Make Your Neighborhood Shine!

Help brighten Sigourney this Christmas season.

The SHEP (Sigourney Healthy Environment Project) Working Group of CHAP (Community Health Action Partnership) are bringing back the Christmas Lights to Sigourney with a holiday lighting contest for private homes and businesses.

Starting now, interested participants may call the Sigourney News-Review at 641-622-3110 to register. The deadline to register is Wed., Dec. 10. (Limited to a 1 mile radius around the City of Sigourney corporate limits.)

A top prize of $75 in Sigourney Bucks for the winner.
• Top Business = $50
• 1st Place Residence = $75
• 2nd Place Residence = $50
• 3rd Place Residence = $25

The prize money is donated by both local banks: Keokuk County State Bank and MidWestOne Bank. All participants will be published in the Dec. 17 SNR.

Contest Rules
1) Lights need to be lit from 5-7 p.m. during the week of Dec. 15.
2) Members of SHEP will judge.
3) Be creative and original with holiday theme displays.

Picture to the left (center) is Linda James and Pastor, Julie Sterling on the sewing machines. Top left is Barb Smith stuffing the limbs; bottom left is Crystal Alderich pinning the patterns; top right is Anna May Reber cutting the patterns out and bottom right is Colleen Deitrich stuffing the limbs.

The Sigourney United Presbyterian Church Women are pooling their efforts to help Rag Dolls 2 Love, Inc. send comfort to children in third world war torn countries.

“There are many children in the world who have nothing to comfort them,” said Mary Page Jones, Co-Director of Rag Dolls 2 Love, Inc. These children have been turned all too quickly into adults by war, being orphaned, being hungry, being alone or being in the path of a natural disaster.

This project started in 2003 with the goal of sending 200 dolls to children in the Middle East. As of the end of 2007 over 35,000 dolls have been delivered; the project comes to a close at the end of 2008.

To date, rag dolls have been sent to: Lima, Peru, Afghanistan, China, Thailand, Mexico, Uganda, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Sudan, India, Gaza, Iraq, Zambia, South Africa, Lithuania, russia, Belarus, El Salvador, Jordan, Romania, Nigeria and many other countries.

“This was something we (Presbyterian women) decided we could help with,” said James. “Our church women are always willing to jump right in and help,” said United Presbyterian Paster, Sterling.

The six women are working to put together 10-20 dolls for shipment by mid-December.

Sigourney News-Review 19.NOV.08 70.81% of the voting population in Keokuk County turned out for the 2008 General Election; of the 7680 eligible voters in the County, 5438 voted including a total of 1590 absentee voters. With the 2008 General Election results checked and double checked, the final results are complete at last. The Keokuk County Auditor’s office and all of the election officials have done an outstanding job again this year. All of the elected officials will take office on January 1st, with exception of the President of the United States. Although, persons elected ‘to fill vacancy’ will take office immediately. Newly elected Keokuk County Sheriff, Jeff Shipley is quietly awaiting his turn. “I feel this is a huge step for emergency services in Keokuk County,” said Shipley. “I ran a clean campaign and worked hard to surround myself with extremely good people. We worked as a team and that type of cooperation will continue in the Sheriff’s department in the future.” Shipley was elected with 2630 votes to incumbent and Independent candidate, Ron George’s 1859, Republican candidate, Thomas Hadley’s 636 and Independent candidate, Gary Deitrich’s 233 votes. It should also be noted, there was a scattering of 5 votes in the County. “This was a tough election,” said Terry Hollingsworth, a Shipley campaign member. “Jeff stuck to his issues and despite some stumbling blocks, the voters have spoken. I am looking forward to an honest, efficient and courteous Sheriff’s department. I think Jeff will be a progressive leader.” [More]

It’s that time of year again and the local Salvation Army in Keokuk County is looking forward to this holiday season and this year’s Red Kettle Campaign. In order for the campaign to be successful and hopefully our best yet, help is needed! Our total last year was approximately $2,314 while the previous year was approximately $4,600!

Now in it’s third year and well on it’s way in becoming a tradition for Keokuk County and the holiday season; the campaign needs volunteers to ring bells. The past two years there has been an enormous response in volunteers and donations alike. This year’s campaign will hopefully operate similar to the last two years with area businesses hosting kettles large and small. There are two large kettles that need bell-ringers. For the past two years, Sigourney has had businesses host large kettles on the Saturday’s between Thanksgiving and Christmas beginning the Saturday after Thanksgiving and ending the Saturday before Christmas. The first year K&L Foods hosted the kettle while last year both K&L Foods and Casey’s General Store hosted kettles. This year K&L Foods and Casey’s General Store have committed to hosting kettles and bell ringing will begin on Sat., Nov. 29, and ending on Sat., Dec. 20.

For the complete details, check out the Wed., Nov. 19 print edition of the Sigourney News-Review.

With the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaching, the Sigourney News-Review is planning to publish the newspaper early on Tues., Nov. 26 with a deadline of Thurs., Nov. 20.

The SNR is interested in publishing some local holiday recipies; anyone interested in submitting a recipe for publication, please email to Robin Fisher at signred@lisco.com or fax to 641-622-2766 or drop by the office at 114 E. Washington St. These recipies may be published in any newspaper between now and the special Christmas issue scheduled for Wed., Dec. 17.

