The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, voted unanimously to pass a resolution temporarily waiving the permit filing fees associated with building, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, demolition and septic systems, for residents in the county whose homes have been damaged by flood waters.

County Planning Director Kay Mocha said that while the filing fees will be waived, the permits are still required, so residents will need to come in and go through the permitting process. Mocha said the fees will be waived only if the permits are filed before work begins. She says if county officials find someone building without a permit, that person would be subject to penalties and fees.

Mocha said the county has about 120 homes affected by floodwaters, plus 10 businesses and a number of agricultural buildings.

Opening August 6, The Danish Immigrant Museum will feature “Silverwork by Yngve Olsson” in its Danish-American Artist Series.  Olsson was a Danish immigrant who spent his career in Chicago at the Kalo Shop.  He arrived in the US in 1918, and enlisted in the army for the end of World War I.  By 1920 Olsson was working at the Kalo Shop, where he worked for another 50 years until his death in 1970.

The Kalo Shop was founded by a woman named Clara Barck Welles.  She had studied decorative design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  When she finished her degree in the year

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overcoat buttons

Candelabra

1900, she found that it was difficult for a woman to be hired by a manufacturing shop – so she started her own.  She hired other women as designers, and hired several immigrant craftsmen to execute the

designs in silver, copper, and other materials.  The Kalo Shop specialized in jewelry and tablewares, all created under the motto, “Beautiful, Useful, and Enduring.”  The design and manufacture of Kalo Shop pieces were influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, which valued handwork and functional design.  Pieces were all made by hand – and often the hammer marks were left on the surface to prove that fact, instead of being finished to a perfectly smooth surface.

Yngve Olsson joined the Kalo Shop around 1920, and became one of its master craftsmen.   He was involved in the complete process of the shop, from design to construction to decoration.  In fact, decoration was one of his specialties, especially chasing and engraving flowers, leaves, and other natural forms on the surfaces of finished pieces.

This exhibition of “Silverwork by Yngve Olsson” features jewelry pieces, coffee sets, tableware, vases, and other pieces for the home.  The exhibit also features many photographs of additional pieces, taken by a nephew who has a professional photography studio.  You will also see Yngve Olsson’s tools, design drawings, and unfinished pieces that illustrate the process of shaping and decorating silver.

This exhibition will open on Saturday, August 6, and remain open through January 8, 2012.

(Press Release from the Danish Immigrant Museum)

The 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry has a storied military history, starting with the Civil War.
From the early days of the American Civil War, to recent operations in Afghanistan just weeks ago, the 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, of the Iowa Army National Guard has played a vital role in defending America, since 1861. On August 8th, current and former Soldiers from southwest Iowa who served in the historic unit will gather to celebrate the unit’s 150th birthday.

The event takes place at 10 a.m., Monday, August 8th, on the front porch and lawn of the historic Dodge House, 605 3rd Street, in Council Bluffs. The public is welcome to attend the event, which will feature a cake-cutting, along with uniform and equipment displays from both the Civil War, and the unit’s most recent campaign in Afghanistan.

The 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry was originally organized into 10 companies, by Col. Grenville Dodge, as the 4th Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry. The were mustered into federal service on August 8th, 1861 at Camp Kirkwood, located just south of what is now Council Bluffs.  They were called to duty to fight in the Civil War, the 1898 Philippine Insurrection, World War 1 and World War 2.

In recent history, the 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry began the first of two Afghanistan deployments after they were ordered into active federal service March 5th, 2004, and released on September 1st, 2005. They were once again deployed to Afghanistan, mobilizing in July 2010 with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division as part of the Iowa National Guard’s largest call-up since World War II. The unit returned home to Iowa last month.

Today, the 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry is comprised of the following units: Headquarters and Headquarters Company, located in Council Bluffs, Johnston, and Spencer; Company A, located in Carroll, Boone, and Storm Lake; Company B, who soldiers report to Shenandoah, Council Bluffs, and Corning; Company C based out of Johnston and Newton; Company D in Denison; and Company F, 334th Brigade Support Battalion, based out of Red Oak and Council Bluffs.

