Thursday, July 18, 2024
Vol. 159, Issue 29 www.decorahleader.com
Decorah, Iowa 52101 email: editor@decorahleader.com
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Nordic Fest officials honor pair for community roles It takes a village to put on Decorah’s annual Nordic Fest each year, and two members of that proverbial village are being honored at this year’s celebration of all things Scandinavian July 25-27.
Holtan Grouws selected as Skal recipient The 2024 Nordic Fest Skål Recipient is Jeni Holtan Grouws of Decorah. Organizers said the Fest Skål Recipient is an individual or individuals who have demonstrated exceptional and continuing support of the yearly celebration. Since 2009, Holtan Grouws has contributed to the spirit and sound of Nordic Fest through integral roles – serving as a Nordic Dancer director for 10 years, a Nordic Fest board member for six-plus years, and as a musician — with three different bands — in the festival’s entertainment lineup each of the last 14 years. Holtan Grouws first experienced Nordic Fest in 1996, with enthusiastic encouragement from her parents to make sure to see the Nordic Dancers — a group that was noted for being unique compared to other festivals’ offerings and traditions. Impressed from the start, this year’s honoree later found herself saying yes to becoming a Nordic Dancers director, following her daughter Ella’s successful audition to join the group. Her daughter Lillian also joined as a member of the Nordic Dancer orchestra. “I’m very proud to have been a part of that group,” Holtan Grouws said. “The Nordic Dancers really are special, and people
Fest honorees
continued on page 6
Jeni Holtan Grouws
Youth learn life skills during 2024 county fair
Young fair exhibitors walked side by side with adults through the barns as they cared for their animals at the 2024 Winnesheik County Fair. (Photo by Seth Boyes) BY SETH BOYES NEWS EDITOR
Paul Scott
Looping tire tracks in the grass are one of the few lingering evidence of this year’s Winneshiek County Fair. The fair ended Saturday, but organizers say the lessons young fair participants learned during the week-long event will likely last them a lifetime as they look toward the next chapter of their lives. Kendra Crooks, 4-H youth
program specialist with the Winneshiek County Iowa State University Extension and Outreach office, said Winneshiek County is home to a dozen 4-H clubs — serving children in kindergarten through 12th grade — as well as several chapters of the Future Farmers of America who participate in the local county fair each year. “We have some exhibitors that don’t necessarily live on a farm, but they still get to experience showing livestock,”
said Winneshiek County 4-H Youth Coordinator Ashley Horgen. “That could be just helping somebody show or even just coming to the fair and experiencing the animals.” Horgen said the annual county fair is an opportunity for the young students to showcase projects which they’ve poured work into for a majority of the
4-H Youth continued on page 3
Winneshiek County P&Z hosts public hearing on request for construction of biodigester near Ridgeway BY ZACH JENSEN STAFF WRITER
Pictured is a Novilla biodigester facility in West Branch. (Submitted)
Rural Ridgeway may soon be the home of a new biodigester facility. A public hearing was held during a July 9 Winneshiek County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to listen to the public’s concerns about rezoning a piece of property for the purpose of constructing one biodigesting facility. Novilla
RNG, LLC, a Michigan-based renewable natural gas company, submitted the rezoning application and hopes to construct the new facility on land owned by Craig Bohr and Deb Storlie, near the intersection of 275th Street and Iowa Highway 9. A biodigester contains microorganisms which break down manure in an oxygen-free environment, producing renewable natural gas, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency – the facilities are also sometimes called anaerobic digestion systems or anaerobic digesters. Novilla co-CEOs Jared Williams and Mark Hill said the proposed facility, the company’s second in Iowa, would produce approximately 1.5 million gallons of renewable natural gas per year. All manure from two local dairy herds would be transported via pipeline into the pro-
posed digester, where it would be heated and stirred to produce biogas consisting of 55 percent methane and 45 percent carbon dioxide. That biogas would then be transported into the biogas upgrading plant via a membrane, which separates the gases. Natural gas is then injected into a pipeline, leaving behind what’s known in the industry
Biodigester
continued on page 7
online - www.decorahnewspapers.com SettlementVisit mayus calm claim county erred in ordering rip-rap removal BY SETH BOYES NEWS EDITOR County officials are moving forward with a possible settlement in a legal case stemming from the unpermitted installation of erosion control measures along a rural road. Homeowner Jeffrey Peel filed a petition against the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors in mid-December of 2023,
alleging the board acted improperly by instructing him late last year to remove materials he had placed in the county right of way along a portion of 360th Street. The county’s defense attorney denied a number of Peel’s allegations against the board in a filing earlier this year, and the board of supervisors voted unanimously last week to authorize Winnesheik County At-
torney Andrew Van Der Maaten to proceed with a settlement offer in the case. Van Der Maaten said Monday that the details of the potential settlement aren’t available, but he hopes the matter will be resolved within a matter of weeks. A rocky road Peel alleged in his December petition that the condition of 360th Street in northern Win-
neshiek County “made it nearly impossible for regular traffic, including delivery vehicles, to enter his private drive and residence” prior to the summer of 2023. His petition argued the unpermitted installation of erosion control measures was “necessary for the day to day use that is required for a residence.” The landowner’s own filing states he placed riprap — large
stones typically placed to curtail erosion — as well as other materials along a portion of the rural road without seeking the proper permits to do so. Peel’s petition went on to say an adjacent property owner named Mary Fitch submitted a complaint to the county in the summer of 2023 regarding “the alleged obstruction” limited a tenant farmer’s access to nearby farmland. The petition notes
Peel began discussions with the board of supervisors around the same time Fitch lodged her complains, and Peel asked that the county consider vacating a portion of 360th Street — potentially making a portion of 360th Street a private road. Peel’s petition questioned
Unpermitted road work continued on page 6
‘Drive harder’: Decorah’s Hovden breaks 176 career wins BY ZACH JENSEN STAFF WRITER Decorah’s Dan Hovden has been racing for 16 years, and the 31-year-old is already on his way to winning his first national title this year. Hovden won the B-Mod main event July 9, during the Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series event at the Winneshiek Raceway in Decorah. The race marked his 175th career win, and three days later, he earned his 176th win when he took the checkered flag in West Union. “The first time he went to load
his car on a trailer, I thought ‘That kid will never make it,’” said Les Hovden, Dan’s father, who owns the NAPA Auto Parts store in Decorah. “But, he’s done alright.” The younger Hovden started racing hobby stock in 2008, and in 2013, he switched to B-Mods. “My dad used to help out Todd and Scott Halverson in our garage at home, and that got my brother into it,” he said. “And, whatever my brother did, I wanted to do too.” Hovden said his brother Mitch has won eight USRA
National Championships. So, between the both of them, their two-stall racing garage is filled not just with tires and spare parts but countless trophies and over-sized winners’ checks. “The last few years, I’ve just been giving my trophies to kids that come down in the pit after the races,” Hovden said. “They enjoy them a lot more. I gave Tuesday night’s trophy to Jackson Roney.” While many racers are just
Hovden continued on page 3
Left to right are 2024 Winneshiek County Fair Princess Addison Wicklund, Fair Queen Annika Schmelzer, Dan and Jade Hovden, Josh Hageman and Les Hovden after Dan had earned his 175th career win the night of July 9 at the Winneshiek Raceway in Decorah. (Submitted)