Daily Sentinel DS october 18, 2019 • weekend edition Page 3

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(Photo Contributed)

In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Le Mars Girl Scout Troop 76 recently provided “Goodnight Bags” for the children who receive services at the Council on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence (CSADV). Cathy VanMaanen, domestic abuse advocate for Plymouth County said, “When children come for out-reach services or go to our shelter they are in crisis too. A warm blanket and a cuddly stuffed animal can help ease their concerns a bit. It shows them people care about what is happening to them and want to provide support.” Pictured from left, Maise Britt, Brookelyn Britt, Emma Rosener, Katelyn Koster, and Emma DeRuyter. Leader Jillian Klein stated, “I wanted the girls to learn about what can happen in some fami-lies right here in our neighborhoods and that we could do something to help.”

Girl ScoutS Give back to cSaDv

Forms are available at the Plymouth County Auditor’s Office or at www.co.plym-outh.ia.us under “Online Services” and then “County Forms” or can be obtained from the Iowa Secretary of State website.

Voters may contact the auditor’s office and an absentee ballot request form can be mailed to a voter. Completed absentee ballot request forms should be mailed to the auditor’s office at 215 Fourth Ave. S.E., Le Mars, Iowa 51031 and a bal-lot will be mailed to voters.

All absentee ballot request forms require either an Iowa Driver’s License, Non-oper-ator ID number orthe last four digits of the individu-al’s social security number in order for a ballot to be mailed to those voting.

Voters requesting an absentee ballot to be mailed to them must have the request form to the auditor’s

office no later than 5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25, as that is the last day absentee ballots can be mailed out to voters.

The auditor’s office pro-vides the postage for all absentee ballots returned by mail.

In order for a ballot to be counted, ballots must be postmarked prior to mid-night, Nov. 4, (the day prior to the election), or the ballot can be delivered to the audi-tor’s office before the polls close at 8 p.m., Nov. 5.

If anyone would like to vote an absentee ballot in the auditor’s office between Monday, Oct. 28 and Mon-day, Nov. 4, and are not registered to vote, they will be required to complete the EDR (Election Day Registra-tion) process at the auditor’s office prior to casting their absentee ballot.

The EDR voter registra-tion process requires valid photo identification, and

one form of proof of Plym-outh County residency.

Examples of proof of res-idency can be a valid Iowa driver’s license with your current Plymouth County address, a utility bill, cell phone bill, residential lease, bank statement, paycheck, government check, vehicle registration, or a tax assess-ment.

Also, as required now by Iowa law on Election Day, all voting precinct locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and voters will be required to vote at the same voting locations as they do for the presidential or Mid-Term General Election in November each year.

If anyone has questions, contact the Plymouth County Auditor’s Office at 712-546-6100. Stacey Feld-man is the auditor and com-missioner of election and Cheri Nitzschke is the elec-tion deputy.

Ballots: Can be mailed or dropped off at courthouse

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top two finishers of each age division along with an award for overall cham-pion and the most creative pumpkin.

Christoffel said while there aren’t any official rules for sizes or shapes of the pumpkins, the biggest rule for equipment is how large the axles can be which is 18-inches long due to the width of the tracks.

Christoffel said those planning to participate can find the complete official race rules listed at the end of the registration process on the Total Motors Facebook event page, as well as Hard-ware Hank, Total Motors, and the chamber.

The kits for the pumpkins can be purchased at Hard-ware Hank.

“Hardware Hank &

Flooring is proud to be a co-sponsor along with Total Motors of the third annual pumpkin races. Having events that are youth driven, safe and fun are very impor-tant for our town to keep going,” said Hardware Hank Owner Scott Paegler. “We hope that building and dec-orating these pumpkin race cars may inspire them to carry on with other activ-ities.”

The event is free and is open to children in Le Mars, as well as the surrounding communities. In addition to the races, the event will fea-ture hot chocolate, treats, a photo backdrop, and seating available for spectators.

Christoffel noted, the race volunteers encourage par-ents and children to come at least 20 minutes early to

get registered and get their pumpkins ready to race.

Directly following the pumpkin races the chil-dren can head downtown to take part in the chamber’s annual trick or treating fes-tivities from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“The Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to partner with Total Motors and Hardware Hank in presenting the Pumpkin Car Races again this year,” said Neal Adler, Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce executive direc-tor. “This family-friendly activity provides children and families the opportu-nity to showcase their artis-tic talents and competitive spirit, as part of the Hallow-een activities taking place in Le Mars on Oct. 26.”

Races: Part of many activities

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city for the project.Also on the agenda, the

recommendation by admin-istration was still to recom-mend the council not to approve the request, stating, “The city should not get into the practice of paying for pri-vate infrastructure.”

The proposal at the Oct. 1 council meeting was that an Economic Development Grant of $45,000, funded equally by water and waste-water enterprise, be given to Galles Enterprises. The water and wastewater enterprise funds could be reimbursed

by years 8, 9 and 10, of prop-erty taxes collected on the property.

Council member Clark Goodchild said he wanted to make it clear he very much appreciated Galles Enter-prises for stepping up and building new apartments.

