May 16, 2012

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Anti-abortion activist arrested at Iowa City abortion clinic

May 17, 2006 By

An anti-abortion activist from Davenport is accused of attacking a worker at an Iowa City abortion clinic. 32-year-old William Owens-Holst faces charges including assault and burglary after the Monday incident outside the Emma Goldman Clinic.

Police say Owens-Holst grabbed the woman around the neck, shoved her against a car and broke her cell phone. The unidentified woman wasn’t seriously hurt. Karen Kubby, executive director of the clinic, says they are constantly on guard for this sort of attack.

Kubby says “I came upon the scene when he was throwing his body against the front door trying to break in. I tried to intervene to ask if he was okay because it was obvious he was distraught and he continued to try to enter the clinic through the front door by throwing his body against it and breaking the door.” He allegedly broke a window to get inside.

Police say Owens-Holst told officers he broke in so he could, “break the fingers of the abortion doctors so they couldn’t kill babies.”

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With:

Clinton man found guilty of murder

May 17, 2006 By

A Clinton man faces the rest of his life behind bars after being found guilty Tuesday in a double-murder case. Maurice Walker Senior was convicted in the shooting deaths of his ex-wife, Renee Walker, and her boyfriend, Steven Kersey, in their Clinton apartment in April of 2005. The trial was moved to Scott County due to pre-trial publicity. Walker faces a mandatory life term when he’s sentenced June 20th in Clinton.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Iowa softball team to host regional

May 17, 2006 By

The Iowa softball team will host some familiar foes this weekend in Iowa City for an NCAA regional. It is the first time the Hawks have hosted a regional since 2002 and they will open against 15th ranked Nebraska. The other first round game will pit number-five California against Missouri Valley Conference champion Illinois State.

This is the second year for a new format which has the 16 regional winners moving on to the super regionals next week, and Iowa coach Gayle Blevins says she likes the format because it gives more places a chance to showcase softball.

Good weather would help draw a large crowd to the tournament and after the last couple of weeks the odds are in their favor as she says Iowa city is due for a good weekend of weather. Iowa finished the regular season 39-20.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Iowa organ maker completes largest project

May 17, 2006 By

Eight years of work have finally paid off for a Lake City, Iowa-based maker of pipe organs. Lynn Dobson started his business in 1974, and says about 8 years ago he got a call asking if he was interested in building a pipe organ for the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. He says the six and-a-half-million-dollar instrument is the largest concert-hall organ in the country.

It was finally unveiled in a series of concerts this past weekend. Dobson counted 11 concerts last week and there 9 scheduled this week. Lots of people are coming to hear the new instrument and he says music critics also came from all over the country, including one whose review appeared in the New York Times.

Dobson says his company’s become well-known, and the Philadelphia Orchestra sought them out. The sound is a very “sweet,” refined sound, Dobson says, and that’s why his company was chosen to build the organ for an orchestra famous for its lush strings and rich sound. He says, “The organ can blend right in and become just another instrument in the orchestra.”

This is a famous instrument already, and its creator says it can play in a whisper. It’s barely audible in the concert hall, but can crescendo to a volume that drowned out the whole orchestra the first day it was played. Dobson says obviously it can’t be that loud in performance, but, he chuckles, “it was fun to hear that.” He’s already got more jobs ahead, in Dallas and other locations he won’t tell about just yet.

Related web sites:
Dobson Organ Company

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment

Actors wanted for baseball movie

May 17, 2006 By

A film crew that plans to start shooting a baseball movie in the Cedar Rapids area at the end of the month is looking for actors and crew. Steve Schott is a producer on “The Final Season,” which focuses on the Norway High School baseball team as it played for its last state championship before consolidation closed the school. Schott says several speaking parts still need to be filled along with a variety of crew members.

Schott says the position of greensman needs to be filled — someone who would handle all of the plants, putting up potted trees to hide things, digging trenches for cables and replacing the grass, putting in hedges, flowers and anything else like that. Another slot that needs to be filled is called a grip. Grips move lights, help run camera equipment, put up flags — they “grip” things.

Schott says they’re looking for people with experience, not just people who’d like to learn the trades. He says several other jobs are open too, like boom operators, cable pullers and camera assistants.
Other openings are in the prop department, makeup and electrical workers. Actors are needed in a variety of roles — from players, coaches and parents to school officials and umpires. Filming is to being May 30th and run into July. For more information, surf to “www.finalseason.com”.

Related web sites:
Final Season website

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment

Grassley says he’ll seek extension for prescription drug plan enrollment

May 17, 2006 By

After months of refusing the idea of extending the enrollment deadline for Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley has done an about-face.

During a news conference in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Grassley announced he’ll push a bill that would let seniors sign up for the new prescription drug benefit during the next enrollment period and not face a penalty for tardiness. Under current law, those who sign up after midnight this past Monday will pay a “penalty” premium of two-dollars-and-31 cents this year.

That penalty will go up in future years. According to Medicare, two-point-seven million elderly Americans will have to pay the penalty because they missed the sign-up deadline. The government has already waived Monday’s deadline for low-income seniors. During a meeting with reporters in Washington, Grassley said it “takes people time to learn about new benefits available to them.”

Grassley hopes to get the bill advanced through the Senate as early as this week. It would let the elderly enroll in the program, starting November 15th, without paying that penalty on their premiums. Grassley was a co-author of the 2003 legislation that established the prescription drug benefit which will cost the government an estimated 58-billion dollars a year.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Young deer getting active, drivers beware

May 17, 2006 By

New flowers and plants are growing in the Iowa woods — and so is a new crop of deer. Mick Klemesrud of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says that means there’s more chance you might see a deer cross your path on the roadway. Klemesrud says the does are having a new crop of fawns and to do that the deer are running off last year’s fawns which are now yearlings. He says the yearlings don’t have mom to help them avoid traffic anymore.

Klemesrud says late May to the middle of June is the second worst time of the year for car/deer collisions behind the fall mating season. Klemesrud says the young deer are unpredictable as they learn to survive on their own. Klemesrud says the deer are so young and inexperienced that you can’t depend on any type of behavior, as the deer may run in and out of traffic several times. He says you need to slow down in wooded areas near parks and rivers and be on the lookout for deer.

Klemesrud says there’s really nothing you can do to avoid deer other than remain alert. He says honking and flashing your lights does not make the deer run away, and he says the deer whistles don’t work either. Klemesrud says you should avoid the time between dawn and dusk if possible to avoid the deer.

He says if you find a deer in your headlights — stay on the road and don’t try to veer around the animal. Klemesrud says it’s better to hit the deer with your car than it is to veer away and roll your car and risk losing your life. Klemesrud says the young deer will become better at avoiding traffic as they get older, but you should still always be on the lookout in areas where deer may be present.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation Tagged With:
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