Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say one of their deputies suffered minor injuries while in a foot pursuit of a suspected prowler Saturday morning. The incident occurred when Deputy Brian Moore responded to a call for assistance from Red Oak Police. A resident had advised officers she heard noises in the rear of her home early Saturday morning in the 400 block of Jennifer Circle.

During their investigation, authorities observed a man running south from the area, and began to pursue him. During the pursuit, Deputy Moore became entangled in a single strand of barbed wire and was knocked off his feet. Moore reportedly received lacerations on both legs and two puncture wounds to the right leg. The deputy was treated and released at Montgomery County Memorial Hospital in Red Oak. There was no word on the status of the suspect.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A virus has been spreading among children in central Iowa.   Authorities say it’s called hand, foot and mouth disease, which causes sores on a person’s hands, feet and mouth. Mercy Central Pediatric Clinic in Des Moines reports that it’s treated dozens of small children with the disease.
 
Dr. Nader Aljuni says is more prevalent in toddlers who are exposed at day care centers or when interacting with other kids.  Experts say the best defense against the disease is frequent hand-washing and disinfecting shared toys.  Aljuni says the unusually warm spring has brought a new batch of viruses that aren’t expected until summer months.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have released the names of four people who died after a boat collision on the Mississippi River in Iowa.  Des Moines County Sheriff Mike Johnstone on Monday listed them as 22-year-old Jacob Boyd, 21-year-old Matthew House, 21-year-old Blake Eakins and 20-year-old Caitlyn Atchley. All four victims are from Burlington. 

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the four bodies were found Sunday within 100 yards of the crash site. None was wearing a life vest.  Along with the four killed, eight people were injured when two johnboats – flat-bottomed boats often made of aluminum – crashed in the O’Connell Slough area of the river before 2 a.m. Saturday.   One of the boats was carrying 11 people; the other had a single passenger.

There’s a dire need for volunteers to help out at several Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. Will Ackerman, spokesman for the V-A’s Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, says the vital corps of hundreds of volunteers absolutely help to keep the system running.  “We’re seeing a lot of our volunteers aging and certainly some of them are retiring or even passing away,” Ackerman says. “We’re really trying to encourage people of all ages, but especially some of our younger population, to get involved.” He says volunteers are needed for a number of services throughout the V-A health care system.

“We have about 800 volunteers throughout our Nebraska/Western Iowa Health Care System,” he says. “They do so many things that we just don’t have staff to do, such as doing coffee rounds in the lobby or around the floors, we have a transportation network and just greeters at our front door.” Ackerman says it isn’t just the V-A Hospital in Omaha that needs volunteers, but there are veterans’ clinics, community living centers and other facilities in many cities around the region, including Shenandoah.

“Volunteers do a lot of very important things and certainly there’s an opportunity for them to volunteer at a location that’s even closer to where they might live,” he says. Volunteer orientation classes are being held frequently in various facilities, often twice a month. An orientation class for teens, between 13 and 18, is planned at the Omaha V-A Medical Center for June 1st. Contact your nearest V-A facility for details on volunteering opportunities.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

A group that was formed by military wives in 2006 to help wounded soldiers is reaching out to Iowa veterans. Robin Kelleher is the president of the “Hope for Warriors” organization. She says “We have 10 different programs that begin at bedside, and so we are at the hospitals when our servicemembers come in from Iraq or Afghanistan. We work with the families on the onset of injury to sort of help alleviate some of the financial pitfalls that they may see on that path to recovery. And then later into the recovery process we offer other programs.” Kelleher talks in more detail about the organization’s programs. “Spouses scholarships, financial needs assistance grants, we have warrior’s wish program that grants wishes to severely wounded, we have a team that supports and trains our servicemembers to do athletic endeavors despite their different injuries. At the end of that cycle you would see a program called Above and Beyond,and that’s where we really work in that transition piece for them,” Kelleher says.

The group has joined in a partnership with the Casey’s Convenience store chain to help raise awareness about their programs. “We have a website that’s very comprehensive on our different programs, and that’s hope-for-the-warriors-dot-org (hopeforthewarriors.org). If you go to Casey’s this month and buy one of their large specialty pizzas, there’s a sticker on the outside of the box that gives you all of our contact information. And for every large specialty pizza they sell, they are donating one dollar to Hope for the Warriors,” Kelleher says. She says anyone who wants to help the effort can make a donation. “We have people who do beneficiary events for us allt he time from lemonade stands to putting on runs in their own community. You can certainly make a donation on-line,” Kelleher explains. “As of this weekend, if you text ‘Warriors’ to 20222, you can make a 10-dollar donation.” The organization is headquartered in North Carolina, but Kelleher says they are expand their presence across the country in states like Iowa that have soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)