Page 2 Graettinger Times Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Proceeding of the Palo Alto County Supervisor’s

Election CenterEmmetsburg, IowaJuly 21, 2020, 8:00 a.m. The Palo Alto County Board of

Supervisors met in regular session. Members present: Linus Solberg Chair Pro-Tem; Craig Merrill; Keith Wirtz. Roger Faulstick present by conference call. Absent: Ron Graettinger.

Unless otherwise indicated, all of the motions offered at this meeting were carried with the following vote: Ayes: Merrill, Wirtz, Solberg, Faulstick. Nays: None. Absent: Graettinger.

Due to COVID-19 the meeting was held by conference call. The conference call bridge number and conference ID number was posted and provided at the top of the agenda that was emailed.

Motion by Merrill, seconded by Wirtz to approve the agenda for July 21, 2020. Motion Carried.

Motion by Wirtz, seconded by Merrill to approve the minutes for July 14, 2020. Motion Carried.

Lois Naig, Assessor, met with the Board by conference call. Lois presented the new homestead and military applications for FY22. The business property tax applications for FY22 were presented.

Motion by Merrill, seconded by Wirtz to approve the homestead and military applications for FY22 and the business property tax applications for FY22. Motion Carried.

Robin Jamison, County Treasurer, met with the Board by conference call to discuss Palo Alto County Tax Sale property in Ayrshire. Robin discussed with the Board that the lien search on the property in Ayrshire found a vacated alley and requested that it be included with the Mike & Debbie Garrelts property. Motion by Faulstick, seconded by Merrill to assign tax sale no. 2009-122 to Mike & Debbie Garrelts. Motion Carried.

Robin Jamison discussed with the Board a request from the City of Ayrshire to clean up the property at 1405 Doon Street in Ayrshire. Motion by Wirtz, seconded by Merrill to authorize the City of Ayrshire to clean

up the property at 1405 Doon St and assign tax sale certificate 2005-50001. Motion Carried.

Sarah Strohman, Public Health, met with the Board by conference to give an update on COVID-19. Palo Alto County has 63 positive cases reported at this time.

Harold Christensen was present for public comment and presented information regarding Iowa Natural Heritage and CSR values on 71 acres in Walnut Township.

Motion by Wirtz, seconded by Merrill to set the completion hearing date for Drainage District 80 Lower Main open ditch for September 1, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. at the Election Center. Motion Carried.

Committee Reports: Merrill—NWIACC mtg; Solberg & Wirtz—North Racoon watershed meeting. The Board contacted Sheila Tipton by conference call to discuss proposed solar energy ordinance.

Rick Hopper, Jacobson-Westergard & Assoc. met with the Board for the Annexation Hearing on Drainage District No. 47. Rick presented the annexation report for Drainage District No. 47 to include 9.47 acres. No objections were on file.

Present: Jordan Morey, Auditor’s Office Clerk.

Motion by Merrill, seconded by Wirtz to approve the annexation report for Drainage District No. 47. Motion Carried.

Rick Hopper, Jacobson-Westergard & Assoc. met with the Board for the Annexation Hearing on Drainage District No. 92. Rick presented the annexation report for Drainage District No. 92 to include 118.46 acres. Objections were filed by David Girres and Harold Christensen. Present: Jordan Morey, Auditor’s Office Clerk; Harold Christensen and Marty Brennan.

Rick will work with Marty Brennan and contact the State regarding a tile issue. Rick will review objections and contact the landowners.

Motion by Merrill, seconded by Wirtz to approve the annexation report for Drainage District No. 92, subject to the review of Harold Christensen parcel no. 490029002030 and 490029003020; and David Girres objection on parcel no. 490021003010 and 490021003021. Motion Carried.

Motion by Merrill, seconded by Wirtz to adjourn. Motion Carried.

