Le Mars Volunteers Honored At Governor’s Program
Le Mars, IA – A group of Floyd Valley Volunteers received Governor’s Volunteer Awards from Lt. Governor Adam Gregg during a special recognition ceremony held Monday, July 16th in Storm Lake.
Norma Schuster was selected for a Length of Service award and Nancy Augustine, Dianne Baack, Patti Donlin and Terri Pauling were nominated for individual awards by Floyd Valley Healthcare for their many hours given to various activities in support of the mission of the hospital.
Coordinated by Volunteer Iowa, the Governor’s Volunteer Award program-now in its 35th year recognizes the dedicated people who volunteer their time and talent to help fulfill the missions of Iowa nonprofits, charitable organizations, and government entities. The program provides an easy way for these organizations to honor their volunteers with a prestigious, state-level award.
More than 500 awards are being presented this year during ceremonies held at several locations around the state with 67 awarded in Storm Lake. It is estimated that more than 20,000 hours of service, with an economic impact of nearly $500,000, were served by this year’s honorees during the past twelve
months.
Judge Orders Competency Tests For Accused Murderer
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A judge has ordered mental competency tests for an Iowa resident accused of helping to kill a Nebraska man in Sioux City.
Woodbury County District Court records say the tests were ordered last week for 30-year-old Daniel Levering. He’s pleaded not guilty to the July 23 slaying of 36-year-old Vincent Walker, who lived in Winnebago, Nebraska.
Police say three people including Levering assaulted Walker while he was washing his car in Sioux City. Authorities have not reported the arrests of the two other people. Levering had been scheduled to begin trial Tuesday.
The judge said in his order that if the evaluation finds that
Levering is not mentally competent for trial, the state must provide treatment if it’s believed Levering’s competency can be restored.
Church Youth Leader Accused Of Molesting Children
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – An eastern Iowa volunteer church youth leader accused of molesting children has been given probation and ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that 33-year-old Benjamin Tweedt, of North Liberty, also was sentenced Monday to a four-year prison term, suspended. He’d pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor indecent contact.
Prosecutors dropped seven other counts of sex abuse, lascivious acts and indecent contact in return for his pleas.
Police have said Tweedt groped children he knew through Parkview Church in Iowa City, where he was a youth leader during the past several years.
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Deputy Fatally Shoots Motorists
ALTOONA, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a deputy fatally shot a driver after a vehicle chase in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona.
A deputy pulled over a car around 3:45 a.m. Tuesday just east of
Altoona, but the driver soon sped off, followed by officers. Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Blaylock says the car stopped a few minutes later in an Altoona neighborhood about 2 miles (3 kilometers) away.
Blaylock says the man appeared to have a weapon in one hand as he got out of the car, and one of the two deputies fired.
State investigators have been called in. The names of those involved haven’t been released.
Sheriff’s Deputy Convicted In Assault
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A jury has convicted a Polk County sheriff’s detective of punching a man in an Ankeny bar.
The Des Moines Register reports that John Negrete was found guilty Monday of assault causing injury. So was his girlfriend, Tereasa Sunberg.
Authorities say Negrete punched an Ankeny firefighter, Ross Frank, and Sunberg punched Frank’s wife, Danielle.
Negrete and Sunberg say Frank groped Sunberg at the Clipper bar the night of Sept. 8 before the fracas. Frank denied the accusation. Prosecutors say Negrete was off-duty when he punched the firefighter in the mouth and under his left eye.
Negrete has been with the sheriff’s office for more than 20 years.
The office plans to conduct an internal investigation.
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Iowa Inmate Sentenced To Life In Prison Dies
CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) – A man sentenced to life in an Iowa prison has died.
The Iowa Corrections Department says 62-year-old Harold Page died Saturday in a hospice room at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. He’d been housed there because of chronic illness.
Page began serving his sentence on April 1, 1988, after his
conviction for the fatal shooting of Daniel Zenor. Authorities say Page shot Zenor while robbing him at his Des Moines home in September 1987.
