AGAIN..SUPER DAY IN MAQUKETA..HIGH OF 76.

MAQUOKETA FIREMEN CALLED OUT THIS AFTERNOON TO EXTINGUISH A BEAN FIELD FIRE AT THE JIM SUTTON FARM OFF HIGHWAY61. ABOUT 4 ACRES BURNED. NOT SURE HOW IT GOT STARTED.

I ATTENDED THE RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY AT 3:45 THIS AFTERNOON AT A NEW MAQUOKETA BUSINESS....CHEM RIGHT LABORATORIES. IT IS LOCATED IN THE FORMER DR. BIEHL DENTIST BUILDING ON NORTH MAIN STREET. IT IS OWNED BY MR. AND MRS. DAVID GOSSMAN. THEY BOTH WORK NEAR DEKALB, ILLINOIS, BUT ALSO HAVE OWNED A 600 ACRE FARM NORTH OF MAQUOKETA FOR NEARLY 10 YEARS SO THEY ARE NO STRANGERS TO MAQUOKTA AREA AND HAVE SPENT LOTS OF TIME BETWEEN THEIR MAQUOKETA AND ILLINOIS HOMES. NOW, THIS NEW BUSINESS WILL DO BOTH WATER AND SOIL TESTING FOR EASTERN IOWA. DAVID AND HIS WIFE BOTH HAVE A BACKGROUND IN TESTING AND THEIR CHEMIST HERE IN MAQUOKETA IS CYNTHIA DYE OF BELLEVUE AND THEIR LABORATORY MANAGER IS DANIEL DARLAND, WHO LIVES IN DEWITT. QUITE A LAYOUT. THEY HAVE LOTS OF EQUIPMENT, FILLING THAT BUILDING FROM THE FRONT DOOR TO THE BACK DOOR. BEST OF LUCK TO T HEM IN THEIR NEW BUSINESS.

TURNS OUT, THE ONE-HOUR POWER FAILURE YESERDAY MORNING, WAS RIGHT NEAR THE POWER PLANT ON NORTH MAIN STREET. CREWS DISCOVERED A FRIED BIRD...YES BIRD... IN THE REGULATOR NEAR THE PLANT.
THAT LITTLE CRITTER CAUSED THE ONE-HOUR POWER FAILURE.

IN MAGISTRATE COURT....JOSEPH MAXWELL, 31, OF MAQUOKETA, WAS CHARGED WITH OWI, AND POSSESSION OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE, MARIJUANA, AND POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHENALIA WHEN STOPPED BY POLICE JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT LAST NIGHT.

THAT'S IT FOR ANOTHER DAY. TAKE IT EASY.

DENNIS VOY