Thirty years ago, the Jordan City Council approved a building permit for Dairy Queen to build between Schatze's and Highway 169.

For more information, read the Looking Back column in the June 19 issue of the Jordan Independent. Read it online in the Print Edition section, or subscribe by going to www.jordannews.com/subscribe.

Sometimes when you start out expecting one thing, you end up with something completely different.

That’s the lesson learned by Savage paper artist Kirsten Boehne when she sets out to create her one-of-a-kind sets of recycled papers.

“It's part of the art and part of the mystery of making paper that you never really know what you're going to get when you start out,” she said.

Boehne will offer live demonstrations of paper making at the Jordan Art Festival, June 21-22 along Water Street in downtown Jordan.

The Jordan Fire Department celebrated 125 years of serving the community with a celebration and parade May 17. Here are some videos of the festivities:

Here's what's been going on in and around New Prague lately, according to the New Prague Times:

- An unreserved fund balance of $300,000 is the New Prague school
board's goal. That's 1 percent of its 2008-2009 budget -- far less than
the state recommends and far more than the $30,000 projected fund
balance at the end of this school year.

- Thirty-nine people applied for the position of New Prague city administrator, which will be vacated by 33-year veteran Jerry Bohnsack in July. 

Here's what's been going on in and around Belle Plaine lately, according to the Belle Plaine Herald:

- The Belle Plaine City Council unanimously approved an amendment to its city code that "will apparently provide an unidentified potential grocer with protection from future competition if that person does in fact decide to open a grocery store in a proposed retail facility in Belle Plaine," according to a front page story in the May 7 issue of the Herald.