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KEOKUKCONEWS@MIDAMERICAPUB.COM 641.622.3110
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016 NUMBER 9, 155TH YEAR
Keokuk County Expo Hall
Progressive Bingo on Wednesday, March. 9 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Keokuk County Master Gardeners
Tom Wahl will be speaking Thursday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m. on Edible Landscape at the Keokuk County Extension Office in Sigourney. This is a free event and the public is welcome.
Knights of Columbus of Harper
Fish Fry will be Friday, March 11 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Hedrick Volunteer Fire Department
Bingo will be held at the Hedrick Community Center Saturday, March 12 with soup starting at 5 p.m. and bingo starting at 6:30 p.m. Free will offering.
Wooden Wheel Vineyards
Sunday, March 13 Wooden Wheel Vineyards will host a Wine & Canvas from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Painting “Spring Lady”.
Wooden Wheel Vineyards
Michele Sieren from Iowa State Extension with Tri-County Ricochet, donating a check to The University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.
Ricochet Teams with University of Iowa Children’s Hospital Amie Van Patten, Editor Community service is a large part of the Ricochet program. The TriCounty Ricochet program recently held a bake sale during a basketball game and donated $192.00 to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. Each student brought baked
goods and sold them to support the project. The decision was made to host this fundraiser because of a classmate who received treatment at the Children’s Hospital. They all agreed that they wanted to help other kids who are receiving treatment there, hoping that their mon-
ey will be used to comfort others. Ricochet is a hands on, active program designed to help middle school aged youth develop skills related to leadership. Youth learned about attitude, decision making, stress management, and much more. The word ricochet
Keokuk County project on W15 North of Keota
Keokuk County Highway Department
Bras for a Cause
The 5th Annual Bras for a Cause will be at the Carl Craft Civic Center in Hedrick, Saturday, April 2 with supper starting at 4:30 p.m. and live auction starting at 6 p.m.
5-Year Construction Program
Diabetes Education Class
Sigourney Public Library
Sieren says, “This has worked great and we will definitely look into offering the program this way again next year. Tri-County School has always been supportive of the Iowa State Extension and Outreach Ricochet Program.”
Sigourney Fire Department spends time with local kids
Thursday, March 17 Wooden Wheel Vineyards will host a Murder Mystery Dinner at 6 p.m. The production is “Irish Eyes are Dying”.
Diabetes education classes are scheduled at the Senior Center on Tuesdays, starting March 22 through April 26 from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Contact Keokuk County Public Health at 641-6223575 to sign up.
means to move with a lot of energy and be unpredictable and ready for whatever comes your way. This year 16 students from Tri-County are in the program. This year’s program was sponsored by the Keokuk County Extension and Outreach. Michelle
Sigourney Fire Department Fire Chief, Bill Halleran enjoying lunch with Sigourney Elementary students.
Sigourney Public Library will hold “Toddler Time” every Monday morning from 11:30 a.m. to noon.
Bingo at Sigourney Health Care and Assisted Living
Bingo at Sigourney Health Care and Assisted Living is Tuesdays at 2 p.m.
Manor House Sing-a-long
Sing-A-Long at Manor House Care Center in Sigourney is every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. The entire community is encouraged to attend. Continued on page 2
Church Calendar...........Pg. 10 Classifieds.................Pg. 6, 7 Girls Basketball Tribute....Pg. 12 Obituaries.................... Pg. 3 Opinion/Editorial........... Pg. 4 Records....................... Pg. 8, 9 Sports....................Pg. 13, 14 Sigourney Fire Department volunteer fireman, Dustin Bensmiller spends a little time with Sigourney Elementary kids.
By Amber Kephart, Regional Manager The Keokuk County Highway Department is gearing up for another group of projects. They have been busy working hard already in the fiscal year of 2016, which is coming to an end June 30. Andrew McGuire, Keokuk County Engineer joined the Highway Department in 2011 as an assistant and took over as Engineer in 2012. What would be determined as a repairable bridge versus having to replace a bridge? There are three components that are taken into consideration when evaluating a bridge’s fate. When McGuire and his team look at a bridge they look at the deck, super structure, which are the beams that hold the deck up and the substructure, which is the support of the bridge. Typically in Keokuk County, the substructure is what is bad, mostly made out of woodpile, so they are usually rotten. When the deck and beams are ok, it sometimes makes more sense to cut holes in the deck and run piling through or lift the deck, drive new piling and set the decks back on. If the deck is poor, the super structure is poor and the substructure is poor, then you’ve got a bad bridge. When a bridge is determined to be in that poor of condition a decision must be made to either replace it with a bridge, replace it with a culvert or a low water crossing. Rehabilitation projects can range in price and become very costly. It is hard to guess how long a bridge is going to last. It is always a possibility that something could cross a bridge and it collapse or it could last another 50 years, it is pretty unpredictable. Another option would be a metal culvert. Metal culverts
give a better idea of what kind of life expectancy they can offer; they have a better history of being more predictable. There are a few projects left to complete prior to the new fiscal year starting. The next project scheduled to start soon is a bridge North of Keota just South of highway 22. With a projected start date coming in March, weather permitting. This project is scheduled to take 15 working days, working days for a road or bridge project is determined by the weather, not just Monday through Friday. Up next this spring or summer is a box culvert project on County Road V5G. A bridge is being converted to a culvert on 282nd street, Northeast of Ollie. The culvert has already been purchased and is waiting for the weather to cooperate to be put in. Another bridge being converted to a culvert will be over by Lancaster. There are several other minor culvert projects being done as well, which McGuire considers to be maintenance versus construction. The five-year plan that McGuire and his team have developed is scheduled to rehab or replace 11 bridges, three culvert projects, two projects on the Belva Deer Trail and a pavement overlay. Depending on contractor schedules these projects could be moved up, but currently they are spread out over the course of five years to allow for funding to come in. Funding comes to the Highway Department through farm to market, which is a sate funding, surface transportation program, which is federal funding, highway bridge program, which is also federal funding and our local option sales tax. Additional funding sources are transportation HIGHWAY to page 2