DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld water quality regulations that business and farm groups say are costly and burdensome. The rules require anyone with new or expanded wastewater discharges into waterways to seek permits and certification from the state. The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and others sued the Environmental Protection Commission which voted in December 2009 to adopt the new rules. The lawsuit attempted to disqualify two of the commissioners’ votes and get the regulations thrown out.

Carrie La Seur moved to Montana in July 2009 but remained on the commission. The lawsuit says her vote shouldn’t be counted. The lawsuit claims Commissioner Susan Heathcote, who worked for a nonprofit environmental group, had a conflict of interest.

A majority of the court found the votes were proper under Iowa law.

A family tradition was honored at the Shelby County Fair Thursday night. The family of Harriet and AnnaJean Ahrenholtz were surprised when Shelby County Fair President Kent Ganzer recognized them for the dedication and donation to the Shelby County Fair. This year, the Ahrenholtz family donated $60,000 to the board for the all new show ring. Clark Ahrenholtz, son of Harry and AnnaJean said the family wanted to honor their parents.

“Well my parents were always big promoters of the fair. My dad was president of the fair board and my brother and nephew carry on the tradition and we are happy about that. The show ring was something that was needed for a long time here. When it was put up originally, it was actually put up with used materials and we were happy with that at the time but we wanted to do something that mom and dad weren’t able to do when they were alive. We decided this would be a project that if we could kick into it and get the ball rolling. We would like to thank the Shelby County Fair Board because without them this wouldn’t be possible for us to recognize our parents”

Ahrenholtz said almost all of the family was able to come and be a part of the festivities. “I can start at the bottom that’s me. I am the last surviving child of my parents. I wasn’t raised to last but I am the last one. My sister Jane from Tuscan and her husband Rich were up. Then Annette and her husband were unable to attend due to health concerns. And then my brother Roger, who really took over from my dad as Mister Fair to make everything happen and we are getting Justin broke in on that. And then my oldest brother Harry was down from Jefferson.”

Clark said the family is fifth generation in showing cattle at the Shelby County Fair. He said the family is proud to call Shelby County home. “It takes a whole community effort. Like I said we want to remain humble about this because that’s the way our parents were. They kind of make you toot your own horn a little bit when it happens like this here. But we are just proud and very happy to be apart of this community and support the community this way.”

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

It was a night of royalty and recognition at the 2014 Shelby County Fair Thursday evening. The queen ceremony was held inside the all new show ring at the fairgrounds with twelve young ladies competing for the crown. Every contestant was asked two questions from the MC Lynn Brinker before the crown was handed out to Emily Pattee. She said the award was a complete surprise. “I was completely shocked. When I didn’t hear my name for princess, I thought oh there is no way I will get it. And then when I heard my name I was completely shocked.” Pattee was nominated by her group Portsmouth Super Production.

As the queen, Pattee will be involved in handing out ribbons and other activities at the Shelby County Fair and will represent Shelby County at the 2014 Iowa State Fair Queen contest. Pattee has lofty goals as she will be enrolling at the University of Iowa in the fall for bio-medical engineering. In other awards, Chelsea Assman received runner-up in the queen competition and Teresa Arkfeld won the 2014 Brownfield Ag Youth Award sponsored by our sister station KNOD in Harlan. Arkfeld said it meant a lot to her as she is heavily involved in Agriculture.

In addition to the queen ceremony, the Shelby County Fair Board inducted two couples into the Shelby County Fair Hall of Fame. Ed and Vickie Anderson and Kevin and Deb Rutherford were welcomed into the Hall of Fame. The other couple, Kevin and Deb Rutherford couldn’t remember how many years they have been running the 4-H food booth but they have enjoyed it. The Rutherfords said they weren’t expecting the award as they thought their daughter was going to receive an award instead. They called it a humbling experience and were well appreciative for the nomination.

The final recognition went to Linda Heflin who will be inducted into the Iowa State Fair Hall of Fame on August 18th, 2014. Heflin has worked the dog show at the Shelby County Fair for over 25 years.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)