Home News Saturday News, March 14

Saturday News, March 14

1946: Last Bulldog Basketball Team To Compete For State Championship

(Le Mars) — Although having been to the state tournament on several occassions, the last time the Le Mars Boys Basketball team competed for the Championship trophy was back in 1946.  KLEM news thought it would be nostalgic to go back in the archives and research was was said about that Bulldog team. Some facts and some folklore.  According to the Le Mars Community High School Year Book, there were a couple of articles featuring the 1946 Basketball team.  The starting five was comprised of Sylvester Wilhemi, Don Johnson, Bill Haas, Dick Carey and Eldon Clement.  The reserves comprised of Jim Lorenzson, Dan Walbers, Lee Lambert, Jim Schultz and Fred Bos.  During that time, it was thought that Le Mars had one of the tallest teams in the state with its starters measuring 6-3, 6-5, 6-2, 6-5 and 6-2.  Getting to the championship game Le Mars had to first beat Livermore, Marshalltown, and Wavery.  The 1946 State Championship game matched the Le Mars Bulldogs with Iowa City.  Le Mars lost the state championship in a heartbreaking game when the Iowa City boys put six points through the hoop with only a minute to go in the game.  The game was a see-saw battle, all the way, and it appeared as though the Le Mars team had the game in the bag with only one minute to go and an advantage of five points.  It was agreed by all who saw the game that it was one of the fastest and most exciting games that the had ever seen.  The high scorer of the game for Le Mars was Eldon Clement who scored 17 points.  Folklore says Clement was at the free-throw line with the opportunity to win the game, but unfortunately the ball bounced off the rim causing the Bulldogs to instead bring home the Runner-up trophy.  It has been said that Clement was feeling so distraught about missing the shot, that he chose not to travel with the team on their return trip back to Le Mars.  Another article dating back to 1946 says the post-war years were marked by many happier occasions from the student and alumni point of view.  In March of 1946, the basketball team went to the finals of the state tournament, losing to Iowa City by one point in a close, heart-breaking game.  But the team was welcomed home as enthusiastically as if they had been the victors.  Their performance opened a decade of success in the school’s athletics and its other activities.  KLEM wishes the 2015 Le Mars Bulldogs good luck in tonight’s championship game with Dubuque Wahlert.

 

Soderberg Speaks About Gun Bills

(Des Moines) — This week in the state legislature, the House of Representatives passed a couple of controversial measures…first, a gun bill that would allow suppressors, or better known as silentcers for guns, a part of the passed bill would allow children younger than 14 the opportunity to operate hand guns, along with a provision within the same legislation that would keep the names and addresses of gun permit holders private.   Le Mars republican representative Chuck Soderberg says similar bills were passed during last year’s session, but never got through the Democratic controlled Senate. 

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Somewhat surprising maybe the margin in which the bill had passed, with nearly three-fourths of the House members voting in favor of the bill without much debate.

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Soderberg, along with State Senator Bill Anderson will hold a series of legislative forums scheduled for today.  The two lawmakers will be at the Lawton Friendship Center this morning at 9:00 a.m.; the Moville Community Center at 10:00 a.m.  The Pierson Community Center will host the legislators at 11:00 a.m. and the lawmakers will finish their legislative forums at the Nada Hub in Correctionville at 12:00 noon.  Each of the forums are open to the public.

 

Cattle Drive To Shut Down Highway 20 On Sunday Morning

(Sioux City) —  An old Western style cattle drive will temporarily close part of Highway 20 east of Sioux City this Sunday morning.   Lt. Chuck Hertz of the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Department says a local farmer needs to move cattle across the road. 

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Deleware Avenue, also known as County Road K-49, is a blacktop that runs north of Bronson about five miles east of Sioux City.  Lt. Hertz says sheriff’s deputies will be on hand to control traffic at the intersection area until the cattle cross the highway. 

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The cattle drive is expected to take place around 7:20 a.m. Sunday. 

 

Grassley Would Like To See Additional Home Health Care Extended

(Washington) — Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley wants to make it easier for senior citizens to have the choice to remain in their homes and receive health care, as opposed to going to a nursing care facility.  Grassley has recently introduced legislation to pursue that goal, and he explained his position with reporters during his recent weekly news conference.

