A Guthrie County man was killed during a single-vehicle rollover accident northeast of Meno yesterday (Friday). The Iowa State Patrol says 26-year old Lance Tyler Murphy of Menlo was northbound on Talon (TAL-un) Avenue, two-and-a-half miles north of Highway 925, when he lost control of the 1988 Chevrolet pickup he was driving as the vehicle crested a hill. As the pickup rolled onto its right side into the west ditch, Murphy was ejected,a dn the vehicle landed on top of him. Murphy was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities say he was not wearing a seatbelt. The accident occurred at around 4:25 p.m. yesterday (Friday).
False reports are part of DHS process
February 26, 2005 By
Iowa’s Department of Human Services announced recently it’ll refine its focus on the youngest victims of child abuse and neglect — kids five and under. Spokesman Roger Munns says especially in light of a recent report on the number of kids removed from homes, some people may wonder if they could be falsely accused of abuse and lose their kids. You would hope that, if there were a false report filed even though you were taking good care of your kids, that any investigator who was sent out would explain that they had to come but would politely apologize. “You would hope that people could see right through that, and in fact, that really is the case, most of the time,” he assures. The spokesman says the trained case workers get plenty of practice sorting out genuine cases of kids at risk from the many false reports that come in. “The agency gets calls like this all the time, and many times, it’s clear that it’s a nuisance call,” says Munns. “It happens all the time,” he says, adding “we would rather that they didn’t.” But DHS gets 37-thousand calls a year about child abuse. Munns says the agency has ways of sorting out cases where there may be a problem, from the calls that come in for other reasons. Twelve thousand, about one-third of the reports, are rejected right away because they don’t meet the agency’s criteria. “Even if it was true, it wouldn’t be child abuse,” he says. Then when they send out an investigator on those other 25-thousand cases, two-third of those turn out not to be founded. Many of those, he says, turn out to be a case of someone with a personal grudge trying to cause a problem…but they don’t succeed. He says it may be that “The ex- is mad at the husband or wife,” and tries to file a frivolous complaint. Though Iowa recently was the subject of a report indicating it may take children from homes and put them into foster-care more than other states, Munns says some of that is the way agencies report such cases, as a visit home rather than a “bounce-back” to foster care because the problems aren’t solved yet. The latest report has the agency refining its guidelines to put more attention on the youngest kids, noting they are unable to stand up for themselves in genuinely troubled families.
Iowa authors write of romance
February 26, 2005 By
Iowans have a heart when it comes to reading, it seems. Two authors will sign books and talk about their successfully-published romance novels today (Saturday) in West Des Moines. Marylee Woods is a spokeswoman with the local branch of a professional organization. It’s the Iowa chapter of “Romance Writers of America,” the creative arm of the industry and a professional group for authors, based in Houston. Woods says romance novels are nothing to turn up your nose at. The romance fiction market generated a billion and-a-half in sales last year, she says, and made up 55-percent of all paperback fiction sales. Though they’re sometimes scornfully referred to as “bodice rippers,” the books have a positive outlook, she says. A new term is “chick lit,” the for Bridget Jones type novel, and she says there are suspense, inspirational, and romantic-comedy subgroups in romantic fiction. Woods says there are chapters of the romance writers in Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, central Iowa and Council Bluffs, and plenty of Iowans making a living at that kind of writing. Two of them, Susan Fox and Cheryl St. John, will meet with readers to talk about romantic fiction and the publishing business and sign copies of their latest books, this afternoon at 2:00 at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in West Des Moines.
Half of the people in the Midwest don’t think they’re paid enough
February 26, 2005 By
Do you think you’re getting paid enough? About half of us do, according to a survey of Midwesterners. Jack Wiley, head of a Minnesota-based research firm, says 52-percent of the people surveyed across the region say they’re satisfied with their salary. Wiley says there is a separation: men at 54-percent satisfaction with pay, women at 50-percent. He says “That’s not a totally surprising gap. I think we’ve seen that for many years and of course I know the goal of many organizations is to close that even further.” Wiley says one of the factors pulling down many people’s earnings is health care. The survey also asked people their opinions about the leaders of their workplaces. Wiley says “In some cases the numbers are still fairly low with regard to how people are rating their leaders but really, what’s impressive is that it is continuing to track upwards, so the arrow is pointed in the right direction.” He says the corporate scandals of recent years caused many Americans to view the integrity of their company’s leadership with skepticism. A year ago, only 37-percent of people would recommend their family and friends buy stock in their company. That’s up ten points this year.
