a $29,503 deduction for vinyl siding on the exterior of the clinic. A masonry siding will be used instead...

Brunsville's new TIF money will improve town's overall looks (04/24/08)
Brunsville's roads, utilities and other infrastructure need a facelift. That's why the Brunsville City Council earlier this month created an urban renewal area that will encompass the entire town and designate a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district...

New truck owners will pay higher registration fees (04/22/08)
People buying pickups trucks 2010 models or newer will be paying more to improve Iowa's roads. According to a new bill passed by Iowa legislators last week, registration fees for owners of those new trucks will jump -- one of several vehicle registration changes that would take effect Jan. 1, 2009. Governor Chet Culver is expected to sign the bill into law this week...