Officials Expect Large Number Of Entries For Ice Cream Days Parade
(Le Mars) — The highlight for today’s schedule of events is the Grand Parade, which is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. Teresa Petty serves as the parade coordinator with the Ice Cream Days Committee. She says the parade will feature many of the region’s Shriner units.
Petty says the entries for the Ice Cream Days and Sesquicentennial parade is past 100 and still growing. She says in addition to the Shriners, there are other special features that are entered in the annual parade.
The parade organizer says the parade will assemble at the 8th Street Blvd, and head north on Central Avenue.
Art In The Park Will Feature Several Vendors
(Le Mars) — Following the conclusion of the parade, people will want to make their way to Foster Park for a craft and vendor show, known as “Art in the Park.” Jessica Brownmiller is one of the co-chairs of the Sesquicentennial Committee. She says “Art in the Park” will feature many items of interests
to everyone.
The Sesquicentennial Committee will host a “Founders Day Luncheon” to be held at the Le Mars Convention Center beginning at 11:30 a.m. One of the highlights of the luncheon will be the auction of the Sesquicentennial Quilt.
When Le Mars was first started by English settlers, they brought with them several of their traditional games, including Crickett and Polo. Brownmiller says people will be able to step back in time as a polo match will take place Saturday afternoon at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds.
Brownmiller says as with tradition of polo matches, the audience is expected to go to the field to replace divots.
Biographies Of Past Le Mars Leaders To Be Shared During “The Dash And The Dirt”
(Le Mars) — People with an interest in knowing more about the past leaders of Le Mars will want to attend “The Dash and the Dirt”, which is an unique cemetery tour. Deb VanDenBerg says the tour will involve both the city Memorial Cemetery and Calvary Cemetery.
VanDenBerg says the tour will feature nearly 27 different portrayals.
Another person to be highlighted was the famous Judge Bradley who was responsible for the Farmers Holiday incident.
VanDenBerg says the stories will be biographies, but told in the first-person. VanDenBerg says several people did quite a bit of research to learn the stories behind the stories.
The Dash and the Dirt cemetery tour will start at 2:00 p.m. from the Civil War monument at the Memorial Cemetery.
Branstad Testifies At Civil Lawsuit Trial
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad testified in a civil trial that he didn’t try to pressure a state official to quit in 2010 because he is gay.
Branstad, now the U.S. ambassador to China, testified for much of Friday in a civil trial in which he’s accused of discrimination against former Iowa Worker’s Compensation Commissioner Chris Godfrey.
After being elected governor in 2010, Branstad sought Godfrey’s
resignation and cut his pay by $39,000 when he refused. Godfrey sued in 2012, saying he was a victim of discrimination and retaliation.
WOI-TV reports Branstad argued the fact that Godfrey was openly gay didn’t play a role in his efforts to oust him. Branstad testified, “It didn’t have to do with values. It had to do with their qualifications, their knowledge and experience.”
Homeless Man Pleads Guilty To Killing Iowa State University Golfer
AMES, Iowa (AP) – A homeless man charged in the killing of a former Iowa State University golfer has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
The Des Moines Register reports that 22-year-old Collin Richards
entered the plea during a hearing Friday. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison when he’s sentenced Aug. 23. Richards had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge and was set to stand trial in September.
Police say Richards fatally stabbed 22-year-old Celia Barquín
Arozamena last September while she was playing a round at a public course in Ames, near the university campus, and leaving her body in a pond on the course. Investigators say Richards he had been staying in a small homeless encampment in the woods near the public course.
Barquín Arozamena was a top golfer in Spain as a teenager and came to Iowa State to pursue her career.
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Bank Robber Sentenced To 25 Years
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – An Omaha man convicted of a slew of armed bank robberies in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.
Federal prosecutors for Nebraska say 26-year-old Tyree Carney was sentenced Friday in Omaha’s federal courthouse. Carney also was ordered to pay nearly $193,000 in restitution to the banks. Carney had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and several counts of brandishing a gun during
the spate of crimes between September 2016 and June 2017.
Prosecutors say Carney and another person robbed banks at gunpoint in the eastern Nebraska towns of Springfield and Murray, as well as banks in the western Iowa cities of Crescent and Underwood. Police say Carney tried to rob a bank in Bellevue, Nebraska, but was unsuccessful in getting any money
there. Investigators say Carney and an accomplice also carjacked vehicles in Omaha to use as getaway cars in the robberies.
Police Arrest 19 Year Old Man Following High Speed Chase
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – Officials in eastern Iowa say a 19-year-old man is behind bars after leading police on a chase and crashing into another vehicle, killing the driver.
The Quad-City Times reports that Angel Domingo Ochoa, of Davenport, has been charged with vehicular homicide while driving recklessly and other counts.
Police say the chase began Thursday afternoon in Davenport, when a police officer tried to stop Ochoa’s car and a chase ensued. Investigators say Ochoa’s car reached speeds of up to 90 mph and ran through multiple red lights before broadsiding a car, killing 48-year-old Lori Ann Letts.
Police say dash-cam video shows Ochoa trying to exit his car after the crash but being unable to open the door. Ochoa and an 18-year-old passenger had to be cut from the car and were taken to a hospital for injuries.
Ochoa has since been released and booked into the Scott County Jail.
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Video Shows Truck Ramming Iowa City Business
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have released surveillance video showing a suspect violently ramming a truck into equipment at an Iowa City business lot before police officers shoot him.
Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness ruled that two officers were justified in firing their weapons May 9 at Michael Cintron-Caceres, who was shot in both shoulders but survived.
Lyness says officers who were inside the fenced-in lot rightly
believed their lives were in danger. She says they were at risk of being hit by the truck or crushed by the equipment he was ramming into.
Cintron-Caceres was an armed robbery suspect who was on probation .
Early May 9, he fled from officers who were investigating burglaries at two businesses.
Officers chased him into the Big 10 Rentals lot, where he was found on the floor of a Ford F-450 truck. Instead of complying with officers, he got into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle before repeatedly ramming into a larger trailer and other equipment.
Experts Say Isolation And Restraints Can Damage A Person’s Mental State
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Two psychiatric experts testifying in a lawsuit against the Iowa Human Services Department say the use of isolation and restraints at the state school for delinquent boys can psychologically damage them.
Psychologist Andrea Weisman testified in U.S. District Court in Des Moines that a Velco and leather contraption called “the wrap” used to restrain boys at the State Training School for Boys in Eldora is “akin to a torture device.”
The class-action lawsuit filed in November 2017 by two advocacy
groups says the school is failing to provide adequate mental health care to the boys.
The Des Moines Register reports that state administrators say the facility tries to minimize the use of restraints and isolation. The school’s superintendent, Mark Day, told the judge Thursday that he and his staff try to make the school feel more like a campus than a prison.
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