Henry County Health Center Gift Shop Opens For Business

By Hayden Douglas · Thursday, November 21st, 2024 at 2:06 pm CDT

The Mount Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for the Henry County Health Center’s Gift Shop re-opening. Lots of area chamber member employees came to support the Health Center the Gift Shop. Several Gift Shop Volunteers were on site to help cut the ribbon. The gift shop is located right inside the lobby of the Henry County Health Center. Shop apparel, decor, games, puzzles, ornaments and more! There is something for everyone on your list. The gift shop is open Monday through Friday 10am-2om & 9am-3pm on Thursdays.

Apply Now For “Paint Iowa Beautiful”

By Hayden Douglas · Thursday, November 21st, 2024 at 7:49 am CDT

Diamond Vogel and Keep Iowa Beautiful have announced that applications for 2025 Paint Iowa Beautiful grants opened this week. These grants help provide free paint to public service and community betterment projects throughout Iowa. Thousands of gallons of paint have been donated to community groups through the Paint Iowa Beautiful program.

Andy Frantz, Executive Director of Keep Iowa Beautiful, “We were thrilled to see the number of quality applications submitted by Iowans working to make their state a more beautiful place to live, work and play.”

The two companies have helped donate enough paint to cover over five million square feet of surfaces, for 1,438 community projects in Iowa. Your organization can fill out an application., which are due February 14th, 2025. For more information visit keepiowabeautiful.org

Be Prepared on The Road This Winter

By Hayden Douglas · Thursday, November 21st, 2024 at 7:33 am CDT

AAA projects that Seventy-Two million Americans will travel by car this holiday season. KILJ caught up with Mount Pleasant Police Chief, Lyle Murray for some safe driving tips.

Take time to find out about the weather and road conditions before you leave the house. Use good driving skills, and leave plenty of space to avoid losing control of your vehicle. Chief Murray offers advice on what to do if your car breaks down or you’re stranded in the cold of winter.

In the event of an accident or emergency, contact 911 immediately for assistance. Always keep an extra blanket, water, and a phone charger in your car during the winter months. Chief Murray says being prepared before a storm and having the supplies you need in your car during a storm can keep you safe while you wait for help.

Sports, November 21st

By Slaten Swords · Thursday, November 21st, 2024 at 6:30 am CDT

Meet the Panthers Night

Tonight is your opportunity to meet the winter sports teams at the Mt. Pleasant high school gym. Introductions will begin after the booster club announcements at 6:45 pm with the Bowling, Wrestling, Cheerleaders/Dance, and Basketball teams being presented. The Dance Team will perform their state pom routine and basketball scrimmages will follow, starting at 7:10 pm. 

High School Basketball

The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will start the season tomorrow, November 22nd, at New London at 6 pm.

The Columbus girls’ team will travel to Tipton, while the boys’ team will host English Valleys tomorrow for a scrimmage.

WACO will take on Van Buren County tomorrow at home in a scrimmage. 

West Burlington will scrimmage Fort Madison at home on Saturday, November 23rd, at 6 pm. 

Holy Trinity Catholic will compete against Keokuk on Saturday for a scrimmage on the road. 

Postseason Football

The 8-Player championship game between Remsen St. Mary’s and Gladbrook-Reinbeck will be played today at 9:30 am.

The Class A championship game between Tri-Center and West Hancock starts at 1 pm today. 

The Class 1A championship game is scheduled for today at 4 pm between Dike-New Hartford and the defending champions Grundy Center.

Pella versus North Polk will decide who the Class 4A champion is tonight at 7 pm.

Spirit Lake and West Lyon will play for the Class 2A state championship tomorrow, November 22nd, at 10 am.

The Class 3A championship between Wahlert Catholic and Humboldt is scheduled for 1 pm tomorrow. 

Valley and Southeast Polk will compete tomorrow night at 7 for the Class 5A championship.

High School Wrestling

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will host a Southeast Iowa Super Conference showdown tonight.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will travel to Burlington for the Grayhound Invite on Saturday, November 23rd, at 10 am.

Southeast Iowa Playbook

Last night was a new episode of the Southeast Iowa Playbook as girls’ and boys’ head coaches of various Southeast Iowa Super Conference teams talked about the upcoming basketball season. One of the coaches that joined us for last night’s episode was first year head coach for the New London girls’ team Austin Burns and for him the Tigers’ home opener tomorrow night cannot arrive any faster,

“I can’t wait. I was looking forward to the first practice and practice is so much fun to me. I’ve enjoyed coaching these girls and teaching these girls at every practice. And yeah, I’m really looking forward to Friday. I can’t wait. I mean, there’s no other group of girls, group of kids that I’d rather be coaching and no other sport that I’d rather be coaching. So I’m really excited for the seniors and for them that I really want to send them off with a really great season for them to finish their career and for the freshmen to get a really great start. So, I’m super excited. Can’t wait for Friday at six o’clock here in New London for us to play Winfield.”

