Accident Results In Fatality
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office is reporting a fatality that occurred Wednesday morning at about 10:40 a.m. Sheriff’s deputies were called to the 16000 block of LeLand Drive, north of Le Mars, for an unresponsive male that had struck a tree. During the investigation, it was learned that a 76 year old male was traveling west on LeLand Drive in a 2005
Chevy Uplander. The vehicle had left the roadway and struck a tree where the vehicle came to rest. The driver was transported to Floyd Valley Healthcare where the 76 year old male was later pronounced dead. Initial investigation by the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office and the Plymouth County Medical Examiner indicates the 76 year old male had a medical condition prior to striking the tree which caused the death. The name of
the individual is not being released at this time pending further
notification of next of kin. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by the Le Mars Police Department, Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department, and the Le Mars Ambulance Services.
Tow Truck Employee Injured During Accident
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office has released additional information regarding the second collison at the scene on Business Highway 75. Emergency crews from Le Mars Police, Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department, and the Le Mars Ambulance Services, Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Department of Transportation, and a private towing company were working an accident scene on Business Highway 75 between 18th and 24th Streets. An emergency road closure with detours had been established, with northbound traffic being routed onto 24th Street from Business Highway 75.
An Iowa DOT employee and a tow company employee were directing traffic at this intersection routing traffic onto 24th Street. At approximately 6:50 a.m. a vehicle driven by Thomas Toben of rural Westfield was heading northbound on Business Highway 75 and entered the emergency scene. Toben
struck an IDOT pickup that had emergency lights active causing damage to the truck. The Toben vehicle then continued and struck Mark Stockton who was on foot directing traffic causing a serious leg injury to Stockton. The Toben vehicle, a white 2007 Ford 500, received about $3,000 in damage. The Iowa
Department of Transportation pickup truck received about $300 in damage.
Both vehicles were towed from the scene. Stockton was transported to Floyd Valley Healthcare by Le Mars Ambulance #2. The accident remains under investigation by the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa State Patrol. Charges are pending the outcome of the investigation.
Sioux Center Man Dies In South Dakota Accident
HARRISBURG, S.D. (AP) – Authorities have identified an Iowa man who died in a crash in eastern South Dakota.
The Highway Patrol says 86-year-old Anthony De Haan of Sioux Center, Iowa, turned his sport utility vehicle in front of a semitrailer truck on Friday afternoon west of Harrisburg, in Lincoln County. He died later at a Sioux Falls hospital.
The semi driver was not injured. A passenger in the semi suffered minor injuries.
Good Samaritan Society Celebrates 60 Years At Le Mars
(Le Mars) — The Good Samaritan Society of Le Mars is celebrating its 60th anniversary as a nursing care facility in Le Mars. Recently, the long-term care facility completed an expansion project that added even more patient
rooms. The Good Samaritan Society hosted the weekly Chamber of Commerce Coffee, and many attendees of the Chamber Coffee took a tour through the newly expanded facilities. Karen Mousel serves as the administrator for Good Samaritan Society in Le Mars. She talks about the expansion that was only recently completed.
Mousel says part of the renovation was to install private bathrooms for each of the patients.
The care facility employs about 100 staff people, many of who have longevity with Good Samaritan Society.
The Good Samaritan Society administrator says the facility is always re-defining itself by expanding into specific areas of senior health care, including a focus on Alzheimer’s and other dementia diseases.
The Le Mars Good Samaritan Society has more than 70 residents.
Reynolds and Hubbell Face Off In First Televised Debate
(Ankeny) — Republican Kim Reynolds and Democrat Fred Hubbell faced each other in the first of three scheduled televised debates last evening at Ankeny, making their case directly to Iowa voters.
The debate was co-sponsored by KCCI-TV and the Des Moines Register.
During her closing statement in the hour-long forum Reynolds said, “We can’t afford to go backwards and that’s the direction that Fred wants to take the state.”
In his closing statement, Hubbell said: “She promises more of the same and I promise to bring change.”
Private management of the state’s Medicaid program was the major flash point of the evening. Hubbell has pledged to start unraveling the managed care contracts Reynolds has signed if he’s elected governor.
“The costs are out of control,” Hubbell said. “We now find out that the per-member cost of Medicaid is rising faster now than it did before privatized Medicaid.”
Reynolds said the old system was not sustainable.
Reynolds promoted her tax cuts as a way Iowans have been able to keep more of their money, while Hubbell says the tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible.
Reynolds also talked about having a record low unemployment for the state of Iowa, and Hubbell says the state should not be giving tax breaks to companies, such as Apple, saying there was too much money given away for the few jobs that are to be created.
State Supreme Court Says They Will Not Interfere With Judicial Appointment
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court says a disputed appointment of a district court judge by Gov. Kim Reynolds in June will stand unless the courts determine otherwise.
Justice Mark Cady says in a statement released Wednesday he has no constitutional authority to confirm or ratify the governor’s appointment of Judge Jason Besler.
The Iowa Constitution requires the governor to appoint a judge within 30 days of being presented a list of finalists.
Reynolds says she appointed Besler in June within the deadline by verbally telling her chief of staff her choice. There is no documented proof she met the deadline.
Lawyer Gary Dickey is challenging the appointment saying litigants appearing before Besler could challenge his legal status as a sitting judge.
Cady says the governor’s word that the appointment was timely deserves respect unless resolved differently through the legal process.
Cady acknowledges it’s a difficult situation with no simple solution.
He plans on monitoring it “to protect the judicial process and all its judges.”
Vandals Destroy Bee Hives
ANKENY, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa farmer says thousands of his honeybees died after someone vandalized their hives.
Jake Knutson said Wednesday that someone removed straps holding down three of his hives near the Ankeny airport last week and then damaged them with logs, bricks and cinder blocks, knocking off the tops. That left the bees to die in the rain that’s been covering central Iowa over the past several days.
When he returned to the hives, he found that one had been knocked over again and another was teetering on its stand.
No arrests have been reported.
In another incident of hive vandalism , Sioux City police arrested boys 12 and 13 after 50 hives were knocked over in December, killing at least 500,000 bees.
