South Winneshiek senior Felicity Taylor recently competed at the Junior Women’s Freestyle Wrestling World Team Trials in Irving, Texas, less than 18 hours after qualifying in four events for the Iowa High School State Track and Field Meet. Taylor placed second at 50 kilograms, qualifying her for the Women’s Freestyle Wrestling National Team. (submitted photo)

Busy spring yields big-time results for Taylor

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

It would be an understatement to say that the past several weeks have been quite busy for South Winneshiek senior Felicity Taylor.

The talented young athlete competed in two of the biggest track meets of the season, wrestled at one of the most elite women’s wrestling tournaments of the year, and received her diploma all in the matter of 11 days!

The journey began on Thursday, May 10, with the State Qualifying Track Meet in Nashua, where Taylor qualified for the State Track Meet in four separate events, including the 4x800 relay, distance medley, 4x400, and the 800-meter run.

The meet concluded and while the rest of her teammates went home to rest when the bus returned to Calmar at 10 p.m., Felicity and her family loaded up and headed for Chicago.

The crew arrived in the Windy City at 3:30 a.m. and boarded their flight for Irving, Texas, the site of the 2018 Junior Women’s Freestyle Wrestling World Team Trials.

"Don't Quit Your Day Job" band to play during the inaugural 'Party at the Pavilion' on June 2.

'Party at the Pavilion' set to begin June 2

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

The city of Ossian and Ossian Crown Club are kicking off the summer entertainment in town with the first “Party at the Pavilion” at the Ossian Educational and Performance Pavilion in Carey’s Park!

The event will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 2, and will feature the “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” big band.

The Fayette County Courthouse parking lot and east door entrance will be closed this summer as the Courthouse Parking Lot Improvement Project gets underway on Tuesday, May 29. Parking will be available on the streets around the courthouse. Public access to the courthouse will be through the west door, which is the door that faces Bank 1st. (Chris DeBack photo)

FC Courthouse parking lot to close May 29

By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

The Fayette County Courthouse parking lot will be closed for the summer starting on Tuesday, May 29, in order for the Courthouse Parking Lot Improvement Project to be completed.

Access to the parking lot and the east entrance door will not be granted to the public while the project is ongoing. Parking will be available along South Vine, East Elm, North Walnut, and East Main streets. A handicapped-accessible sidewalk is available on the north side of the courthouse around the courthouse. 

Public access to the building will be through the west door, which is the door that faces Bank 1st. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office will use the south door to enter the building for official duties. 

Kay (Kilcher) Frevert (right) of West Union survived the Oelwein/Maynard tornado by bracing herself inside a pedestrian viaduct near Central Grade School in Oelwein. During the terrifying event, Frevert recalled thinking about how she was going to get married in six weeks to her late husband, Tom Frevert (left), as she recited The Lord’s Prayer.  submitted photo

Frevert remembers her bout with Mother Nature

By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

For former West Union resident Kay (Kilcher) Frevert, Wednesday, May 15, 1968, started out like any other school day. 

She was student teaching at Central Grade School in Oelwein and was just a couple weeks from graduating at Upper Iowa University. More importantly, she was six weeks from marrying her late husband, Tom Frevert. 

The school day went well, but Frevert stayed behind to work on some lesson plans for the coming days. She distinctly remembered how the weather turned that very humid afternoon, raining hard, as she was one of only a few employees left at the school. 

With no money to buy food downtown and very little food at home, Frevert decided to leave school and head to a friend’s house for a bite to eat. As she walked north from the school, she noticed the hail on the ground as it started to rain again.

“I remember that I was singing, ‘Singing in the Rain’ as I was walking along,” Frevert recalled. “There was a loud roar, but because I was right by a railroad track, I thought it was a train. I turned around and didn’t see a train. I remember that the sky was just black from side to side. I thought, uh oh, this sounds like a tornado.”

86 NFV students to graduate Friday

By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

The NFV High School gym will be packed to the brim at 7 p.m. Friday, May 25, as 86 seniors from the NFV Class of 2018 receive their high school diplomas. 