Linus Solberg, Chair Pro Tem Carmen Moser, County Auditor

published July 29,2020

Former Ayrshire Clerk Enters

‘Not Guilty’ Plea A former clerk for the City of

Ayrshire has entered a not guilty plea to theft and forgery charges. 28-year-old Alesha Olson was charged with Second Degree Theft, a Class D Felony; and Forgery after city officials asked the State Auditor to examine city records in February and an investigation was opened by State Auditor Rob Sand because of concerns regarding certain financial transactions process by Olson.

The audit turned up more than $10,000 in improper and unsupport-ed spending from September 2018 through February of this year, which included more than $9,000 in unau-thorized checks issued to Olson. Ol-son resigned her position in January after her husband was not re-elected as Mayor.

Olson's attorney Scott Johnson of Hemphill Law Firm in Spencer filed her plea last week with the Palo Alto County Clerk of Court. Olson waived her right to a speedy trial, and an Oct. 27 jury trial has been scheduled at the Palo Alto County Courthouse.

• 18 or older at the time of election• Acquire 25 signatures from ac-

tive registered voters in the districtThere will be several non-partisan

office terms up for election on No-vember 3.

Palo Alto County Ag Extension terms expiring in 2020 are: Sue Haack, Emmetsburg; John Ban-wart, West Bend; Nathan Hoff-man, Graettinger; Scott Anliker, Emmetsburg

Palo Alto County Hospital Trust-ees with term expirations are: Mary Cooper, Emmetsburg; Rick Brennan, Emmetsburg

Township Trustee terms expir-ing are: Michael Reding, Fairfield Township; David Bolte, Fairfield Township; Gary Garrelts, Silver Lake Township; Mike Sikora, Silver Lake Township; Dennis Barber, West Bend Township; Jerome Kuyper, West Bend Township

Soil and Water terms expiring in 2021 are: Joel Horsley, Emmetsburg; Anita Fisher, West Bend; and Mi-chael Gunderson, Whittemore

For any questions regarding the August 26 filing deadline or candi-date qualifications, please contact the Palo Alto County Auditor's Office at 712-852-2924. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Elections from page 1

1. It was Guy Madison who starred as Wild Bill in the syndicated show "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok." His partner during those eight years was veteran actor Andy Devine. Who did Andy portray?

2. "Dennis the Menace" was a TV series based on a popular cartoon. It ran from 1959 to 1963. Who played the title role, beginning the first season at eight years of age?

3.Which sitcom was the first scripted TV program to be filmed before a studio audience?

4.From 1959 to 1963 came "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". Money, girls and popularity consumed this teenager's time and thoughts. Dwayne Hick-man starred as Dobie, Tuesday Weld was his sometimes girlfriend Thalia Meninger and his best friend was Maynard G. Krebs, played by what actor who would go on to a successful show about a group of castaways?

5. He was badly wounded... the only survivor of the ambush of his detach-ment of Texas Rangers. After Tonto nursed him back to health he went on to become "The Lone Ranger." What gang was responsible for that massacre?

6.This 1953 show has three ghosts, one of which can be described as a real booze-hound.

7. In 1950, four of the top six most popular shows included a corporate sponsor's name. Which of the following products was not pitched by these sponsors? Toothpaste-Razor blades-Gasoline- Soap 8. Bill Cullen was the original host of this game show which, in a different format, is still a daytime favorite. Password-The Family Feud-Jeopardy- The Price is RightSee page 8 for answers

1950’s TV Trivia. Do you remember?

Tabby Torresen, Ruth Petrich, Kevin Petrich and Josh Petrich did great at the Graettinger Business Club Golf Tourney. They had a 57 and were at the top of the second flight. The group represented Ruth Petrich's Cleaning Service.

Generate leads for your business and run your classified ad in over 200 newspapers statewide and reach 1.9 million IOWANS with your message! Call this paper or 800-227-7636

Above, Jake Masters carries the Navy flag after this win at the Kossuth County Raceway. Jake was selected to have a new Hunting with Heros wrap on his car that evening. See page 1

Right is the new "train" that the Graettinger Business Club will have at town events for kids to ride. The group brought the train up to the Golf Tourney to show everyone and let folks know there is still room for sponsorship on the sides of the cars. The golf cart in the back is a

raffle prize from the Graettinger Development Corp, see Alex Helmich for tickets.