If you missed last night’s episode, then follow the link provided: SEISC Basketball Preseason Report

Southeastern Community College

The men’s basketball team will be back in action tomorrow, November 22nd, at 5 pm against North Arkansas College on the road. 

College Football

#22 Iowa State will face off against Utah on Saturday, November 23rd, at 6:30 pm on the road. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will be on the call.

Iowa will travel to Maryland on Saturday at 11 am. KILJ 105.5 FM will have the broadcast. 

College Basketball

The #5 Iowa State men’s team will play #4 Auburn in the first round of the Maui Invitational on Monday, November 25th, at 8 pm. 

The Iowa men’s team will face off against Utah State for the NABC Hall of Fame Classic tomorrow, November 22nd, at 7 pm on the road. 

The axel was dragging in the #8 Iowa State women’s team’s road trip to Cedar Falls last night as the University of Northern Iowa pulled off an 87-75 upset against the Cyclones. Iowa State was outscored 23 to 11 in the third quarter despite Audi Crooks (22 points and 10 rebounds) and Addy Brown (21 points and 12 rebounds) both turning in double-doubles. Maya McDermott’s 37 points led the Panthers. The Cyclones will head back home to take on Drake on Sunday, November 24th, at 2 pm. 

The Iowa women’s team had their defense set the tone, holding Kansas to just four points in the first quarter as the Hawkeyes cruised to a 71-58 win last night. Hannah Stuelke and Lucy Olsen each scored 16 points as Stuelke grabbed 10 rebounds to collect a double-double. The Hawkeyes will host Washington State on Sunday at 3 pm. 

This Day in Sports History

1925 – Red Grange plays his final University of Illinois game, signing with the Chicago Bears.

1949 – Bill Veeck sells the MLB’s Cleveland squad for $22 million to fund his divorce settlement. 

1956 – Don Newcombe of the Brooklyn Dodgers won both the National League MVP and the first-ever Cy Young Award.

Henry County Planning and Zoning Met To Discuss Potential Wind Turbine Project Ordinances

By Hayden Douglas · Wednesday, November 20th, 2024 at 11:15 am CDT

The Henry County Planning and Zoning Commission, along with the Henry County Board of Supervisors had a full room for their work session that was held Tuesday night, at the Emergency Management Offices. The focus of the meeting was to outline the ordinances for the potential wind turbine project in the county.

The Board of Supervisors presented P&Z with a rough draft of what these individual ordinances would look like, for someone who has signed up for the wind project.

Many different setbacks were brought up as to what may keep this project from happening. The biggest setback to the wind turbine project is space. The Planning and Zoning commission understands the landowners who don’t want to participate in the project, so distance from any dwelling or residence was a long topic of discussion for the room.

If the project were to start and then fold, decommission of the turbines was another big concern for the sake of the county.

The quality of life around a wind turbine project brings several forms of pollution. Henry County Superintendents spoke on how they have gone out and talked to families living with turbines both on or near their property. They heard both good and bad things. The money is good coming in from the wind energy company, but the home owners deal with noise.

A constant hum will happen anytime the blades are turning. Around 40 decibels of sound roughly, can be heard from a quarter mile away, and the flashing red lights at night don’t stop.

The Planning and Zoning commission has some big decisions to make. Decisions that will decide how many IF any Wind Farms could physically fit in Henry County. If the project lands in Henry County, it’s certain a large commercial wind energy conversion system will change the lifestyle of residents in Henry County.

Prep Wrestling: WACO and Washington Girls’ Teams Competed at Sigourney for First Meet of the Season

By Slaten Swords · Wednesday, November 20th, 2024 at 10:38 am CDT

Sigourney, IA- Sigourney-Keota officially kicked off the winter sport season for girls’ wrestling as WACO and Washington both made the trip to compete in the meet last night as a wrestler from each squad exited the night with an unblemished record.

Washington, who dropped the co-op with Highland after a season, had four wrestlers compete last night with two of the wrestlers competing for the podium.

Allison Reed, in the 120-pound weight class, finished the night 0-2 after falling to Jordyn Jarchow of Lisbon and Bee Earnest of Pekin in the consolation round.

In the 140-pound weight class, Ryha Wellington picked up a quick pin of Tabitha Eggleston of Clear Creek Amana to start off her night. However, a loss by fall at the hands of Haley Pedrik of Pekin sent her to the 3rd place match, where she fell against Newton’s Johana Cerna.

