A northeast Iowa businessman has been fined in connection with a deadly gas line explosion. Lyle Recker, the owner of Recker Construction of Arlington, was fined 75-hundred dollars by a Fayette County judge for failing to call to get the location of a natural gas pipeline before digging in a farm field east of Oelwein. Recker was installing drain tile in November of 1999 when he struck the pipeline. The pipe exploded later as workers were inspecting it. One man was killed and another lost an eye in the explosion. State law requires a call to “Iowa One Call” locate underground lines 48 hours before you dig.