Wednesday, July 29, 2020 Graettinger Times Page 7

The Palo Alto County Sheriffs Office has released no information as of Monday in what the investigation on the east side of Virgin Lake 2 miles south of Ruthven is about after a body was spotted in the lake. A mile stretch of the road on the east side was barricaded on Wednesday afternoon and remained closed until Saturday, with the lake access remaining barricaded. Several ‘rumors’ have surfaced about the body being retrieved from the lake, but no official information has been released as of Monday.

Area South of Hwy 18 falls in the ‘Moderate Drought’ Category

La Nina Watch Issued for Next Six Monthsby Radio Iowa News Iowa farmers will want to take note as what’s being called a La Nina

Watch is being issued by the Climate Prediction Center, which forecasts a possible cooling in the Pacific Ocean’s surface over the next six months. Doug Kluck, the regional climate service director for the National Weather Service in Kansas City, says the long-range development is far from certain, but they’re watching carefully. “Right now, it looks weak, if it’s going to happen at all,” Kluck says. “It’s not a very good chance. There’s not a lot of confidence it’s going to happen yet. As we get closer and closer to fall, that confidence will hopefully go up in terms of what’s actually going to happen.”

Kluck says a La Nina pattern can have impacts all across the country, sometimes bringing significant changes in weather patterns and dramatic shifts for agriculture. “Temperatures in the southern part of the U.S. tend to be above normal,” Kluck says, “and temperatures, as you move north, are closer to normal or even below-normal as you get a stronger and stronger La Nina event.”

Kluck says Iowa and the rest of the Northern Plains region could see more rain and snow under a La Nina. “And with precipitation, it’s kind of a similar game here,” Kluck says. “Drier to the south and wetter to the north, especially in the north-central part of the U.S. again, if the La Nina signa-ture occurs in the Pacific.”

Kluck says observers will have a better idea of the strength of the pos-sible La Nina by late fall into early winter.

versity simply through its location. There is no better example than the discovery of prairie bush clover, a federally threatened species, which has now been found on the 1998 ac-quisition.

“What we thought was an isolated population on the state preserve has been found on the steep slopes on the buffer area,” Pearson said. Cay-ler Prairie’s mix of uplands, pothole wetlands and timber river corridor at-tract pheasants, waterfowl and deer, that, in turn, brings pheasant hunters, duck hunters and deer hunters. The Twin Forks section offers a change in landscape. The riverine valleys where the West Fork of the Little Sioux joins the main branch of the small prairie stream. It’s a popular section for kayakers.

Cayler Prairie was designated as a state Bird Conservation Area in 2011, due, in part, to the area providing im-portant nesting habitat for declining grassland birds, such as upland sand-piper, northern harrier, bobolink, and Henslow’s sparrow.

Trumpeter swans nested success-fully in 2020, producing four cygnats on one of Cayler’s wetlands. It was the first time trumpeter swans nested successfully at Cayler in recent his-tory.

Wildlife biologist Chris LaRue uses a combination of rotating pre-scribed fire on select small areas, and grazing cattle on the reconstructed prairie to replicate what Mother Na-ture and the bison did for centuries.

Cayler State Preserve is one of the most studied prairies in the state including an early study published in the Proceedings of Iowa Academy of Science in 1956, that provided a thor-ough identification of plant species on the area. Other studies focused on mosses and liverworts, and another on vertebrates. The high-quality pol-linator habitat on Cayler has ben-efitted butterflies and bees which has attracted scientists here to study but-terflies, especially monarchs, insects and more.

