(Radio Iowa) – Information gathered by the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy shows an increase in alcohol-related deaths from 440 in 2011 to 827 in 2021. The director of the office. Dale Woolery, says the pandemic could be part of the reason for the increase. “I think some of that happened regardless of the pandemic, but the pandemic it seems, may have exacerbated, not just excessive alcohol use, but the use of other addictive or intoxicating substances,” Woolery says.

He says alcohol wasn’t the only issue during the pandemic. “For the two-year period, I think from 2019 to 2021, we saw increases pretty much across the board in alcohol-related deaths, opioid overdose deaths, stimulant overdose deaths, to include then all drug overdose deaths,” he says. “So I don’t know, you know, some of that again, and it’s hard to know how much of that might have been pandemic related.” Woolery says there is one thing that stands out about the deaths linked to alcohol.

“We see that a lot of those skew older as far as the age of the individuals. When we look at the drug overdose deaths, those are spread fairly evenly throughout different age groups,” Woolery says. He says alcohol deaths are often part of a larger medical history. “Some of the alcohol deaths — and maybe many of them — involve chronic health conditions where alcohol contributes to or causes things, like liver disease, or heart disease, and other diseases that may take years to develop or manifest themselves to the point of causing death,” he says.

He says the drug overdose deaths are usually much quicker — and more recently they can happen pretty quickly without long-term drug use. Woolery says those who study this as a matter of cultural differences have historically found Iowa and other Midwestern states have had a track record of higher than average drinking with binge and excessive drinking included. “We trend in Iowa above the national average on things like binge drinking and nicotine use. By contrast, Iowa trends lower than the national average, and among the lowest states, actually, in terms of illicit drug use rates, and drug overdose death rates. So that gives us some context, that’s helpful, I guess,” Woolery says.

Woolery says we might be relatively low for drug overdose deaths — but we have trended up over the last two years — so those numbers are not going in the direction we want. There were 258 opioid-related deaths in Iowa in 2021. The ODCP gathers the information to create its report to the governor each year and it is used to set its drug control policies.

(Denison, Iowa) – The Iowa State Patrol reports eight people – six teenagers (4 17-year-old’s from Storm Lake, a 16-year-old from Defiance), an eight-year old and an adult – were injured during a collision that happened a little after 2-a.m. Sunday, in Crawford County. The crash happened on westbound US Highway 30, west of Lincoln Way.

Authorities say a 2015 Honda Pilot driven by a 17-year-old was eastbound in the westbound lanes, at the same time a 2012 GMC Acadia driven by 50-year-old Cari Segebart, from Defiance, was traveling westbound. The vehicles collided head-on and slightly left before coming to rest on the road.

Four of the teens were in the Honda, the two 16-year-olds were in the GMC, along with the driver and an eight-year old. None of the crash victims were wearing a seat belt. The accident victims were transported to the Crawford County Memorial Hospital in Denison.

The accident remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Due to parched conditions, field fires are popping up around the state this fall. A fire south of the golf course in Sidney on Sunday was finally contained after it scorched nearly 350 acres. Dustin Sheldon is the assistant fire chief in Sidney. He says firefighters in all but one town in Fremont County and some units from neighboring Page County battled the blaze — and local farmers cut fire breaks. “We probably had 10 to 12 discs out in the fields, trying flank the fire,” he says.

The initial report about the fire was made to the Riverton Fire Department at about 2:40 p.m. Sunday and it took four hours to contain it. “The winds were terrible,” Sheldon says. “I think we were at 30-35 mile an hour sustained winds during the entire active fire scene.” The fire burned a few acres of corn that hadn’t been harvested and spread into a wooded area. “Always creates a problem when you get timber to burn and it’s hard to put those out without a dozer or a big tree where you can cut everything down…We weren’t able to do that,” he says. “Our dozer out there was pretty busy doing what he was doing and we did get all the ground disced around those wooded fence lines and things like that.”

Investigators believe the fire started in a road ditch and was sparked by a short in a light pole.  “We can’t emphasize enough how important it is for people not to flick a cigarette out the window or burn your trash or anything like that because it’s dangerous out,” Sheldon says. “…Until we get some significant moisture, it’s going to be that way.” The National Weather Service shows the fire threat for cropland in the entire state is at moderate, high or great risk.

Pastures and grassy areas in the northwest corner of Iowa are rated at high risk of fire, with several other areas of the state at moderate risk.

(Lewis, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation officials on Monday (today) released information with regard to the 7th Biennial Lighted Halloween Campground event on Oct. 22nd, at Cold Springs State Park, in Lewis.  There were 187 votes cast for a favorite camping site.

The first-place winner was Site 2, the Dougherty family with the Alien décor. The second-place winner was Site 7, the Griswold Cub Scout Pack, and the third-place winner was Site 8, the “Marne Crew”. The Lighted Halloween Campground will be held in 2024!

Dougherty family décor

The Cass County Conservation Board would like to thank their business sponsor Cappel’s Ace Hardware, who donated the prizes to the Lighted Halloween Campground. They would also like to thank everyone who signed up to decorate a site, thank you for sharing your Halloween décor with everyone!

Williams family representing the “Marne crew” (3rd place), Dougherty family (1st place), and Donahoo Family representing Cub scouts (2nd place).

Griswold Cub Scouts decor

“Marne crew” decor

(Stuart, Iowa) – Stuart Fire and Rescue personnel were dispatched at around 2:30-p.m. today (Monday), to a three-vehicle, unknown injury accident. Two of the vehicles were apparently semi tractor-trailers. The crash occurred on Interstate 80 westbound at mile marker 92. The roadway is said to be blocked in that location. Additional information was not immediately available.