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Hiawatha "Hog Wild Days" get a little too wild

June 19, 2006 By

Things got a little out of control at the end of “Hog Wild Days” in Hiawatha last (Sunday) night. After the closing event — a fireworks show that started at 10 o’clock in a city park — as many as two-hundred teenagers gathered to watch fireworks of a different sort.

Hiawatha Police Chief Richard Pierce says a fight broke out, and police haven’t been able to figure out why. “One minute there’s a crowd of teenagers and the next second, there’s a fight,” the police chief says. “There was a large gathering of people then all of a sudden the fight broke out. The officers moved in, arrested three and everybody took off then. The entertainment was over, I guess.”

Three young men — two 18-year-olds and a 16-year-old — were taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct. “We don’t know what caused it, whether it was an exchange of words or what. It was just one of those things when everything’s fine and then — bingo — there it is,” Pierce says. “It’s unfortunate when you have a family…type festival and you have something like this, it kind of ruins it.”

This was the 23rd annual Hog Wild Days in Hiawatha, which is just northeast of Cedar Rapids. There was a parade, a pie eating contest and bingo as well as the crowning of the Junior Mister and Miss Hiawatha.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Pipe bomb found in Mason City

June 19, 2006 By

Authorities are investigating the discovery of a pipe bomb in a roadway near Mason City. The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s office was called by Mason City resident Stuart Nelson shortly before 9:30 A.M. Sunday after seeing the bomb which was lying in the intersection.

Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals isn’t releasing any details about the bomb, but says the investigation continues. The pipe bomb was defused by Mike Keefe of the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Pals warns everyone that if they come upon an item resembling a bomb that they should contact authorities as soon as possible and not touch the item.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Girls who caused Amber Alert are found

June 19, 2006 By

Both teenage Le Mars girls who were the subject of an Amber Alert have now been found. The Amber Alert issued Sunday afternoon listed 17-year-old Chassa Norris and 16-year-old Janet Haugen as endangered juveniles. Authorities were unsure why the girls were with 19-year-old Nathan Hemmingsen, who was recently charged with sexual abuse.

Sioux City police found Norris’ mother’s car in the Morningside area about 8:30 last night. Less than an hour later, Hemmingsen was arrested and Norris was located nearby. She was not injured. Haugen was found by Sioux City police this morning. Hemmingsen is being held on drug charges, but has not been charged in relation to the missing girls.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Time to be aware of the dangers of lightning strikes

June 19, 2006 By

An average of 67 people a year in the United States die after being hit by lightning, and more than 300 are injured. Angela Oder with the National Weather Service says if you’re planning on being outside, it’s smart to check the weather forecast. Even when you’re taking part in activities, Oder says you should keep an eye to the sky and watch for darkening skies and increasing winds.

Oder says if a thunderstorm’s approaching, use the 30-30 rule — after you see the bolt of lightning, if you can’t count to thirty before you hear the thunder, you should head for shelter because she says you’re in danger of being struck by a bolt of lightning.

Oder says an old do-it-yourself technique to tell how far away you are from a lightning strike will work fairly well. When you see lightning, count how many seconds pass before you hear the thunder and divide that number of seconds by five. If you see a strike and count to fifteen before the thunder rolls, divide that fifteen by five, and assume you’re three miles from where the lightning struck. If that thirty-thirty rule indicates you’re less than ten miles from that lightning, it’s time to seek shelter immediately.

This is National Lightning Safety Awareness Week designated by the National Weather Service.

Related web sites:
Info on lightning strikes

Filed Under: Weather

Driver in fatal Knoxville accident identified

June 19, 2006 By

Authorities have released the name of the race car driver from Minnesota who was killed over the weekend at an Iowa track. It was Nostalgia Night at the Knoxville Raceway Friday, an event where retired drivers from across the Midwest brought their old cars to the track.

Sixty-one-year-old Courtney “Roger” Schurr, from the Minneapolis suburb of Fridley, was among those taking part in the race when things turned tragic as his car hit another and flipped. Schurr was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

U-of-I Hospitals first to use photodynamic therapy

June 19, 2006 By

Surgeons at University Hospitals in Iowa City are the first in the state to use what’s called photodynamic therapy to treat patients with tumors of the esophagus — the tube that runs between the mouth and stomach.

The U-of-I’s Doctor Mark Iannettoni says he uses a special non-thermal or “cool” laser which generates no heat. Dr. Iannettoni says “It’s a red light, similar to a laser pointer, which is taken up by the medication that we give and this medication is activated by the red light and it lets off a toxic substance to the cells and it destroys the cells for about two to three millimeters.” He says this type of cancer strikes 15-to-20-thousand people in the U.S. every year, perhaps 150 a year in Iowa, but those numbers are quickly going up.

Iannettoni says “Esophageal cancer is one of the few cancers that’s rapidly rising throughout the country. It’s becoming one of the most deadly diseases that we deal with in surgery by the numbers, meaning, we don’t have a lot of opportunity to cure this disease unless we catch it early.”

How do people know if they’re at risk for this disease? He says uncontrolled heartburn is a dangerous symptom that’s not to be ignored. He says “These patients almost all, uniformly, have a history of heartburn at some time in their life that either is continuing to get worse or was very severe and then all of the sudden got better and that’s because the esophagus gets burned so badly and is replaced with abnormal tissue at the bottom of it that’s trying to protect it.”

Iannettoni came to the U-of-I in 2004 from the University of Michigan. He’s performed the new type of laser surgery on only three patients in Iowa in recent weeks, but used it on about a hundred in Michigan.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine Tagged With:

Survey gives overall look at gambling

June 19, 2006 By

A report by the American Gaming Association shows Iowa ranks eighth in gross revenue among the eleven states that operate casinos in the U.S.

Wes Ehrecke of the Iowa Gaming Association says Iowa does well when you look at its size and population. He says the revenue is all relative to the number of casinos and population base, but Ehrecke says the report gives a good overview of the casinos across the country.

Nevada with its 268 casinos leads the list with nearly 12-billion dollars in gross revenue in 2005. Iowa saw one-point-one billion dollars in gross revenue in 2005- which Ehrecke says was an increase. He says that was around a three to four percent increase over 2004, and he says that’s with dollars drawn in from outside the state.

Ehrecke says Iowa holds its own with other states in this region. Ehrecke says Iowa stacks up very well in the midwest for its customer service and entertainment that goes beyond the gaming.

Ehrecke says as new casinos come on-line in northern Iowa, the revenues will increase. He says a lot of revenue is being generated from Minnesota, and while he doesn’t know exactly how much the revenue will increase, he says it should be at least two percent. The report says overall gambling at commercial casinos in the U.S. in 2005 increased nearly five percent and topped 30-billion dollars for the first time ever.

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:
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