Dr. Doorenbos Announces Retirement
(Le Mars) — A longtime health care professional to the Le Mars community has decided to retire. After 41 years, Dr. Daryl Doorenbos will leave his practice. Dr. Doorenbos has announced his last day as a physician is scheduled for November 29th.
Floyd Valley Hospital Contributes To Community
(Le Mars) — Floyd Valley Hospital provides $842,000 in community benefits to Plymouth County according to a recently completed assessment of those programs and services. That amount, based on 2011 figures, includes $640,000 in uncompensated care $202,000 in free or discounted community benefits that Floyd Valley Hospital specifically implements to help Plymouth County residents. Community benefits are activities designed to improve health status and increase access to health care. Along with uncompensated care (which includes both charity care and bad debt) community benefits include such services and programs as health screenings, support groups, counseling, immunizations, nutritional services and transportation programs.
Akron-Westfield Approves Physical Plant and Equipment Levy
(Akron) — Akron-Westfield voters approved the school district’s Physical Plant and Equipment Levy during a special election held yesterday. A total of 387 people cast their vote during the special election, and the measure was approved by a 76 percent to 24 percent margin. Home owners and land owners will be assessed one dollar for every $1,000 of value. Officials believe it will generate about $160,000 on an annual basis for the Akron-Westfield school district. School officials say the levy will help with the purchase of new computers and other needs for the school.
Farmers and Fire Officials Fight Field Fire
(Le Mars) — Farmers and fire officials alike were battling the strong winds Tuesday afternoon when a soybean field caught fire. Le Mars and Merrill fire and rescue units responded to the scene located near the intersection of County Roads K-42 and C-16, or about three miles north of Brunsville. The call came in at about 2:30 p.m. and within a half hour, fire officials were fortunate to have contained the fire. Farmers from the area assisted fire officials by providing a bobcat skid loader and two large tractors pulling tandem disks to help smother the flames. Approximately six acres of soybeans were lost to the fire. It is not known how the fire started. No farm equipment was lost as a result of the fire.
Le Mars Fire Department and Dean Foods To Hold Training
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department will hold a special disaster training session in conjunction with Dean Foods scheduled for Wednesday evening beginning at 6:30 p.m. This training program was re-scheduled from two weeks ago. The simulated disaster will deal with a truck carrying corrosive materials that is involved with an industrial accident. Besides the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Departments, other area fire departments, along with the Sioux City Hazzard Materials Team will participate in the drill, as will the Le Mars Ambulance, Le Mars Police, and Floyd Valley Hospital. The drill will be on the south side of Dean Foods, next to 12th Street Southwest.
Plymouth County Supervisors Hear Road Employees Contract Requests
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors heard the contract requests from the Plymouth County Secondary Road Employee Association during their regular meeting this
morning. Curt Sitzmann was representing the employee association, and he spelled out the various requests.
Listen to
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The other requests was to have a four hour minimum for on-call pay during the time when snow
and ice was to be cleared, and a two hour minimum for any other on-calls. The county road employees were asking for an increase of pay from forty cents an hour to a dollar an hour pay increase when performing duties while on-call.
Judge Orders Hog Producer To Pay For Manure Spill
SPENCER, Iowa (AP) – A Clay County judge has ordered a northwest Iowa hog producer to pay a $15,000 penalty for an illegal manure application last year that led to a fish kill.
The civil penalty was assessed Tuesday against Bruce Click, who owns and operates a 4,000 hog operation in Peterson, for applying the manure last September. Authorities say the manure flowed into a tributary of the Little Sioux River, resulting in water quality standard violations and a fish kill.
In the consent decree filed Tuesday, Click admitted to the violations and agreed to the penalty and a permanent injunction against further violations.
Spencer Police Looking For White Van
SPENCER, Iowa (AP) – Spencer police are searching for the driver of a white van who tried to make contact with some students at a playground in Spencer.
Police say a man in his 60s stopped at an elementary school Tuesday afternoon and motioned for the students to come over. Some teacher aides came outside and the man left.
Three similar incidents have been reported in Lyon and Dickinson counties in the past few weeks.
Spencer Police Chief Mark Lawson says the suspect and vehicle description in Tuesday’s incident are a close match to the others, but he can’t say if the cases are linked.
DNA Proves Man’s Guilt Of A Ten Year Old Rape Case
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Authorities are crediting a federal DNA database for nabbing a Nebraska sex offender in a 10-year-old Iowa sexual assault case.
The Council Bluffs Nonpareil reports (https://bit.ly/U7nPA9 ) that Mark Sands, a registered sex offender from Omaha, Neb., pleaded guilty to third-degree kidnapping and third-degree sexual
assault before his trial in Pottawattamie County was set to begin Tuesday. He had been charged with first- and second-degree kidnapping, burglary, sexual abuse and three assault charges for a 2001 home invasion in which a Council Bluffs mother was raped and beaten and her 16-year-old disabled daughter tied up.
Sands was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.
The 51-year-old Sands was arrested last year after police said the national DNA database identified him as the man who raped the woman in October 2001.
Branstad Names New Public Safety Commissioner
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Gov. Terry Branstad has named a new commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
Branstad on Tuesday appointed 59-year-old K. Brian London to the post, replacing Larry Noble, who retired in July.
London has over 30 years in law enforcement, including the California Highway Patrol, the CIA, the Secret Service, the International Criminal Police Organization, or INTERPOL, in France and with Florida’s Department of Financial Services. Most recently, he was an independent security consultant in Florida.
Branstad says London has a “wealth of experience” to bring to Iowa. London begins his new job on Oct. 8.
Iowans Arrested For Transporting Juvenile Girls For Prostitution
CHICAGO (AP) – Two people in Iowa and one in Ohio have been arrested for allegedly transporting underage girls to Chicago for prostitution.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago said in a Tuesday statement that authorities launched an investigation in April after a 14-year-old girl snuck out of a hotel and called her mother in Iowa City. The mother then contacted police.
There are two other alleged victims – both 16 years old. The suspects are aged 19, 23 and 41. Federal authorities are seeking to have them sent to Chicago.
A complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago charges each with one count of conspiracy to transport minors across state lines to engage in prostitution.
If convicted, each faces a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence and a maximum sentence of life.
