Becky Smith, director of the film "Duck Farm No. 13," was in McGregor for a brief visit last weekend during a trip to Iowa. Being back in McGregor brought back "a flood of wonderful memories," she said.

About a year ago she arrived in McGregor with some of her crew to scout the town for locations for the filming of "Duck Farm."

Back in Los Angeles, the film, Smith said, is in the final stages of editing and audio post-production.

Post production activities can take a long time, Smith noted. She said it wasn’t unusual for editing to take nine months for big-budget features, let alone for a small budget independent film like "Duck Farm."

The editing process in filmmaking is where much of the story of the picture is developed and told, and Smith says storytelling is the most important work of a movie.

Smith says that audiences and their responses help to develop the story. So she has screened the film before six test audiences made up of teens ages 13-17 and adults.

"I really wanted to get an impression with these audiences…it helped us shape it and really make it strong," she explained.

Not all filmmakers take the time for this extra step, Smith noted, but she feels that it is very important.

The audiences were made up of people that were unfamiliar with the movie and do not know Becky. After watching the movie, they would fill out detailed questionnaires about their responses to the film. Smith is using this feedback for her final "polish" edit.

The audio and soundtrack for the film are also being finalized. Smith said she is seeking copyright permission for music ranging from jazz to indie rock bands.

In September, "Duck Farm" promotion on the independent film festival circuit will begin. Smith will begin screening the film with distribution partners, and she is hoping for a significant film festival premiere that will lead to national theatre release and distribution.

In any case, the film will be submitted to major independent film festivals such as the famous Sundance Film Festival, and other "top tier" film festivals such as those held in Telluride, Colo., Seattle, Wash., and Tribeca in New York City. The film will also be submitted in international festivals such as those held in Toronto, Canada, and Berlin, Germany. The film festival season runs from January through May.

If all goes well, the film could be in U.S. theatres next summer.

The Iowa premiere for the film has not been scheduled yet, but Smith said it would likely be held in Elkader, since it is an Iowa film and Elkader has the closest Iowa movie theatre. She said that she expects that many of the film’s actors would attend the Iowa premiere.

Lindsey and Hannah prefer not to share their last names. But they are happy to share their stories about building their raft, the Bernadette, and their trip down the river from the St. Croix River near Stillwater, Minn., to New Orleans.

The two young women who will both turn 26 this year, met in college at New York University few years back and became friends. Hannah is from New York, Lindsey is from Maryland.

A couple of years ago the two took a road trip through the Midwest and ended up following the Mississippi River all the way to New Orleans. As they travelled they felt drawn to the river, they wanted to take the roads nearest its banks. "We thought how much better it would be to be on the river," Hannah explained. Later they learned that others had made the trip using various kinds of craft, including homemade rafts.

"It became apparent that it was possible," Hannah explained.

From there they hatched their plans.

The two met up in Stillwater, Minnesota, on the St. Croix River back in March. The St. Croix River is a major tributary of the Mississippi near St. Paul. Lindsey has family there, so they stayed in Stillwater and began building their raft.

They designed and built the raft themselves, with help and input from friends and family. Lindsey had been working sewing custom boat covers in Sausalito, Cal. She sewed their tent home, and got tips on how to build and design the raft from boatbuilders she knows in the Bay Area.

They chose to have a human-powered craft. They built a small paddlewheel that is belt-driven by two ten-speed bicycles bolted down to the deck. They also have a 25-horsepower motor they can use in emergencies.

The raft is colorful and artful. The homemade A-frame tent is sprinkled with appliqued birds, and potted vegetables and flowers brighten the deck. A carved dragon keeps an eye on the channel ahead from the top of the A-frame.

Such an unusual craft draws the attention of other boaters and residents of river towns. Hannah and Lindsey say most people are friendly, but sometimes they have trouble navigating through swarms of fast-moving recreational boaters who swing by for another look at the raft.

They began their trip in mid-June after completing the raft. While they are pretty happy with the comfort and seaworthiness of their live-aboard craft, the first thing they will tell you about it is that it is slow. The bicycle-powered craft only makes about 50 miles per week. They are planning to make some mechanical upgrades to their paddlewheel belt-drive system when they stop for a visit with friends in the Quad Cities, which they hope will help their efficiency and speed.

They don’t know when they will get to New Orleans, but they speculate it may not be until February.

The slow speed of the raft forces them to slow down as well. With no particular schedule, the days are structured by launching, locking through and landing, and punctuated by wind and weather.

In comparison, the women say, the rest of the world looks pretty fast.

Curious? Learn more about Hannah and Lindsey’s trip at mississippiriverproject
.blogspot.com

The biggest news of last night’s meeting of the Prairie du Chien Common Council was Mayor Karl Steiner’s announcement that the petition drive to recall five council members had been called off. Disgruntled residents had begun the attempt when council refused to cancel the DOT contract to build roundabouts on Marquette Road. He also rescinded his veto of council’s previous defeat of a motion to cancel the contract.

Following that, resident Deke Jones presented an impassioned plea to better protect school children crossing Marquette Road, DOT officials explained the jurisdictional transfer necessary for work to begin on the Hwy 18 bypass in 2010, and council gave the go-ahead to submitting a grant application for restoration of the Fort Crawford Hotel.

