Grinnell High School junior Jenny Arsenault shot a final round four under par 64 Thursday to win the Iowa Womans’ Amatuer Championship by seven strokes at the Elwood Country Club in Marshalltown. The 16-year-old Arsenault was five strokes back after shooting a 74 the first day, shot a 66 on Wednesday to take a one stroke lead and went on to win.She says she didn’t strike the ball solidly the first day and went out and hit the ball better and hit some putts after that first day. Arsenault says it was good to know she could adjust her play.She says she’s excited to know she could come back and play well after a slow start. She says she’s excited now because she has a break. Iowa State golfer Christi Athes of Eldora New Providence finished second in the tournament.
Perry takes on Charles City at semi finals
West Des Moines Valley is hoping pitching depth leads them to another title as the semifinal round of class 4A continues tonight. Valley coach Steve Moore compares the pitching depth to the team in 1995, as they get ready to play North Scott in the final round.In Carroll class 3A semifinals Perry takes on Charles City and number two Davenport Assumption goes up against Sioux City Heelan.
Unranked South O’Brien a victory away from state
At the state high school baseball tournament unranked and eighth seeded South O’Brien is a victory away from a state championship. Kyle Lang scored on an infield ground out in the bottom of the sixth as the Wolverines edged Fort Dodge St. Edmond 3-2 in a class 2A semifinal in Marshalltown. Skyler Roder was dominant on the mound for South O’Brien. He went the distance and yielded only three hits. The game continued a string of one run victories for the Wolverines. One of Roder’s few mistakes was was a throwing error in the top of the sixth that allowed the Gaels Ryan Garrett to score the tying run.
Officers cut and burn thousands of marijuana plants every year
Iowa farmers grew marijuana as a cash fiber crop during World War Two and midwestern historians say there used to be local mills that processed the hemp into rope. Now the weed’s growing wild, in farm fields and along roadways. Sheriff Dennis Conard says officers from the Scott County Sheriff’s Reserve have been sent to cut it down…before someone else does. It grows wild in Scott County and he figures if they can destroy it first, local folks won’t cut it, take it home, dry it, and “use it for their own personal purposes.” Sheriff Conard says there’s a dual purpose to the weed-cutting work. It keeps the marijuana out of the hands of people who would use it illegally and also is a fundraiser for the sheriff’s reserve, as they receive some state funds for the eradication. The plant is a weed, so the sheriff says it’s tough and particularly hard to get rid of. But he says officers are motivated to try and stamp it out. When local kids find themselves talking to officers they often say they got their marijuana by cutting down wild “ditchweed” they found growing in the county. Sheriff Conard says the reserve officers cut and burn fifteen to 20-thousand marijuana plants every year, and the state has a fund that helps pay the cost.
Soldiers not allowed to attend political events in uniform
Questions arose this week about politics and the military when an Iowa soldier was set to appear at a democratic political event in uniform. The soldier pulled out of the event after learning he could be violating the law. Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kuehn of the Iowa National Guard. He says military personnel, whether officers or enlisted, cannot attend a political activity while wearing their official uniform or while wearing an insignia that identifies them with the Iowa National Guard. He says it’s part of a federal defense regulation. Kuehn says there’s not a written definition of what constitutes a political event.He says it’s not defined in the sense of a list. He says in general if it’s a partisan event, Republican, Democrat or Green Party or whoever, that’s on behalf of a candidate — that’s a political event. Kuehn says the regulation doesn’t keep soldiers from taking part in the election process.He says it doesn’t keep soldiers form attending political events, but he says they need to be there off duty and out of uniform. And he says if they’re there out of uniform, they can’t be representing the military.Kuehn says soldiers who violate the rule can be punished.He says it’s enforced by the military code of justice. But, he says the penalty will likely not be harsh the first time.He says usually on the first offense you’d probably get “a good talking to”. Kuehn says most military personnel are good about checking on their potential involvement and he says it hasn’t been an issue very often.
Iowans head home from Democratic National Convention
The Iowans in Boston for the Democratic National Convention are making their way home now after John Kerry formally accepted the party’s presidential nomination last night. John and Jackie Norris got engaged at the Democratic National Convention in L-A four years ago. They were both in Boston for the Democratic Convention this week — Jackie as a delegate, John as the field director for John Kerry’s national campaign. John says working on Iowa Caucus campaigns for the past 20 years has put him in contact with lots of campaign workers who’ve moved to other parts of the country, and who he is now calling on to work for Kerry. John and his wife ate breakfast together every morning this week, something they haven’t done regularly for quite a while. They’ve been having one of those “commuter marriages,” as John is working at Kerry campaign headquarters in D.C. and Jackie is home in Ames, raising the couple’s 11-month-old twin boys. Jackie sends John email pictures of the boys, and they talk by phone every morning and every night. John says he will come home after the election’s over. But Jackie’s not so sure. Jackie says if John Kerry wins, her husband may be asked to work in D-C and she’s ready to talk about moving there. The couple met, by the way, through Iowa politics, as Jackie came to Iowa to work for Tom Vilsack’s campaign in 1998; she is now a teacher. In 1998, John Norris moved back to Iowa from D-C to run the Iowa Democratic Party, then he worked as Vilsack’s chief of staff. Norris, who is a Red Oak native, has run for office himself, losing to Congressman Tom Latham in the 2002 election, and this past January Norris said he’d like to run for office again someday.
Eastern Iowa Couple Gets Seat Upgrade in Boston
An eastern Iowa couple got singled out for special treatment last night at the Democratic National Convention. Tom and Becky Furlong of Letts, which is in Muscatine County, hosted a John Kerry picnic on their farm last summer. Kerry invited the couple to sit with his family last night in the convention hall. Furlong, like Kerry, is a Vietnam veteran, and endorsed Kerry early in the campaign. Furlong says he was impressed with Kerry becuase he’s “a serious person of substance.” Furlong was on stage, briefly, too, part of a group of farmers who stood as another farmer from Kentucky gave a testimonial on Kerry. Furlong was elected an alternate delegate to the convention, and was sitting in the balcony earlier this week, and didn’t find out ‘til yesterday that he’d be on stage. He says the seat upgrade was “thrilling” especially since he wasn’t sure his wife would even be able to be in the hall for last night’s speech.
