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Celebration Days On The Way; Can You Help?

Sheldon, Iowa — Preparations continue for the annual Sheldon summer celebration — Celebration Days. The festival is coming up September 3rd through 7th.
Sheldon Celebration Days Banner
Allison Cooke, from the Sheldon Chamber tells us that all the activities have been chosen.


Cooke says they are still looking for some volunteers.


She gives us a sneak peak into the activities.


Cooke also says they still have craft booth spaces open. Again, that’s all for Celebration Days over Labor Day Weekend in Sheldon.

Click here for the craft booth registration form and brochure

Click here for all the activities

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Plea Agreement In Trinity HS Burglary Case

Orange City, Iowa — A Rock Valley man has changed his plea to guilty in a plea bargain in regard to charges surrounding an alleged burglary in Hull.

Sioux County Courthouse_svaTwenty-six-year-old Matthew Kraayenbrink of Rock Valley and a 17-year-old Hull boy are accused of breaking into Trinity Christian High School In Hull on February 11, 2015.

Deputies, who were on the scene investigating reports of burglaries there, apprehended Kraayenbrink and the boy inside the school. They are accused of forcing open a door several times and stealing about $4000.

Kraayenbrink was charged with second degree theft, third degree burglary and using a juvenile to commit a criminal offense. In the plea bargain, he pled guilty to one count each of third-degree burglary and third-degree theft. The charge of using a juvenile to commit a criminal offense was dismissed.

According to court records, sentencing has been scheduled for Monday, August 24th.

Trial Date Set In Murder Case

Estherville, Iowa — The trial date has been set in the case of an Estherville teen who is accused of murder in the shooting death of a second Estherville teen.
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Emmet County Sheriff’s authorities say that 18-year old Lee Samuel Christensen is charged with First Degree Murder in connection with the death of 19-year old Thomas Bortvit.

Christensen entered a written plea of not guilty at an arraignment on August 3rd.

According to court records, District Judge David Lester set the trial date for Tuesday, February 16th, at the Emmet County Courthouse. It is scheduled to start at 9:30 AM. Judge Lester also set a December 14th pretrial conference date for the discussion of any plea agreement or to prepare for the jury trial.

Spears To Update School Board On Upcoming Election

Sheldon-Schools-logoSheldon, Iowa — When the Board of Education of the Sheldon Community School District holds their regular August meeting Wednesday evening they’ll hear a report from Superintendent Robin Spears about the upcoming September 8th School Board Election.  Three of the Board’s five members have terms that expire this year.  They are At-Large member Glen Goedken, District 3 Board member Kecia Hickman, and District 2 member Mark Brown.  You may recall that Brown was appointed in November, 2013 to fill the unexpired term of former Board President Gary Ihnen, when Ihnen moved out of state.  Goedken had previously indicated that he would not be seeking reelection.

Spears will also update the Board on the All-Star Community Award that the City of Sheldon recently received from the Iowa League of Cities.  The League cited the new Joint City/School District Sports Complex in naming Sheldon an All-Star Community.  The Superintendent is also scheduled to update the Board on the District’s website.

In other action, the Board is expected to approve bus routes for the 2015-16 school year, consider transportation of pre-school students, set life insurance coverage for Certified staff, and approve the Iowa Drug & Alcohol Testing Program Agreement with the Iowa Association of School Boards, along with numerous other items of business.

Wednesday’s regular monthly meeting will begin at 6:00 pm in the Sheldon High School Library.

IRS Warns Of Direct Mail Scam

Statewide Iowa — The Internal Revenue Service is warning Iowa taxpayers to watch out for a new tactic being used by con artists that’s actually more of an old-school scam — direct mail. The agency’s Michael Devine says taxpayers need to be vigilant if they get a letter that appears to be from the I-R-S and requests personal information or an immediate payment.
Scam Alert

(As above) Devine says, “If the only contact you normally have with the IRS is sending in your tax return once a year, you should be very suspicious of any unexpected contact.”

The letters being sent out look legitimate and if in doubt, Devine says to double-check by calling the I-R-S.


(As above) “Some of them may look very authentic, but they’re fake,” he says, and he stresses the agency does not contact taxpayers via phone, email or social media.

Devine says scammers are keeping the I-R-S investigators on their toes.


(As above) “We are getting better at catching these criminals,” he says, “but they’re evolving in their tactics and their techniques to try and steal your information, steal your money, and we’re always playing catch-up.”

For more information, call 800-TAX-1040 or visit irs.gov.

Story from Radio Iowa

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Grassley Plans Trip To Our Area

Northwest Iowa — In recent years, politicians have started referring to visiting all 99 Iowa counties as doing the “Full Grassley.” That’s because Senator Chuck Grassley has held a meeting in each of Iowa’s 99 counties at least once every year since he was first elected to the U.S. Senate.
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And the Senator is again making good on the 99 county promise. He’ll be in northwest Iowa later this month for a few appearances.

In our neck of the woods, Grassley will visit Osceola, Plymouth, Clay and Dickinson counties.

Senator Chuck Grassley will hold eight town meetings in Poweshiek, Tama, Osceola, Plymouth, Clay, Palo Alto, Emmet and Dickinson counties during the week of August 24, 2015, as part of his annual 99-county meetings.

On August 25 Grassley will be in Brooklyn and Toledo. On August 26 he will be in Sibley and Le Mars. On August 27, Grassley will be in Spencer, Emmetsburg, Estherville and Spirit Lake.

“Representative government is a two-way street. I’m one half of the process and the people of Iowa are the other half. You can’t have representative government without dialogue between elected officials and the people we represent,” Grassley said. “I appreciate the opportunity to hold town meetings, answer questions and take comments.”

This is Grassley’s second set of town meetings in August. He will be holding seven meetings during the week of August 17, 2015, in Southwest Iowa. In addition, Grassley will be attending the Iowa State Fair for two days as well as holding a dozen question and answer sessions with high school students, community organizations, and employees at various businesses.

These town meetings are open to the public.

Grassley’s town meeting schedule for the week of August 24, 2015, is as follows:­

Tuesday, August 25, 2015
8:15-9:15 a.m.
Poweshiek County Town Meeting
Michael J. Manatt Community Center
105 Jackson St.
Brooklyn

10-11 a.m.
Tama County Town Meeting
Tama County Administration Building
104 West State St.
Toledo

Wednesday, August 26, 2015
7:30-8:30 a.m.
Osceola County Town Meeting
Osceola Community Hospital
Education Room
600 9th Ave. North
Sibley

4-5 p.m.
Plymouth County Town Meeting
Floyd Valley Hospital
Lower Level Conference Center
714 Lincoln St. Southeast
Le Mars

Thursday, August 27, 2015
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Clay County Town Meeting
Spencer City Hall
City Council Chambers
418 Second Ave. West
Spencer

1:15-2:15 p.m.
Palo Alto County Town Meeting
Iowa Lakes Community College Emmetsburg Campus
Campus Auditorium
3200 College Dr.
Emmetsburg

3-4 p.m.
Emmet County Town Meeting
Iowa Lakes Community College
Auditorium, Room 16
300 South 18th St.
Estherville

4:45-5:45 p.m.
Dickinson County Town Meeting
Spirit Lake Library
Community Room
702 16th St.
Spirit Lake