Author: Yorke Prough

It is garbage bag sales time again, offered through the Mt. Pleasant Community Schools Music Boosters.

Within the next two weeks, a representative of the Charity Services organization will be calling on behalf of the Music Boosters to explain the garbage bags, including price, sizes, quantity and how to place an order. The garbage bags will be delivered directly to the customers’ homes.

The Mount Pleasant Music Boosters President, Stan Holtkamp, comments, “The focus of the fundraiser is to help sustain a growing music program. Our focus for this campaign is toward High School Vocal Music Risers.”

The question is raised as to how these new risers will improve music education. They believe safety, visibility of each performer, and transporting and setting up/tearing down. This also provides a professional performance platform.

The sole purpose of the Mt. Pleasant Music Boosters is to support the K-12 instrumental and vocal music programs of the Mt. Pleasant Community School District. All fundraising dollars are used directly for these programs. The Music Boosters’ efforts enable the music programs to operate at the highest level possible.  Currently the Music Boosters are developing a plan to update our soundboard and lighting system.

Ongoing Music Boosters projects include the Marching Band Invitational, High School Variety Show, InMotion Show Choir Invitational, Dessert Theatre, OPUS (K-12 honor choir), All-State Music Festival, and the Middle School Honor Band Festival.

Membership in the Mt. Pleasant Music Boosters organization is free and is defined as anyone with children participating in music in Mt. Pleasant Community Schools. “If you have a child participating in any music activity within the schools or if you just love music, we invite everyone to join the fun of being involved in Music Boosters,” said Holtkamp.

The Charity Services, Inc., organization is registered with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and assists organizations throughout the Midwest with fundraising.

The Henry County Board of Supervisors met on Thursday for their monthly department head meeting. Budget cuts took the backseat this time, with focus on the potential wind farm project in northern Henry County.

The Planning and Zoning Director, Joe Buffington, made it clear that nothing is going to happen unless they receive an application from a company that wants to place turbines in the northern part of the county. Currently, the discussion for the board is simply on making small tweaks to the current ordinance for wind and solar.

No specific details are known right now regarding the number of turbines or the size, because an application has not been submitted. If they are to receive an application in the future, Buffington mentioned that there would be “many” public hearings and meetings first.

The Henry County Supervisors have now scheduled town hall meetings to allow the public to have their questions answered. The first of such meetings will be on Tuesday, February 13^th, at the Wayland Community Building. The second will take place at the Swedesburg Parish Hall on Thursday, February 15^th. Both meetings will begin at 6:30pm and are open to the public. The supervisors are in control of these two meetings, but the RWE representatives will be answering the questions. An updated map of the landowners who have arranged an agreement over this potential project is listed on https://henrycounty.iowa.gov/planning-and-zoning/

Other reports from the meeting focus on the adverse weather in January. The Henry County engineer, Jake Hotchkiss, spoke on the schedules for the plow drivers and blade operators. During a 14 day period between January 7^th and the 20^th, employees were working 12 hour shifts each day, not to mention the salary employees who were also putting in many additional hours. The roads are clear now, with the sun melting away most of the snow.

Finally, the Henry County Sheriff, Rich McNamee, was unable to attend Thursday’s meeting. However, he did leave notes for the board detailing current happenings with the Sheriff’s Office. He has begun conversations with speed camera companies. This is a potential project, however, if they are to move forward with this possibility, it is likely that the cameras would be placed in high accident areas. It is believed that a percentage of the profits from citations would benefit the county.

These Henry County Board of Supervisors meetings take place on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s beginning at 9:00am. They are open to the public and are located in the first-floor meeting room of the courthouse.

On Monday January 29th, the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Iowa State Patrol on an active vehicle pursuit that began southbound on Hwy 61 near G56 (Sheriff’s Office Rd) for multiple infractions at 9:45AM. Sheriff’s Deputies would be in the area and immediately assist.

