The rebuilding of a hospital damaged by a tornado was delayed a bit this month by striking painters. Around 200 members with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 246 went on strike at midnight on April 30. Union business manager Bob Gilmore says one of the facilities impacted by the strike is the Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston.”Unfortunately, one of the contractors that had the work is one of our employers,” Gilmore said. “When we’re withholding service from our employers, that means they don’t have people to paint and the project can get delayed.” 

Gilmore noted that union members who’d been working on the Creston hospital prior to the strike offered to volunteer their time and finish the job. The contractor and the union, however, agreed to pay a handful of painters while the others remain on strike. The union and its employers are scheduled to meet today (Wednesday) to negotiate new contract terms. “In our industry, this is one of the ways, unfortunately, that disagreements are resolved between the employers and the (union) members,” Gilmore said. 

The tornado that damaged the hospital in Creston on April 14 was categorized as an EF2 with wind speeds of 130 miles per hour. Six people were injured in the storm in Creston, one critically.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

The Atlantic Police Department reports the arrest Tuesday, of 18-year old Michael W. Armstrong. Armstrong, of Atlantic, was taken into custody on a Possession of Drug Paraphernalia charge. He was being held in the Cass County Jail pending an appearance before the magistrate.

After a lengthy period of discussion about weight, steering options and trade-in value (among other issues), the Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday) voted 3-to 2, in favor of purchasing a new Motor Grader for the Secondary Roads Department. The John Deere model 770-G grader will be purchased from Murphy Tractor out of Omaha, for $216,756.

John Deere Model 770-G (image from deere.com)

An older model grader currently in the County’s fleet, will be sold to Iron Planet for $86,500. 

A bid of $247,541 was received for a Caterpiller Model 12-M2 from Ziegler, and $229,950 for Scott Van Keppel, who offered a Volvo G-930-B. The difference in price ($30,785), wasn’t enough to sway Supervisors Waters and Rieken. Rieken said the Cat’s have served the County well, and seem to offer a better trade-in value. He was also in favor of buying that brand because the service would be local. 

Engineer Charles Marker said the County currently has one John Deere Motor Grader in the County’s fleet, and several Caterpiller models. He said they have eight motor graders which covers eight full-time districts, and one spare. There are two motor graders per shop.

ST. CHARLES, Ill. (AP) – The pilot who helped save 184 people during a plane crash in Sioux City, Iowa, has died at the age of 69. Dennis Fitch of St. Charles, IL, died Monday after suffering from brain cancer.  In July 1989, Fitch was a United pilot and flight instructor who happened to be a passenger on United Flight 232 when it lost all hydraulic power while flying from Denver to Chicago.  

 The DC-10 crash-landed, killing 111 people. Fitch and 184 others survived, due largely to his troubleshooting from the cockpit floor where he and the crew struggled to control the plunging jet.  United pilot Mike Hamilton says what happened that day has become “a case study in how a crew could work together in an emergency.”