Andy Hallman

Wednesday is Veterans Day, a day to honor those who served and to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Washington County Veterans Affairs Service Officer Sue Rich is pleased to serve veterans not just on Veterans Day, but every day of the year.    ?I like to say it?s Veterans Day every day in my office,? said Rich. ?I serve the veterans every day. It should not just be one day per year that we honor

Karla Mongan from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will visit the United Methodist Church in Washington Tuesday to speak about creating a new organization to address disasters in the county. The event begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.    The organization is known as ?COAD,? which stands for ?Community Organizations Active in Disaster.? According to FEMA?s Web site, a COAD is an umbrella

Veterans Day will be observed across the United States Wednesday, and Washington has the honor of hosting the highest-ranking American Legion official in Iowa, Commander Marlin Tillman. Tillman, who lives in Shenandoah, will speak at a dinner for veterans at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Iowa National Guard Readiness Center in Washington.    The National Guard Readiness Center is located at 501 Highway 1 South. All

After nearly a half hour of discussion, the Washington City Council declared the three-story warehouse located at 604 North Seventh Avenue a dangerous building at its regular meeting Wednesday night. The city will post ?Dangerous Building? signs at the premises and construct a fence around the property.    City Administrator Dave Plyman reported to the council that the building, which was built in 1900, has many

Washington city officials reported untreated wastewater was flowing out of two manholes southwest of the town Wednesday afternoon. They discovered the sewage flowing through a soybean field and into an unnamed tributary of Crooked Creek approximately one mile from the wastewater treatment plant.    Greg Johnson, the assistant supervisor of the maintenance and construction department for the city, said the city

Sandra Johnson became Washington?s first elected female mayor Tuesday after winning 76 percent of the vote. Johnson captured 581 of the 765 votes cast for mayor, while write-in challenger Norm Bruty received 184 votes, or 24 percent of the total.    Johnson has served as the mayor of Washington for roughly one year and had served on the city council prior to that. She said that this election was very different from

The residents of Washington gave a resounding ?no? to the proposed hotel/motel tax at Tuesday?s city elections, defeating the measure by a 2-to-1 margin. Of the 837 residents who voted on the referendum, 559 voted against (67 percent) while 278 voted in favor.    The measure would have enacted a 7 percent sales tax upon the renting of rooms in any hotel, motel, inn or public lodging house. The money generated by the

Last weekend, I received a call on my cell phone from an unknown number. It was someone from Stanford University, of all places. He was conducting a survey about the public?s opinions on health care, and I was to be the next victim. He said the survey would last about 15 minutes. It lasted closer to 40.    I must admit that I don?t know very much about health care policy. I?d venture to guess that most people know

The Emergency 911 Services and Communications boards held a joint meeting Thursday night, at which it was announced that four of the five members of the E911 board that had refrained from voting since the early part of this year would begin voting again. The five member towns that had abstained from voting on the E911 board were Kalona, Riverside, Ainsworth, Wellman and West Chester.     West Chester did not regain

The Washington City Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday for the Community Development Block Grant Application (CDBG) at its regular meeting time of 7 p.m. at the former library building. The grant is $233,000 and would go toward rehabilitating the homes of six low-income families. Each family would receive $25,000 in the form of a forgivable loan provided they stayed in their homes at least five years.   

Residents of West Chester are eager to select a mayor and five members of the city council, which they will do Tuesday at the Heritage Building.      Brenda Carey is completing her first term as West Chester?s mayor and is excited to serve a second term. Carey said she is still enthusiastic about helping the residents of West Chester achieve their goals.    ?When I ran the first time, I wanted to contribute

Municipal elections will take place throughout Washington County on Tuesday. All polling locations will open at noon and close at 8 p.m. All positions are four-year terms unless stated otherwise below.    The only contested race in the city of Washington is for mayor, and that is between sitting mayor Sandra Johnson and write-in candidate Norm Bruty. Four of the six sitting city council members are up for

When I lived in Webster City, I was asked to give a presentation to a few classes of junior high students on their Character Counts Day. The day featured speakers who were either from other countries or had spent some long time in one. I was invited to speak because I had spent six months in Mexico during my senior year of college. I studied at a university for international students in a city just south of Mexico

Washington residents will go to the polls Tuesday to select a mayor and four of the six members of the city council, all but one of whom will serve four-year terms. Voters will also elect two of the three members of the parks commission, whose terms last six years.    Sandra Johnson has been the mayor of Washington for the past year after having previously served on the council. She said she enjoys working with

Washington County officials are still trying to wrap their heads around the effects of the 10 percent state cuts Governor Chet Culver announced earlier this month. County supervisor Wes Rich said everyone was surprised to learn of the cuts.    ?We really had no warning this was going to happen,? said Rich. ?We receive a newsletter from our state senators and representatives, and there was nothing in there that