Plymouth County Board Of Supervisors To Canvass Election Results
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Board of Supervisors will officially canvass the election results of the school board and city positions today during their weekly meeting at the County Courthouse Boardroom. The county governing board will also hear from Plymouth County IT Director, Shawn Olson, as he will present new information regarding the dot gov domain for Plymouth County. The county board of supervisors will hear from several various individuals seeking approval of subdivisions. Former county supervisor Mark Loutsch and county resident, Justin Harms will appear before the county board to offer an update regarding property cleanup progress. County engineer Tom Rohe will speak to the county supervisors regarding the Powder Players Snowmobile Club and their request to use the county roads right of way. Rohe will also discuss with the county board several permit requests, and he will discuss the planned detour for county road C-60 at Hinton.
Harvest Is Nearing Completion
(Des Moines) — This year’s harvest is nearing completion. According to the weekly crop progress report issued by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa farmers have harvested 95 percent of the soybean crop, and 84 percent of the state’s corn crop is now finished. Most of the grain still left to be harvested is located in the south-central and southwestern portions of the state. The rains from October have helped reduce the drought conditions from this summer. Topsoil moisture levels are listed as one percent very short, 14 percent as being short, 80 percent as listed as having adequate moisture levels, and five percent as having surplus moisture levels. Field activities included harvesting, fall tillage, manure and fertilizer application, as well as anhydrous applications and the baling of corn stalks.
14 People Complete Law Enforcement Citizens Academy
(Le Mars) — 14 people from Le Mars and Plymouth County recently completed the four-week course of the Citizens Academy program offered by the Le Mars Police Department and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office. The class participants were able to have a close up look at how law enforcement officials perform their jobs and duties. Justin Daale is the Assistant Police Chief for the Le Mars Police Department. He served as one of the instructors for the course, and talks about the cooperation between the police department and the sheriff’s office in offering the course.
Daale says Le Mars is a small enough community that it is likely the officers may personally know, or, know of the people involved with a crime or accident. He says a goal with the citizens academy is to share that perspective with the attending participants. He says actors from the Postal Playhouse assisted with scenarios, especially with domestic disturbance scenarios.
Participants of the citizens academy are often placed in a similar scenario as are law enforcement officers. One such section of the class had the participants play the role of a law enforcement officer through a life-like realistic video projection program. The scenario could have the officer walking up to a residence of a reported domestic dispute, or approaching a stopped vehicle for going through a stop sign, or encountering a mental health patient in a park with small children. There are several different types of situations. The outcomes of the mentioned scenarios, can be altered, depending on the type of interaction the officer has with the person featured in the video. The scenarios may end peacefully, or they may turn violent. The program is a helpful instructional tool for officers to be aware of what could be the consequences. The citizens academy participants had to take on the role of a police officer during the various scenarios.
Daale says the experience proved to be an eye-opening experience for the contestants, and often provides for split-second decision making.
Participants were introduced to drug and alcohol intoxicated recognition, to accident investigation, to crime scene homicide investigation, and mediator to domestic disputes. Other areas covered in the course were the use of tazers and other non-lethal ammunition. Class participants were introduced to the K-9 unit, as well as the strategic weapons tactical unit known as “Combined Emergency Response Team, or CERT”, and they even fired a variety of guns at the city’s shooting range. Daale tells of the 14 different people that completed the citizens academy.
The Le Mars Assistant Police Chief explains why the local law enforcement agencies offer the citizens academy.
Daale says another citizens academy course will be offered again next fall.
Authorities Investigate The Death Of 83-Year-Old Pottawattamie County Woman
(Council Bluffs, IA) — Authorities in Pottawattamie County say an 86-year-old man is under a law enforcement hold while he is treated for a gunshot wound at a hospital. Deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance at a home just east of Council Bluffs Sunday morning. Eighty-three-year-old Bonnie Rankin was found dead inside that home. Her cause of death hasn’t been released. Also inside was Harvey Rankin. Investigators with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office say they don’t believe anyone else was involved. Criminal charges haven’t been filed yet.
