Semi Truck Collides With Union Pacific Train In Le Mars
(Le Mars) — A semi truck and trailer collided with an Union Pacific train at the rail crossing on Plymouth Street in front of the Fareway supermarket. The accident happened at about 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon. The truck was hauling fresh turkey breast meat and was scattered on the tracks. The locomotive engine made contact with the semi truck and trailer, with the cab on the west side of the tracks and the trailer on the east side of the tracks, with the train in the middle. The truck was heading
westbound on Plymouth Street. The female truck driver, identified as 56 year old Jeanie Harmdierks of Alpena, South Dakota, appeared to be shaken following the accident, but appeared not to be seriously injured. She was taken to the
hospital by the Le Mars Ambulance Service. The Union Pacific train, which extended more than a mile long, was pulling grain empty cars. Witnesses to the accident say the truck driver initially stopped at the rail crossing, then proceeded to attempt to cross the tracks when the collision occurred. Curt Uden
watched the collision between the semi truck and the train.
Officer Jay King of the Le Mars Police Department happened to be at the Central Avenue rail crossing when he looked north and saw the collision.
According to the police traffic accident report, Harmdierks approached the rail crossing and stopped. After a non-contact pick-up truck that was heading eastbound, stopped and then proceeded, Harmdierks decided to also proceed through the rail crossing. Officer King says the rail crossing lights were working and the bell was ringing, and the train was sounding its horn moments prior to the collision.
Officer King says fortunately for the town of Le Mars, the train was not hauling any hazardous materials.
It was nearly midnight before the truck was removed from the scene and the train proceeded to head southbound through town. Traffic is being detoured around the accident scene, and will continue to be detoured until such time the railroad is able to install another rail crossing warning lights.
Plymouth County Hires New Sheriff’s Deputy
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office has hired a new deputy. Beginning January 1, 2017, Pat Heissel will assume responsibilities and duties as a full-time sheriff’s deputy with Plymouth County. Heissel was selected from the certified list of candidates approved and authorized by the Plymouth County
Civil Service Commission. Heissel has been working for the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office since 2007. He has been a part of the Reserve Unit, earning his State of Iowa certification. He worked in the Plymouth County Jail for three years and is also the Captain of the Plymouth County Dive Team. Heissel
is a Le Mars native where he currently resides with his wife, Cheryl.
SIMPCO Ready To Deliver Comprehensive Report To City Council
(Sioux City) — During the course of the summer and fall months, representatives from the Siouxland Interstate Metropolitan Planning Council, or better known as
SIMPCO, assisted Le Mars city officials in determining the direction of focus for the next 20 years. A draft proposal will be shared with the public during a January city council meeting. Kevin Randle serves as a Regional Planner with SIMPCO and helped coordinate and facilitate the meetings. Randle reviews the
various topics from those community meetings.
Randle says those people that participated with the meetings were generally optimistic about Le Mars’ future, and they had a variety of good ideas for the growth and development of Le Mars.
The SIMPCO official offers a sneak peak as to what the report will contain when he addresses the city council during their January 17th meeting.
Randle says he will be seeking feedback from both the city officials and the public before a final version of the recommendations are presented in February.
He shares some of the most common ideas that emerged from the comprehensive public meetings.
As for community public facilities, he says what stood out was discussion regarding the Le Mars Public Library.
Man Charged With Setting Up Fake Business
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A California man has been charged with setting up fake businesses in three states, then using names taken from temporary visas issued to students to obtain more than $355,000 in unemployment benefits for nonexistent workers. Nikolai Monastyrski is charged in federal court in Iowa with wire and mail fraud related to the scheme that prosecutors say he perpetrated there as well as in Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Mom Reunites With Son
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – An eastern Iowa woman has reunited with her son nearly 40 years after she placed him for adoption.
Television station KCRG reports (https://bit.ly/2hyXrF8 ) Cheryl Janss (JANS’) embraced Sam Lane at a Cedar Rapids airport Thursday.
Janss, of Cedar Rapids, says she was 16 when Lane was placed for adoption. Lane, now 39 and living in the Dallas area in Texas, began searching for his mother about five years ago. The station says he used an ancestry research website and Facebook to make contact.
Janss says the adoption was aimed at giving her son a better life. Lane, who praised his adoptive parents, says he wanted to thank his biological mother for giving him life.
The pair will spend a few days together before Lane returns to Texas on Sunday.
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