Several chickens that cops believe were being raised for cock fighting have been rescued in Marshalltown. Marshalltown police served a search warrant at a Marshalltown residence on Friday. Six chickens were found along with knives, spurs, and other items associated with cock fights. Information obtained during that search led to the search of another residence where an estimated 50 to 60 more chickens were discovered. Ignacio Lizarde-Herra and Juan Sanchez Armas are both charged with multiple counts of raising chickens for fighting and possession of such birds. They are also charged with raising poultry in a residential area. Marshalltown Police Chief Lon Walker says this is the first time they’ve found chickens raised as fighting birds in the city.
New Sharon woman dies in Highway 63 accident
A New Sharon woman has died after a two-vehicle accident that happened yesterday afternoon a couple of miles north of Oskaloosa. The wreck happened on Highway 63. Eighteen-year-old Sherry Ann Marzen of New Sharon crashed head-on into a truck driven by 47-year-old Robert Dalton of Eddyville. Both drivers were taken to an Oskaloosa hospital, where Marzen died. Dalton was flown to a hospital in Des Moines for treatment.
Third Regent resigns, cites "animosity"
As expected, a third member of the board that governs Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I has resigned. Sue Erickson Nieland of Sioux City resigned from the Baord of Regents, saying two other resignations from the board in January made it “difficult” for her to continue to serve with enthusiasm. Nieland says she was “uncomfortable” with “the animosity” that she believes prompted the exit of the president of the Board of Regents, John Forsyth, who is C-E-O of Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield. In her resignation letter, Nieland said she hopes the new members who’ll soon be serving on the board will do more than simply “rubber-stamp” the iniatives advanced by the universities. Once the dust settles in a few weeks, there will be four new members on the nine-member Board of Regents.
1800 Iowa babies have or will develop birth defect
Officials in the Iowa Department of Public Health are increasing its outreach efforts to notify potential parents of possible birth defects. Suzanne Heckenlaible of the March of Dimes works with the Health Department in tracking the problem. She says there’s currently over 18-hundred babies born in Iowa each year who develop or are born with a birth defect. She says many of those babies die from the birth defect. Heckenlaible says her organization and the state work to track and help find cures for birth defects. She says there’s over three thousand know birth defects, and there are many that can now be prevented. Heckenlaible says one of the biggest advances is the use of vitamins to prevent birth defects.She says by taking a multi-viatmin daily, prior to and during the first trimester of pregnancy can prevent from 50 to 75 percent of birth defects. She says they’re working to let women know how important it is to take those vitamins. Heckenlaible says another success has been getting grains fortified with folic acid, an ingredient that also helps prevent birth defects.
781 Iowans had power turned off in December
The program that helps low-income Iowans pay heat bills got another allocation of money this week. But administrator Jerry McKim says he’s seeing signs that this winter has many people, and not just low-income clients, struggle to pay the power bills. The total amount of past due utility bills in Iowa in December is not a record, he says, but the number of accounts unpaid is the highest he’s seen since starting to collect this data. McKim says that means more people than ever before are falling behind on paying their bills. McKim, who runs the LIHEAP — Low-Income Heating Assistance Program, says it doesn’t surprise him because with this year’s rise in energy prices, bills are getting higher even without a bitterly cold winter. He says those aren’t even the low-income ratepayers, just ordinary utility customers who’ve opened bills to find they total up to $600 and they may only be able to pay a part of that. McKim says some are trying to pay at least a part of that bill — but failing to keep up with the payments will put energy customers in a risky position. McKim says Iowapower companies disconnected 781 people in December. He says you’re not protected unless you’re enrolled in the LIHEAP program, and even if you’re eligible but didn’t apply the power company can shut you off whenever the weather’s over 20-degrees.
Leach praises military for role in tsunami relief
Congressman Jim Leach is praising the U-S officer who issued the command to American military forces deployed to the tsuami zone. “I will tell you the United States Armed Forces looked sensational in response to this tragedy,” Leach says. “The Admiral in charge told me his single instruction…to his troops was to ‘Do good.’ I think it’s one of the most extraordinary commands ever given to a group of sailors and marines.” Leach led a U-S delegation to Indonesia and Sri Lanka last month, and he says the people in those countries have been overwhelmed by the level of international response. “It has taken people in the region totally off-guard — the fact that Americans care, the fact that others in the world care and have looked at this as a symbol of human plight and human vulnerability,” Leach says. With each passing day, it appears the great fear of a massive outbreak of disease in the tsunami-struck areas has been avoided. Leach says one reason for that is the fresh drinking water U-S marines ferried by helicopter into the countries from the U-S-S Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. Leach made his comments on Iowa Public Television.
Carroll group wins US Defense Department award
One of the members of an Iowa National Guard support group in Carroll that won an award from the U-S Department of Defense says all Iowans can help support the troops. Deb Davis is the wife of a soldier and a member of the “Keepers of the Flame” group that won the award. Davis says there are some simple things you can do to show your support. Fly your American flag, put yellow ribbons around your tree. Davis says these may seem like small things — but she says the family members of soldiers notice. “It is very supportive to family members who see ‘Support our Troops’ signs, support our troops flags, yellow ribbons, the magnets that people have on their cars, they’re all over the place. Those are support. Any kind of support so the families back home know that they’re not forgotten, that the community is behind them and understands that they’re making sacrifices also,” she says. Davis says a kind word of thanks means a lot too. “It helps so much for people to say they’re proud of our soldiers, they’re proud of us.” Davis’ husband is a member of Company A, First Battalion of the 168th Infantry that’s currently on federal active duty in Afghanistan. She hopes to find out soon that he’ll be coming home.