“I think it was great, I think it was needed,” he said. “I feel the reason the state of Iowa pulled back on their funding is because they felt the need was being filled.”

However, Goodchild had a couple of reasons he felt the grant should not be given.

“I’ve been told that 80 per-cent of your occupancy is from out of town. That may or may not be the case, but I do know that you go back, five, four, three, two years and look in the newspaper and there were no apartments available, zero. Now as of last week, there were nine. So I know that we’re creating an unfair competition between used apartments and new ones,” he said.

His third reason dealt with where the funds would come from.

“We have just gone

through six months of raising water and sewer rates, effec-tive Jan. 1. I am very uncom-fortable telling the water and sewer users of Le Mars that you have to pay more for your water and sewer so we can give it away. Quite frankly, our apartments are at the point where you have to build them, you have to do the math and charge them accordingly. So I myself do not support this,” Goodchild said.

Council member Rex Knapp said he did support the grant.

“The water rate is not going

to go up because of this. It’s just a temporary loan. I will make a motion to approve it,” Knapp said.

With that made, the coun-cil approved a Development Agreement for city funding of $45,000 in the form of an Economic Development Grant to Galles Enterprises for underground utilities for Phase 3 and 4 of Choicewood Park Apartments. Goodchild cast the lone no vote.

The council meeting began with a public hearing on a new five year lease with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach-Plymouth

County for use of space in the lower level of the Le Mars Convention Center. The cur-rent lease expires, Dec. 15, 2019.

The entity has offices in the lower level of the Le Mars Convention Center, and with the increase in utilities would pay $1,500 per month for use of the facilities. The only change in the lease agreement is an increase from $200 to $300 per month for utilities.

There were no oral or writ-ten comments addressing the lease issue.

The council unanimously approved the lease.

Council: Goodchild casts lone ‘no’ vote on request

Stand: Survivor overcomes obstacles to share messagemission to stop texting and driving.

He made the decision to turn that misfortune into a positive message.

Hageman is the founder of STANDriv-ing and is on a mission to save 1,000,000 lives by helping others to Stop Texting and Driving.

Hageman shared his story with around 40 in attendance Wednesday night.

“I was leaving a gas station on my motorcy-cle. I shifted into sec-ond gear. There was a car parked on the left side with the turn signal on. She was down on her phone, and at the last possible moment, she went, and never looked up and there was noth-ing I could do. She hit me,” he said. “There was absolutely nothing that I could do as the life I knew for 45 years was over.”

For Hageman, who was planning to play golf at Pebble Beach just three weeks later, the accident was devastating.

For the veteran of Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield, who married his high school sweetheart and was the father of two, the acci-dent changed him in many ways.

He hit some lows, but he also found a second chance to change some of his bad choices for the good.

He said doctors told him his ankle twisted around and round like closing a bag of bread. He lost 50 percent of his blood right there on the street as his brother watched powerless to stop it.

“Everyday I praise God

thankful for this second chance and for the wit-nesses who stepped up for my life. I wouldn’t be here without strang-ers tying off my leg and doing everything they could to save my life. I will also never forget all the nurses and doc-tors at Baltimore Shock Trauma that invested their energy and time into saving my life,” he writes.

Unfortunately, the leg had to be amputated.

He went through 23 surgeries in a three month period, including several skin grafts on his leg.

“Eight months later I finally realized the leg was not coming back,” he said. “I basically wanted to quit.”

He was taking 18 pills a day to and then he looked on the statistics of prescription drugs and addiction.

He didn’t want to get hooked and live like that.

But he lost a lot more.“I lost a lot more than

my leg. I lost my family, I got divorced. I closed my business, moved out, was homeless for a bit,” he said. “You’ve got to practice patience.”

The only decision he had left is whether or not to be a victim.

Hageman chose to live life to the fullest and find healthier ways to live.

In April 2015, he received his prosthetic leg, and had his first tee shot in May.

He recently com-peted in the 69th annual Amputee Golf Champi-onship in Oklahoma.

He admits he made some bad choices when he had two legs.

Now he talks about

the three P’s: Practice, Patience and Persever-ance.

Before the accident he had plans, wrapping up a big real estate deal with his company, Exit Realty.

Now he works in the hip-hop industry and founded STANDriving.

Now he tells kids, “Our greatest super-power is the power of choice.”

One of those choices is to not text and drive.

At school presenta-tions, he can’t talk about his faith in God, how-ever he shared that with the group Wednesday night.

“I would not be here without God,” he said. “When you’re connected to God, it’s all planned out.”

He asked the students at Wednesday’s presen-tation, “What are you plugged into, things you shouldn’t be?”

His answer?“God is the best power

source.”Now his presentations

include backpacks, cof-fee mugs, water bottles, and dog tags, which he sells to raise money to help provide prothstetics for other amuputtees.

“I speak to our young drivers about staying PRESENT, especially when it comes to driv-ing. Our kids’ phones are the biggest contributor to distracted and dan-gerous driving,” Hage-man said. “I invite all of you to take a STAND with me. It doesn’t mat-ter who you are — your color, creed, how you pray, or who you love —ending distracted driv-ing is everyone’s respon-sibility.”