Three years ago Adam Eggeling was in the midst of his senior season as a tight end at Buena Vista and this fall has directed Charter Oak-Ute to a 3-1 record in his first season as head coach. Eggeling spent one season as an assistant coach before taking over a Bobcat program that won only seven games in its first four years at the eight-man level. He says he was nervous, but anxious and thought he could do the job just as well as anyone els. Many times being young is seen as an advantage for a head coach but Eggeling says it also offers some challenges. He says it can be a double-edge sword, as he says he’s tried to use it to his advantage in relating to the players. But he says he can’t relate to them too much, as he says he can’t get to friendly and have them think he’s their best friend because that’s not the image he wants to portray. The Bobcats have a big challenge in their district three opener tomorrow night as they take on fifth ranked Remsen St. Marys. He says they’re a great football team, but he says he’s told his team anything can happen and he says he hopes it’s a good game.
UNI faces key volleyball match against Wichita State
The U-N-I volleyball team will host Wichita State in an important Missouri Valley Conference match-up tomorrow. The Panthers and the Shockers were the preseason co-favorites to win the Valley. U-N-I is looking to bounce back following a tough five-game loss at Illinois State last week. Northern Iowa is 2-1 in the Valley, while Wichita State is 4-0. With the league seeming to be extremely balanced this year, how many losses does U-N-I coach Bobbi Petersen think the team that wins the Valley will have? She says it could be as little as 1 or 2 or as many as 5. She says Wichita State looks to be the team to beat but they still have a way to go and she says since all the teams play twice, there are a lot of opportunities left. Petersen feels there’s a good rivalry between the two teams. She says they’re a team that’s always been very competative against them.
Deadline hits for schools and biodiesel
Today’s the deadline for schools to apply for a program that offers bio-diesel fuel for their schoolbuses. Only about two dozen Iowa school districts currently use biodiesel fuel in their buses. Bev Tierney is the Biodiesel Marketing Coordinator for West Central Coop in Ralston, which has teamed with the Environmental Protection Agency and the School Administrators of Iowa to create the Bus Emissions Education Program, or BEEP. Schools will be chosen by the School Administrators of Iowa for the program, the cost of the diesel fuel for blending would be paid by the school, but the biodiesel portion will be paid for by West Central and the E-P-A grant. Tierney says that 250-thousand-dollar federal EPA grant is important for schools facing tight budgets. Tierney says the fuel will not only make the air cleaner throughout communities, it’ll be especially important for the health of young passengers. She points out that children are especially vulnerable to exhaust and often spend a great part of their day on or near the school buses. Tierney says biodiesel is a healthier option, though the few districts now using a soy blend have it mixed at a ratio of five percent or less with the diesel fuel.These school busses will be using a B-10 or a B-20 formula, she explains, a 10-percent or a 20-percent blend of biodiesel in the busses and that will cut the soot and the particulate matter in diesel by 15-percent and carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons by over 10-percent. Applications for the program were sent out in early September. The deadline, which was today, may be extended by the School Administrators of Iowa. Around 20 applications have been received. Winning schools will be announced in November.
Sioux City holds disaster exercise
The Sioux City Fire Department held a large-scale disaster exercise this morning that included a couple dozen departments from the surrounding tri-state area. Sioux City Assistant Fire Chief Jim Clark says the exercise included a simulated explosion, a building collapse, fuel spills, training fires and vehicle accidents.He says the idea is they can use the plan to coordinate large-scale activities for a petro chemical spill. Clark says the exercise planning involved federal, state officials, as well as the local departments. He says in order to test the plan they needed to bring in other people from the area. The exercise began at nine a-m and lasted until one o’clock. Clark says they’ll evaluate the exercise to see how they can improve their plans.
Swaledale creates "Bio Village"
The tiny northern Iowa community of Swaledale is developing what it calls a “Bio Village” along Interstate 35 to promote a variety of homegrown products. Bob Cole, a former Cerro Gordo County Extension community development specialist, says the Bio Village promises to be a terrific boost for the local economy. The Bio Village will feature a bio-fuel station that will only feature E-85, E-diesel, bio-diesel and ethanol. There will be an Iowa products store that will sell food items, arts and crafts. Also, there’ll be a restaurant that will feature locally-produced and Iowa-produced fruits, vegetables and meats. Cole says they’re trying to build the Bio Village as an energy efficient, environmentally-friendly park.The development will incorporate wind and solar energy and other bio-concepts including a wetlands wastewater treatment plant to become an educational center as well as a retail business center. Cole says the project will include an R-V park. The plan also calls for a food processing center to be located at the site where people can bring their garden produce and other specialty food products to be “value-added,” developed and sold. This week, Cole says a local foundation put five-thousand dollars toward the project. He says the money will help with the design aspect of the project over the winter so construction of the R-V park section can start right away. They’ve contacted fuel suppliers in order to prevent a B-P, Kum-and-Go or Casey’s from running the village as a convenience store — they want it to be all locally-owned.
Identity released in fatal Ida County accident
We know a little more now about a fatal farm accident Wednesday. Ida County sheriff’s officials have released the name of a man who died last night after he reportedly became trapped in a silage pile at a dairy farm near Holstein. He’s identified as 22-year-old Ramone Leon of Storm Lake. Efforts to revive Leon were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene by the Ida County medical excaminer.
Custodian pleads guilty to possession of child pornography
The custodian of a small school north of Marshalltown has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. Fifty-two-year-old Leslie Ulric Beal entered a guilty plea to having “visual depictions” of minors engaged in sexually-explicit conduct. He was sentenced to 21 months in a federal prison. About this time last year, cops got a tip that Beal was a customer of a mail order company that sold illegal child porn. Beal was a custodian at Green Mountain/Garwin Elementary, and cops visited the school, them accompanied Beal to his house, where he admited having videotapes of child porn. Matthew Whitaker, the U-S Attorney for Iowa’s Southern District, says individuals like Beal who prey on “our most vulnerable citizens” will be fully prosecuted.
