DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a western Iowa man convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of a former girlfriend. Craig Finney, of Macedonia, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and told the judge in his trial that he shot Patty Harker in June 2011, and said he took the plea because he’s guilty. Finney was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
He appealed saying the judge didn’t ask enough questions at his plea hearing to establish a factual basis that he committed the crime. The high court finds judges must inquire enough to provide a factual basis but in Finney’s case there is adequate evidence in the record to support the plea.
The decision reverses the Iowa Court of Appeals which had thrown out the conviction.
A program funded through the federal government and managed through the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls provides Iowa counties, including seven in the KJAN listening area, with native grass and flower seeds to plant along the roadways. Rebecca Kauten oversees the Roadside Vegetative Management Program, which she describes as putting native flowers and grasses back to work. “Having them not only control some of the erosion that is happening, but also having those deep root systems to be able to not only hold the soil in place, but not require as intensive herbicide application as would normally happen with a warm season grass planting that takes a different type of maintenance — a little more intensely mowed, and in some cases fertilizers too,” Kauten says.
The seed comes in two mixes, one is called a “ditch clean out” mix that’s used when the counties go in and scrape out all the sediment from a ditch. “This mix is meant for some of your tighter soils, it sees a lot of action to put it simply,” Kauten says. “And then there is a diversity mix as well, which has a higher concentration of wild flowers and a way to really enhance you habitat. There are some plantings that counties want to do that’re really showy and have a lot of color in the fall — and so they will use that diversity mix.”
Kauten says the plants that grew wild on the prairie before it was settled can have roots that go down seven to 12 feet. “You’re not only retaining the soil and water where these natives are planted, you are also enhancing the quality of the soil,” Kauten explains. “As these root systems move through these tighter soils, a lot of times you are able to increase the porosity of the soil, so it is not only stable because you’ve got a root to hold that soil in place, you also have the ability for the water to infiltrate through that soil.”
Retaining soil and water runoff is only one of the benefits of planting natives along roadsides. “We’ve got the benefit also of being able to provide a food source and habitat for ground-nesting birds and for other species — pollinators especially — that are looking for nectar in plant species they don’t normally find elsewhere across Iowa,” Kauten says. The program was awarded 255-thousand dollars this year for the latest round of planting that includes 34 counties. The program has been helping reintroduce the native plants since 1988.
“We’ve provided seed to 82 different counties and we’ve planted native vegetation in over 15-thousand acres of Iowa county roadsides. And we’ve got a total of 75-thousand acres of Iowa county roadsides total. So we’ve got a ways to go. We’ve got a lot to do,” Kauten says. Those acres were planted with 12-thousand-460 pounds of native grass and wildflower seed. The program is open to any of Iowa’s 99 counties that have an integrated roadside vegetation management program. Kauten says all the counties have to do is express interest and they can get seed. Among the counties to receive seed this year are: Adair, Dallas, Guthrie, Montgomery, Pottawattamie, Sac, and Shelby.
(Radio Iowa)
Lavon Eblen speaks with Creighton Nelson with the Griswold American Legion about the Old Soldiers Reunion this weekend in Griswold. The festivities lead up to a street dance Saturday at 9pm.
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SAMUEL SMITH, 86, of Guthrie Center, died Wed., July 3rd, at the Panora Nursing & Rehab Center. Funeral services for SAMUEL SMITH will be held 10:30-a.m. Mon., July 8th, at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Guthrie Center. Twigg Funeral Home in Guthrie Center has the arrangements.
Visitation at the funeral home is from 4-to 7-pm Sun., July 7th, with the family present from 5-to 7-pm.
Burial will be in the Highland Township Cemetery at Bayard.
The Atlantic Police Department says five people were arrested this week. In their report released today (Friday), the A-PD said 18-year old Kray Lukehart and 19-year old Tyler Hovey, both of Atlantic, were arrested today (Friday) for being Minors in Possession of Alcohol. On Thursday, 39-year old Donna Piper, of Atlantic, was arrested for Simple Assault. 61-year old Deborah Thomas, of Atlantic, was arrested Wednesday, on a charge of Harassment, and 26-year old Stephanie Davidson, of Atlantic was arrested Tuesday, on a Forgery charge associated with credit cards.
All of the suspects were booked into the Cass County Jail.
Jim Field speaks with Army National Guard Veteran Dan Haynes about his time in the service as part of our Freedom Friday series.
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