Guard helps tear down drug houses

The National Guard is in Keokuk to tear things down. From active duty in Kuwait to sandbagging the flooding Mississippi, Iowa’s guards have had a busy year. This time the challenge is a different kind of mop-up operation. The city’s “red-tagged” eight houses that are abandoned, decaying, and reportedly the scene of drug dealing and crime. The guard is spending all week with excavating, loading and hauling equipment, tearing the problem houses down. Monday Adjutant General Ron Dardis came from Camp Dodge to visit the soldiers. The Iowa Army Guard and 224th Engineer Battalion have have demolished similar drug properties in the last two years in Sioux City and Waterloo.