Richard Bessine

Richard Charles Bessine, 88, of Burlington, died Sunday, October 1, 2023 at his home. He was born May 10, 1935 in Burlington to Frederick Sr. and Anna Koeller Bessine.  On July 17, 1954 he married Betty Jean Sly in Burlington; she died January 7, 2012.  He attended Burlington schools and was a member of St. Paul Catholic Church in Burlington.

Mr. Bessine worked for fifty years as a Transportation Supervisor at IAAP in Middletown. He enjoyed hunting geese and ducks; trap shooting; boating the Mighty Mississippi; and spending time with his grandchildren.

Survivors include three daughters, Mary Moore and Cynthia Trammel of Austin, Texas, and Kristina Seals of Burlington; daughter-in-law Debbie Bessine of Florida; four grandchildren, Dustin Carlson, Ashley (Matt) Grinnell, Aric Martin and Anthony (Bethany) Martin; and eight great-grandchildren, Cayden, Carsen, Richard, Jada, Gavin, Rosie, Mattelyn, and Jaric.  Besides his parents and his wife, he was preceded in death by his son Gene Patrick; grandson Rayme Moore; and brothers, Fred, Bob, Ed and Jim.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Mr. Bessine will be held at 2:00 PM, Friday, October 6, 2023 at St. Paul Catholic Church in Burlington with Father Jake Greiner officiating.  A memorial has been established for St. Paul Catholic Church.  Elliott Chapel, New London, is assisting the family with arrangements and online condolences may be left at www.elliottfuneralchapel.com.

Wayland City Council Meeting

Special Meeting Agenda

Roll Call – 6:00pm

Interviews for Public Works Position possible closed session per Iowa Code 21.5(i) To evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance, or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation and that individual requests a closed session.  

Possible Motion to Hire – Offer Public Works Position To Successful Candidate

2023-22 “A Resolution Approving Wage and Benefits For Public Works Employee”

Adjournment

 

MP Personnel and Finance Committee Meeting Tomorrow

The Mount Pleasant Personnel & Finance Committee will meet Wednesday, October 4th, 2023, at 9 a.m. at City Hall in the City Administrators’ Conference Room.

AGENDA 

Call to order

Discuss the engagement letter to amend the Urban Revitalization Plan

Discuss property adjacent to Public Works Facility

Discuss TIF Request

Discuss property around McMillian Park

Discuss Solid Waste Collection

Discuss the Animal Contract with the new owner at 1225 W Washington St.

Open Forum

Adjourn

KILJ “Meet the Candidates” Night For the Mt. Pleasant Community School Board Election

KILJ Radio is excited to announce a “Meet the Candidates” night for the upcoming school board election.

The upcoming school and city election is just over a month away, and there are many candidates attempting to win. For the Mt. Pleasant Community School Board, there are three positions that will see conflict between candidates.

For the At-Large 4-year term, Angela Blint (Incumbent) will attempt to fend off Michael Hampton and Dana Millard. There are two positions, so one unlucky candidate will miss out.

Newcomer Kevin Schrader will try to usurp current board member, Josh Maher, for the At-Large 2-year term.

Danny Graber and Sarah Donnolly will face off against each other, and Incumbent Kevin Sandersfeld for one seat on director District Two 4-year term.

With eight candidates battling for limited seats on the board, it is important that the right members are voted in. This live on-air evening, which starts at 6:30pm on October 25th, will provide the public with many opportunities to get to know the people on the ballot.

The candidates will be asked a variety of different questions, such as why they are running for school board. All eight candidates have agreed for this evening of information.

Tune in to 98.5FM and KILJ.com on Wednesday, October 25th, at 6:30pm for this exclusive coverage. We thank our sponsor, Two Rivers Bank and Trust, for providing this coverage of the school board election, which is scheduled for Tuesday, November 7th.

There are three candidates that are running unopposed. Melinda Huisinga, Aaron Williamson, and Derek Mullin will be interviewed at a later date, to ensure that the public has the chance to hear from them.

 

All candidates and the positions they are running for:

School Board At Large – 4-year Term (Vote for Two)

Angela Blint

Michael Hampton

Dana Millard

School Board At Large – 2-year Term (Vote for One)

Josh Maher

Kevin Schrader

School Board Director District 1 – 4-year Term (Vote for One)

Aaron Williamson

School Board Director District 1 – 2-year Term (Vote for One)

Melinda Huisinga

School Board Director District 2 – 4-year Term (Vote for One)

Danny Graber

Sarah Donnolly

Kevin Sandersfeld

School Board Director District 2 – 2-year Term (Vote for One)

Derek Mullin

Prep Girls Cross Country: Pella Races to a First Place Finish in the Hillcrest Academy Invitational

Kalona, IA- The Hillcrest Academy Invitational marked the last run before conference meets for the Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC) and the Southeast Conference (SEC). The girl varsity squads of Pella Green and Pella White dominated the race as they finished in first and second place, respectively.

English Valleys grabbed a distant third place with an average team time that was more than two minutes off second place. Fairfield grabbed fourth place with Carley Seeley taking 13th place with a time of 22 minutes and 46 seconds. Malena Bloomquist was the next Trojan to cross the line in 24 minutes and 3 seconds.

Danville raced to a fifth-place finish as the Bears were led by Alaina Gourley’s 14th place finish with a time of 23 minutes and 8 seconds. Abby Arnett was the next Bear to finish in 26th place overall with a time of 25 minutes and 3 seconds.

Mediapolis finished in sixth place as a team with Shelby Schultz leading the pack with a time of 24 minutes and 45 seconds. Lily Nalley grabbed 34th place overall with a time of 25 minutes and 39 seconds.

