(LE MARS)–Volunteers are organizing a collection effort for soldiers from the Le Mars area. Boxes to collect donated items from food to foot warmers are at 15 businesses, schools and churches. Pat Warner says the volunteers want the troops who left in August and other area soliders to have a holiday package.
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Warner explains yellow ribbon-themed signs provided by the Daily Sentinel mark collection boxes for a specific item at each location.
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Donations may also be made through an account at Primebank, “Le Mars Troops Care Package Fund” to cover postage to ship the care packages. Each box can weigh up to 70 pounds and will cost $12.50. Warner estimates the amount needed for postage will be about $1,000.
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Letters from school children and a card from the Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce expressing appreciation for their service will go in the boxes.
The boxes at the 15 locations, such as Clark School where toothbrushes are collected, will be picked up the first week of October for shipment. Anyone who knows of a soldier who should receive a care package may leave the information by calling Warner at 546-5778.
Collection boxes:
Hy-Vee–Cereal or instant soups
Fareway–snack bars or granola bars (no chocolate)
Bomgaars–hand and foot warmers
Floyd Valley Hospital –beef or turkey jerky
Kluckhohn School–hard candy
Franklin School–gum
Clark School–toothbrushes
Le Mars Beauty College–lip balm
Le Mars Community Middle School–fruit snacks or fruit roll-ups
Le Mars Community High School–individual sized snacks (no chocolate)
Gehlen Catholic School –nuts or trail mix
United Methodist Church of Le Mars–toothpaste
Rejoice! Church–lotion
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church–Crystal Lite drink mix or powdered drink mix
Presbyterian United Church of Christ–sunblock or men’s deodorant
(ALTON)– The city of Alton is adding a new housing development on the west side of town. At Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony of Fair View Meadows second addition, Alton Mayor Ron Minten said that the city has been working hard to make Alton a better place for its citizens. In addition to street projects, a new library and museum, Minten said that developing land for housing is good for the tax base.
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Tom Kiernan, vice president of the Alton Development Corporation, explains the addition at Fair Meadows.
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Kiernan added that one lot has already been sold in Alton’s new housing development. No specific date has been outlined for the completion of the final phase. (Angela Drake, KLEM News)
Five-bean pod search success on rural Le Mars farm
(LE MARS)–An 80-acre soybean field north of Le Mars yielded what searchers hoped to find Wednesday afternoon.
Rural Le Mars farmer Jim Peters hosted soybean industry representatives in what was described as a search for soybean pods with five beans.
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In his 35 years of farming Peters recalled corn yields doubled. But an increase in the soybean bushels had not. As Peters explained, more beans per pod result in a higher yield opportunity which is important to him as a producer.
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Peters said he doesn’t know the reason his field was chosen for the search.
This is the first year he’s grown this 2830 variety of the Asgrow Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans
Elk auction set for September 25
(HINTON)–A fundraiser for the Plymouth County Conservation Board’s elk herd is planned this month.
The annual auction of yearling elk will include one yearling heifer calf and one yearling bull calf. The elk are sold for slaughter only.
The auction raises money for the feed and veterinarian bills for the elk herd at Hillview Recreation Area, one mile west of Hinton.
Stabe Realty and Auction of Hinton will donate their services for the auction. The auction will begin at two in the afternoon on Saturday, September 25th.
Schriber dies in construction area
(STORM LAKE)–The Buena Vista County Sheriff’s office is providing new information about a traffic accident Wednesday afternoon.
The sheriff’s office identified the driver of a car who struck a Spirit Lake Construction firm’s pickup truck and trailer as 85-year-old Romaine Schriber.
Authorities report Schriber’s car struck the rear of the Beck Excavation truck and trailer. The trailer was resting on the top of the car after the accident. Schriber died.
The equipment was parked on the closed county road because concrete culverts were being loaded onto the trailer. Two employees of the business were outside of the pickup and were not injured.
The road is closed due to the construction, with the exception of local traffic. The sheriff’s department indicates all road closed signs were in place at the time of the accident.
Yankton suspects arrested for Vermillion burglaries
VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) The Vermillion Police Department on Thursday said it had arrested three Yankton residents in their late teens after a second night of residential burglaries, vehicle burglaries and stolen vehicles.
A fourth suspect was being sought Thursday afternoon.
Authorities say thieves entered at least seven occupied homes and stole valuables. Many vehicles were entered and two vehicles were stolen.