The Class of 2018 has chosen salmon, slate gray, and white as its class colors; a white carnation accented by the class colors is the class flower; the class song is “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa; and the class motto is “We know more than we say, think more than we speak, and notice more than you realize.”

Student speakers at the graduation ceremony include Marin Ehler and Lily Poppen. 

SW approves grad class, purchases

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

The South Winneshiek school board met Monday evening and approved the graduating Class of 2018. 

Superintendent Kris Einck informed the board that all 57 members of the senior class will meet the graduation requirements and participate in Sunday’s Commencement ceremony.

The board went on to approve the district’s technology services contract agreement with Keystone, a practice it has done for the past several years.

'Party at the Pavilion' to kick off June 2

The City of Ossian and the Ossian Crown Club are kicking off the summer entertainment with the first "Party at the Pavilion". 

The event will be a concert in the Ossian Educational and Performance Pavilion in Carey's Park on Saturday, June 2, beginning at 7:00 p.m. 

The event will feature the "Don't Quit Your Day Job" big band, a northeast Iowa band 16-piece big band that features the music of Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Glen Miller and includes the vocal styles of Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Nat King Cole. The feature vocalist is Kathleen Ayers. 

Whooping cough cases confirmed at Valley Elementary

By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

Two cases of whooping cough were confirmed at Valley Elementary last week. 

Jessica Wegner, Fayette County Public Health nurse, said that all close-contact and high-risk individuals have been contacted. She has worked with the high-risk individuals to make sure they were tested last week, while checking in to see if any close-contact individuals were experiencing symptoms. 

Hannah Frederick, Montauk Historic Site coordinator, is excited to announce the summer events happening at the home of former Iowa Governor William Larrabee, including “Leisure with the Larrabees” on Saturday, June 16, and the Old-Fashioned Community Picnic on Saturday, Aug. 18. Chris DeBack photo

Summer fun at Montauk Historic Site

By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

May may be Preservation Month, but Montauk Historic Site in Clermont is ready to keep that celebration going all summer long with some exciting events it has planned. 

Since she was hired at the end of 2017, Hannah Frederick, Montauk Historic Site coordinator, has been busy planning a number of special events for the area. With Montauk open for tours from noon to 4 p.m. seven days a week this summer, Frederick is thankful she had this winter to settle in. 

“This winter I took the time to get to know the area, get to know the house, and the Larrabee family,” she noted. “I did some research and got to know Clermont and the area. Clermont is a nice town, but it has been an adjustment moving here from Ames and getting used to the smaller side of things. We have already started the summer season, as we have already had some school tours.”

Chase Aeschliman (far right) recently visited the Institute for Neurological Recovery in Boca Raton, Fla., to receive an injection of Enbrel. Enbrel is a FDA-approved anti-inflammatory drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis that Dr. Edward Tobinick is using to treat stroke survivors. The drug should help with inflammation in the brain caused by the stroke. Chase’s family, (l-r) Kenny, Lincoln, Brock, and Laine, all joined him in Florida for the procedure. Submitted Photos

Chase gets injection that enhances stroke patients' outcome

By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

Laine and Kenny Aeschliman of Wadena made their 13-year-old son, Chase, one promise after he suffered a stroke in August 2015: No matter the cost, no matter the odds, the couple would do whatever they could to help him recover. 

Chase has made a remarkable recovery in the two years and eight months since his accident. With the support of his family and friends since he left the rehabilitation center On With Life in Ankeny, the young boy has grown to be over 6 feet tall and has seen incredible improvements in his movement and speech. 

“I think his speech is always continuing to grow,” said Laine. “It isn’t something you see day to day; it is slow progress, but there is still progress. He has made so much progress that he isn’t doing speech therapy anymore.”

While Chase slowly continues to improve day by day, that hasn’t stopped his parents from keeping an open mind about new treatments they have come across. It was that persistence that led Laine to discover a new treatment for stroke patients through a stroke survivor support group on Facebook.