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More than 2 dozen people attend a DNR forum held in Harlan Thursday

Ag/Outdoor, News

October 19th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources held its 12th and statewide park public forum in Shelby County Thursday evening. The forum was held inside the First Baptist Church in Harlan from 6:30 to 8:30pm. A crowd of over 30 people filled the community room inside the church. The event began with a short introduction by Bob Sherbomb, Regional Director of Parks followed by a video on all state parks in Iowa. The audience was then broken down into smaller groups to go over issues they face with state parks.

Kevin Szcodronski, Bureau Chief of State Parks for the Iowa DNR says the forum was to ask the public their top priorities. He said “Tonight we heard loud and clear the lake is important, fishing and a well kept up park.” Szcodronski says overall the public is not asking for big things. “If I had to summarize all 12 meetings it would be, Iowans are pretty traditional users of state parks. They want access. They want them well kept, open, trails to be good and more electricity.”

Other suggestions for Prairie Rose included a year round lodge or community center to hold family reunions or weddings along with a better office for the staff. Szcodronski says now that all the forums are complete, the DNR will compile the information and look for trends. “Then we are going to compare information from the small groups with information from our telephone surveys with general people of Iowa and compare answers. We want to see if there needs are different with current visitors. We will look at that very close and see what we can do in the future.”

All the information will guide the DNR to the 100th year celebration in 2020 to make all the State Parks in good shape when the spotlight shines on them. Szcodronski says the DNR will be releasing information about the public meetings on their website,  “Probably sometime in later November or early December, we will put some things on the website, some overall summaries and what we have heard from each park. It’s going to take us a while. It will be about a month, month and a half. We will post it on our website www.iowadnr.gov and keep track of it on there.” The public forum on Thursday finished with a short question and answer session with Szcodronski.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

Posted in Ag/Outdoor, News |

BEVERLY WEBB, 81, of Oakland (Svcs. 10-23-12)

Obituaries

October 19th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

BEVERLY WEBB, 81, of Oakland, died Tue., Oct. 16th, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE. Funeral services for BEVERLY WEBB will be held 10:30-a.m. Tue., Oct. 23rd, at the Oakland Christian Church in Oakland.  Rieken-Vieth Funeral Home in Oakland has the arrangements.

Visitation with the family will be held on Monday evening from 5:30-7:30 PM at the Oakland Christian Church.

Interment will be at the Oaklawn Cemetery.

A memorial fund has been established.

BEVERLY WEBB is survived by:

Her son –  Mike

2 grandchildren,  brother-in-law, and other relatives.

Posted in Obituaries |

Penn State, Iowa still unbeaten in Big Ten

Sports

October 19th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Penn State was supposed to be too depleted by defections and turmoil to be a factor in a Big Ten title race it is ineligible to win. Iowa simply wasn’t supposed to be good enough in 2012, even though the Legends Division appeared to be wide open. The Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes will meet on Saturday night in Iowa City in a surprising matchup of teams without a Big Ten loss.

Penn State (4-2, 2-0 Big Ten) has rallied from the most turbulent offseason in the history of the sport and an 0-2 start to post four straight wins. Iowa (4-2, 2-0) has overcome a terrible passing game and a pair of home losses.

Posted in Sports |

Punter Colquitt a bright spot for Chiefs

Sports

October 19th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — One criticism being lobbed at Kansas City general manager Scott Pioli is that he still has not come to contract terms with punter Dustin Colquitt. Colquitt is one of the best punters in the NFL and one of Kansas City’s best players. He says he has no plans to leave Kansas City even, though he could be an unrestricted free agent in 2013. He says there’s no friction between him and Pioli, and that he also has a strong personal relationship with owner Clark Hunt. He indicated contract talks are under way.

Posted in Sports |

Cardinals beat Giants 8-3 to take 3-1 lead in NLCS

Sports

October 19th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Adam Wainwright threw seven innings of four-hit ball and the St. Louis Cardinals roughed up Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants in an 8-3 rout Thursday night that gave them a 3-1 lead in the NL championship series. Matt Holliday, Jon Jay and Yadier Molina had two RBIs apiece to lead a 12-hit outburst by a team that batted just .198 through the first three games of the series. The defending champion Cardinals can wrap up their second straight trip to the World Series as a wild card with a victory at home Friday night in Game 5. Lance Lynn faces Giants lefty Barry Zito. Lincecum was a bust in his first postseason start since the World Series clincher over Texas in 2010, giving up four runs in 4 2-3 innings.

Posted in Sports |

Iowa early News Headlines – Fri., Oct. 19 2012

News

October 19th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Recent storms have eased drought conditions in several key Midwest farming states. Yesterday’s Drought Monitor update shows that 63.9 percent of Iowa, the nation’s biggest corn producer, is still in extreme or exceptional drought. But that’s down nearly 12 percentage points from a week earlier.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad is ordering flags at state government buildings and other sites to be flown at half-staff to honor state Senator Pat Ward, who died of breast cancer on Monday. Branstad says flags will be lowered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. Ward’s funeral is being held today at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines.

