(ORANGE CITY)–This month the Orange City Area Health System is adding 3 new staff members, which will allow them to expand clinic hours and have more doctors on call. Marty Guthmiller, the System’s CEO, says that he’s excited to add two doctors and one nurse practitioner.
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Van Wyhe will begin serving students at Northwestern College in Orange City this fall.
Dr. Harrison Hanson and Doctor Nigel Millard join the Orange City Hospital’s team from the residency program in Mason City. Guthmiller says both have similar interests to bring to their family practice.
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The addition of the new staff members at the Orange City Hospital will give the hospital the opportunity to expand clinic hours. Guthmiller said that morning appointments will available this fall beginning at 7:30am. (News report by Angela Drake of KLEM News)
Henrich: ‘Annex project hopefuly will solve space problems for years’
(LE MARS)–Wearing red hard hats, Plymouth County, city of Le Mars, regional and state officials used gold-painted shovels to turn the first soil for the Plymouth County Courthouse Annex building project Tuesday.
Plymouth County supervisors’ chair Jim Henrich of Akron told those attending the groundbreaking that the process leading up to construction involved many, many people in five to six years of study.
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Henrich said the site worked the best, cost the least amount of money and in his words, “hopefully will solve a lot of the space problems for many years to come.”
LCHS Student asks board for helping in playing soccer
(LE MARS)–A Le Mars Community School student wants to play a sport she describes as her passion.
To do that, Jordan Helm of Le Mars has asked the Board of Education in her words, “for help in finding her way onto the M-O-C Floyd Valley Soccer Field to play the sport she loves while attending the school she loves–Le Mars Community.”
Helm brought her request for the Spring sport to the Board of Education during a public forum time Monday night.
She began playing soccer when she was five. The student came to Le Mars Community after a move from Olathe, Kansas. She told the board soccer may also be her way to college.
Superintendent Todd Wendt said there hasn’t been any pressure to do anything about soccer at Le Mars Community.
A sharing arrangement between Le Mars Community and MOC Floyd Valley is what school officials say is needed to make it possible for Helm to play soccer.
Board members told Helm the difficulty with sharing is classification. The MOC Floyd Valley district would need to count the entire Le Mars Community student body for classification.
The board asked Wendt to contact the neighboring district and report back to the board.
Grandparents targeted with scam calls in Woodbury County
(SIOUX CITY)–Telephone scammers are again targeting grandparents in Woodbury County.
Assistant Chief Deputy Sheriff Doug Boetger reports the Woodbury Sheriff’s Office has received information from residents who say they’ve been asked to send money to Spain. The money is intended to help the person’s grandchild with legal problems.
Boetger says the scam artist uses the grandchild’s name and asks that the money be sent as a money order to Barcelona, Spain.
He encourages county residents to contact their family members about family news before taking any action. If someone thinks they’ve been targeted by a scammer, Boetger also asks them to contact law enforcement.
Dickinson reward fund raised
(SPIRIT LAKE)–The reward for information about a shooting in Dickinson County earlier this month is going up.
A shooting August 2 at 2443 202nd Street injured a horse and killed a cat.
The Tom Ritzer family is adding one-thousand dollars to their original one-thousand dollar reward for information that leads to the arrest of the individual or individuals involved in the shooting.
Information may be reported to the Sheriff’s office, or, for those who’d like to remain anonymous, Dickinson County Crimestoppers. Crimestoppers is offering $200 for information about the crime.
Patrol IDs 4 motorcyclists killed in Iowa crash
LITTLE SIOUX, Iowa (AP) The Iowa State Patrol says it may take several weeks to complete an investigation into the head-on crash that killed four motorcyclists on Interstate 29 in western Iowa.
Three men from Iowa and one from Nebraska were killed Monday evening when a pickup crossed the center line in a construction zone and collided with their motorcycles.
The patrol identifies the victims as 62-year-old Dennis Chaney and 49-year-old Dale Aspedon, both of Glenwood, Iowa; 62-year-old Steven Benscoter of Pacific Junction, Iowa; and 48-year-old Jay Bock of Omaha, Neb.
Lt. Brad Pollard says only Bock was wearing a helmet.
The pickup driver, 21-year-old Andrew Schlichtemeier of Murray, Neb., was treated for minor injuries.
The patrol says the four motorcyclists were returning from Sturgis, S.D., site of a huge annual motorcycle rally.
Culver, Branstad agree to 3 debates
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Democratic Gov. Chet Culver and Republican challenger Terry Branstad have tentatively agreed to three debates in Sioux City, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, although a Culver aide says some details need to be worked out.
The first debate will be in Sioux City, sponsored by Lee Enterprises and television stations KCAU and WQAD. A date and time haven’t been set.
The Gazette and KCRG-TV will sponsor an Oct. 7 debate. The Des Moines Register will sponsor an Oct. 21 debate, broadcast by Iowa Public Television.
Culver aide Ali Glisson says the governor still wants an assurance that all the debates will be open to the media. During the Republican primary, one debate was going to be closed to reporters and not broadcast for several days. Those plans were later changed.
Company to close Iowa pipe plant; 8 jobs lost
HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) Northern Pipe Products plans to close its plant in northern Iowa by the end of this year.
The Hampton plant employs eight people. They learned of the decision last week.
Company President Steve Laskey says Northern Pipe decided to close the Hampton plant “after thoughtful analysis and long-term strategic consideration.”
Laskey says production will continue to be managed for the rest of the year for only immediate sales demand.
Franklin County Development Association Executive Director Karen Mitchell says the company’s decision boiled down to the economy. She says with few major construction projects going on, the company was compelled to consolidate operations at its main plant in Fargo, N.D.
Northern Pipe Products expanded its operations to Hampton in 2003.
Des Moines thanks workers with state fair tickets
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Des Moines is footing the bill to send its employees to the Iowa State Fair to say thanks for all their hard work.
City Manager Rick Clark says it’s been an “incredible year” with a tough winter and flooding in the spring and summer.
Clark asked the City Council for the OK to spend $20 on each of the city’s 1,850 workers for two advance tickets and a $6 coupon for food. The fair starts Thursday.
The council unanimously approved the request Monday. Clark says the city will spend about $40,000 from an employee development account used for training.
Clark says he expects backlash during these tough financial times but that the city’s budget is “stable” for the next two fiscal years. Clark says the gesture is a first for the city.
Clark says it’s a “pat on the back” for workers and a good investment for the city.
UI staffer hurt in hydrogen balloon explosion
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) A staff member at the University of Iowa was hurt when balloons filled with hydrogen apparently exploded as he loaded them into a sport utility vehicle.
Dale Stille, a staffer in the university’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, was loading eight balloons Tuesday into a Ford Explorer owned by the university and parked near the loading dock of Van Allen Hall.
Police say when Stille opened a side door, there was an explosion. He was treated and released from a hospital.
The explosion was not immediately reported to police. A passer-by saw the SUV with a shattered windshield and suspected a break-in.
University spokesman Tom Moore says Stille is an instructional demonstration coordinator and was on his way to a school demonstration in Perry when the explosion happened.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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