Hillcrest Academy finished in seventh place as a team with Mt. Pleasant following behind in eighth place. Monroe James’ 25 minute and 25 second run led the Panthers with a 30th place finish overall. Nelle Peterson finished with a time of 25 minutes and 52 seconds for a 37th place finish overall. Wapello finished in ninth place as a team.

The SEISC conference meet will run on Thursday, October 5th, and the SEC conference meet will take place next Thursday, October 12th.

Sports, October 3rd

High School Football

Mt. Pleasant will stay on the road to take on Keokuk this Friday, October 6th, at 7:30 pm. KILJ will be on the call with the pregame show at 7:15 pm. 

In other Class 3A District 4 matchups, Washington will host Assumption and Fort Madison will wrestle with Mt. Vernon at home.

Fairfield will attempt to bounce back this Friday against South Tama in a road matchup.

Mediapolis will host Davis County this Friday.

Columbus will hit the road to take on Van Buren County this Friday. 

Central Lee will take on Mid-Prairie at 7:30 pm for their Homecoming game.

Danville will host Lisbon this Friday in an attempt to extend their win streak to four games. 

#10 WACO will face off against English Valleys at 7 pm in a home game.

New London will compete against Moravia at 7 pm.

#1 Winfield-Mt. Union will be at home to face off against Mormon Trail this Friday.

High School Football Rankings

8-Player saw no movement from last week’s rankings as #1 Winfield-Mt. Union made it three games in-a-row of scoring at least 70 points. Gladbrook-Reinbeck, Bedford, CAM, and Remsen St. Mary’s enter this week’s rankings #2 through #5, respectively, and still undefeated. WACO is ranked 10th with a 5-1 record, their only loss coming against the Wolves.

Class 2A saw Mediapolis jump into the rankings at the #10 slot after back-to-back weeks of dominating victories. 

Looking at Class 3A’s RPI rankings, Williamsburg is the top team with a 0.708 RPI. In Mt. Pleasant’s district, Mt. Vernon is the highest ranked team in 8th with Assumption and Fort Madison ranked 19th and 20th respectively, as the two fight for second place in the district and an automatic bid to the playoffs. 

Since Gilbert is the only undefeated team remaining in Class 4A, it’s a no-brainer who is ranked #1 in Class 4A. Burlington is in 30th with a 0.397 RPI. 

It’s a dead-heat between Southeast Polk and Dowling Catholic in Class 5A, as both teams tout tough schedules and undefeated records; the Rams are #1 through six weeks with an RPI of 0.716.

High School Volleyball

Mt. Pleasant will be competing in the first round of the Southeast Conference Tournament tonight at Fort Madison.

New London will host Fort Madison on October 5th. 

West Burlington will host Burlington Notre Dame tonight.

WACO will travel to take on Winfield-Mt. Union tonight at 7:30 pm.

Van Buren County will take on Mediapolis today.

#3 Holy Trinity Catholic will stay on the road to face off against Central Lee tonight.

Danville will take on the Crusaders for Holy Trinity Catholic’s senior night on October 5th.

Cross Country

The Hillcrest Academy Invitational ran yesterday with Pella, who was split up into a Green team and a White team, taking first as a team followed by Mediapolis in second place, Mt. Pleasant in fourth place, Danville in fifth place, and Fairfield in sixth place. 

Owen Schmidgall and Solomon Zaugg were the two best runners for the Bulldogs as the pair finished in 3rd and 4th place, respectively. Both runners finished with sub-17 minute times.

The Panthers best finisher was Ben Carthey in 11th place with a time of 17 minutes and 51 seconds. Jude Dykstra and Locken Henderson finished in 14th and 15th, respectively, for Mt. Pleasant. 

Isaac Shin was the top finisher for Danville with a time of 19 minutes and Noah Horn finished in 25th place overall with a time of 19 minutes and 23 seconds. 

The top two finishers for Fairfield were Nate Konczal in 17th and Riley Perkins with a time of 19 minutes and 47 seconds. 

The Mt. Pleasant middle school girls team extended their team winning streak with Avery Fedler finishing as the runner-up with a time of 12 minutes and 25 seconds. 

The Mt. Pleasant middle school boys team was led by Finn Kramer’s 28th place finish as the team took 10th place.

Mt. Pleasant will be competing in the Southeast Conference (SEC) meet on October 12th. 

The Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC) meet will be run on October 5th. 

College Football

The University of Iowa will celebrate Homecoming this Saturday, October 7th, against Purdue. 

Iowa State University will take on TCU in a home game this Saturday.

For the Hawkeye broadcast, tune into KILJ 105.5 FM and the Cyclone broadcast will be on 98.5 FM and AM 1130. 

This Day in Sports History

1920 – American Pro Football Association (later the NFL) plays their first full round of games; the Dayton Triangles beat the Columbus Panhandles, 14-0, in the first official game at Triangle Park, Dayton. 

1971 – American tennis star Billie Jean King becomes the first female athlete to win $100,000 in prize money in a single year after she wins the $4,000 Virginia Slams Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona.

1989 – Art Shell becomes the first Black head coach in modern NFL history after the Oakland Raiders fire Mike Shanahan.

Police Pursuit Through Mt. Pleasant

There was a pursuit that swept through Mt. Pleasant in the early evening hours on Monday, October 2nd. At approximately 6:44pm, the Mt. Pleasant Police Department engaged in a high-speed pursuit in the 1400 block of highway 34. Preliminary reports suggest that this chase made its way north as it continued to the Trenton area. The Henry County Sheriff’s Office assisted in this pursuit. KILJ will bring updates to this case as they are made available.

*Not the actual photo*

Richard Bessine – Pending

Richard C. Bessine, 88, of Burlington, died Sunday, October 1, 2023 at his home in Burlington.  Services are pending at Elliott Chapel, New London.