The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors will meet electronically, Monday evening, via Zoom (https://us04web.zoom.us/j/77845850935?pwd=akhOQU1RMjU2OWNzejQ4c2ZQVERZdz09). The session begins at 5:15-p.m., and will include updates on:

• The impact of COVID-19 on the parks system
• Community Gardens
• Mollett Park (E. 3rd St. Place)
• Online activities
• Summer Program
• an update on the Sunnyside Park Pool, and
• the Disc Golf Course.

Parks and Rec Director Bryant Rasmussen will provide a report on:

• The Easter Egg Hunt (Rasmussen previously stated in a social media post, “We had 188 cars come through the park in 3 hours!”) – (Gracie Flinn, of Atlantic, won the Easter Egg contest for her colorful egg. She won an Easter basket full of gifts for her creativity)
• Rasmussen will also report on Native Grasses that have been planted.
• The Parks & Rec Dept. Recreational “Bag Boards” (Commonly referred to as a “Corn Hole” board game), are in and available.
• Benches have been implemented.
• He’ll also talk about the Sunnyside Park Bandshell beautification, and
• Clean-up of Camblin’s Addition Dry Run Creek.

Officials with Tyson Foods Inc., in Perry, confirmed Friday night that some of the company’s labor force in Perry have tested positive for COVID-19. According to media reports, Tyson’s communications manager confirmed multiple individuals at the plant have tested positive, but specific information would not be shared out of concerns over privacy issues. Unconfirmed reports received Friday from employees at the Perry plant claim some 27 suspected or confirmed cases have been identified.

An officials with the Dallas County Public Health Department said Friday her department could neither confirm nor deny that there are any positive COVID-19 cases Tyson plant in Perry plant, because it would fall under the HIPPA guidelines.

HIPPA – The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 – restricts the disclosure of “individually identifiable health information” but does not restrict the disclosure of “de-identified health information” that “neither identifies nor provides a reasonable basis to identify an individual.”

OSSIAN – The Iowa DNR is looking into a fertilizer leak that occurred Thursday in the city of Ossian, in Winneshiek County. The Farmers Union Coop reported Friday morning that a tank had leaked over the winter, into it’s secondary containment structure. The company pumped the containment to an area that discharged into a storm water intake leading to an unnamed tributary. The unnamed tributary flows into Nutting Creek. The release was discovered when people noticed white water in the creek.

The coop estimates between 1,000 – 2,000 gallons were released and is working to recover fertilizer from the storm sewer that goes into the creek. DNR staff were working with the coop on options to recover product in the creek. The DNR has collected water samples for testing, check for environmental impacts in the stream and consider appropriate enforcement action. No dead fish were observed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than a dozen Iowa elected officials implored Tyson Fresh Meats to close their Waterloo pork processing plant, saying the coronavirus is spreading among workers and is endangering not only employees of the plant but the entire community. Mayors, county officials and state legislators signed the letter that was sent to Tyson on Thursday.

The 19 officials said at a Friday news conference they had only received confirmation from the company that it had received the letter but no other action .The officials also accused Gov. Kim Reynolds of misleading Iowans on the seriousness of the outbreak and for failure to take action to close the plant.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa sheriff is urging Tyson Foods to temporarily shut down its plant in Waterloo as coronavirus cases spike in Black Hawk County. The Des Moines Register reports Sheriff Tony Thompson says he’s concerned that COVID-19 will overrun his community even more if the Tyson Foods plant doesn’t take proper precautions.

He says they need to deep clean that facility and restart it on a clean slate. His comments came shortly before Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that 138 people had tested positive for the virus and one person has died with the virus in Black Hawk County.”

(Radio Iowa) — The temporary closure of pork processing plants in Iowa and neighboring states is adding to the difficult situation producers are facing under the COVID-19 pandemic. Jim Boyer, a hog producer in northwest Iowa’s Emmet County, says they’re already feeling the financial pinch from plants that have recently shut down or where closures are imminent.

“The packers are full so they’re not able to harvest as many head as they normally did,” Boyer says. “Earlier this week, we were down to 380,000 head. Normally, we’re doing 450,000 head a day. As the supply of hogs backs up, prices the packers are willing to pay producers are dropping already.” The cascading troubles with coronavirus are compounding problems for producers, as Boyer says they were already dealing with falling prices.

“We’re into the $38 range right now and break even on a hog for an independent producer is about $68,” Boyer says. “So, producers are standing to lose about $30 a head currently.” An advantage grain farmers have over livestock producers is, if grain prices fall, farmers can put that commodity into storage and wait until the prices come back up.

“Pork production is a just-in-time delivery on hogs, so when we start backing up a system to where we can’t harvest hogs that are supposed to be going to market, then it backs up everything,” Boyer says. “The only real alternative is to start euthanizing hogs and no producer wants to do that.” He says many producers may not survive if they cannot take their hogs to market.

• KJAN, Atlantic  3.8″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  3.5″
• Massena  5″
• Bridgewater  5″
• Avoca  2.5″
• Villisca  8″
• Malvern  6″
• Underwood  4.5″
• Clarinda  8″
• Shenandoah  7″
• New Market  9″
• Corning 7.5″
• Creston  6″
• Red Oak  5″
• Bedford 13.5″
• Mt. Ayr 11.0″
• Oakland (5.5″ average)

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa’s congressional delegation and the leaders of ag and commodity groups are warning the coronavirus pandemic significantly damaging the rural economy. Some dairy farmers have dumped milk due to the dramatic drop in demand. Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor who served eight years as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, is now president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. He’s joining the call for federal purchases of dairy products for food banks.

“It’s time for the USDA to minimize the barriers to getting food supplies out to people in need,” Vilsack says, “and it’s time for them to maximize creativity in terms of the assistance and help that it can provide.” Former Iowa Agriculture Secretary Patty Judge is co-founder of a group called Focus on Rural America. She says the mom-and-pop shops that small towns depend upon will die without more federal support.

“We are facing tough, tough times,” she says. “…We cannot structure aid packages so that only the big survive.” She says bailouts to airlines, oil companies and cruise lines won’t help the rural economy. National Farmers Union President Rob Larew says aid must go to those who need it the most. “It needs to be swift. It needs to be targeted and it needs to be done with an eye toward the long-term viability of these rural communities and for family farmers.”

Senator Chuck Grassley tweeted yesterday (Thursday) that he’s asked President Trump to give special attention to the closure of pork and beef processing plants. Grassley, along with Senator Joni Ernst, Congressman Dave Loebsack and Congresswomen Cindy Axne and Abby Finkenauer have all co-signed a letter to the U-S-D-A. They’re asking the agency to compensate farmers who cannot sell their cattle and pigs because the plants in Columbus Junction and Tama are closed.

Earlier this week, Congressman Steve King accused the meatpacking industry of manipulating prices and he called for a federal investigation.

(Radio Iowa) — Officials at a pork processing plant in Sioux City say an employee has a confirmed case of COVID-19. The Seaboard Triumph plant employs 24-hundred. The company announced in a news release that the employee who has COVID-19 has not reported to work since being tested and there are no other confirmed cases of the coronavirus connected to the plant.

Two other meat packing plants in Iowa, in Tama and Columbus Junction, are closed due to outbreaks of the virus among employees. Yesterday (Thursday), Iowa’s governor said there is a suspected outbreak at the pork plant in Waterloo that is still operating.

One of the nation’s largest pork processing facilities — in Sioux Falls, South Dakota — is closed. More than 600 employees there have tested positive for COVID-19 and one worker has died.

Jim Field visits with Cass County Extension Program Coordinator Kate Olson about the Cass County Master Gardener Grant Program.

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