The incidents followed 11 vehicle burglaries the previous night. An 18-year-old was arrested in those break-ins, and police do not think there is a connection.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Culver backs expansion of stem cell research
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Chet Culver says if he wins a second term, he’ll push to expand stem cell research and ensure new health insurance programs for low-income children and others are maintained.
Speaking Thursday at a Statehouse news conference with Victoria Kennedy, the widow of former Sen. Edward Kennedy, Culver argued his views on stem cell research and health care for low-income Iowans were markedly different from Republican challenger Terry Branstad’s views.
Stem cells are important to researchers because they can turn into any tissue of the body. Some object to the research because human embryos are destroyed when stem cells are extracted.
Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht says Branstad supports stem-cell research but believes “an ethical boundary should be drawn.”
Gingrich: Burning Quran ‘profoundly wrong’
PELLA, Iowa (AP) Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says a Florida pastor’s plan to burn copies of the Quran is “profoundly wrong” and violates the beliefs of the country’s founding fathers.
In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Gingrich speculated that the founding fathers “would have universally condemned burning a religious book.”
If the Rev. Terry Jones burns the Quran on Saturday at the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Gingrich argues that nearly everyone will condemn the action.
Jones backed off the plan and then threatened to reconsider it yesterday.
Gingrich, a potential Republican presidential candidate in Iowa to meet with business leaders, says he agrees with President Barack Obama that the church should call off its plans.
He adds, though, that the threatened burning doesn’t reflect poorly on the U.S. because most Americans oppose it.
Gingrich says it only shows the U.S. “has some people who are outrageous, as every country does, and they don’t represent the country.”
Fraud charges against Iowa attorney dismissed
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Federal fraud and conspiracy charges against a Cedar Rapids attorney have been dismissed after prosecutors filed a motion saying new circumstances that came to light warranted the charges being dropped.
Richard Pundt, a former FBI agent, was indicted in 2008 in the U.S. District Court in California on three counts of mail fraud, six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. At the time prosecutors alleged he and others promoted a fraudulent high-yield investment program scheme.
Prosecutors did not elaborate in their motion what the new circumstances were that caused them to seek dismissal of the charges against Pundt. A telephone message left late Thursday for federal prosecutors wasn’t immediately returned.
In a written statement, Pundt says he is relieved to have the charges dismissed. Pundt says the charges were without merit and in direct conflict with the evidence.
The motion to dismiss the charges was granted by the court on Aug. 23.
UI, former student settle harassment lawsuit
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The University of Iowa has settled a federal sexual harassment lawsuit by a former student related to her claims against a now-deceased professor.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reported Thursday the school reached a $130,000 settlement in January with former doctoral student Melissa Rose Walding Milligan. The newspaper obtained the information through an open records law request.
The music professor, Mark Weiger, committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning about a week after the lawsuit was filed in November 2008.
Prior to filing her lawsuit, Milligan had filed a complaint about Weiger’s behavior and claimed the school did nothing to remedy the situation. School officials said they investigated the claims but Weiger remained on the faculty in good standing.
Casey’s General says it’s in talks with 7-Eleven
LOS ANGELES (AP) Casey’s General Stores says it is in talks with 7-Eleven after receiving an unsolicited buyout offer from the convenience store operator.
Casey’s said Thursday that 7-Eleven made the offer last week to buy the company that operates a chain of convenience stores in the Midwest for $40 a share in cash.
Casey’s says its board of directors believes the company is worth substantially more than what Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. is offering, but opted to continue talks.
Casey’s recently rejected a buyout offer worth $2.03 billion from Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard as too low but agreed to further talks with the company.
Casey’s is based in Ankeny, Iowa.
Iowa AG takes action against Urbandale mag company
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Attorney General Tom Miller says an Urbandale-based magazine subscription telemarketing company has agreed to refrain from telemarkerting to or from Iowa, and to refund money to customers who complain.
Miller said Thursday that his office got numerous consumer complaints over Heartland’s magazine marketing practices, including that Heartland employees were deceptive in their sales presentations and engaged in abusive collection practices.
Under the agreement with the attorney general’s office, Heartland’s principals agreed to refrain from telemarketing directed to Iowa residents or from an Iowa location. It will also make full refunds to consumers who complain about the company’s solicitation or billing practices.
A message seeking comment at Heartland’s business office was not immediately returned Thursday.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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