Areas to the north of Ruthven have been fortunate to receive some much needed rains over the past couple of weeks while Ruthven has only received 1.14 in the entire month of July as of Sunday afternoon. .21 of that fell on Sunday morning when areas to the north received much more; 1.41 at KILR in Estherville, 1.60 in Milford and 1.02 in Fostoria. Areas south of highway 18 have fallen into the ‘moderate drought’ category.

The extreme heat of July is starting to stress some of Iowa’s corn and soybean crops, as conditions vary across the state.

Iowa State University Extension field agronomist Angie Rieck-Hinz says much of the corn crop in western Iowa is having a difficult time. “Even the rain we get now is probably not going to help that a whole lot, just because it’s been so dry there for so long,” Rieck-Hinz says. “The rest of Iowa, like northeast Iowa, is fairly wet. I don’t anticipate seeing any yield loss poten-tial on that, simply from the standpoint that they’ve had adequate rain.”

The condition of Iowa’s soybean fields is wide-ranging as well. “South-central Iowa, west-central Iowa, southwestern Iowa, those beans look stressed,” she says. “You get anywhere else in north-central Iowa and going into northeast Iowa, the beans look really good. Almost to R-3 in almost all of the bean fields, which means we’re at beginning pods.”

This past weekend brought Iowa some of the most oppressive heat of the year, with heat indices statewide in triple digits, so soybeans are becoming more and more stressed.

“We’re really pushing that crop this year with this heat,” Rieck-Hinz says. “I think the big challenge we’re going to look at going forward in time with beans is, we’ll see whether we get a pest outbreak or not.” Rieck-Hinz is based at the Wright County Extension Office in Clarion.

Treasurer Fitzgerald Earns More than $51 million for Iowa in FY20

DES MOINES, Iowa - State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald earned $51.6 million in interest on the State of Iowa’s short term investment pool in the fiscal year that ended June 30th. Fiscal year 2020 (FY20), July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020, marks the second highest earnings for Iowa in over a decade. The FY20 rate of return was 1.65%.

“I take great pride in being able to report significant earnings once again for Iowa, even amidst the volatile market and budget impacts of the COV-ID-19 pandemic” said Fitzgerald. “In the midst of these unpredictable times, we continue our mission of keeping Iowa’s money safe. The money we earn each year funds State of Iowa programs and reduces the need to collect money from other sources.”

As the State’s banker, Treasurer Fitzgerald invests the funds of State agencies together in one short-term investment pool. For FY20, the pool averaged over $3.3 billion in funds. The Treasurer’s investment policy for the pool prioritizes safety first, then liquidity to ensure the State can make payments and finally, interest earned. The pool includes the State’s general fund, the road use tax fund, the State’s two reserve funds and a number of smaller State funds.

To learn more about Treasurer Fitzgerald’s office and its programs, visit IowaTreasurer.gov and follow the office on Facebook and Twitter.

Prairie from page 6

The annual Emmetsburg tractor ride for "Half Way to St. Pat's" hit Graettinger Saturday around noon. The sprinkle of rain didn't seem to stop anyone and all seemed in good cheer as they stopped into the Lodge before heading out again.

The sprayer plane seems to be going to fly right into the sun but of course isn't near high enough. Most crop dusters fly below 1000 feet. Planes and terra gators have spraying area fields for bugs in recent weeks. The first commercial operations were begun in 1924, in Macon, Georgia, by Huff-Daland Crop Dusting, which was co-founded by McCook Field test pilot Lt. Harold R. Harris. Use of insecticide and fungicide for crop dusting slowly spread in the Americas and to a lesser extent other na-tions in the 1930s. Despite advances in airplane technology and safety training, crop dusting remains a dangerous line of work. ... They fly the plane while dodging trees, homes, power lines and on-lookers. They don't want to pour pesticides onto a farmhouse or sprinkle the wrong seeds on a neighbor's field.

August 2 is Ice Cream Sandwich Day; August 20 is Chocolate Pecan Pie Day; August 25 Kiss and Make Up Day