The semifinals are underway at the state high school wrestling tournament. With a victory today, competitors move to within one win of the ultimate goal: a climb to the top of the victory stand on Saturday night. One of those who has waited the longest wrestles in Class 3A. Lewis Central 152-pounder Nick Hayes is making his fourth trip to the state tournament but failed to place in his first three trips. Today, Hayes got by Southeast Polk’s Tom Koch and will bid for his first title. Hayes says he just has to keep on working hard, and things will happen for him. Hayes says he’s dreamed about being a state champ and “it’s gonna happen.” West Des Moines Valley freshman Montell Marion advanced to the 103-pound title match after he posted a 3-2 win over Cody McClintock of Fort Dodge. Marion says he has felt like the underdog all week. “I’ve been thinking I’m the man because I beat up some people,” he said. “But then they come at you and man, I’ve just got to get there and do my thing, you know.” Marion says a poster in his room of the state championship mat has provided inspiration for him. Pleasant Valley heavyweight Justin Fah advanced to the championship following a first period pin of Iowa City West’s Travis Meade. “This feels awesome,” he said. “Started out the season with an injury and I battled back and it’s good to be given the opportunity to go in the finals.” Iowa City West has a narrow lead over Oskaloosa in a balanced 3A team chase. Action at Vets began with the quarterfinal round in 1A and a pair of wrestlers kept bids alive for four state titles. Don Bosco’s Mack Reiter pinned Tyler Burkle of North Linn in the first period to reach the 125-pound semis. At 135 pounds, Hudson’s three-time champ C.J. Ettelson scored a technical fall over Roby Yilek of Belle Plaine to advance.
Man sentenced in child’s death
Benjamin Arends was sentenced by a judge in Marshalltown for the November 2001 death of his girlfriend’s toddler. B.J. Arends was sentenced in Marshall County District Court this afternoon on convictions of voluntary manslaughter and child endangerment. He’s sentenced to five years in jail and a 750 dollar fine on the manslaughter conviction, and another two years on the child endangerment charge. The jail sentences will be served consecutively and will also involve paying restitution of $150,000 to the estate of two-year-old Jesse Snyder. Attorneys for Arends say they will appeal the verdicts, and the sentences.
There’s trouble in the former capital of Iowa City, and that’s trouble with a T, which stands for termites
Forget the Cyclones and all of those Big Ten rivals. The University of Iowa’s top foe at the moment is the tiny but mighty termite. U-of-I entomologist Bob Setter says the battle with the wood-eating bugs is ongoing and is costing the Iowa City institution about $170,000 a year.Setter says “We have termites all across campus, depending on where you look. The more you look, the more you can find.” Setter was recruited from Canada three years ago to help the U-of-I take on termites and develop a plan to save several threatened buildings on campus. He says they’re -not- using traditional chemicals like neurotoxins or termiticides, but other newer products. Setter says the weapons being used are very target-specific and are ingested by the termites and spread among the colony to kill the reproductive components of the colony. He says the kings, queens, soldiers and workers all share the same food source and the colony collapses. Setter says there is a large colony under the Engineering building, just across from the U-of-I’s Main Library and many tens of thousands of books, which has him concerned. Setter says there’s a lot of “reimmigration,” meaning once a colony is wiped out, new termites march right in, sometimes within a month, sometimes several years later, but they keep coming back. He says Old Capitol, perhaps the U-of-I’s most-beloved building and one of the oldest on campus, is free of termites.
Airline personel get training from Iowa insitute
Some airline personnel, but not pilots, are getting security and anti-terrorism training from an Iowa-based institute. Training director Mike Gillette at the National Law Enforcement Seucrity Institute says this week’s news that a test group of pilots will train to carry firearms is not going to have them flying in to the Ankeny gun range for drills. He says every CEO of every major passenger airline and freight carrier like UPS and FedEx signed a document sent to the Secretary of Transportation saying they don’t want to have firearms on aircraft, with all the problems they think that would bring. The NLSI in Ankeny has a shooting range, hunter-training, and programs for officers and security workers. Gillette says they don’t train “air marshals” either as their training is “insulated” for security reasons. But there are other airline employees in the plane, and the Iowa institute has been giving them training in recent months. Gillette says the Ankeny center trains flight attendants and pursers, the flight-crew workers who are “the only thing between you and potential bad guys” once the cockpit door is sealed. Gillette says the flight attendants learn ways to quiet unruly passengers and handle potentially threatening situations. They study everything from self-defense to how to recognize homemade explosive devices, team tactics, and “verbal intervention tactics” for tense situations. The agency’s latest training steers away from martial-arts and combat to more sophisticated psychological methods to keep the peace onboard a flight. The National Law Enforcement Security Institute is based in central Iowa but has branch locations in Washington D,C., Los Angeles, Dallas and London. The training courses for flight personnel are held at airline headquarters. For more information, surft to www.NLSI.net.