Pictured in front of the P Buckley Moss print “Treasures of Iowa” is its’ proud owner, Deb Schauf (center) and KC Auxiliary member, Katie Strupp (right) presenting Mary Lawenberg, RN with KC Hospice a donation check.

Keokuk County Hospice Auxiliary held two very successful events in addition to the annual pie contest this past summer (the golf tournament and the print raffle).

As a result, the Auxiliary is able to donate $3,000 from the proceeds of the Golf Tournament and $1,600 from the Print Raffle.

Deb Schauf said, “I always buy a raffle ticket, but may not really enjoy the print. So this year, I joked with Annie Dolash that she really needed to pick me.” Needless to say, when Schauf received the call she just couldn’t believe her luck.

The businesses and residents of Keokuk County are great supporters of our local Hospice.

At the Mon., Nov. 10 meeting of the Keokuk County Supervisors, Jim Campbell, Technology Manager for STI Computer Services met with Supervisors to discuss the IT services for the county. Charles Kent, STI Service and Sales joined the meeting as well as Ron Richmond, KC Assessor; Melissa Bird, KC Recorder and Marge Farmer, KC Deputy Assessor.

The discussion began with Micheal Berg asking how everything was going. “Good,” said Campbell. “Very well,” said Richmond and Farmer. Bird added her consensus. Campbell went on to add, “Everything looks in good shape; I would recommend the County put a new server on its’ radar to be replaced soon.” A new server would cost under $5,000 according to Campbell.

Over the past month, STI has been averaging 2-3 hours per day at the courthouse with no surprises. Ernie Greiner said, “I have heard very good reports from all concerned. The service has been very good.” Richmond added his appreciation on behalf of his office to STI for making the transition easy, he also extended his gratitude to the Board of Supervisors for their forward thinking in hiring STI for the IT services.

It was approved to extend STI a $38,000 annual cap contract for IT services with flexible hours based on a 3 hour work day with the contract being prorated to the beginning of the next fiscal year (July 2009). Greiner stated that he would like to review the contract annually for budgeting purposes; Berg and Richard Denny agreed. Board secretary, Christy Bates suggested monthly or quarterly reports from Campbell. Denny added, “I would rather stay on top of things with monthly reports so there are no surprises.”

For the complete story, see the Wed., Nov. 12 print edition of the Sigourney News-Review. To receive a copy, contact Robin Fisher at 641-622-3110 or via email at signred@lisco.com.

Sigourney Area Development Group christened the Grand Opening of The Design House Plus and Insurance Services Group with a ribbon cutting. Joining in the tradition were (back, left to right) Don Westerheim, friend; Ron Hoffman, C.C.’s dad; Diane and Greg Peiffer, Insurance Services owners and C.C. Hoffman, co-owner of The Design House Plus and Insurance Services Group agent. Front (left to right) Sigourney Mayor, Pat Miletich (SADC member); Phyllis Hoffman, C.C.’s mother; Rhonda Hoffman, co-owner of The Design House Plus; Emily Wohler of Hi$ Auction & Reality (SADC member); Judy Frank, SADC secretary and Tom Bates, President of Keokuk County State Bank (SADC member).

The Story Behind the Dual Businesses

The Design House Plus
By Rhonda Hoffman

The Design House Plus, owned by C.C. and Rhonda Hoffman, began doing business in August of 2005 from their home at 220 East Jackson with a used computer, a box of donated software and a $400 laser printer purchased from Staples.

For the complete story, see the Wed., Nov. 12 print edition of the Sigourney News-Review. For a copy contact, Robin Fisher at 641-622-3110 or via email at signred@lisco.com.

Insurance Services Group
By C.C. Hoffman
Insurance Services Group held the grand opening of their Sigourney offices on Tues., Nov. 4 at 9 a.m. Located 1 block west of Casey’s at 220 E. Jackson St., the Sigourney office is managed by licensed agent C.C. Hoffman and was established to service policy holders in the Keokuk County area.

For the complete story, see the Wed., Nov. 12 print edition of the Sigourney News-Review. For a copy contact, Robin Fisher at 641-622-3110 or via email at signred@lisco.com.

The winner of the Lil’ Ghouls & Goblins $50 Savings Bond sponsored by the Sigourney Police Department is the ‘Lil’ Black Spiderman’ a.k.a. James Moore of Sigourney. He stopped mid Trick-or-Treat for a photo with Sigourney Police Chief, Allan Glandon and what a treat...as he secured his gift certificate for a $50 Savings Bond in his jack-o-lantern pail, he was already off to the next stop on his Trick-or-Treat Around Sigourney trail. He is the son of Craig and Kim Moore of Sigourney and the big brother to Josephine.

The Sigourney News-Review Lil’ Ghouls & Goblins page was sponsored by the Sigourney Police Department. The other entries (Eli Snakenberg, Lydia Handy, Nichole (daughter) Gokey, Liz Handy, Landyn Greiner, Taylor Conrad, Matt Brainard, Ashton Galindo and Josephine Moore) are encouraged to enter the next photo page coming soon. No tax dollars were used on this project. The Trick-or-Treat Around Sigourney was sponsored by the Keokuk County Klovers 4-H Club.