First National Bank is

holding an Adult/Youth

Golf Tournament July 8

at the Akron Golf Course.

St. Mary's Parish monument dedication

July 8.

The Akron Legion Club is hosting an Hawaiian Party/Potato Salad Showdown June 30. Registration is at 2:30 p.m. at the Legion Club. Steak feed begins at 4 p.m. For more details contact Connie at 568-3000.

Sign up for the second

half of the Men's Golf

League now. Sign up at

the clubhouse.

The Union County Fair will be celebrating 40 years. The fair committee invites you to participate in the tractor pull August 3. The parade will begin at 4:30 p.m. with registration and line-up starting at 3 p.m. See entry form and more information in next week's edition of The Akron Hometowner.

Judging for the cutest baby for the Quasquicentennial continues at Thorson Drug. First week total is $133.87. Keep filling those jars until Aug. 1!

For the July 4 edition

of The Akron Hometowner, the paper

Ethanol site “dirt work” will begin next month, said Akron Riverview Corn Processors Inc. General  Manager Steve Roe. “Some time in July will we start,” he told The Akron Hometowner, explaining

that where the ethanol plant buildings will set at the northeast end of their 300 acres between 170th and 180th Streets on the east side of Iowa Highway 12, the dirt must be raised to one foot above the 500-year flood level. That means it'll be raised about 5 feet on about 100 acres, said Roe, adding we

will move in excess of 1 million yards of dirt from one part of the site to the facility location. “The property's never going to look the same when we get done,” he said. “It's going to look like a mesa.”

Actual construction of the 110-million gallon ethanol plant will begin this fall, either October or November, said Roe. “Construction will continue all winter.” Construction workers will be looking for a temporary place to live, said Roe, explaining there will be 50 to 100 workers at the site initially and as many as 250. “Most of the time they eat lunch at the site,” said Roe, “but at night they'll be looking for supper and entertainment off-site so it should be good for the local economy as far as restaurants and businesses.” “It'll be under construction for 18 months from the first day of pouring concrete,” said Roe. The facility will employ about 40 people for production positions once operation

is underway. These workers will be hired more on merit and work ethic than education levels, said Roe, explaining that high school diplomas are preferred but not required. These jobs will pay $18 per hour. “That's the whole idea of a business like this – to improve the economic welfare of the people and provide a return to the investors,” said Roe. Most of the workers will be local employees who live

within 40 miles, said Roe. A few employees, such as plant, laboratory and maintenance managers, may be brought in from other areas, then again they may not. Akron's ethanol plant will be an independent company but will be managed by the same management company as the Little Sioux Corn Processors Inc. ethanol plant in Marcus. The facility will consume 37 to 38 million bushels of

corn on an annual basis, said Roe. “There will be in excess of 200 trucks a day flowing in and out of the facility. Almost all of the grain will be delivered by truck and 90 percent or more of the ethanol product will leave the facility by rail.” Phase I of this project has been completed, said Roe, adding archeological studies and water quality studies have been completed. They received a tax incentive

package from Plymouth County supervisors with the stipulation they will not be annexed by the City of Akron. Now, company officials are working on obtaining Securities Exchange Commission registration. “We're getting so very close but we're not there yet,” said Roe. “Once that's done, then we will start our equity drive.” It'll be a federally-licensed equity drive, therefore, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota residents can invest in Akron Riverview Corn Processors Inc., he said. “We're certainly hoping for out-of-state investors.” There will be equity drive informational meetings in Akron once officials reach that step, said Roe. “People in the Akron area are going to have a chance to be a part of it,” he said. “It's not just a big company coming in and building something.” “I hope everybody's excited about us coming,” said Roe. “We're excited to be coming to Akron.” “It'll be a great economic boom to that little town,” said Roe, “and if the biodiesel (facility) comes in and employees a bunch of people, that's a significant employment base for a town Akron's size.”

Akron-Westfield high schoolstudents Annie Kjar and Jesa Wolthuizen earned fifth place medals during the the awards ceremony at the National History Day competition, which was held the week of June 10 in College, Park Maryland. Kjar and Wolthuizen advanced to the final's round in the Senior Division Group Performance and earned fifth place winning a medal for outstanding entry for the state of Iowa. There were over 100 entries from around the nation in their division. The duo portrayed a group performance entitled “Triumph Over the Troubles: Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams.” Akron-Westfield was well represented in the finals as three out of the five entries from AW won the privilege of performing in the finals round. Also in the finals division was Katherine Tindall with her Junior Division Individual Performance entitled “Deterred but not Defeated: the Duluth Lynchings.” Tindall placed ninth in the nation. An A-W sixth grade group performance was also in the finals round with their Junior Division Group Performance about the development of the polio vaccine. Those sixth grade students were Haley Coyle, Katlyn Mace, Emily Miller, Jayde Ostermyer

and Jaclyn Smith. The sixth graders placed 13th in the nation. Akron-Westfield also had two documentaries compete at nationals for the first time in several years. Although not continuing to

the finals round, Erica Kjar placed third in her room in the Senior Individual Documentary Category.

Allison Kjar and Sarah Parkinson also placed in the top half in their room in the junior division group

documentary category. Only the top two selected from each room advance to the finals round. “It seems every year the competition is tougher, said A-W National History Day sponsor and teacher

Valorie Philips. “These students face amazing entries in competition. The level of academia was

very impressive this year, especially among the Senior Division entries. I am so proud of the students' work this year and very pleased with our representation at the National Competition.” Both at State and National History Day Competition the students from Akron-Westfield do not compete only with schools our size, she explained. All schools and students compete together regardless

of the size or category of school. Therefore, we from our small school here at A-W compete with students from schools such as Central Academy in Des Moines and the Denver School for the Arts.

“I am extremely happy that three out of our five groups attending nationals were able to compete in

the finals' division this year,” said Philips, “and that two were ranked in the top ten!” “One of the best things about competing at Nationals is meeting new people,” said Annie Kjar and Jesa Wolthuizen. “We made friends with other high school students who speak two and three languages and have traveled world-wide. One of our new friends speaks fluent English, Japanese and Czech. It's amazing to get to know new people.” These two Akron-Westfield students were able to do some unique things while sight seeing this year. They were able to paddleboat in the Tidal Basin of Washington DC, visit the National Cathedral, and visit several embassies from foreign countries. Val Philips, Lisa Wolthuizen, Nancy and Katherine Tindall experienced another unique opportunity. They attended a lecture series at the National Archives held by the National Archivist and the Chief Historian and Director of the National History Day, Dr. Kathy Gorn. Afterwards they were able to tour the National Archives and see original documents such as the Magna Carta. A large amount of family members attended the National History Day competition with their students. Jesa Wolthuizen and Annie Kjar place fifth in nation. Special thanks to Heather Coyle and Felicia Miller who stayed in the dorms with the younger students. Thank you to the many parents and community members who have donated funds toward the Akron-Westfield History Day program this year. Special thanks go also to Colleen Westergard, Superintendent Ron Flynn, A-W administrators and School Board for their continued support for the History Day program at Akron-Westfield.