News

LE MARS — Plymouth County Auditor Stacey Feldman joins Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and auditors across Iowa in encouraging all eligible residents to participate in National Voter Registration Month by registering to vote or making sure their voter information is current, in the month of September...

(Photo Contributed) MMCRU kicked off this year’s homecoming festivities on Monday night with coronation. The student body crowned Cade Owens and Faith Olson their 2019 homecoming king and queen.

LE MARS — An idea for a community service project can come from anywhere, and in the instance of Faith Laskie’s Gold Award Girl Scout project, she had to look no further then her brother for inspiration. “I created a middle school book club. My brother, Quinn, and many other students had two to three study halls a day. This is a lot of down time for the students who have their homework completed before their study halls. I wanted to eliminate some of this problem,” Laskie shared...

LE MARS — Le Mars Community School District building principals presented professional development plans for their staff at the Sept. 9 school board meeting. At all levels, principals stress the importance of collaboration among teachers as far as curriculum and assessments are concerned. Administrators are still waiting for the Iowa Assessments results...

LE MARS — Three Le Mars women were presented with the Governor’s Volunteer Award for their time spent at Floyd Valley Healthcare. The awards were presented Thursday, Sept. 12, by Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg in a ceremony at Buena Vista University’s Harold Walter Siebens School of Business in Storm Lake...

LE MARS — The City of Le Mars has hired a contractor to start Oct. 1, on tearing out the existing asphalt in the turn lane and the west bound lane on Twelfth St. S.W. at 1130 12th St. S.W. going west to Lincoln St. S.W. and replacing it with concrete...

LE MARS — The Le Mars Public Library is hosting a reception for Dr. Steven Collins, Iris Hemmingson, Dr. Wayne Marty, Linda Mayrose, Mary Reynolds and Richard Ziettlow, the authors of the sesquicentennial history book: Le Mars, Iowa: A Pictorial History, 1869-2019...

LE MARS — The Le Mars Public Library will host Dr. Shana Stuart, director of the Carnegie Libraries in Iowa Project (CLIP) at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the Le Mars Public Library. The program is free and open to the public. Carnegie Libraries in Iowa Project seeks to chart the history of Iowa’s Carnegie libraries and it represents a partnership among students, staff, and faculty at The University of Iowa’s School of Library and Information Science (SLIS), The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa’s library practitioners and members of Iowa communities. . ...

LE MARS — The 2019 homecoming activities at Le Mars Community Schools are under the theme, “Greatest Show on Turf.” Candidates for homecoming royalty chosen by students this year are: • Emily Carlson, daughter of Ann and Jason Carlson. She is involved in student council, speech and track. She works at Bling ‘n Fashion and Sfumatos Pizzeria. She plans on joining the Air Force after high school and then attending a college for business...

LE MARS — The Le Mars Wastewater Department will be adding a new employee following city council action Sept. 3. City Administrator Jason Vacura gave some background about the request for another employee. “We got our new permit in December 2018 for the plant, that new permit required some additional testing to be done. So to get through that, Ron has had to pull a second person into the lab, to help with that,” he said...

PLYMOUTH CO. — The economic development organizations in northwest Iowa are teaming up for the fifth straight year to offer the Dream Big Grow Here business grant contest in the region. The Dream Big Grow Here contest is an opportunity for entrepreneurs and small business owners to fulfill their dreams of self-employment or expansion of their current business...

LE MARS — For 14 years, Doris Kunkel has served as a resident companion for Park Place Estates assisting residents with daily living activities. In August, Kunkel was one of several recipients across the Avera Health Systems family to be honored with an Avera Caring Spirit Award...

LENEXA, Kan. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $3,598,000 to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to manage nonpoint source pollution in impaired watersheds throughout the state. “Improving water quality is a priority for EPA,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Jim Gulliford. “This funding will allow Iowa to continue the hard work they’ve been doing to protect the state’s waterways and reduce nonpoint runoff.”...

PRIMGHAR — Over 43.5 million family caregivers in America provide a vast array of emotional, financial, nursing, social, homemaking and other services to older adults or adults with chronic conditions. To provide local support for family caregivers, Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach will host Powerful Tools for Caregivers at the First Presbyterian Church in Paullina from 5-6:30 p.m., for six Tuesdays beginning Oct. 15...

Katelyn Brinkerhoff Horticulture Educator AMES — School gardens aren’t a new concept. In fact, they have been around since World War I. For decades school gardens have provided a place for children to become problem solvers, open their minds to creative possibilities that nature can provide them, and even improve test scores. They are a wonderful addition to schools of any size located in any climate...

PLYMOUTH CO. — Plymouth County Farm Bureau is pleased to present the Champion Photo display of 4-H and FFA exhibitors from the 2019 Plymouth County Fair. The display which features 100 photos will travel through banks in Plymouth County this fall. The pictures will be displayed at NW Iowa Credit Union the week of Sept. 23-27. The display will then move to Security National Bank in Akron the week of Sept. 30...

SIOUX CITY — This is the year to be at the Sioux City International Film Festival. Over 50 high quality short films, seven influential women in film conducting workshops and panels, coffee with the filmmakers, and more. Ladies Night Out! Gather the troops for a fun day at Bar Louie and the Film Festival. ...

AMES — The National Children’s Center estimates one child dies about every three days in an agriculture-related incident. One common incident where children are harmed is when they are an extra rider on a farm or lawn care tractor. “Tractor rides have an intrinsic appeal for kids and a willingness for adults to allow them,” said Charles Schwab, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering with extension and outreach responsibilities at Iowa State University. ...

(Sentinel Photo by Kim Ficktt) Remsen St. Mary’s was the first school in Plymouth County to hold their homecoming festivities for 2019. On Friday, the high school student body crowned Emma Galles their homecoming queen and Jesus Samuel Bazan Medina the 2019 homecoming king...

PLYMOUTH CO. — A total of 219 elementary students took part in the annual Chamber Ag Tour Thursday to four farms in Plymouth County. Third grade students from Le Mars Community, MMCRU and Remsen St. Mary’s and fourth graders from Gehlen Catholic received an up close look at how and where food comes from and how crops are used in the process...

MARCUS — The communities Marcus, Remsen, Meriden and Cleghorn are ready to take a road trip. “A Road Trip to Victory” that is, as they celebrate Homecoming 2019. Beginning, Monday, Sept. 16, the festivities will kick off with the first Spirit Day. At the high school they will have Scrabble Day, while the middle school with celebrate with Pajama Day, and elementary buildings will don unique socks for Crazy Sock Day...

LE MARS — The Le Mars City Council dealt with two items related to the recent suspended production at the Plymouth Energy, LLC ethanol plant at Merrill during its Sept. 3 meeting. Both issues concern the Plymouth Energy, LLC transload site in Le Mars...

LE MARS — The Le Mars Community School District would like to invite the public to the grand opening of the newly-renovated Le Mars Community Stadium scheduled for Friday, Sept. 20. The dedication will begin at 5 p.m., with a chamber ribbon cutting. ...

LE MARS — Home football games will return to Le Mars on Friday, Sept. 20, when the Le Mars Community Bulldogs take on the Sioux City North Stars at the new Le Mars Community Stadium. LCS Superintendent Dr. Steve Webner confirmed that fact with school board members Monday night during a tour of the stadium, but that doesn’t mean everything is complete...

LE MARS — In 1998, a group of volunteers came together and built a massive wooden structure in Cleveland Park, which was known as Cleveland Castle. After raising $100,000 and putting in a year of planning, the 12,000-square-foot play area was built over a period of five days by 1,000 volunteers. It opened on May 17, 1998...