Friday Fair Attendance Hits 22,000
(Le Mars) — The attendance at the Plymouth County Fair for Friday hit 22,000 people. Fair officials are pleased with the attendance, saying the good weather with moderate temperature has benefited the attendance.
Helicopter Rides Offered At The Plymouth County Fair
(Le Mars) — A new attraction at this year’s Plymouth County Fair is the helicopter that offers fair-goers a ride circling Le Mars for a fee of $20. Danny Matthews is the pilot of the helicopter. He says he has been a pilot and aircraft mechanic for 24 years.
Matthews says his firm owns two helicopters with the other one currently running tours in South Carolina, but will soon be flying both copters in North Carolina for a month of intensive flying.
The helicopter pilot says he has enjoyed working at the Plymouth County Fair, and was complimentary to the fair board.
Matthews says for most of the people seeking the short ride around Le Mars, it is their first time of riding a helicopter.
The helicopter pilot says he gets the same type of reaction and response from children and adults. He says for many people, particularly senior citizens, riding a helicopter is check from their so-called “bucket list.”
Matthews says most people are excited about taking the flight. He says people are anxious, but fortunately, he has never had anyone get sick on his flights.
The helicopter will climb to an altitude of about 600 feet. Matthews says at that height, people will get a good look at the city and the horizon. He talks about the what people will see from their helicopter ride, beginning at the south end of the fairgrounds grandstand area.
Matthews says he has enjoyed his time at the Plymouth County Fair.
DNR Investigates Fish Kill In Sioux County
HULL, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Department of Natural Resources officials say improper disposal of a pesticide and other chemicals led to a fish kill in northwestern Iowa.
Officials say in a written release that DNR investigators looking into a fish kill in a small creek in Hull traced the problem upstream to Hull Coop Association. There, officials say, an employee rinsed out chemicals Wednesday morning after spraying corn. The rinse water containing fungicide and insecticide ran into a storm sewer, flowed under Highway 18 and entered the creek.
DNR fisheries staff estimates about 3,600 fish, mostly minnows, chubs and darters, were killed along 4,200 feet of stream.
The DNR will seek appropriate enforcement action, including fish restitution.
Heavy Rains Damage Wildlife Area
TRIPOLI, Iowa (AP) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say heavy rainfall last weekend in northeastern Iowa has caused a breach of a public hunting area dike.
Storms dropped up to 15 inches of rain in the Wapsipinicon and Plum Creek watersheds in Chickasaw and Bremer counties. DNR officials say that caused a 60-by-40-foot section of the dike on Martens Lake on the Sweet Marsh Wildlife Management Area to fail. The breach likely occurred during the night of July 23.
Officials say there is no timeline yet for when repairs can be made.
Sioux City Man Convicted Of Assaulting South Dakota Police Officer
TYNDALL, S.D. (AP) – A jury has convicted an Iowa man of assaulting a South Dakota police officer with his vehicle. Thirty-seven-year-old Travis McPeek, of Sioux City, Iowa, was accused of striking Tyndall Officer Kelly Young with his vehicle during a traffic stop on Aug. 6, 2016, dragging him across a parking lot and driving away. Young suffered broken ribs, cuts, bruises and an injured foot. He was out of work for a month.
Des Moines Police Investigate Shootings
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police say one person has been shot to death and two others arrested in Des Moines. The Des Moines Register reports that the shooting happened Friday afternoon in the city’s River Bend neighborhood. Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says a gunman inside a vehicle fired several shots, hitting a person in the chest who was standing on Oakland Avenue.
Trooper Granted Disability Now Works As Security Guard For School
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa trooper who was granted early retirement for mental stress after shooting a suspect during a high-speed chase continues to collect disability benefits while working as a school security guard. Tim Sieleman has received a $42,000-annual pension since the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s retirement system found him “totally and permanently incapacitated for duty” in 2014. But he also gets paid to work for as an unarmed guard for Des Moines Public Schools.
