News

By APRIL KELLEY

DAKOTA CITY - The fate of the Rutland quarry was decided on Thursday, April 10, by a summary judgment ruling passed down by District Court Judge Angela L. Doyle.

Doyle ruled, “Cole Bryant Anderson is permanently enjoined (prohibited) from conducting quarrying operations or making other illegal use of the Real Estate in violation of the zoning ordinance of Humboldt County, Iowa, without first obtaining a special use permit.”

Doyle stated in her judgment, “The court finds Anderson has not overcome the presumption that the zoning ordinance is valid. The Court cannot adjudicate (make the decision) Anderson’s claim that as a matter of law the zoning ordinance was not properly enacted.”

Humboldt High School junior Kate Sievers, involved in many school activities, will become a little bit busier as she joins the Humboldt Independent Newspaper as a freelance writer.

Sievers will focus mostly on covering Wildcat sports and academic activities but will expand into news, features and special projects as needed.

Sievers, the daughter of David and Ginger Sievers of Humboldt, is active in basketball, track, cross country and individual and large group speech. She is also president of the Best Buddies organization at the school, a member of the National Honor Society and is thinking of participating in the musical next year.

“I love to write and I think I can provide a good perspective of things going on inside the school. I’m looking forward to the great experience I will gain writing for the Independent,” Sievers said. “I have two brothers and my mom and dad are supporting me in this opportunity.”

Taxable valuations decrease slightly

By PHIL MONSON
HUMBOLDT - After a public hearing with no objectors, the Humboldt City Council approved a property tax levy for the 2025-26 fiscal year at their meeting on Monday night, April 7.

The tax rate will be $15.8934 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. It is down slightly from the current rate of $16.1869 for the 2024-25 budget.

Total expenditures are estimated to be $11,236,864 with total revenues anticipated to be $10,973,874.

“This is the second year we have been able to do this (formula) under House File 718 approved by the legislature a couple of years ago,” Humboldt City Administrator Cole Bockelmann said.

By KATE SIEVERS

HUMBOLDT - Emily Wiebke, speech coordinator and coach at the Humboldt High School, is excited for the upcoming seasons and proud of how far her students have come this past season.

She shared her thoughts after the Humboldt High School Speech Team recently had several state titles, individual and group. State group competition was Feb. 8 in Spencer while individual was March 15 in Cedar Falls.

Large group speech involves multiple events that have two to eight students. Musical Theatre and the Improv groups were participants in the state competition.

Musical Theatre consisted of Morgan Mayall, Juan Camerena, Joel Thurm, Adelyn Vinsand, Kate Sievers, Keegan Fiengo, Mia Sorensen and Sterling Scranton. They sang and acted out a Hamilton classic, “Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story”. The improv group consisted of Aubry Fisher, Macey Rodgers, and Alyssa Kinder.

By APRIL KELLEY

HUMBOLDT - An abandoned anhydrous pipeline that runs through Humboldt County became the unexpected conversation at Monday’s Humboldt County Supervisors meeting on March 31.

Humboldt County Emergency Management Coordinator Kyle Bissell asked the Supervisors if they had spoken to ONEOK.

ONEOK had contacted Bis-sell to inquire regarding emergency responders along the defunct pipeline who might be available to assist in an emergency.

However, ONEOK had not conveyed its intended use of the pipeline. Bissell reminded the group in attendance that the pipeline had not been used for several years at least.

“I have more questions than I have answers, but I wanted to talk to you sooner rather than later,” Bissell said.

He also stated that during a cursory look into the pipeline, he had discovered nine accidents along the pipeline while it was in use although he was not sure when or exactly what they were.

By APRIL KELLEY
HUMBOLDT - Humboldt County Memorial Hospital (HCMH) CEO Michelle Sleiter spoke about Senator Grassley’s visit to the hospital during their recent board meeting on Tuesday, March 25.

Sleiter told the board that due to protests at his previous stop in Franklin County at a public meeting at the courthouse there, it was decided to change his appearance at the hospital slightly.

His visit to the hospital in Humboldt however, had been an invite-only visit.

“I got a call from their whole secret service team on the way here saying they were concerned as they were talking about bringing everyone (the protestors) to Humboldt,” Sleiter said.

Because of the threat of the protests, they rerouted the Senator to Independent Living so that it would be easier to get in and out.

By PHIL MONSON
HUMBOLDT - Making his annual stop in Humboldt County last week, United States Senator Chuck Grassley, who is serving his eighth term, admitted his skepticism of the tariff wars President Donald Trump has engaged with other countries since taking office over the last two months.

Grassley, 91, and president pro tempore of the United States Senate, shared his thoughts on a number of topics during his stop on the afternoon of March 21, inside the Springvale Senior Living, which is connected to Humboldt County Memorial Hospital.

Grassley served as a congress-man from 1975 to 1981 prior to getting elected to the Senate in 1980. He served as a lawmaker at the state level from 1959 to 1975.

Grassley started off the session by stating he is optimistic lawmakers can finally pass a new, updated farm bill this year. He also talked about keeping prescription drug prices down.

HUMBOLDT - One of the largest and longest community packaging events in the state of Iowa took place last week inside the Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church fellowship hall March 14-15.

Humboldt County Ministerial Association’s 13th annual Meals from the Heartland meal packaging event unfolded with the efforts of 450 students and teachers who packaged 57,672 meals on Friday, followed by over 300 community members on Saturday, who packaged 94,392 meals for a grand total of 152,044 meals packaged to feed the hungry.

The race meals packaged will be distributed throughout Iowa by the Food Bank of Iowa and to disaster victims in the United States. It also supports school lunch programs overseas.

To read the full story check out this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent!

By KYLIE PORTZ

HUMBOLDT - Earlier this month, much of the state of Iowa was closed due to a winter storm that brought heavy snow and intense winds and now, despite the first day of spring still a week away, severe thunderstorms are back in the forecast for this weekend. This morning, the National Weather Service of Des Moines issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for portions of western and northwest Iowa. The outlook predicts a slight to enhanced risk of severe thunderstorms for Friday afternoon and early evening, with the primary threat being damaging winds due to fast-moving storms, with gusts over 70 mph possible. Large hail and a few tornadoes are also possible.

By PHIL MONSON
HUMBOLDT - As the Iowa Legislature in Des Moines enters its third and final month of the 2025 session, area lawmakers Dennis Guth and Mark Thompson shared their thoughts and answered questions at a town hall gather-ing in Humboldt last Saturday, March 8.

Guth, a rural Klemme farmer, serves in Iowa Senate District 28, which includes the following counties: Humboldt, Hancock, Wright, Franklin and Hamilton, along with the cities of Roland and Story City.

Thompson, of Clarion, grew up near Eagle Grove and serves in the Iowa House of Representatives District 56.

Guth serves on the following committees: agriculture, health and human services, state government, local government and is chairman of administration and regulations, which oversees 16 different budgets.