Home News KLEM News PM Update Sept. 2, 2010

KLEM News PM Update Sept. 2, 2010

(LE MARS)–A Floyd Valley Hospital staff member is a five-state winner.

Floyd Valley Hospital chief engineer Tim Paul is the regional winner for the American Society for Healthcare Engineering of the American Hospital Association.

He received the Emerging Regional Leadership award for his commitment to the field and his leadership qualities. He was honored during a conference in Tampa, Florida.

According to hospital administrator Mike Donlin, Paul continually goes above and beyond the call of duty with a positive outlook and proactive leadership style.

Paul was the award recipient for the region, including Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Paul has been Floyd Valley’s chief engineer since June of 2005.

Interns chose city experiences

(LE MARS)–An on-the-job learning opportunity took two students outdoors in Le Mars this summer.

City administrator Scott Langel says a horticulture major interned with work in city parks.

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A landscape architecture student returned as an intern after being a job shadow with Langel. The work this summer involved public facilities.

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According to the city administrator, both students were interns through word of mouth and not a formal relationship related to I-S-U students who did a study of an extension of park land south of West Floyd Park.

Grant funds learning improvements

(LE MARS)—Children in classrooms at Le Mars Daycare and Small Wonders Preschool are seeing a new learning environment.

The change is due to assistance with classroom improvements provided by five-thousand dollars from the Community Foundation of Greater Plymouth County.

Director Melissa Tolzin says the grant gave the non-profit the opportunity to improve the learning environments for the children in the classrooms.

Purchases from the grant include lockers for children, tables and chairs, shelving, a reading book center, sand table, flannel and dry erase boards, rugs for story time, projectors and teacher totes.

Y:  Volunteers needed for Triathlon

(LE MARS)–The city of Le Mars Area Y-M-C-A needs volunteers to make the 2010 Le Mars Sprint Triathlon as safe and as fun as possible.

The Triathlon is September 11th. Volunteers may work on Friday before the event doing work such as stuffing packets or on Saturday in the pool, and along biking or running routes. Other volunteer work is also available Saturday.

Most volunteers will need to be at the Le Mars Outdoor Pool by 8:15 in the morning on Saturday, September 11th and would be completed with their volunteer work by one in the afternoon.

About 70 volunteers are needed. Anyone interested may contact Angela Loutsch at the Y by calling 546-6655.

Plane crashes near Boone

BOONE, Iowa (AP) The Federal Aviation Administration says one person is dead in the crash of small plane towing a banner near the Farm Progress Show near Boone in central Iowa.

FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory says the Cessna 150 with just the pilot on board crashed about 2 miles north of Boone Thursday morning. She says the plane is registered to Drake Aerial Enterprise in Genoa, Ohio. There is no telephone listing for the compamy.

Air America Aerial Ads, of Genoa, is also listed on the FAA Registry as another owner. A person who answered the phone declined to comment.

Isham Cory says the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the crash, which happened about 9:20 a.m.

KCCI-TV says a witness, Bob Johnson, reported the banner got caught in the corn. Johnson says the plane then nose dived into the ground.

Flooding frustrates producers

OTTUMWA, Iowa. (AP) Counties in southern Iowa are still dealing with flooding, in what has turned out to be one of the wettest summers on record in the state.

While Saylorville and Red Rock reservoirs continue to fall both should be at normal levels by mid- September the misery continues in Eddyville and Ottumwa.

The Des Moines Register reports that at least some residents blame the Corps of Engineers for allowing the Des Moines River to continue flooding their property near Ottumwa.

Corps officials say they balance the interest of landowners above and below their dam on the river, and have managed to avert major property damage so far.

Corps spokesman Ron Fournier says farmers upstream are also angry because they’ve had high water all summer.

There’s hope things will improve in a couple of weeks, when the river finally drops.

Judge reconsiders prison sentence

CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) A judge has suspended a 10-year prison sentence of a Charles City man accused of locking his two toddlers in their bedrooms for up to 14 hours a day for two years.

Danial Onken pleaded guilty in April to two counts of abandonment or neglect of a dependent. He began serving his sentence in June.

Judge James Drew last week granted Onken’s request for a reconsideration. The Globe Gazette reported Thursday that the judge reviewed a report from the department of corrections indicating Onken had been on good behavior and is making progress.

Drew suspended the sentence and put Onken on probation for five years.

The children, who are twins, were 4 years old when the charges were filed in May 2009.

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

Submit your news release, confidential news tip or news idea by email klemnews@lemarscomm.net, by calling 712.546.4121 or 712.546.9672 fax.