Peggy Miller in the 145-pound weight class made a name for herself, pinning Layla Shilling of Tri-County and narrowly taking down Kiana Lopez of Clear Creek Amana at the 5:39 mark to advance to the 1st place match. Miller ended the night with the gold after a 1-0 decision on Aleigha Sheets of Oskaloosa.

Lastly, Jaelyn Entsminger lost by fall in both of her matches to Breegan Ellison of Moravia and Alejandra Hernandez of Grinnell.

WACO had just three wrestlers going last night with Elyssa Graber taking care of business in the 105-pound weight class. Her first match of the night was the toughest with her and Quynn Foster of East Union trading points until Graber nabbed the 9-8 decision.

From there, Graber pinned all of her opponents in less than 1:35 of mat time, including two in under 30 seconds as she finished the night with a 5-0 record.

In the 115-pound weight class, Athena Flores took down Alyvia Traner of Pekin in the quarterfinals; a loss to Reanah Utterback of Sigourney to relegate the Warrior to a 3rd place match, ultimately losing to Alivia Garcia of West Liberty by fall.

Lastly, Bella Bonar, in the 120-pound weight class, fell in both of her matches to Bree Earnest of Pekin and Kyrie Chapman of Grinnell.

Upcoming Schedule

WACO will be making the trip to Columbus high school to meet up with the rest of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference for a tournament tomorrow, November 21st, starting at 4:30 pm.

Washington will head over to Burlington for the Grayhound Invite on Saturday, November 23rd, with the first match scheduled to take place at 10 am.

Curtis L. Fett

By Hayden Douglas · Wednesday, November 20th, 2024 at 8:00 am CDT

Curtis L. Fett, 58, of rural Salem passed away on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, at his home.

Curt was born on October 22, 1966, in Keokuk the son of Gary and Sharon (Pryor) Fett.  He graduated from Harmony High School and went on to attend Reisch Auction College.  Curt and his father Gary worked together as Fett Auctioneers for 36 years.  Curt was united in marriage to Deborah Joann Boileau on July 31, 1993. He went to Indian Hills Community College and received a degree in Auto Body Work.  Curt worked for Hearth & Home Technologies from 1988 until 2024.  Curt was active for 13 years at Old Threshers as a gun slinger in the north village.  He was an avid Dallas Cowboys fan.

Curt was a very outgoing person. He was a superhero to many people, always willing to help anyone who needed it, and he accepted everyone for who they were.  He enjoyed the outdoors, hunting, fishing, camping and spending time with his dogs.  He enjoyed playing cards and poker.  All of his family was very important to him, he loved to teach his kids and grandchildren new things.  Curt was a loving husband, father, papa and pop pop.  He was a strong fighter up to the very end.

Those thankful for sharing in Curt’s life include his wife, Deborah of 32 years, his children and their families, Megan Carver (Zach Rodibaugh), Tanner Rodibaugh and Brynnlin Rodibaugh of Mt. Pleasant, Colten Fett (Casey Davis), Theo Fett, Aspen Fett of Salem, Cody (Laura) Fett, and Miles and Max, of Lisbon and Jennie (Paul) Carver-Westra, and Mattison Westra and Sabrina Westra of Vinton,  Maddee Carver (Terry Page) and Tay Mir, of Winfield, his parents, Gary and Sharon Fett, of Bonaparte, his brothers and sisters, Tamela (Steve) Hohl, of Donnellson, Tim (Dawn) Fett of Farmington, Toni Fett of Fairfield, along with several nieces and nephews.

Curt was preceded in death by his grandparents, Curtis and Elsie Pryon, Lynn and Pearle Fett, his uncle, Jim Fett and his aunt, Bonita Fett.

His family will receive friends from 2 to 7 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 2024 at the Murphy Funeral Home in Mt. Pleasant.  Following the visitation cremation will be accorded.  Memorials in his memory may be directed to the Holden Cancer Research Center.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.murphyfuneralandmonuments.com

Murphy Funeral Home of Mt. Pleasant, is caring for his arrangements.

Free Clothing Closet Opens At SCC West Burlington Campus

By Hayden Douglas · Wednesday, November 20th, 2024 at 7:14 am CDT

Southeastern Community College has started a Free Closet on campus. Trisha Hopper is a Business Teacher at SCC and has organized the closet and the space on campus. KILJ spoke to SCC President, Dr. Ash, about Trish, and her creation of the Free Clothing Closet.

The clothing closet is free for to any SCC student at the West Burlington campus. Trish intends for students to find things they like, and take them home to keep. Dr. Ash talked about the closet itself and how it functions on campus for the students.

In the Past, there have been students that utilize the closet for things to wear for an interview, and then return the items. If you have new or gently used clothing items, you can drop them off at the welcome center at the West Burlington SCC campus.