The city of Des Moines is the year’s Project Impact winner in Iowa. Project Impact is a nationwide initiative that the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency started to boost disaster prevention.FEMA Director John Miller says since the floods of ’93 — 47 localbusinesses and several citizens teamed up to prevent disasters. He says thecity was a good candidate for the award with its detailed plan of action.Miller says Iowa’s cities need to be on the ball when it comes to disasterprevention and mitigation.Only two other Iowa cities — Denison and Cherokee have been selected asProject Impact communities.
Gun threat causes school to take action
September 17, 1999 By
A Northwest Iowa High School was locked down Thursday following aconfrontation between three students that required intervention by theWoodbury County Sheriff’s department. Lawton-Bronson Superintendant BobRayner says the school took the extra security measures after one of thestudents made a threat.to get a gun and return to the school. The school then instituted its crisismanagement plan. Rayner says they decided the threat was serious enough totake action.16-year old Joshua Mitchel of Lawton was arrested for allegedly making thethreat about the gun. 18-year olds Jeremiah Heck and Richard Huss of Bronsonwere also arrested for their role in the incident. Rayner says the studentswill face disciplinary action from the school district.All three have been suspended pending further action by the school board.Authorities are not saying what spurred the confrontation between the threestudents.
High school rodeo set for this weekend
September 17, 1999 By
The 15th annual “Iowa High School Rodeo” gets underway Saturday on theLinn County Fairgrounds in Central City. Leon Soukup (soo’-kup), the rodeodirector for northeast Iowa, says the state’s most talented young rodeostars will be on hand.One-hundred-75 high schoolers will participate. Soukup says it’s not justcowboy, as there’s a girls division.Admission is six-dollars for adults, two-dollars for kids. Pre-schoolersget in free.
House speaker upset over confederate flag on interstate
September 17, 1999 By
Iowa House Speaker Brent Siegrist has asked the Iowa Department ofTransportation to investigate after he saw a confederate symbol flying alongan Interstate 80 construction site. Siegrist saw a confederate battle flag flying from a construction machineworking on the interstate. Siegrist, a republican from Council Bluffs, sayssome people might not think it’s a big deal, but it might offend others.He says it’s not the kind of thing that sheds a good light on Iowa.Siegrist says the director of the D-O-T is looking into the confederate flagand may have already had it taken down.
State ready to filter internet use in schools
September 17, 1999 By
School kids across Iowa may soon find it more difficult to sneak a peak atpornography or violence on the Internet. State officials are solicitingbids from companies to establish a statewide filtering system for schoolcomputers. Representative Rosemary Thompson, a republican from Marion, saysteachers in computer labs can’t police every student’s Internet usage.The legislature set aside 50-thousand dollars to buy the computer filteringsystem, a move Thompson says was in reaction to last spring’s schoolshooting in Colorado.Thompson says the goal is to have the statewide filtering system in place bysecond semester.Several computer filtering companies monitor Internet sites which featureporn and violence, updating web addresses every 24 hours and blocking accessto the objectionable sites.
Farm poll shows stress and concern up among farmers
September 17, 1999 By
The just-released “Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll” shows nearly all farmersbelieve their occupation is more risky than ever before — and a vastmajority have higher stress levels. Iowa State University sociologist PaulLasley says just about nine-out-of-10 farmers surveyed said farming’s gottenmore risky in the last five years.Fifty-seven percent of the Iowa farmers surveyed said they are more “stressedout.” Lasley, who directs the poll and analyzes its results, says that’ssignificant as the poll was taken in February and March.Almost 26-hundred farmers were surveyed.
Northern Iowa looks to remain perfect
September 17, 1999 By
The 6th ranked Northern Iowa Panthers open their home season against CentralWashington. U-N-I coach Mike Dunbar says the Panther defense will try totake advantage of an inexperienced Central Washington offensive line.Dunbar says the strength of the Central Washington offense is their widerecievers.
