The annual Cass County Relay For Life takes place Friday here in Atlantic, from 6-to 11-p.m.,  at the Atlantic High School track. Carole Schuler helped to organize the event, which serves to raise funds for cancer research, promotes awareness, and celebrates those who are cancer survivors. It also acts as a way to remember those who have lost their courageous fight with the disease. 

Carole says the day actually begins at 8-a.m. with a “Relay For Life” Tractor Ride that begins at the Cass County Community Center. Some of the tractors will be at the AHS track, as well that evening. Schuler says there are many activities planned for this evening, and wonderful food for you to enjoy. 

At 6:30-p.m, the group “Sheltered Reality” drumline will perform. At about that same time, there’ll be activities for the kids, including washable tattoos, face painting, and, a smart shop, with information about cancer and persons on-hand to answer questions. There’s also a “car bash,” where for a small donation, you can swing sledge hammer on a donated vehicle and raise funds for cancer research at the same time. 

She says also, you don’t have to be a part of one of the many teams who will gather to raise funds for the cause, in order to participate in the event. Schuler says you can sit in the stands and watch the teams in purple shirts circle the track, enjoy a variety of entertainment, talk a walk around the track yourself, and celebrate those who are celebrating their cancer survival. 

Hy-Vee is sponsoring a free cancer survivor social in the High School Commons, at 4:30-p.m., with registration. Survivors can bring a guest and receive a free, purple, cancer survivor t-shirt. Those same persons can walk the first lap at the Relay For Life, beginning at 6-p.m. 

The evening winds down with a luminary lighting, and a reading of the names of those who have lost their battle with cancer, and those who have survived. If you haven’t already donated to the cause and want to do so, you can contribute on-line at www.relayforlife.org/casscountyia. The website also has more information about the 2011 Cass County Relay For Life.

A Dallas County man died Wednesday afternoon near Perry, when the pickup he was driving went out of control and rolled into a ditch. The Iowa State Patrol says 44-year old Andrew Dean Bock, of Perry died at the scene of the crash in the 14,000 block of H Avenue.

The accident happened at around 2:15-p.m., when Bock failed to negotiate a curve in the road, and his 2003 GMC Sierra rolled into the east ditch. The Patrol says Bock was not wearing a seatbelt.

With flooding in many areas of the state and the extended forecast calling for more rain, Iowans who’ve not had wet basements before are having to face unfriendly realities. Art Hill, spokesman for the city of Council Bluffs, is warning homeowners in that southwest Iowa city to take more precautions against the rising Missouri River. 

Hill says, “At this stage, we’re recommending that anybody that has any sort of threat or history of having groundwater coming up into their house, get your valuables out of the basement.” Hill says residents need to be prepared by packing an emergency kit that includes money, important paperwork, medications, baby items and clothing. Also, he says to make a plan that includes where to meet family members in the case of evacuation.

“We want everyone to be prepared as we look at the rain that’s going to be coming over the next several days and the situation we have,” he says. Hill also suggests taking the time to inspect your basement walls and the foundation. Just across the Missouri River, Omaha leaders are renewing the call for volunteers to help fill sandbags. Two weeks ago, the city’s Levi Carter Park was converted into a massive sandbag-filling factory. Melinda Pearson, Omaha’s director of Parks and Recreation, says the 100-thousand sandbags that were just filled are already spoken for and many more are needed.

“We’d like anywhere between 100- and 200-thousand sitting without being taken to somewhere else,” Pearson says. “Right now, the ones that were created at Levi Carter are mostly gone. They have been moved.” Pearson says hundreds of volunteers are being recruited through companies, individuals and families. She says many sandbag fillers are burning the candle at both ends.

“We’re asking the city to continue be helpful,” Pearson says. “We do want to come into a little bit more manageable schedule so our people don’t get burned out and our volunteers don’t get burned out.” Sandbagging operations will run until 8 o’clock tonight (Thursday), Friday and Saturday at Levi Carter Park.