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Denison Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For Killings And Arson

 DENISON, Iowa (AP) – A 26-year-old Denison man has been sentenced to two consecutive terms of life in prison without parole for murdering two elderly people and trying to burn their bodies.
     A judge administered the sentence Friday to Michael Schenk, who was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson in January in the murders of 80-year-old Marvin Huesling and 81-year-old Alice Huisenga. Schenk received an indeterminate sentence of 10 years for the arson charge.
     Another defendant, 19-year-old Jayden Chapman, also faces murder and arson charges and is scheduled to go to trial April 28.
     Authorities say Schenk and Chapman shot the pair at a trailer home in Deloit in March 2014 and then set it on fire. Investigators say the men were likely trying to steal scrap metal.
 

School Bus Carrying 20 Students Overturns

 TREYNOR, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say no one was seriously hurt when a school bus carrying about 20 children overturned on a rural road in western Iowa.
     The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says the rollover occurred around 2:30 p.m. Friday near the intersection of 290th Street and Delta Road northwest of Treynor. Officials estimate as many as 20 children were on board when the bus went off the road and into a small ditch.
     Authorities say one child sustained a minor wrist injury and the driver had bumps and bruises from the incident.
     No further information has been released.

 

Heavy Fog Responsible For Vehicle Accident

CLEAR CREEK, Iowa (AP) – Police say heavy fog caused a crash that killed a Des Moines man.
     The Iowa State Patrol says the collision occurred about 8:30 a.m. Friday morning at the intersection of Highway 330 and Highway 65 in Jasper County. Authorities say a semitruck struck a van driven by 62-year-old Robert David Evans, who died from injuries sustained in the crash.
     Police say Evans was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. They reported dense fog and zero visibility when the collision occurred.
     Authorities say the crash remains under investigation.

 

Wall Collapses In Boone

BOONE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say there are no reports of injuries after a wall of an approximately 125-year-old brick building located in Boone collapsed.
     The collapse occurred around 3 p.m. Friday. Authorities say some people were inside the two-story building at the time, but that no one was hurt.
     Officials say the building was built around 1890 and has had a wall collapse before. The building now contains five apartments and previously was a restaurant.
     Investigation into the cause of the collapse is ongoing. No further information has been released.

 

Mississippi River Oil Spill

 MOLINE, Ill. (AP) – Authorities say 10 to 50 gallons of an oil and water mixture spilled from a small towboat docked in Moline into the Mississippi River.
     Moline Fire Department Battalion Chief Todd Allen says firefighters responded Friday afternoon to a report of oil on the water’s surface in an area where two excursion boats are docked. U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant junior grade Michael Lewis says the leak came from a void space in the towboat, and that the cause of the spill remains under investigation.
     Officials confirmed that the leak has stopped. Lewis says initial water samples tested have not shown oil contamination.
     The U.S. Coast Guard arrived about 4:30 p.m. to assist local emergency crews. Officials remained on the scene Friday night to monitor the river.

 

State Drops Appeal Of Proposed Voter Purge Rule

  DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The state of Iowa has dropped an appeal of a court ruling that found former Secretary of State Matt Schultz had unlawfully initiated a new rule that could have removed voters from state registration rolls if their names showed up as noncitizens in a federal database.
     Court documents show the appeal was voluntarily dismissed by the state.
     The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa sued Schultz in 2012 challenging the rule first proposed just before the November general elections that year.
     Last year a judge said state law didn’t authorize Schultz to create a rule that would cancel a voter’s registration based on citizenship questions.
     Dropping the appeal means a permanent injunction stopping enactment of the rule remains in place.

 

Des Moines Officer Convicted Of Using Excessive Force

  DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A federal jury has convicted a former Des Moines police officer of using excessive force during an arrest two years ago.
     Jurors on Friday found 38-year-old Collin Boone guilty of unreasonable use of force. The conviction comes after a November mistrial in which jurors couldn’t agree whether Boone used excessive force in an arrest two years ago, prompting a retrial that began Monday.
     Boone was charged in connection with a 2013 traffic stop of Orville Hill, whom he kicked in the head. Hill filed a lawsuit in February against Boone, the former police chief and the city of Des Moines.
     Boone was acquitted of falsifying records in his original trial. He was fired in May 2013 following the incident.