Church added to Perry museum campus
February 26, 2005 By
A church has been added to the so-called museum campus collection of “Hometown Perry, Iowa.” Built in 1914, the New Bethel Baptist Church thrived for decades but its congregation faded and the church closed several years ago. Kathy Lenz, program director for Hometown Perry, says the church will reopen tomorrow (Sunday).There will be an open house from 2-4 P.M. Sunday, a nondenominational service at 4 and a soup supper at 5:30. The church will -not- reopen as a church, but as a showplace. Lenz says it’s been “respectfully restored” to reflect a time when it housed an active congregation and it will be used for special events. Several walking tours have been designed by Hometown Perry for visitors to take, including a walking tour of faith-based locations around the community. Lenz says there are a number of such tours where people can stretch their legs while expanding their knowledge of the town’s past, present and future.There are also walking tours focusing on Perry’s architecture and another that focuses on the mom-and-pop grocery stores that used to be dominant in decades past. For more information, surf to “www.hometownperryiowa.org”.
Expert says having your cellphone numbers stolen not a big concern
February 26, 2005 By
Some Iowans might be wondering about the security of their cellular phones after last week’s incident with Paris Hilton. The hotel heiress’ cell phone/e-mail gadget was apparently hacked and information stored on it was posted on the Internet. Computer expert Robert Stephens, of the Geek Squad, says Iowans shouldn’t be too concerned. Stephens says “The rumor going around here is that she had somehow given her password to someone and they got it. So users of T-Mobile Sidekick shouldn’t worry here.” Stephens says the best way to protect your information is to password protect it. He adds, use your head when creating that password and don’t give it out to anyone. Stephens says “People are their own greatest victims of privacy by choosing poor passwords. The most common password is the word password. So you really should try and come up with some random letters and numbers for a password.” Some celebrities are being forced to change their phone numbers as those from Hilton’s phone were posted online, along with a batch of email addresses and photos.
Guard leader says Afghanistan trip reinforced his confidence in troops
February 26, 2005 By
The Iowa National Guard’s adjutant general says his recent trip to Afghanistan reinforced his confidence in the troops he commands. Major General Ron Dardis traveled to Afghanistan a couple of months ago and for the first time he talked publicly about his trip during his annual “Condition of the Guard” address at the statehouse on Monday. Dardis visited the 750 Iowa soldiers in Task Force 168 in Afghanistan — the largest number of soldiers in any single unit deployed since World War II. Dardis says those and other Iowa soldiers are stationed throughout the country. “They are providing security for the reconstruction efforts. They are resupplying fire bases close to Pakistan and Iraq and they’re working with the Afghan people in their communities,” Dardis says. “It’s hard to explain what I saw. You have to be on the ground and see it first-hand in order to realize what is going on in Afghanistan.” In one area, Iowa soldiers helped build a school for children — and for women who had been denied an education by the Taliban. “Women and children fill the streets…new highways, new wells are being dug and various other infrastructure projects are underway,” Dardis says. “It was an incredible site to behold.” Dardis says he could see the impact of 40 years of war in Afghanistan. Dardis says he few Afghanistan wearing shoes and many children had open sores from lack of medical care. He says the people of Afghanistan have embraced democracy and the reconstruction of their country. “They want all the Taliban, the al Qaeda and the remnants of the old Afghanistan military gone,” Dardis says. Before he left the country, Dardis had tea with the new head of the Afghanistan National Army and met with Iowa soldiers all across the country. Dardis flew Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters with Apache helicopters as escort as he visited units to present combat badges, patches and medals — including Purple Hearts — to Iowa troops. “It was truly a unique experience,” Dardis says. “They truly are our hometown heroes.”
