There was a legislative round table in Mount Pleasant at Access Energy Cooperative on Friday morning.

The topic of the day was taxes, and with State senator Adrian Dickey, Mark Lofgren, and Representative Taylor Collins, much discussion was had. Iowans for Tax Relief President, Chris Hagenow, believes that Iowans want relief from property taxes, and that they are “on the side of legislators who are taxing action to slow down out of control local government spending.”

According to Iowans for Tax Relief, Louisa County has increased property taxes collected by 16.7% for the coming fiscal year, which is the 17^th highest increase across 99 counties in Iowa. Henry County has increased 1.3%, which makes it the 11^th lowest.

The legislators seem to all agree that property tax bill 2.0 is in the works for the coming session, and that they will continue to try and lower property taxes across the state. Senator Dickey brought up spending and mentioned that some local government and schools are spending money on things that they shouldn’t.

Representative Collins told a story about two separate instances of knocking on a door and hearing from the people that they are considering a move because of how high the property taxes are where they live. Public safety and roads are the biggest concern to his constituents, according to Collins.

A constituent urged the legislators to made contact with the county supervisors outside of the office, as they are busy.  Another topic that was brought up multiple times was the possibility of consolidating county courthouses. Hagenow said that Iowa has more elected officials than any other state in the union, not just per capita.

There is not shortage of entertainment planned for the RAGBRAI overnight stop in Mount Pleasant on July 26^th, and one more option has been announced.

Friday, July 26th at 7:00 PM the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra presents their Symphonic Blast! concert under the direction of Musical Director Robert McConnell. This will take place in the Chapel Auditorium in Mount Pleasant.

SEISO will present classics by John Williams, John Philip Sousa, Igor Stravinsky, Elmer Bernstein and Edvard Grieg with music from Magnificent Seven, Jurassic Park, Carmen Suite No. 1, Firebird Suite, Stars and Stripes Forever, Peer Gynt Suite, and the 1812 Overture among others.  Admission is free.

If you have questions, please check our website for more info: www.seiso.us or contact the SEISO office by email at seiso@seiso.us.

RAGBRAI is right around the corner, and with nearly 20,000 additional people coming to Mount Pleasant, gracious hosts are needed. Do you have a spare floor? Basement? Air mattress? If your answer is yes to any of those questions and you’d like to help the grateful riders, please email Lois at ljrteach@gmail.com for more information and specifics.

“Henry County Heritage Trust (HCHT) held its monthly meeting on June 26, 2024, at the museum in Mount Pleasant.  The meeting began with a surprise, as board member David Gates was presented a Quilt of Valor.

After the approval of minutes and finance reports, a recap of HCHT’s participation in the Preserve Iowa Summit was discussed.  Special open hours were offered, allowing tours of the Van Allen House and the IW Archives Room, and several people took advantage of the opportunity.  More than 225 “Our Town” coffee mugs, donated by HCHT, were snatched up by summit attendees during the June 6-8 event.

We are pleased to announce that Spencer Barton will be working with HCHT for the upcoming year, serving not only as the knowledgeable archivist of our Iowa Wesleyan collection, but helping lead the cataloging and inventorying of the massive number of HCHT artifacts.  The IW Archives Room will continue to be open to the public for tours and research on Mondays, 10:00 to 2:00, and other times by special arrangement.

Along with the museum’s regular open hours on Saturdays, 1:00-4:00, the Van Allen House will now also be open for touring.  Susan Loescher will host.

Ray Wilson, from the Southeast Iowa Civil War Roundtable, will give a July 20 program on “How to Search for your Civil War Ancestors”.  Upcoming summer programs include Joel Garretson speaking on the “Garretson Heritage Farm,” and Dennis White sharing his knowledge about, “Native American Artifacts of Henry County.”

Recent donations include several MPHS pennants, dating to the early 1900s.  Sally Babinat, descendant of Henry Clay Dean, will be visiting in July, offering memorabilia from the Rebel’s Cove Historical Society.

The meeting adjourned for members to help set up the Events Room, in preparation for the June 29 program, “19^th Century Photography”, with David Van Allen and Haven Noble presenting.”

The next scheduled HCHT board meeting will be Wednesday, July 24, 10:00 AM at the Henry County Heritage Center Museum, 403 West Madison Street.  The public is invited.

The Henry County Board of Supervisors met Thursday morning for their weekly meeting where engineer Jake Hotchkiss presented the open fuel bids for FY25. The department reached out to five companies for bids and received and accepted one from Cobb Oil Company. Hotchkiss also reported W55 will be closed from 275^th North to 260^th Street for 2 more weeks due to construction. Additionally, the supervisors approved a resolution for Iowa Bridge and Culvert to replace the Nebraska Avenue Bride for roughly $772,000.

Kelly Carr from Henry County Health Center spoke about the importance of Healthy Henry County Communities. Currently, they have information on two websites: the county’s website and another one specifically for Healthy Henry County Communities. Supervisor Marc Lindeen questioned the need for this second website and redundancy. Carr reiterated this site’s importance saying it provides a wealth of information about prevention and intervention that could not be put on the other site due to a lack of space. Also, she does not have access to the county website to update.The conversation wrapped up naturally when Carr stated that she wished the supervisors would have contacted her before this meeting, rather than her finding out through the agenda. Lindeen made clear that discussions about public health and Healthy Henry County Communities will be ongoing.

The next board of supervisors meeting will be Wednesday, July 3^rd due to the 4^th being a holiday.

*This article was written and compiled by Maggie Fitzpatrick*

There was a head on vehicle collision in Des Moines County which involved a vehicle with two teenagers inside.

47-year-old Nicholas McGrane of Burlington, operating a SUV, was traveling westbound on Mason Road when attempting to traverse a curve. The second vehicle, a sedan driven by a 16-year-old girl, with an 18-year-old passenger, both from Middletown, were driving the same curve. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the first vehicle crossed the center line and struck the vehicle with teenagers nearly head on. Both vehicles came to rest south of the roadway and west of the point of the impact. The incident remains under investigation.

A Burlington man was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and for unlawful possession of firearms.

According to public court documents, Jimmie Willis, 44, and others, conspired to bring over 400 pounds of ice methamphetamine to Burlington, Iowa. Willis also unlawfully possessed numerous firearms related to his drug trafficking activities.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Willis will be required to serve 5 years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.