(Radio Iowa) – After push-back on a previously proposed 10 bird limit on the number of pigeons that could be kept at a Storm Lake residence, city officials are considering a 100 bird limit. During a meeting last month, a family that raises and races homing pigeons told the Storm Lake City Council they often have 80 birds on their property. Longtime resident Dan Maier says Storm Lake had problems in the 1980s and ’90s with pigeon and crow droppings — and it will be a problem again if up to 100 birds are allowed at a single property.

Storm Lake Racing Pigeon Club (Facebook photo)

Daryle Saltzgiver, president of the Missouri River Flyers pigeon racing club, disputes the idea that homing pigeons spread respiratory illnesses.

Storm Lake City Council member Meg McKeon says she’s learned a lot about homing pigeons in the past couple of months.

Storm Lake officials are preparing an ordinance for pigeons that’s like one Sioux City has had for decades. A public hearing on the ordinance will be held at the next council meeting on November 4th.

(Radio Iowa) – Thirty Iowa cities – including Adair, Greenfield, Harlan, Mt. Ayr and Villisca – have entered a state contest to win a large-scale public mural for their community. The design and painting will be done by Iowa City artist Thomas Agran who has been commissioned by non-profits, cities and corporations to do over 50 murals in the past decade. Each city competing for a mural submitted a one-minute video to showcase the attributes of their town. A few of the videos, like Jefferson’s, directly referenced the potential mural.

A group from Osceola County hopes to put the mural on an agricultural museum in Sibley.

Online voting to determine the three finalists ends on Tuesday, October 15th at 5 p.m. See this link to watch the videos and cast a vote. Other communities that are vying for the mural include: Waverly; Osceola County/Sibley; Oelwein; Fort Dodge; Fort Madison; Fairfield; Indianola; Lone Tree; Boone; Pocahontas; Quad Cities; LeClaire; West Branch; Manchester; Rock Rapids; Sac City; Jefferson; Ames; Cedar Rapids; Elkader; Spencer, and Osceola.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Motorists may have noticed a slight dip in the price of gasoline this past week. According to the Iowa Triple A fuel report, the price of a gallon of regular unleaded has was down a penny from last week, as of Oct. 9th, at $2.98/gallon, on average. That’s down 41-cents from one-year ago, and 23-cents cheaper than the national average. The nationwide average price for unleaded was $3.21/gallon, as of Wednesday, which was up a penny from last week.

Retail diesel prices were up 6-cents this past week, to a statewide average of $3.38/gallon. One-year ago, Iowa diesel prices were at $4.27/gallon. The state’s average price for diesel is 22-cents lower than the national average of $3.60/gallon.

The price of wholesale ethanol held steady, at $2.16/gallon.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Students at the Atlantic Middle School were briefly evacuated this (Friday) morning, after an odor that smelled like gas was detected. Superintendent Dr. Beth Johnsen told KJAN in an e-mail, that they “Didn’t know for sure if it was a natural/ propane or sewer gas.  There is a difference with those odors, but we wanted to ensure the safety of the students, so we had them evacuate the building immediately and called the Atlantic Fire Department and Atlantic Municipal Utilities to check the building.” The students staged at the Trojan Bowl until the all-clear could be given.

Dr. Johnsen said AFD and AMU crews “Did a fabulous job of checking all parts of the building and found nothing.” She says “We suspected it was something, but wanted to make sure it wasn’t something harmful within the building.  We reviewed security cameras and determined it was a student prank.  While we were relieved it wasn’t dangerous odors, we are now dealing with student discipline.”

Dr. Johnsen said also, “We totally appreciate the quick response of our city partners, AFD and AMU for coming to our middle school and ensuring our safety.”

(Radio Iowa) – A Denison man found guilty of selling about a quarter pound of meth in Storm Lake has been sentenced to prison. In July of last year, Martin Mancilla-Gomez was arrested after selling 113 grams of meth to an informant cooperating with Storm Lake Police. A drug-sniffing dog found another 443 grams of meth wrapped in plastic and hidden inside a wet-dry vacuum in Mancilla-Gomez’s vehicle. This summer, a jury found him guilty of one count of possession of meth with the intent to deliver.

Mancilla-Gomez, who is 58 years old, must serve at least four years of a 25 year sentence before he’s eligible for parole.