Home News KLEM News Update July 3, 2010

KLEM News Update July 3, 2010

Fairgrounds is Kennel Club show stage

(LE MARS)–The most perfect fairgrounds for the dog show is in Le Mars for the Sioux Valley Kennel Club.

The group with members in a 50-mile radius of Sioux City was looking for other options when the Plymouth County Fairgrounds rose to the top for the event that’s today’s and tomorrow (Saturday, July 3 and Sunday, July 4).

The wire kennels serving as sign posts at Le Mars intersections help guide dog owners, those showing dogs and guests to the fairgrounds location.

Regina Maxwell says the Dog Show will bring about 300 people and 377 dogs to Le Mars for a number of events.

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Maxwell expects 100 different dog breeds. They’ll include seven different kinds of terriers.

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Maxwell encourages everyone to attend the shows, have fun and learn about the different breeds of dogs.

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The shows today and Sunday are from 9 a-m to 3 p-m.Some of those showing dogs are camping at the fairgrounds while others are staying at Le Mars or Sioux City hospitality businesses.

‘Art in the Sky’ July 4th in Le Mars.

(LE MARS)–A business started by two brothers provides the fireworks display in Le Mars this Independence Day weekend.

The city of Le Mars hired J and M Displays of Yarmouth  for the Fourth of July show at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds Sunday night.

J and M Vice President Mark Johnson says the brothers that founded the company started providing fire works shows in the area. Their success led other communities to ask the brothers to do their shows. Johnson describes the business as art in the sky.

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J and M designs fireworks displays using products made in the United States and abroad. Johnson explains the show in Le Mars will feature new colors and traditional fireworks.

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With 2,910 shots in the SKYSHOW, Johnson says it should be a pretty busy display and will be shot electronically so there is no dead space or dead sky.

SKYSHOW begins at 10 Sunday night with music at the fairgrounds broadcast by KLEM Radio 1410 AM 96.9 FM.

Traffic stop leads to identity theft arrest

(ORANGE CITY)–A Rock Valley man is in the Sioux County jail accused of felony identity theft.

The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office charged 20-year-old Omar Hernandez-Gonzales Friday morning after a traffic stop. Authorities say their investigation indicated Hernandez-Gonzales was using another person’s identity to work at Golden Crisp in Sioux Center.

Hernandez-Gonzales is charged with felony identity theft and forgery; excessive speed and failing to have a driver’s license.

Fawn Avenue road closing ends

(LE MARS)–Bridge repairs are complete to allow a rural Akron Road to be reopened to traffic.

The Plymouth County Engineer’s office closed Fawn Avenue at the intersection with 180th Street last week.

A bridge abutment was repaired and the roadway was reopened Friday (July 2, 2010).

Acquisition puts Frontier in 27 states

(LE MARS)–A communications business with offices in Le Mars and other northwest Iowa communities is growing.

Frontier Communications Thursday completed the acquisition of Verizon Communications’ local landline operations in 14 states.

Frontier local manager in Le Mars Angie Erdmann says Frontier is now the largest communication service serving rural America with four million customers.

There were no Verizon access lines in Iowa.

Le Mars Recycling is August 7th

(LE MARS)–The Le Mars Elementary Schools paper recycling project takes a summer break today.

The next paper collection for recycling in Le Mars is Saturday, August 7th.

In Remsen, the collection of recyclable paper is delayed for one week due to the Independence Day holiday weekend to Saturday, July 10th.

Man trapped in grain bin dies

(SPENCER)–A grain bin accident has claimed the life of a rural Dickens farmer.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office reports 65-year-old Doug Sorenson of rural Dickens was trapped in a grain bin filled with corn.

The accident occurred about 8:30 Friday morning while corn was being augered out of the bin.

Rescue crews were unable to reach Sorenson and several holes were cut in the side of the bin to remove corn to locate Sorenson’s body.

The sheriff’s office had assistance from the Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Office, Dickens Fire and Rescue, Ruthven Fire and Rescue, Ruthven Ambulance, Spencer Ambulance, Clay County Emergency Management as well as family and friends of Sorenson.

SD police confirm ‘Barefoot Bandit’ was in state

YANKTON, S.D. (AP) South Dakota authorities have confirmed that fingerprints found at the scene of a Yankton burglary match those of the “Barefoot Bandit.”

Yankton assistant police chief Jerry Hisek says he was notified Friday that state Division of Criminal Investigation found three of 19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore’s fingerprints at the scene of a June 18 break-in. The teen had already been named a suspect.