Elk Horn, IA (August 1, 2011) – On Monday, August 15, at 6:00 p.m. residents of Elk Horn and Kimballton will have the opportunity to view the final conceptual landscape plan for the communities during a public presentation at The Danish Immigrant Museum, 2212 Washington Street, Elk Horn (712-764-7001). 

Landscape architect, Josh Shield, of Howard R. Green Company, and Youngjae Ahn, Steven Seefield and Danny Pritchard, student interns from Iowa State University, will give a formal presentation at 6:00 p.m. Following the presentation the design team, Trees Forever field coordinator, Barb Grabner-Kerns, and members of the Elk Horn/Kimballton visioning committee will be available to explain the plan and answer any questions. 

Some of the areas that have been addressed in these plans include entryway, corridor and way-finding signage and landscaping, downtown sidewalk improvements and traffic calming measures at select intersections. 

Residents who want more information or who are interested in participating in the visioning process should contact Jerry Schrader at 712-764-4842 or Barb Grabner-Kerns, Trees Forever Field Coordinator, at 515-576-3436.  The next steps of the visioning committee include presentation of cost estimates, and planning for implementation of projects from the conceptual design plan. 

The Iowa’s Living Roadways Community Visioning Program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Extension Landscape Architecture and Trees Forever.

The Central Point Coordinator for Pottawattamie County has been selected to become part of a large group of individuals who will recommend changes to Iowa’s Mental Health program. Suzanne Watson will serve on the Regional work group panel, along with Iowa Department of Human Services Director Chuck Palmer, and others. Palmer announced the selections Tuesday.

The purpose of the workgroups is to recommend sweeping changes in the deliver of mental health services. In a press release, Palmer said he’s gratified that Iowa’s “Most skilled and resourceful experts volunteered their service” for the groups, and that he’s confident that the result of their work will “Help to build a mental health delivery system that will meet the needs of customers and taxpayers alike.”

The groups, which are expected to convene later this month, must report their suggestions to the legislature by mid-December. Legislators, who declared their intent to redesign the current system, will in-turn, consider the recommendations when they return to the State Capital, in January.

While water releases from upstream dams are being cut, the Missouri River is still badly flooded and it remains anyone’s guess when Interstate 29 will reopen in southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri. Bob Younie, maintenance director for the Iowa Department of Transportation, says it’ll be a while yet before they can assess damage.

“We’re still at a point where we don’t know what we don’t know,” Younie says. “We know there’s damage but we’re also pretty confident there’s damage we haven’t found. The scope of the damage will dictate the schedule for return to service and we just don’t know that yet.”

I-29 has been closed from Rock Port, Missouri, to south of Council Bluffs for much of the summer, cutting off popular travel routes. Younie says there’s still more than a foot of water over I-29 in southwest Iowa and two bridges near Hamburg worry him.

“We’ve had water over them and now water’s flowing under them and we don’t have any idea of what damage that water is doing until the water goes down significantly,” he says. The bridges will need a careful examination, he says, with one being at mile post 1.4, the other at mile post 3.

Rick Bennett, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation, says re-opening the interstate in Missouri depends on when it re-opens in Iowa.

“We’ll keep I-29 closed at Rock Port until Iowa is comfortable with opening it,” Bennett says. “It’ll be a joint decision between the two states. We don’t really have any good idea on timing.”

I-29 isn’t underwater in Missouri, but Missouri transportation officials closed the interstate at Rock Port to keep travelers from running into a watery dead end.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa www.radioiowa.com)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors approved a motion made during their meeting today (Wednesday) in Atlantic, that established 1^st Whitney Bank and Trust in Atlantic, as the source for a loan not to exceed $555,000, for the purpose of funding the northwest Sewer & Water extension project. The board is waiting on additional information before determining the exact amount of the loan necessary, and the means for which it will be paid back.

One option under consideration, is using the Local Option Sales Tax to repay the loan over a few years. The loan will be used to plan and carry out the construction of a water and sanitary sewer project in the Amaizing Energy Urban Renewal Area, located just north of Atlantic.

The board also approved a change in job classification for Secondary Roads Employee Mick Sager, of Atlantic, from Operator 1 to District Working Foreman.

Atlantic Police report today (Wednesday), 21-year old Tyler Lee Mills, of Atlantic, was arrested Tuesday. Mills was taken into custody on a warrant for Revocation of his probation. The man was booked into the Casss County Jail.