The mother of a man convicted of killing a popular northeast Iowa coach and teacher says families struggling with mental illness should not stay silent any longer. Five years ago, Mark Becker shot and killed Aplington-Parkersburg head football coach Ed Thomas. Since Becker’s trial and conviction of first degree murder in 2010, Joan Becker has spoken out about the dangers of dealing with an undiagnosed mental illness. Becker told KCRG-TV that her son backs her efforts to speak out — with hopes that his story may help someone else.

“He really supports what I’m doing. He said if we can help by sharing our story, if that helps one person, then it’s worth it,” Becker said. In a presentation before a crowd in Cedar Rapids this week, Joan Becker started with snapshots of an average young Iowa boy. But, around the age of 16, Mark Becker began to change into a troubled young man who heard voices and went through psychotic episodes that included threats of violence toward his family. Joan Becker encourages families to heed the warning signs, be persistent in seeking professional help for a loved one who is struggling, and don’t be embarrassed because the issue is mental illness. Becker noted no one would be embarrassed if the diagnosis was cancer.

“That is wrong, we should be able to talk about this and get support from our community, from our church family, and everybody out there,” Becker said. When someone in the audience asked how much has changed since the shooting, Becker said things have gotten a bit better but getting timely care for mental illness, especially for a family seeking help for an adult child, remains a struggle.

Following his conviction, Mark Becker was formally diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. His mother said that the death of Thomas might have been avoided if her son could have gotten the help he needed in time. Joan Becker said Mark gets excellent care in prison and if she calls correctional officials saying her son seems to be slipping backward a bit, they’ll adjust medication or provide more counseling. That reaction was missing when the family sought help before the shooting death of the coach.

Joan Becker finished a book this year about her son’s struggles with undiagnosed mental illness and the family’s attempts to get help at the time. Her agent still is seeking a publisher. Becker has hopes her message will eventually find a wider audience.

(KCRG/Radio Iowa)

The effort to get people in the state moving to make them healthier continues today (Wednesday) with a fourth annual group walk. Delta Dental is one of the sponsors of the Healthiest State Initiative walk. Delta C-E-O Jeff Russell talked about the walk at the governor’s weekly meeting with reporters. “We believe the walk is a great way for Iowans to stay active and show their continuing support for the Healthiest State Initiative,” Russell says. “When you combine physical activity and good dental health, we believe Iowa can maintain momentum towards becoming the healthiest state in the nation.” Russell says they encourage Iowans to see a dentist and to do more walking.

“A visit to the dentist not only helps protect your dental health, but it can be used to detect more than 120 disease states throughout your body,” Russell says. Iowa Lottery C-E-O, Terry Rich, is the chairman of this year’s walk, and says there will be a wide variety of participants across the state. “The governor, legislators, staff, universities, businesses, churches, some political candidates and their supporters — heck we’ve even called out the National Guard in an effort to get everyone active,” Rich says.

The Iowa National Guard is mobilizing soldiers to lead families and residents in 1-K walks at 52 armories across the state. Rich says they’re asking everyone to log onto the Iowa-Healthiest-State-dot-com (www.IowaHealthiestState.com) website to sign up for the walk. “We believe we’ve probably already passed our goal of a half-million folks who will be walking Wednesday, but we’d love to have people register to kind of officially say that we did it,” Rich says. “So, if you will go to the website, we’d appreciate that obviously helping us out.”

Iowa has moved up from 19th to 10th on the health index that ranks the states. Governor Terry Branstad says obesity is the thing that’s keeping the state from moving higher. “It is one of our biggest challenges, and one of the real concerns is the increase in obesity among young people. So, this is one of the important challenges we are facing,” Branstad says. The governor says other states face the same problem with increasing obesity rates among children. “So, we’re trying to reverse that long-standing trend by getting people more active, by getting people not only to exercise, but also looking at their choices in terms of what they eat,” Branstad says, “encouraging more fruits and vegetables, protein, maybe reduce the amount of carbohydrates, things they can do. Got to get people to take ownership of their own health.”

The governor and lieutenant governor will lead a walk at the State Capitol. In addition, the Iowa Department of Public Health and County Health officials will be leading walks throughout Iowa and schools around the state are gathering students to walk as part of the “National Walk to School Day.”

(Radio Iowa)

City government is the government closest to most citizens and the one with the most direct daily impact upon its residents. With that in mind, municipal officials feel a responsibility to pass along their understanding of public services and their benefits. City Week is sponsored by the Iowa League of Cities to showcase and celebrate cities and the many services they provide. “City week is part of an ongoing effort to help promote good government and to help our members showcase the important role cities play in the lives of Iowans,” said League Executive Director Alan Kemp.

Area cities have been very active this year. Below are a few of the highlighted services and projects being offered by some area communities:

· Avoca: The City of Avoca has been growing steadily through the City’s Housing Grant and Loans program. In order to keep the community a nice place to live, the City of Avoca has been focused on quality of life projects such as a pedestrian bridge, 1.5 miles of trails, a dog park, and enhancements at Edgington Memorial Park. The City is nearing completion of a large road rehabilitation project funded in part by the CITIES grant program and the Iowa West Foundation.
· Macedonia: The City of Macedonia is beginning a project to upgrade their aging water delivery system; funding has been acquired from various sources including a CITIES grant from the Iowa West Foundation. “Come over to Macedonia”, it’s a great place to live.
· McClelland: The City of McClelland is currently improving stormwater drainage by replacing several street drainage sewers and ditches. The rain storms that came earlier this summer in such a fast & furious way and at quite frequency brought the problem of flooding of the lower part of McCelland to light.
· Neola: The City of Neola is focused on a beautification project along Front Street, which is Neola’s main street. The street enhancements and appearance will make the downtown more inviting.
· Underwood: The City of Underwood has been in growth mode, focused on Phase 3 of Fieldcrest Housing Development and planning for a new lift station and main to serve a newly annexed area. The Friends of Underwood Community and an Eagle Scout also worked with the City to place “Little Lending Libraries” in city right-of-way.
· Walnut: Walnut’s top priority is to make improvements to the downtown.  The City Council will address the issue of renovation, repair and restoration of existing building facades of properties in the downtown area.  The Streetscape Enhancement Project will include curb and gutter, sidewalk replacement, brick parking area improvements, and commercial facade restoration.  In that same vein, the City has hired a part-time marketing intern.

The Iowa League of Cities is the oldest, continuously operating municipal league in the country. Founded in 1898, the League is a not-for-profit organization that advocates for issues affecting cities throughout Iowa and provides cities wide-ranging services. Avoca City Manager Clint Fichter and Council Bluffs Mayor Matt Walsh are on the League’s Executive Board.

(Press Release)