Former Ambassadors say war with Iraq is inevitable
Two former U-S Ambassadors who now live and work in Iowa say war with Iraq seems inevitable.John Menzies, the president of Graceland University in Lamoni, was U-S Ambassador to Bosnia during U-S intervention in the Balkans. Menzies says he could envision a “goal-line tackle” in which the people of Iraq would overthrow Saddam Hussein. But he says it’s unlikely the Iraqi people could muster the force required to topple Hussein since he has such firm control of the levers of power and has even gassed his own citizens when tested. Menzies says the President and other U-S officials have properly shifted the discussion to the “liberation” of Iraq. Menzies says the people of Iraq will be the greatest beneficiaries of an intervention that would bring them a new form of government, and new liberties. Kenneth Quinn, president of the Des Moines-based World Food Prize Foundation, retired from a career in the foreign service — concluding with his job as U-S Ambassador to Cambodia. Quinn says war seems “likely” with thousands of U-S troops poised in the Persian Gulf. But Quinn says there’s an outside chance that internal changes in Iraq — like a change in its government — could avert war. Quinn says as the United Nations Security Council debates the proper response to Iraq’s intransigence, the politics among the nations represented are fierce. Quinn says there’s a lot of resentment toward the US as countries in Europe have felt they’ve suffered in our shadow and smaller countries are smarting over reduction in US aid.
DNR says it wasn’t a Mountain Lion in Bondurant
A spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the reported spotting of a mountain lion or black panther in central Iowa was a false alarm. DNR spokesman Mick Klemesrud says a witness reported seeing a large black cat with a long tail Thursday near the Polk County town of Bondurant. While there were big tracks found in the snow, he says a DNR biologist and a conservation officer have ruled out a big cat as the culprit. An interview with the witness and a review of the tracks and other evidence led them to believe the animal was not a mountain lion. Klemesrud says they can’t know for sure what the animal was. Klemesrud says the animal could’ve been anything from a large dog to a house cat. He says one report in the media about a possible mountain lion usually leads to dozens of other calls about possible sightings. Mountain lions have been confirmed in southern and northwest Iowa.
North-Central Iowa women create support group for troops and families
Two women from north-central Iowa are organizing an effort to meet the needs of military families. Ronda Jordal says “Midwest Moms” will aim to offer information and encouragement to military families and to the soldiers themselves. She says it’s a support for the people left behind, because so many are in the same boat with similar feelings and fears. It’s also something to keep those worried families busy, Jordal says. The Forest City woman has three reasons to keep busy herself.Jordal’s brother Patrick is in Germany on standby for any orders, her brother Michael is in Kuwait now, and her son Steven has been deployed with the 101st Airborne Air Assault unit, and they don’t know yet where he’ll be going. Jordal went down to the commander at the one-hundred-and-first, and asked the First Sergeant what the soldiers overseas will need from their families and friends back home.She says he told them the troops need postage, sunscreen and lip balm, moist towelettes and “anything homemade.” Would-be donors can contribute simple things that will be welcomed by the thirsty troops, Jordal says. Hard candies, things that won’t melt in the desert heat, dried soup mixes and “designer” flavored instant coffees, anything that’s “more than just plain water.” Heightened security means it’ll be tougher for the “Midwest Moms” to send things directly to the troops, and Jordal says they don’t want contributions of money but people can send phone cards or postage. Everything else will come directly from corporations. Jordal explains that way, the organizers don’t have to worry about where it came from or security concerns, but can simply take the manufacturer containers and repack the products into boxes of fifty, enough items for an individual unit. Jordal and her friend Barb Snitzer, also of Forest City, are coordinating the repacking and sending off all the items that people offer. Jordal says Congressman Tom Latham’s office is working to get addresses and A-P-O numbers that will help the “Midwest Moms” send items to the servicepeople. Donors who want to items to be forwarded to the troops can get more information and contact the organizers via email at jordal@wctatel.net.