John Deere Considers Moving Some Manufacturing Efforts Overseas
(Moline, IL) — Officials at John Deere are said to be considering moving some of the company’s manufacturing efforts overseas. The United Auto Workers strike against the company is in its fourth week and two contract offers have been rejected. More than 10-thousand workers are still on the picket lines. The company says it has brought in thousands of its salaried workers to keep the production line going so it will be able to meet customer needs during the harvest season. A spokesperson says the longer-term objective is to get employees back and operating its facilities.
Iowa City Man Faces Multiple Charges For Several Incidents
(Iowa City, IA) — A 19-year-old Iowa City man is charged with trafficking in stolen weapons. Demtrick Byars is also accused of having an incendiary or explosive device in his possession. Investigators say they have connected Byars to multiple firearms and shooting-related incidents in Iowa City and Coralville. They say they found stolen weapons and two homemade explosive devices when they executed a search warrant at his home in Coralville last week. Byars was taken into custody Thursday.
Iowa DCI Still Searching For Motive In Teacher’s Murder
(Fairfield, IA) — The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is still searching for the motive in a Fairfield teacher’s murder. Investigators say they are trying to figure out why two high school students allegedly killed Spanish teacher Nohema Graber. Her body was found in a town park last week. The D-C-I says it is looking into whether the two suspects were upset about a bad grade. Jeremy Goodale and Willard Miller, both 16, are charged with first-degree murder. Both teenagers have a preliminary hearing scheduled for Friday.
Research Finds Link Between Pandemic Sitting And Depression
(Ames, IA) — Research at Iowa State University finds adults who spent a higher amount of time sitting during the early months of the pandemic had higher symptoms of depression. I-S-U kinesiology professor Jacob Meyer says a follow-up survey this fall found those effects lingered among study participants who tended to be inactive for longer periods of the day. He says being a little bit more conscious of how much we sit and when we have to sit and when we don’t have to sit might be really important to everyone’s ongoing mental health. Meyer is director of I-S-U’s Wellbeing and Exercise Laboratory and says study participants to kept track of how much time they spent exercising versus sitting and whether they’d experienced changes in feeling stressed, lonely, anxious, or depressed.
ISU Honors World War Two Veterans
(Ames, IA) — Iowa State University honored three former students today (Monday) for their military service during World War Two. One of those honored is William Ostlund (AUST-land) of Webster City. His nephew, Chris Ostlund, says after Pearl Harbor he enlisted and decided to go into the submarine service because he knew that was something that was difficult and he thought the challenge would be great. Ostlund was assigned to a sub, the U-S-S Gudgeon which was later lost at sea. I-S-U also honored Robert A. Berwick of Knoxville who was killed off the coast of Okinawa in 1945 while serving in the Navy. And Donald T. Griswold of Clarinda — who died in the U.S. Navy in 1942 during the battle of Midway.
Sioux City Veterans Tell Their Stories
(Sioux City) — Local veterans in Sioux City got to tell their stories for a special project that will preserve them at the Library of Congress. Bill Lyle was one of around one dozen veterans who shared their story during recording at the 185th Air National Guard base Friday. Lyle was 18 when he and eight of his friends joined the Army at the end of World War Two and ended up in the occupation forces in Japan in 1946. Lyle says being 18 and in a foreign country made him a little nervous, but they were surprised by the reception they got from the Japanese — who treated them well. Each of the soldiers will also get a photo on the Library of Congress website along with their story as part of the Veterans History Project.
Administration To Fight Court Ruling On Company Vaccine Mandates
(Washington, DC) — The U-S Justice Department says it will aggressively defend President Biden’s vaccine requirement for big companies. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans says the mandate cannot be enforced while they review the issue. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds joined some of her Republican counterparts to sue over the Biden administration mandates requiring employees of companies with 100 or more employees to get vaccinated.