The suspect vehicle would continue at speeds well over 100MPH and drive recklessly. The small SUV would then attempt to pass on the shoulder near Newport Junction. The vehicle would lose control, wreck and rollover in the shoulder. Two suspects would immediately flee on foot, one suspect was taken into custody a short distance away after attempting to hide behind a semi.

Tevin Marion, 29, Fort Madison was taken into custody. The other suspect had fled to the west of the accident and disappeared in the fog/timberline, appearing to be without shoes while fleeing.

The following agencies then would assist; Columbus Junction Police Dept., Henry County Sheriff’s Office K9 unit, Iowa State Patrol, Louisa County EMA, Louisa County Sheriff’s Office, Louisa County Dispatch, Wapello Ambulance, Wapello Fire and Rescue, the Winfield Police Department and multiple bystanders. All played a vital role in K9 searching, Drone operations, perimeter watch and communications. After an approximate 4 hour and over 3-mile track, the suspect was seen, after slowly tracking the suspect and setting up closer perimeter, Deputies announced their presence and HCSO K9 Axel and Deputies would assist by holding the suspect to which he would surrender without any further incident.

The suspect was further identified as Brian Smith, age 30, of Florida who may have multiple aliases. Both arrested parties were provided medical care and transported to the Louisa County Jail where the Iowa State Patrol have charged them with Felony Eluding upon many other traffic violations, they both remain on $5,000 cash only local bonds and both have outstanding felony warrants in other counties for locally committed burglaries .

All agencies worked together seamlessly to bring these individuals to justice. A big thank you to ALL! Pictured are the arrestees as well as the GPS tracked route the suspect took to elude Law Enforcement.

*Suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law*

Below is information provided from the Mt. Pleasant Music Booster’s regarding a popular fundraiser.

“It is garbage bag sales time again, offered through the Mt. Pleasant Community Schools Music Boosters.

Within the next two weeks, a representative of the Charity Services organization will be calling on behalf of the Music Boosters to explain the garbage bags, including price, sizes, quantity and how to place an order. The garbage bags will be delivered directly to the customers’ homes.

“The focus of the fundraiser is to help sustain a growing music program.” says Stan Holtkamp, Mt. Pleasant Music Boosters President. “We have a very active music program with lots of student involvement!  Our focus for this campaign is toward High School Vocal Music Risers.”  How will new risers improve music education?:

• Safety
• Visibility of each student performer
• Transporting and set up o Professional performance platform

 The sole purpose of the Mt. Pleasant Music Boosters is to support the K-12 instrumental and vocal music programs of the Mt. Pleasant Community School District. All fundraising dollars are used directly for these programs. The Music Boosters’ efforts enable the music programs to operate at the highest level possible.  Currently the Music Boosters are developing a plan to update our soundboard and lighting system.

Ongoing Music Boosters projects include the Marching Band Invitational, High School

Variety Show, InMotion Show Choir Invitational, Dessert Theatre, OPUS (K-12 honor choir), All-State Music Festival, and the Middle School Honor Band Festival.

Membership in the Mt. Pleasant Music Boosters organization is free and is defined as anyone with children participating in music in Mt. Pleasant Community Schools. “If you have a child participating in any music activity within the schools or if you just love music, we invite everyone to join the fun of being involved in Music Boosters,” said Holtkamp.

The Charity Services, Inc., organization is registered with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and assists organizations throughout the Midwest with fundraising.”

The Mount Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance discussed the 51^st RAGBRAI, which will see thousands of cyclers ride through Mount Pleasant in July. Not only is Mount Pleasant part of the route, but it is also an overnight stop. That’s right, many people will be staying in our town on Friday, July 26^th, before they take off for Burlington for the final leg of their ride.

Rachel Lindeen, the Executive Vice President, spoke with us on Wednesday. She wants the public to be aware of what is happening and constantly in the know. As of right now, there are very few details known about RAGBRAI. The route is not released until April. Lindeen mentioned how members of the Chamber are meeting with RAGRBAI representatives at the beginning of February to uncover additional details.

We will ensure to update our listeners of any new information surrounding this big event as new details are made known.