(LE MARS)–Construction to fulfill a vision is underway in southeast Le Mars.
The Le Mars Bible Church is nearly doubling its present building size with a 12-thousand square foot addition on the southeast side of the facility in use since 1997. Reverend Fred Gums explained the addition includes fellowship and youth areas.
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Plans to grow the physical facilities on Seventh Avenue Southeast reflect a growth in church attendance.
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The Le Mars Bible Church addition will serve the youth ministry and provide a setting to bring others to fellowship in a faith setting.
Reverend Gums emphasizes the facility will be used to the glory of God.
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Timmins Construction of Le Mars is the contractor for the one-and-a-half million dollar project which could be completed next July.
School House Theater presents holiday classic as a radio play
(ORANGE CITY) “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a holiday-movie must in many households. This year The School House Theater Company of Sioux County will take the show off screen and do a unique stage performance of Frank Capra’s very popular story. Auditions are being held next week for “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.” Director Cody Bauer says all the nostalgia of the familiar story will be in the production, it’s just presented in a different way.
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The SchoolHouse Company was formed in 2008. Bauer, who was a founding member, says that the company was formed out of necessity.
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Their first performance took place in a one room school house near Sioux Center, and thus, the SchoolHouse Theater Company was born.
Auditions for their next production “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” are being held Monday, October 18th and Thursday, October 21st in the Orange City Town Hall Auditorium from 7:30 to 9pm. There is a cast of 5, made up of 3 men and 2 women, and Bauer says many other people are needed to make the production happen.
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Performance dates for the live radio play of “It’s a Wonderful Life” are December 9th through 11th and 16th through 18th. For more information on this show and details about The SchoolHouse Theater Company, log onto www.theshc.org or call 712-722-3211. (News report by Angela Drake, KLEM News)
Presiding judge trains through judicial college
(RENO, Nevada)–A Merrill judge completed financial statement training through the National Judicial College.
The Financial Statements in the Courtroom course is presented by the National Judicial College and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Judge Jeffrey Neary participated in the course covering techniques and best practices needed to make informed legal decisions related to complex financial statements. The presiding judge of Plymouth County and other participants had case studies and problem-solving exercises to explore current issues related to complex financial statements.
The two-day program was presented through grant funding.
Assault charges filed after abuse investigation
(LE MARS)–Le Mars Police charged a man with assault after an investigation.
Police began the investigation because staff of the residential care facility Plymouth Life contacted authorities about possible sexual abuse of adult residents of Plymouth Life.
Twenty-year-old Michael Ross Ogden is being held in the Plymouth County Jail. Ogden was arrested on three charges of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.
Police report Ogden, a registered sex offender, had been living at Plymouth Life since July.
Religious group opposes ouster of Iowa judges
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A group trying to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled to legalize gay marriage has spent nearly $100,000 on the campaign and dismissing criticism of the effort.
Bob Vander Plaats, spokesman for Iowa for Freedom, says supporters are running an effective campaign to the letter of the law.
Connie Ryan Terrell, executive director of the religious group Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, says the campaign isn’t moral.
Iowa for Freedom is financed by Mississippi-based American Family Association and its political arm, AFA Action Inc. Terrell says it amounts to an out-of-state extremist group meddling in Iowa politics.
David Lane, a spokesman for AFA Action Inc., says the group has every right to get involved in a campaign in Iowa.
About $320,000 has been spent on the campaign to oust the judges. The National Organization for Marriage has spent $235,000 on TV ads.
Miller: Foreclosure inquiry may help homeowners
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The bank mortgage foreclosure paperwork debacle could mean some homeowners get a new opportunity to modify their loan and stay in their home. For others, it may allow them to stay a little longer.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller is taking a lead in a 50-state investigation into the improper documentation of foreclosures by banks.
On Wednesday, he noted the investigation could result in millions of dollars in fines, payments to homeowner who have been financially harmed, and an effort to force banks to modify more mortgages so people can pay the loans.
Miller says the attorneys general can force banks to turn over documents if they don’t willingly. State consumer fraud laws give them authority to pursue penalties, fines and other solutions including loan modifications for banks that have acted illegally.
FEMA extends Iowa disaster registration deadline
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Federal emergency officials have extended the disaster assistance registration deadline until next month for eligible Iowans.
Gov. Chet Culver says he has been notified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the registration period scheduled to end Wednesday would be extended until Nov. 12. Iowans in 35 counties can use the extended deadline to register for grant money to be used for housing and home repairs and low-cost loans.
The federal money is available after severe storms, flooding and tornados hit the state over the summer.
Iowa emergency official Pat Hall says the continued volume of registrations indicated that Iowans needed the extra time because they were still assessing damages.
Iowa AG files 6 lawsuits against illegal digging
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The Iowa attorney general has filed six lawsuits in Iowa counties accusing parties of improperly digging near natural gas pipelines without providing the required notice.
Attorney General Tom Miller said Wednesday that the lawsuits were filed to enforce the state’s One Call statute. Iowa law requires anyone who wants to excavate in the state to contact the Davenport-based Iowa One Call notification system at least two days before digging.
The attorney general’s says the notification line handles more than 50,000 calls a month in high seasons. Notices are then sent to utility operators who have two days to mark underground lines.
The lawsuits were filed in Clayton, Delaware, Fayette, Sioux, Winnebago and Wright counties.
Cedar Rapids man pleads not guilty to murder
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A Cedar Rapids man charged with murder in the strangulation death of a 68-year-old woman has pleaded not guilty.
KWWL-TV in Waterloo reports Wednesday that 48-year-old Jerome Power entered a written plea of not guilty Monday in Linn County District Court. Power is charged with first-degree murder. His trial date hasn’t been set.
Police in September amended the attempted murder charge against Power to murder after Doris Bevins died from injuries she suffered in an assault. Police say they found an assaulted Bevins in an apartment along with Power. Police say they investigated and found that Power strangled Bevins.
Iowa welding shop fire started with boy, torch
FAIRBANK, Iowa (AP) Fire investigators say a boy playing with a torch was the source of a fire that collapsed a welding shop in eastern Iowa.
Fairbank Fire Chief Dave Ryan tells the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that a 4-year-old boy was in a wood storage area with a small torch before last week’s blaze. Ryan says investigators turned up no other causes of the fire at Gingerich Welding. Several volunteer fire department responded to the blaze.
Ryan estimated damages at the shop to be at least $250,000 and the building was nearly destroyed. Community members moved tools, machines and other products from the burning building. The chief says the community has been cleaning and sorting through the salved equipment.
Hamilton County Fair marks $35,000 shortfall
WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) The Hamilton County Fair has a $35,000 shortfall and members of the fair board have gone to Hamilton County supervisors looking for assistance.
The fair board blames the poor economy and rainy weather for the budget shortfall. The Webster City Daily Freeman-Journal reports Wednesday that the fairgrounds racetrack flooded several times over the summer and had to be drained for events. Fair secretary Holly Myers says that affected the fair’s income.
Myers says the $35,000 shortfall covers expenses from the last year and doesn’t include operating and maintenance expenses through next summer. Myers says the three biggest events of the 2010 fair were rained out.
Authorities say the fair earned $82,000 in 2009 and $57,000 in 2010.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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