News

By KENT THOMPSON
The 14th annual Humboldt Arts Festival features something for everyone when it comes to town on Saturday, June 15.
The event will be at the Humboldt County Historical Museum grounds, 905 1st Ave. N., Dakota City. The event will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with children’s art ending at 2 p.m.
Amber Olson and Kate Smith are serving as the co-chairs for this year’s Festival. Olson assisted Lori Curran last year.
“The event is a way for us to give back to the community with a free event that celebrates the arts in all of its manifestations,” Olson said.
For example, there will be creative artistic expression through a number of activities and crafts for children, the display of handmade items by the 20 or so artisans who will be displaying and selling their wares. There will be live entertainment — musical and comedy.

By JEFF GARGANO
The public has the opportunity to tour the Chantland South Plant on Saturday, May 18, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and enjoy a hot dog.
“How many people have driven by thousands of times and have no idea what we do,” Chantland President Jerry Heathman said. “While on our way home on a Sunday night recently, my wife and I stopped at the plant. In 37 years I’ve been with the company she’d never been to the plant. How many other spouses of employees and their children had never been in the plant? We decided to open it up to the public to show what we do.”
Inside the 180,000 square foot facility, the 130 employees manufacture pulleys and rollers for conveyor systems.
“If you fly your bag has been moved on a Chantland pulley. Amazon and Target all move product on Chantland pulleys. Our products are used around the world,” Heathman said.

By KENT THOMPSON
Humboldt City Administrator Travis Goedken mentioned Monday the Humboldt Downtown Revitalization Project is not just about improving traffic safety and putting in sidewalks and streetlights.
It is also about getting landowners and businesses to become actively involved in the revitalization efforts by rehabilitating and renovating their buildings.
To that end, on Monday, the Humboldt City Council approved a Central Business District Urban Renewal Area Incentive Grant Program. The unanimous decision did not come without a large amount of debate and discussion. Some original ideas were scrapped, while others were expanded upon.
After much discussion, the Council agreed to remove an upper story residential rehabilitation incentive as an eligible project and agreed to leave the roof repair grant at $5,000 with a one-to-one match and building façade grant at $3,000 with a one-to-one match.

By Phil Monson
Pencil and paper testing has gone by the wayside in the Humboldt Community School District and across the state of Iowa.
Last week the district wrapped up its first year using the new Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP). Students in grades 3-11 took their final test on April 30.
The ISASP is aligned with the Iowa Core Standards, providing a clear and accurate assessment of student learning outcomes.
Where previous tests relied heavily on multiple choice questions, the new English, math and science tests will evaluate students’ skills using a mix of item types, including technology-enhanced questions as well as open ended essay questions. In addition, there is no limit like so many tests before.

By KENT THOMPSON
Kay Kollmorgen’s caring, watchful eye will remain at Mease Elementary School, thanks to a photo portrait.
The man who served as the Mease Elementary School principal for 33 years was honored Friday as his family received a framed photo of the former elementary principal who died last October at the age of 84.
The photo was donated by Mease School staff who served with Kay Kollmorgen during his tenure from 1963-1995.
The family passed the portrait along to current Principal George Bruder who hung the photo in his office, so it is looking out on those who enter the elementary school office.
Read the full story and see more photos in this week's Humboldt Independent and online at www.humboldtnews.com

It was the end of an era in Gilmore City on May 1 as the now-vacated and 130-year-old St. John's Catholic Church was razed in a controlled fire.

Fire departments from several communities were part of the training session.

See more photos in next week's Humboldt Independent Newspaper. Subscribe today for print/digital access by selecting the link on this page to get started!

By KENT THOMPSON
When he was just a little boy, Adam Parle would stand at the edge of the road and watch the neighboring farmers work their fields. He would do that for hours on end.
When he was a little older, a neighbor, Bob Larson, invited Adam to ride on the tractor and help out with Bob’s cattle and horses.
Even though Adam’s parents, Dan and Dawn Parle, aren’t farmers, it didn’t take much to get Adam hooked on farming and raising cattle in particular.
“Working with cows is my passion. I love running cows,” Parle, who just turned 22, said.
Parle has a 15-head cow/calf herd and also raises sheep, helps neighbors farm, works for Tri County Agronomy in Humboldt seasonally, and purchased the Johanson feed mill in Badger last year. Read about his story in the Salute to Beef Producers section in this week's Humboldt Independent.

As a 20-plus year law enforcement veteran, there are few situations that Humboldt County Chief Deputy Sheriff Cory Lampe is not prepared for.
But one of his duties since taking over as chief deputy in mid-February, is overseeing the Humboldt County Jail.
That is the one thing Lampe was not prepared for.
“I’ve never been a jailer in my life and I’ve never trained to operate a jail. I found out when I took over that there are a lot of things I need to know about."
He proposed hiring Steve "Wally" Ellifritz, the chief jail administrator for Webster County as a part-time consultant and acting jail administrator. He could work 20 hours per week for a period of about three months, Lampe said.
“Our idea is that he can work some nights and weekends and observe what is going on and give us some ideas on how to manage and improve the jail,” Lampe said.

By KENT THOMPSON
The big news is that Thursday (April 25) is opening night at the Humota. It's the grand-reopening since the theater closed on Feb. 1.
A local non-profit group of volunteer community members are re-opening the theater with a special showing of the Avengers: Endgame at 7 p.m. The theater will be open for business with two showings nightly during the week on every night but Monday, when the theater will be closed. For this attraction, there will be four showings on Saturdays and Sundays.
It is only fitting that the first movie to play in the newly remodeled and community-operated Humota Theater is the non-stop action flick Avengers: Endgame.

By KENT THOMPSON
Be prepared for more construction on Highways 3 and 169 in the coming two weeks, the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) reports.
Patching work on Highway 3 will continue this week. A new turn lane has been under construction at the northwest corner of Highway 3 and Highway 169.
The big changes will occur beginning next week. However, you may not see much of it. Most of the work will be done at night.
According to Jason Ruter, DOT construction technician supervisor with the District 2 office in Mason City, there will be an overlay of portions of both highways extending from the four-way intersection where the two highways intersect.
“Pavement scarification (milling) will begin at the four-way intersection of Highway 3 and Highway 169 in Humboldt and will extend 1,400 feet to the west on Highway 3 and 2,700 feet to the north on Highway 169, basically to the intersection of 16th Avenue North,” Ruter said.