With the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner, the Fort Madison Community Thanksgiving Dinner Committee is busy preparing for another great meal.

The 2023 Fort Madison Community Thanksgiving Dinner will take place on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, and will be carry out, delivery and dine in! The committee will again serve meals from the Fraternal Order of the Eagles Aerie 1287 located at 4821 Avenue O Suite #4 and invite you to dine in with them from 11 am – 1 pm.

Volunteers will be needed to help deliver meals to those who are unable to get out. Deliveries will be made from 10 am – 1 pm on Thanksgiving Day.  Carry out meals can be picked up at the Eagles Club between 12 – 2 pm. Free-will donations are accepted as well as canned good items for the Food Pantry.

All meals will need to be ordered ahead of time by calling the Thanksgiving Hotline at 319-316-8204 beginning November 6^th until November 21^st.

“We are excited to invite community members to dine with us again. This event is all about giving our community a chance to enjoy Thanksgiving with others. Our volunteers are what help make this event so successful. We’ll be needing delivery drivers again as well as people to help on the service lines. Volunteers will also be needed on Wednesday for prep.” states Chamber Director Savanna Collier.  If you’d like to volunteer, please call the Turkey Hotline at 319-316-8204 starting November 6^th to sign-up.

The committee appreciates the efforts of the greater Fort Madison businesses for sponsoring and volunteers that help make this free event happen. Monetary donations are greatly appreciated and can be sent to “Community Thanksgiving” at 614 7^th Street, Fort Madison, IA. They especially would like to thank the Eagles Club for the use of their space and the Iowa State Penitentiary for their help in the preparation of the food. It is the goal of the group to see that no one is overlooked this Thanksgiving, so getting the word out to community members in need and to those who may not have a family to share a holiday meal with is of utmost importance!

Across Iowa, dedicated educators are seamlessly incorporating agriculture into their classrooms to enhance the learning journeys of their students. The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation has an annual award – Excellence in Teaching About Agriculture – to honor and acknowledge these exceptional teachers.

The Iowa Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award is open to non-vocational pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers. The award aims to recognize an Iowa teacher for their integrated efforts to teach students about the importance of food and agriculture and increase students’ agriculture literacy.

Applications will be accepted through November 18 and the winner will be selected and recognized in December. The selected Iowa teacher will receive $500 to support their classroom instruction, as well as up to $1,000 to cover expenses to attend the 2024 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2024.

Outstanding teachers will showcase innovative approaches to integrating food and agriculture into their classroom. Agriculture can be the vehicle to teach a multitude of other content areas and apply these concepts in a relevant way for Iowa students.

Teachers can apply with or without a nomination. IALF encourages agriculture advocates, teachers, and all members of the community to recognize teachers who embody the criteria for this award by submitting a nomination.

Nominated educators will be notified that a community member supports their efforts and would like them to apply. All applicants, including nominated teachers, must apply officially by November 18.

For more information or to apply online visit: https://www.iowaagliteracy.org/tools-resources/general/grants.

There was a motor vehicle accident on October 26^th that resulted in a hospitalization.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a multiple vehicle accident. At 9:17am, a vehicle was traveling eastbound across Highway 61 when it pulled out in front of a second vehicle that was traveling northbound.

The second vehicle, a Hyundai operated by Diana Peck of Fort Madison, struck the first vehicle in the right rear side. The collision caused it to spin until it ended up on the opposite side of the highway on 175^th St.

Peck’s vehicle rolled for 20 yards before coming to a stop. She was injured and transported to Great River Hospital in Burlington by Lee County EMS.

The driver of the first vehicle, Jesse Shires of Burlington, was uninjured at the scene and the airbags did not deploy. Jesse Shires was cited for Failure to Yield through Highway.

Two women in Burlington are now behind bars after detectives discovered a large quantity of methamphetamine in their hotel room.

Detectives with the Southeast Iowa Narcotics Task Force learned of a woman who was staying at the Fun City Resort Hotel on October 26^th. They were aware that she had an active pretrial violation warrant stemming from a controlled substance violation that occurred last November.

Room surveillance began, and the detectives soon observed that the woman, Stephanie Echols, and another female, Wayann Hand, were walking to the parking lot. After contacting the two females, Echols told detectives that there was approximately one pound of methamphetamine in her room. Hand told detectives that she had a half-ounce of methamphetamine in the purse she was carrying.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for the hotel room, and located just over three quarters of a pound of methamphetamine, packaging materials and a digital scale. There were no drug tax stamps affixed to any of the packages of meth in Hand’s purse or the room.

As a result of this investigation, Stephanie Ann Echols, 41, and Wayann Marie Hand, 48, were both charged with Possession With Intent To Deliver Methamphetamine, class B felony, and Failure To Affix Drug Tax Stamp, class D felony.