March 2024

Upcoming Events Around Henry County

March
27th – Commercial Pesticide – Ornamental & Turf Pest Control
27th – Region 27 Ames STEM Trip
29th – 4-H Babysitter Clinic
April
2nd – Introduction to Planning & Zoning for Local Officials
13th – 4-H Regional Clothing Workshop
15th-20th – Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Week

To find out more information about these upcoming events head to the Henry County Extension website or Facebook page!

Horticulture Headlines

Creating Raised Bed Planters

Wanting to add functional and attractive raised garden beds to your home? Click here for types of raised beds, advantages of having raised garden beds, and the construction of them.

Manage Garden Plants that Break Dormancy Early

Recent warm temperatures across Iowa may cause some concerns for gardeners as they see buds and foliage emerge in February. This puts plants at risk of damage if below-average temperatures return. In this article, you will be advised on what to do when plants break dormancy early. Click here to read full article.

Henry County & 4-H Happenings

SWITCH – Salem Elementary

This month, Erin was off to Salem Elementary School for her SWITCH Program. SWITCH (School Wellness Integration Targeting Child Health) is an innovative school wellness initiative designed to support and enhance school wellness programming. With the help of the students pedaling the blender bike, Erin made peach-carrot smoothies! Smoothies are a good snack and an easy way to add your fruits and vegetables for the day.

Peach-Carrot Smoothie Recipe: frozen banana, peaches, and cooked carrots. Add your choice of yogurt, milk, water, or peach juice, and enjoy!

Van Allen 4-H After School Program

We are four weeks into the 4-H After School Program at Van Allen! The students have been diving into the Engineering Design Process. Students first designed their doghouses on paper and then brought those designs to life by making them out of cardboard with the help of their mentors! It was fun seeing how creative these young engineers were and how they overcame obstacles while putting the houses together.

A Burlington woman is facing criminal charges for lighting a fire on the porch of house she believed was her friend’s.

The incident occurred just after 4:30pm on March 19, 2024. The resident of 2224 Vineyard in Burlington called DESCOM after she received an alert of motion from her security camera. The resident, who was not home at the time, watched video from her security camera as a woman lit a fire on the resident’s porch. The resident said she did not know the woman and had never seen her before.

Officers from the Burlington Police Department and Burlington Fire Department were dispatched to 2224 Vineyard and when they arrived, they found Michelle Young, 46, standing on the porch. Young told officers her friend lived there and admitted to setting a fire on the porch. Young told officers the items she set on fire were miscellaneous items she picked up while walking in the area.

Officers were able to view the video from the security camera and positively identified Young as the person who had started the fire. Michelle Young was arrested and during her arrest, officers discovered Young was in possession of drug paraphernalia. The fired department quickly extinguished the fire and there was minimal damage to the porch.

Young was charged with Reckless Use of Fire, a serious misdemeanor, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a simple misdemeanor.

Henry County Emergency Management held a simulated drill on Tuesday morning which aimed at creating cohesion and communication between agencies while fixing the issue at hand. With atleast 8 counties represented through fire departments, EMS, emergency management, and the Henry County Sheriff, this simulation saw many heads join together for one common issue.

After a meeting at the Emergency Management building in Mount Pleasant to lay out the plan, everybody got to work. The simulated scenario was a gas explosion at a gas pipe near Yarmouth. Situated on the Henry County/Des Moines County line, this was a large scale exercise. Measures were taken for safety, such as establishing a perimeter far away from the gas, wrangling cattle, and releasing messages to be sent out to every phone within a certain radius.

This proved to be great training for all those involved. The importance of an exercise like this was shown as it allows responders to better understand what to do in an event of a major emergency.

A reminder that a large full-scale exercise will take place next Wednesday, March 27^th, in New London. “Operation Prom” is an immersive event which will bring the realities of prom season to life for the students involved. Highschoolers will interact with police, firefighters, medical personnel, life flight crews, and even funeral home representatives.

This is designed to create awareness and responsible decision-making for students.

Some of the material may be graphic in nature.

Today at 10:30 AM the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will release 1,000 Rainbow Trout Fish at East Lake Park’s Lake, near the Hayward Shelter House.

Children under 16 may fish for and possess trout if they fish with an adult who already has a valid fishing license and trout fee. However, their combined daily limit is five trout.

Children under 16 may purchase their own trout fee, which allows them to keep their own five trout limit.

Iowa Fishing licenses $22.00

Trout Stamp $12.00

Licenses may be purchased at Wal-Mart, on the Iowa DNR website, or in person at any other Iowa DNR license vendors.