An athlete with a troubled past has been kicked off the U-N-I football team after being arrested this weekend. Hakim Hill has been permanently dismissed from the football and track teams at the University of Northern Iowa. Hill was taken into custody on four misdemeanors following a weekend altercation at a hotel in Iowa City. He’s charged with two counts of assault on a peace officer, and one count each of disorderly conduct, public intoxication and interferecence with official acts. The charges result fron an incident tha occurred early yesterday morning (Sunday) when police responded to a fight at the Sheraton Inn. Police allege that Hill fought with officers, and threatened to kill them and harm their families. The former Iowa City High all-stater enrolled at U-N-I last month after being kicked off the Arizona State University football team in December for violatin team rules.
Fire destroys factory in Denison
Fire demolished a factory in western Iowa yesterday (Sunday) morning. The Bohlman Incorporated building in Denison was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Denison Fire Chief Mike McKinnon was among the first to arrive at the concrete product manufacturing facility and says there was a large portion of the building with heavy fire.Fire crews from at least seven surrounding communities were called to help, including those from: Westside, Vail, Manilla, Dunlap, Charter Oak, Deloit and Dow City. McKinnon says so much “mutual aid” was needed because they were using so much water. It took nearly two hours to bring the fire under control and many more hours to extinguish all of the hot spots. McKinnon explains what started the fire. An electrical short in the fuse box is blamed for sparking the blaze. No serious injuries were reported in the firefighting efforts. The building’s a total loss.
Congressman proposes oversite committee for Iraq and Afghanistan
Congressman Jim Leach is sponsoring legislation patterned after a special effort led by former President Harry Truman when Truman was a U.S. Senator. Leach’s bill would establish a new House committee that would oversee the government contracts that’re being handed to private businesses involved in rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan as well as military contractors. Leach says public support for the U.S.-led effort to rebuild the countries will fade if the government bidding process isn’t honest. Leach’s proposal is patterned after the so-called Truman Committee that was established in 1941 and headed by Harry Truman. The Committee investigated World War II contracts and Leach says the Truman Committee prevented private companies from raking in excessive profits during wartime. Leach says billions of dollars worth of taxpayer dollars were saved by Truman and other Committee members. Leach wants a new, modern-day committee studying government contracts to ensure that no public official is on the take, or the contracts are in any way helping to “launder” money for illegal drugs or arms dealers. Truman gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program. It was one of the reasons President Franklin Roosevelt chose Truman as his Vice President in 1944.
Winterset girl found locked in bedroom
Authorities in southwest Iowa have placed two children in foster care following alleged neglect. Winterset police say an anonymous tip Friday about possible child abuse led them to a 10-year-old girl locked in a bedroom. There were no adults in the home when police arrived. The girl’s father, 38-year-old Jon Neeley, and 36 year old Kimberly Jo Holtmeyer face felony child endangerment charges. They were released after each making 97 hundred dollars bail over the weekend. The girl and her older brother have been taken out of the home by state officials.
Clinton woman killed in apparent murder-suicide by boyfriend
A Clinton woman was shot and killed as she left work at Clinton’s Mercy Medical Center early Sunday morning, about a quarter past midnight. Clinton Police Chief Brian Guy says the bleeding body of 30-year-old Michelle Proud was found in her car in the hospital parking lot, where she died minutes later. After some quick investigative work, Guy says it became apparent the woman’s boyfriend, 36-year-old Mark Moeller of Clinton, was the prime suspect in the shooting. Police tracked down Moeller, which led to a five-hour standoff on a rural road near the town of Tornoto. Clinton County Sheriff’s deputy Kevin Cain says they talked with Moeller for some time. They reached Moeller on his cell phone about 1:30 A.M. but lost contact about 6:40 A.M. A team was sent in and found him dead in his car of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Donna Oliver, president and C-E-O of Mercy Hospital in Clinton, says Proud had worked there as a radiation technician and the incident happened as she left right after her shift. There’s been counseling for staff members to help them cope with the violence. Police say the motive for the slaying is still unclear and there are no other suspects.
Former Iowan writes show about six-on-six basketball
A former Iowan is back with a theatrical show that’s probably unique in the history of drama…and sports. Robert Ford has written a stage musical about girls six-on-six basketball. It’s a tribute to the game, he says, and to the people involved, from the girls who played, to the coaches and colorful commentators. Ford says it’s also a history of the sport and of the controversy that ended the game. Ford says about fifteen years ago, while girls’ teams were still playing the game in Iowa, he got the idea to write a musical about the popular sport. It was a sort of fictional look at what might happen if six-on-six basketball ever came to and end, and how people might react…and then, as he was writing up his first draft, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union decided to end it, in 1993. To his surprise, the scenario he’d been trying to write had come true. Instead of inspiring him, that gave Ford some doubts. He put his play aside for a while, thinking with the game no longer played there might not be as much interest. But he says lately there’s been a lot of nostalgia lately and more focus on the game, as girls’ teams prepare to play their last tournament at Vets Auditorium in Des Moines. “It’s time for a new generation that didn’t grow up with the game to learn about it,” Ford says. He says there’s a lot of interest about it, so this just happened to be the right time. He’d been working with a theatre group in San Diego for about 16 years, and held the first readings of his play there. He wasn’t sure what the reaction would be, since people weren’t familiar with the game. About the half his audience turned out not only to know about the game, but had played it at some time in their life. The other half were amazed at the unique game played only in Iowa. He decided he’d have to stage it back home in Iowa, where people could really relate to it. The final version of the musical by Fort Dodge native Robert Ford includes seventeen songs, and it’ll open onstage Thursday (February 24) in Fort Dodge. Curious Iowans can get tickets at the website, http://sixonsix.com/production.html
Union has few funds to help laid-off Maytag workers
Some 155 laid-off Maytag production workers in Newton begin this week out of work and with little hope for extra financial support from their union. The employees who’ve been with the company about eight years, worked their last day on Friday. U-A-W Local nine-nine-seven president Pat Teed says there’ve been over 300 other layoffs in the past year and that’s tapped out the union fund for laid-off workers. He says unemployment is about the only option for them.He says some of them will have extended health benefits, but he says the union’s supplemental unemployment fund is basically gone. He says the union will work with them to try and get some enrolled in college to be retrained. Teed says the union isn’t the only organization that’s seen the layoffs drain away its funds. He says the whole community, all the social programs, the safety nets are not funded. Maytag says the layoffs are needed to prevent a large build-up in inventory. Teed says there’s a lot of fear in Newton — like a big depression has hit the community. He says these people came in eight years ago and all they wanted for Christmas this year was a good job with benefits. He says they’re now faced with the pain and suffering and everything that goes along with it. Teed doesn’t put all the blame on Maytag, as he says foreign competition has made it tough for companies to succeed in the U.S. He says, “Maytag company has been a great, great company in America, and great for our community. But, they’re faced with their problems too.” He says they hope people will continue buying Maytag products, “and we’re still looking for a some kind of working class hero out there to turn this country around.” Teed says consumers should stop buying foreign products, because he says he feels that’s driving our nation down.
