Home News Monday Afternoon News, November 18th

Monday Afternoon News, November 18th

Police Department Post-pones Town Hall Meeting

(Le Mars) — Le Mars Police have announced they have decided to post-pone their town hall meeting regarding active shooters. Police Chief Kevin Vande Vegte in an email message says they will hold the meeting sometime in January perhaps at the Le Mars convention center. No specific date has yet
been set, but Vande Vegte says additional information will be released when details become finalized.

 

 

FFA Chapters Feed Area Farmers

(Le Mars) — Area FFA chapters have been busy feeding farmers during this year’s harvest. Le Mars Community, Hinton, and MMC-RU have all participated in a program in which they have provided lunches to farmers either in the field, or at local grain elevators. Danielle James is the adviser for the Le Mars Community FFA chapter and says this was the third year for the
program.

The Hinton Community FFA Chapter also worked with Morningside College in providing meals to farmers. Stephanie Bass is the adviser for the Hinton FFA Chapter. She says this is the fourth year for the “Feed the Farmer”
event.

Bass says Hinton FFA provided 100 hot meals to farmers.

Le Mars FFA decided to distribute sack lunches consisting of cold
sandwiches.

James says farmers have been grateful to receive the lunches as provided by the local FFA chapters.

Bass says the Hinton FFA members prepared the lunches for the farmers at the Central Valley Ag grain elevator of Hinton also on Wednesday, November 6th

The MMC-RU FFA Chapter distributed their lunches in October, just prior to leaving for the National FFA Convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana.   Sam Schroeder serves as the adviser and says the MMC-RU chapter worked hand-in-hand with Iowa State Bank, and delivered 200 meals to local grain elevators to be given to farmers.

Schroeder says farmers had the choice between ham or turkey sandwiches.

Schroeder says this is the fourth year the MMC-RU FFA chapter has distributed the meals for farmers.

 

 

Jury Awards $1.4 Million For Wrongful Surgery, But Says Patient Was Partially To Blame

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A jury has awarded $1.4 million to a man who wanted a circumcision but instead was given a vasectomy in Des Moines.
The Des Moines Register reports that the jury leveled a $2 million judgment against the physician who performed the vasectomy, Dr. Kevin Birusingh. But the jury also said in its ruling last week that the man who filed the lawsuit, Zaw Zaw, was 30% responsible.
Zaw is a 41-year-old refugee who came to the U.S. four years ago from Myanmar. He sued in November 2017, nearly two years after the errant procedure.
Birusingh’s attorney Charlie Wittmack says Zaw signed two written informed consents and completed four consultations before the vasectomy.
Wittmack also says both consents and each of the consultations were translated by two separate interpreters.
The lawsuit said Zaw isn’t fluent in English and that “vasectomy” is not a word in Zaw’s native language of Burmese.
Zaw’s attorney, Marc Harding, says a doctor’s referral documents showed Zaw was seeking a circumcision.

 

 

Flood Waters Carry Containers Of Hazardous Materials Downstream

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Hundreds of containers – many carrying hazardous materials – have floated into Missouri since flooding in the upper Missouri River basin during the spring.
Missouri Department of Natural Resources officials say the agency collected more than 740 containers this year. Many are believed to be from Nebraska and Iowa.
The containers range from small buckets to 500,000 gallon tanks.
Many contain diesel fuel, pesticides or ammonia.
KCUR reports most of the containers washed up on the banks of the Missouri River in northwest Missouri.
Environmental scientist Stephen McLane says the goal is to return the containers to their owners, but many don’t have identifying marks.
A recycler in Kansas City has helped the agency dispose of roughly 12,000 gallons of fuel, pesticides and herbicides.
McLane said the agency expects to be collecting orphaned containers through at least January.

 

 

Waterloo Woman Found Guilty Of Scamming Couple

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A Waterloo woman has been found guilty of scamming a couple out of thousands of dollars by saying she had a kidney transplant, tumors and other medical problems.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that 47-year-old Shawn Adams, also known as Shawn Tomkins, was convicted Friday of theft and false reports.
Prosecutors say she got nearly $58,000 in aid from the Waterloo couple after telling them her tale of woe. Prosecutors say she accused one of one of them of sexually abusing her son when they discovered her scam.
In June she was sentenced in Grundy County for an unrelated theft. Prosecutors say she took people to a farm in rural Dike in December 2017, selling them items that she falsely said were hers.

 

 

In Lieu Of Recent Mass Shootings, Grassley Talks About Gun Control Measures During News Conference

(Washington) — U-S Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa addressed the issue of gun control today during his weekly news conference with reporters.
The U-S Senate has been pressured to pass additional gun control bills.
Grassley was asked if the U-S Senate is likely to take up some type of gun control bills since there were two mass shootings at California schools over the weekend, and another mass shooting reported today at a Walmart store in Oklahoma. Grassley says he has introduced a bill that would utilize measures the Secret Service currently uses to identify mentally ill people
that could be identified as a potential mass shooter. Grassley says he would like to see the program expand to include other people, and not utilized by just law enforcement officials.

Senator Grassley says that he and Texas Senator Ted Cruse have re-introduced legislation that should help cut down the number of mass shootings.

The Iowa Senator says California has some of the toughest gun laws on the books, but it obviously doesn’t stop mass shootings from occurring.