Stating that the city’s children deserved protection, Deke Jones said he believed using crossing guards to take children across the busy highway was still unsafe for both the children and the crossing guards. "I challenge any of you," he said, "to put on an orange vest and take a plastic sign and a plastic cone and walk out in front of a semi to make it stop."

Jones outlined three proposals for increasing safety:

• Busing to school, where children would wait at one of several weather-proof shelters for a bus to safely transport them to school.

• A traffic light which could be manually operated by a crossing guard to ensure safe crossings

•An overpass along South Marquette Road which would also stretch over the railroad tracks. Jones said he felt with the schedule construction on Marquette Road in 2012, this would be the perfect time to include an overpass in the plans.

Council members said they agreed with Jones’ concerns and pointed out that the school district is already providing some safe buses to transport children. They said an overpass on Marquette Rd. had previously been discussed.

Project Supervisor Ian Winger summed up the Department of Transportation (DOT) project schedule and explained the jurisdictional transfer which must occur before construction begins on the Highway 18 bypass.

Construction on the bypass, which will follow LaPointe to old South Main up to Wisconsin St., is set to begin in 2010. Improvements to Marquette Road will begin in 2012, with the stretch from Webster to Washington, including the roundabouts one first. Construction on other sections will be done in 2013 and 2014.

Winger said those projects would add up to about $40 million, with $32 million in the city limits.

Before construction plans on the bypass can continue, the city must sign a jurisdictional transfer agreement. Winger explained that the original plan was to construct the Highway 18 bypass and leave the current Highway 35 designation on Marquette Road. However, he said, because of demands on state funding, the DOT is reducing the number of parallel routes it maintains. What this means for the city is that the DOT wants to remove the Highway 35 designation from Marquette Road between LaPointe and Iowa and Wisconsin Streets. Highway 35 would instead follow the bypass to Iowa and Wisconsin Streets, which would become part of Highway 35 between Main St. and Marquette Road. Winger said the DOT would fix up the section of Marquette which would no longer be highway before turning it over to the city.

Winger said he realized there were some concerns with this:

• The fear that if the highway is diverted the city will lose business. He said the fact was that a traffic survey on Marquette Road showed that 79 percent of the traffic is local.

• Concern that if high traffic continues on the non-highway part of Marquette Road, it will wear out. He said the city will collect local aid on the route for 15 years.

•Concern that having Highway 35 cross a railroad tracks would cause delays. He said the overpass at the south end of the bypass and controlled access to the bypass would make the route safer.

•The city would like Hwy 35 to stay where it is. Winger said the fact is that leaving it as is would cause delays, and if the city needs to replace utilities before the work is done, they would have to pay for any road restoration. Moving Hwy 35 to the bypass, he said, reduces the city’s costs by $180,000 and the overall construction schedule could be maintained.

Council member Kathleen Hein expressed concern that there are already many accidents on Iowa and Wisconsin Streets and designating them as part of Hwy 35 might mean an increase in the accident rate.

Council member Frank Pintz asked why Hwy35 traffic couldn’t be routed through town on Main Street and out to the overpass at the north end of town. Winger said they had looked at that as an option, and there were too many concerns on North Main to make that feasible.

Winger said to move the projects along, council needs to complete the jurisdictional transfer agreement and take care of items which would enable the DOT to begin the property acquisition process along Marquette Road. Winger said he had hoped this would have been done by July, but if it can be completed by Sept. 1 it can stay on track. He said a public information meeting would be scheduled to present the latest designs for the bypass.

After a lengthy discussion, council authorized proceeding with a grant application for Fort Crawford Hotel. Prairie du Chien Revitalization, Inc. member Judy Wall said that the development group working on the hotel would like to apply for a federally administered HOPE 6 grant.

The grant, up to a million dollars, would enable the developers to create affordable housing in the building. It would, she said, cost the city nothing, but it must be authorized by the city. If the grant is approved the developers would create affordable housing. She said housing applicants must be at the 80 percent level or lower for area income in order to qualify. She proposed that, if the grant is obtained, the redevelopment authority administer the funds. After the first year, the units could be sold as condos or hotel suites.

Council member Frank Pintz said he felt the city had been patient with the developer, Mark Ihm, and said Ihm had originally told the city he had the funding to complete the project.

Wall said it had been difficult to attract tenants at the rent required to complete the project.

Council member Dave Hemmer said his concern was that if Ihm gets the grant, completes the project and sells it at a profit, what money has Ihm put into it.

Wall said the project will cost close to $2 million, and she felt the selling price would be half that.

City Administrator Jim Gitz said council should consider what’s happening with the property. The intention was to redevelop it as a luxury hotel, but the commercial markets have changed. By authorizing the grant application, he said, council would be giving away nothing and would have the opportunity to reopen the development agreement and have some say in what happens to the property. The motion was passed with dissenting votes from Boylen, Pintz and Hemmer.

by Erin Meyer

Klema has two big objectives for her program: to increase the inmates’ education and help them be a greater influence on their families.

"The longer I’m here the more I feel I have a mission," she explains. "I’m helping someone to be a better reader, and a better reader is more likely to be employed and help his children with their school work."