(Akron) With Department of Natural Resources permits in hand, construction of a
recreational pond near AKron will begin this spring. Justin Higman of Higman Sand and Gravel
in Akron updated the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors during their weekly meeting Tuesday.
Board chairman Jim Henrich and Higman discussed the reasons for the delay of the pond project.
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In 2004, Plymouth County signed a land and gravel swap agreement with Higman Sand and Gravel.
The area, located south of AKron was to become a recreational area. None of the current supervisors
were on the board when the agreement was made. Board member Mark Loutsch would like movement
on the area to get started.
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Higman told the board that the projected should be completed by next spring.
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The 2004 agreement with the previous board of supervisors included approximately 800,000 tons
of gravel, with about 230,000 tons used so far. (News report by Dave Ruden)
(LE MARS)–A Le Mars woman is free on bond after her arrest today for theft from a business.
Le Mars Police charged 47-year-old Laura Ann Dimmick after a two-month investigation into a report of misappropriation of merchandise from the Hy-Vee Food Store in Le Mars. Dimmick had been employed in the Wine and Spirits area.
Dimmick is charged with a felony, theft in the second degree. According to written information from police, starting in 2006, customers were not charged for merchandise.
The investigation is continuing.
(ORANGE CITY)–Sport management is the newest degree Northwestern College will offer in the fall.
According to Northwestern registrar Charlie Couch, requests for sport management increased from 50 in 2008 to more than 80 this past year.
The program will enable students to take courses in kinesiology, business and economics, communications, computer science and math and prepare graduates for jobs in the growing sports industry.
College officials say sport management marks the fourth major for Northwestern’s kinesiology department. Others are athletic training, exercise science and sports information/media.
(ODEBOLT)–A Sac County man is accused of interfering with fire fighting during high wind conditions Wednesday afternoon.
Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure says Odebolt fire fighters responded to the Stenoien Ranch at rural Odebolt where a structure fire was reported. A wood-framed house was fully engulfed in flames, the fire had spread to a field and was threatening another home that was not burning. Wall Lake and Kiron Fire Departments were also called.
In a written release of information, the Sac County sheriff reports 48-year-old Darryl Stenoien was charged with interference with official acts, two charges of assaulting a fire fighter and operating a vehicle while under the influence as a third offense.
Stenoien was charged after he allegedly confronted fire fighters because they were not fire fighting on the house that was burning.
Investigators determined the probable cause of the fire was an electrical short at the electrical entrance. Authorities believe high winds caused the wires to bounce and short out.
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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) A man convicted of the 1999 slayings of two woman whose bodies were found in a burned out apartment in Iowa City wants a new trial.
Jonathan Memmer was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Maria Lehner, of Belton, Mo., and Laura Watson-Dalton, of Creston.
Memmer made his last appeal for a new trial on Wednesday during a civil non-jury trial for post conviction relief in Johnson County District Court. He claims his attorneys were ineffective.
Memmer, after exhausting the appeals process, filed his relief petition in 2004.
Memmer wants the court to vacate the convictions and give him a new trial. The judge didn’t make an immediate ruling.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A former Drake student who calls himself a “frustrated drummer” has given the university $1.5 million to build a jazz center.
Fred Turner, of suburban Chicago, is a retired McDonald’s executive. The university announced plans for the Fred and Patty Turner Jazz Center during a jazz concert in Des Moines on Tuesday that he attended.
Patty Turner, who also went to Drake, died in 2000. Fred Turner says his late wife was the “real musician.”
Turner left Drake in 1953 for a job in Illinois at what was then a small chain of fast-food restaurants that grew in the McDonald’s empire. Turner, who became chairman and chief executive, retired in 2004.
The jazz center will include practice space, a recording studio, a performance hall and a lounge.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) No injuries are reported in a fire at manufacturing plant in Waterloo where several bales of paper were burning.
The fire broke out around noon on Wednesday at Corkery Industries.
Smoke was coming out the building, and employees were removing paper bales.
The building was evacuated while crews put out the fire. Several bales of paper were destroyed.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Des Moines police say bitterness over a 2008 murder case apparently sparked a brawl when a group of people rushed into a house and assaulted a woman.
Police were called Tuesday night to a neighborhood by a city park on a report of a large fight. The officers tried to stand between two feuding groups when several people rushed into a nearby house and hit the woman before fleeing the area.
More police arrived, and they quickly broke up the crowd. No arrests were reported.
The attack apparently stemmed from a 2008 killing that split the neighborhood.
In December, Jerrid Winfrey was convicted of killing Richard Lewis after a party.
The woman who was assaulted on Tuesday is Winfrey’s cousin.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) A state police report says the Alabama truck driver involved in a March crash that killed himself and 10 others in central Kentucky was talking on a cell phone.
Police say Kenneth Laymon of Jasper, Ala., crossed the median of Interstate 65 in central Kentucky on March 26 and slammed into a van carrying Mennonites traveling to a wedding in Iowa.
The Kentucky State Police report says Laymon did not have his tractor-trailer under control. Two young children survived the crash.
The report, obtained this week by The Courier-Journal of Louisville, says Laymon may have also been speeding. The report says another truck driver who witnessed the wreck estimated Laymon was traveling at 80 mph.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Former Iowa standout and NBA veteran Ryan Bowen has been added to new coach Fran McCaffery’s staff.
McCaffery says Bowen will serve as the Hawkeyes video coordinator and administrative assistant.
Bowen recently retired after an 11-year career in pro basketball that included stops in Denver, Houston, New Orleans and Oklahoma City.
Bowen, a native of Fort Madison, Iowa, scored over 1,000 points and grabbed 804 rebounds for the Hawkeyes from 1994-98.
Bowen played one game for the NBA’s Thunder this season before calling it quits in November.
Bowen is the second former Hawkeye hired by McCaffery. Kirk Speraw, who played at Iowa in the late 70s, will serve as an assistant coach.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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