Two Vehicle Accident Happens In West Central Plymouth County
(Le Mars) — A car and pickup truck collided Wednesday afternoon at about 12:45 p.m. at the intersection of county road K-22 and 170th Street where K-22 joins with Highway 3. According to Plymouth County Sheriff’s officials, the pickup truck was heading southbound on K-22 and the car was going
northbound on K-22, but had indicated it was going to make a left-hand turn heading west on Highway 3. Apparently, the car made its turn in front of the pickup truck, rather than yielding to the oncoming vehicle, causing the two vehicles to collide. Both vehicles sustained considerable front-end damage.
The accident caused the stop sign for eastbound Highway 3 traffic to be sheared off. One person was transported to Floyd Valley Healthcare by the Le Mars Ambulance with what was suspected to be minor injuries. No names of the drivers have been released at this time. Responding to the accident scene were the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department, Le Mars Ambulance, and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office.
Akron Man Dies In South Dakota Traffic Accident
(Undated) — An Akron man has been identified as the victim in a one vehicle fatal rollover traffic accident that occurred eight miles north of Vermillion, South Dakota, early Sunday morning. The South Dakota Highway Patrol says 27-year old Justin Montague apparently lost control of his Jeep Cherokee on Highway 19 and entered a ditch. Montague was not wearing a seat belt at the time of accident, and was thrown from the vehicle. Montague was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the only person involved in the crash.
Government Officials Celebrate Installation Of Rural Broadband Internet
(Hawarden) — It was just last November when the U-S Department of Agriculture extended a $7.2 million dollar “Re-connect grant” to Premier Communications of Sioux Center to expand broadband internet to rural areas.
Today, a celebration was held at Land Mark Company of Hawarden for the connection process being completed. Several speakers were featured during the news conference event, including USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development,
Betty Brand and Iowa Lt. Governor Adam Gregg. During her address, Brand says being connected to the internet is a necessity for rural America.
Following the news conference, Brand told reporters she equates the need for broadband internet into the rural areas, much like when electricity and phone services were introduced and delivered to rural American homes in the 1930’s and 40’s.
Premier Communications C-E-O, Doug Boone informed the gathering as to how much fiber optic cable has been installed since last November in order to connect rural Sioux County with the high speed broadband internet.
Lt. Governor Adam Gregg returned to his hometown of Hawarden for today’s announcement. Gregg says high speed broadband internet will help increase economic development in rural Iowa, and rural America.
Gregg says having connection to the broadband internet means being connected to the world. He says it will be essential for businesses to have internet access in rural areas in order to recruit young people to rural area jobs.
Gregg says the Iowa legislature has been very supportive of expanding broadband to the rural areas of the state. He says Governor Reynolds has also allocated some CARES Act funding to be directed towards expanding broadband internet in the rural areas of Iowa.
Grain Official Has Praise For This Year’s Soybean Harvest
(Craig) — Harvest has only begun, but already local grain officials are predicting that as much as 20 percent of the soybean harvest is complete. Doug Schurr serves as the general manager of the Farmers Cooperative Elevator in Craig. He says area soybean yields are doing better than expected.
Schurr says the quality of the soybean crop has also been better than previously expected.
Farm Safety Expert Says Farmers Should Install ROPS On Older Tractors
(Le Mars) — We continue our series of reports focusing on farm safety during this National Farm Safety Week. Of all the different types of farm-related accidents that can occur, including grain suffocation, road-way collisions, machine entanglement, electrocution, chemical exposure, the one that produces
the most serious injuries and the most deaths is tractor roll-overs. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Farm Safety Specialist, Chuck Schwab says tractor roll-overs ranks highest in terms of farm-related accidents.
(Photo contributed.)
Schwab says farmers have a much better chance of surviving a tractor roll-over when a tractor is equipped with a cab or the roll over protection or simply referred to as ROPS.
The Iowa State University official says the number of farm accidents and fatalities is starting to drop, but more education and awareness is still needed.
Schwab says the number of tractor fatalities from roll-overs have dropped by half since the 1990’s, but he says we need to drop the rate by half again. Schwab says ATV accidents on farms are also a problem.