Harris-Moore, of Camano Island, Wash., has evaded authorities since April 2008, when he escaped from a halfway house south of Seattle. He is accused of breaking into dozens of homes since and committing burglaries across Washington, as well as in British Columbia, Idaho and Nebraska.

Harris-Moore was dubbed “The Barefoot Bandit” after allegedly committing crimes sans footwear.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

Mom of missing child charged with neglect

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) Dubuque police say they’ve found what are believed to be human remains on the property where the mother of a missing 20-month-old child lived.

Tamelia Harris was charged with negligence after allegedly giving investigators false information about the whereabouts of the girl, Cecilia Denise Harris.

Further details about the remains weren’t released.

Authorities say Tamelia Harris told investigators she sent Cecilia to live with her grandmother in North Carolina who later told police she hadn’t seen the child.

The 32-year-old Harris later said she sent the girl to live with a friend in Davenport.

At a bond hearing Thursday, Harris was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bond.

She’s in custody at Dubuque County Jail.

She couldn’t be reached for comment.

2 bodies found at Cedar Rapids apartment

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Police say foul play isn’t suspected in the deaths of two people whose bodies were found inside a Cedar Rapids apartment building.

Police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin says there were no signs of physical violence or harm.

She says autopsies will be conducted, but results of toxicology tests won’t be available for weeks.

Authorities responded to the building just before 9 a.m. Friday.

Police have not released the names or genders of the victims. But neighbors and family members say the deceased were a 43-year-old woman and her boyfriend.

Lawyers for Rubashkin file appeal

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Attorneys for a former vice president of an Iowa kosher meatpacking plant have appealed his conviction and sentence on financial fraud charges.

Attorneys for Sholom Rubashkin filed their appeal Friday with the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

Rubashkin was found guilty last fall on 86 federal financial fraud charges. He was sentenced last month to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay $27 million in restitution.

His attorney, Guy Cook, says evidence not related to the charges was allowed at trial and that the sentence is unjust and amounts to a life sentence for the 51-year-old Rubashkin.

Rubashkin was indicted following a 2008 raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville where 389 illegal immigrants were detained.

Audit: Iowa’s alcohol agency spent misspent

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) State auditors allege the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division improperly spent tens of thousands of dollars on art, leather chairs, televisions and other items from 2006 to 2008.

Officials say the agency also allegedly spent more than $1 million on contracts to renovate offices without going through a proper bidding process.

The head of the division at the time was Lynn Walding, who could not be reached for comment.

A message left Friday for Stephen Larson, the current head of the division, wasn’t immediately returned.

The division is the state’s wholesaler of alcohol. It generated $105 million in revenue last year.

Iowa teen dies when caught between car and fence

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Police say a 17-year-old is dead after he was pinned between a car and a fence in an accident in Des Moines.

The deceased has been identified as Logan Bryan Oglesbee of Des Moines. He was a recent graduate of Roosevelt High School.

Police say around 4:40 p.m. on Friday Oglesbee and a friend pulled into the steep driveway at a friend’s home. After they exited, the car rolled backward.

Oglesbee tried to stop the car, by jumping onto the back bumper. The car eventually hit a fence and Oglesbee was pinned between the vehicle and the fence.

Police say he was pronounced dead on the scene.

Sgt. Lori Lavorato says police have classified it as an accident and don’t plan to open a criminal investigation.

No charges in Iowa fatal boating accident

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) Authorities say no charges will be filed in a boating accident that left a 12-year-old Fairfield girl dead.

Sarah Nicole Perkins died May 30 after she was struck on the Coralville Reservoir by a boat operated by a Cedar Rapids man.

Authorities say Perkins had been riding on a tube being pulled by another boat. She fell from the tube and was struck.

Police say the Cedar Rapid man’s blood alcohol level was within the legal limit.

The investigation was conducted by the Johnson County Attorney’s office and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Ship named for Iowan

AMES, Iowa (AP) Officials say a U.S. Navy Ship has been named after a late scientist who was an Iowa State University alumnus.

The USNS Howard O. Lorenzen was christened last week in Mississippi.

It’s named after Howard Otto Lorenzen. He was a 1935 graduate of ISU and an electrical engineering graduate. He died in 2000.

He worked for more than three decades with Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. He helped lay the groundwork for modern electronic warfare. He retired in 1973.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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