NEW YORK (AP) — Independent groups supporting Republican Mitt Romney have helped him match or even exceed President Barack Obama’s TV ad spending in dozens of media markets nationwide. An Associated Press analysis of presidential campaign advertising data since April found that pro-Romney spending has exceeded pro-Obama ad spending by at least $65 million across Iowa and seven other states expected to decide the election.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a diesel fuel spill in the Des Moines River in downtown Des Moines has been traced to a rooftop generator at the Iowa Events Center. The spill was discovered yesterday morning. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says about 2,500 gallons of diesel flowed down a roof drain from a standby generator on the roof of Hy-Vee Hall.

Posted in News |

Runaway Iowa teens face charges in Illinois

News

October 18th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Four Iowa teenagers who ran away together face juvenile charges in Illinois where they found in a vacant house. The teens were found safe in Eureka, Ill., on Tuesday when the owner of the house checked on the property. Two 15-year old Shellsburg girls, Skie Floyd and Jazlyn Visek, along with 16-year-old Corey Sunderman and 13-year-old Austin Boggs, both of Atlantic, had not been seen since Saturday.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette says the teens were in court in Illinois on Wednesday on charges of trespassing and criminal damage to property. The boys also face a charge of possession of a stolen vehicle. Benton County, Iowa, Sheriff Randy Forsyth says one of the girls and one of the boys apparently met through the Xbox video game system that allows users to interact with each other.

Posted in News |

Elk Horn man serving with SD Hwy Patrol, has brain surgery after being hit by a car

News

October 18th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

An Elk Horn, Iowa, man serving as a Trooper with the South Dakota Highway Patrol, remains in critical condition following successful surgery Thursday, to relieve pressure on his brain. The surgery came as a result of an incident that occurred Wednesday morning, when 34-year old Andrew Steen was struck by a vehicle driven by a female pursuit suspect.

Trooper Andrew Steen (from a Facebook page established for him)

Colonel Craig Price, superintendent of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, told the Argus Leader Staff newspaper, that Steen, an eight-year-veteran of the Highway Patrol, was hit by a vehicle in the line of duty following an attempted traffic stop that escalated into a pursuit. Price said also, that Steen’s “Family and the Patrol have been gratified by the outpouring of public support,”  and that they continue to ask for good thoughts and prayers for the trooper, as he continues to recover.

A benefit fund, titled the Trooper Andrew Steen Benefit Fund, has been set up at Wells Fargo. Donations may be made at any Wells Fargo institution in the United States. A CaringBridge and Facebook page have been set up for those wishing to offer their support and/or prayers for the family of Andrew Steen.

Those links are here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/AndrewSteen and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Praying-for-Andrew-Steen/217674518363787.

Posted in News |

Parent says a Shenandoah Teacher told kids to spit on her son in class

News

October 18th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

Did a teacher with the Shenandoah Community School District tell the students in her class to get in line, and spit on another student? That’s the question parents are asking, and the District is being mum on the matter. According to a report by Omaha television station WOWT-TV, parents say the teacher had almost all of the children in one class spit on a boy one by one last week. Accusations against the teacher have been appeared on Facebook recently, as well.

The Omaha World-Herald says the student’s mother, Alexandria Kindopp, posted on Face­book that her son Jaxon was spit upon at the teacher’s direction because he was sticking his tongue out and blowing “raspberries” at another student. She said the incident happened Oct. 8th. Kindopp said that the teacher called her that same afternoon, admitting that it was an error in judgment,  but said she did not apologize.

Shenandoah Schools Superintendent Jeff Hiser said the teacher has been placed on leave, and that an investigation is underway. In a statement released to the media, Hiser said “The district can not discuss this or any particular incident as it is a confidential personnel and/or student matter. I can say that the safety and well being of students is the District’s first priority and it takes all claims of bullying and harassment seriously and investigates all complaints it receives and responds as the investigation warrants.”

It’s not clear if a report or complaint has been filed with the Shenandoah Police Department.

Posted in News |

Beltran not in Cardinals’ lineup for NLCS Game 4

Sports

October 18th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Carlos Beltran is not in the St. Louis Cardinals’ starting lineup for Game 4 of the NL championship series against the San Francisco Giants, a day after injuring his left knee while running on a double-play grounder. Matt Carpenter batted second in place of Beltran and played first base, with cleanup man Allen Craig moving to right field for Thursday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants. The Cardinals lead the series 2-1. Manager Mike Matheny says tests showed no significant injury but that Beltran is sore. Matheny also says Lance Lynn will be his Game 5 starter Friday night against Giants lefty Barry Zito.

Posted in Sports |