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Law officers talk about fight against meth

November 30, 2006 By

National, state and local officials today talked about the ongoing effort to shut down the use of illegal drug methamphetamine. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Rachel Brand says they’re introducing a couple of new things as part of today’s “National Methamphetamine Awareness Day.”

Brand says one is a new website — www.usdoj.gov/methawareness — that brings together all the existing materials about meth, and includes a new video presentation about how meth is made, how meth affects your body. She says the video includes the stories of meth users, including one Iowan. Brand says the website is a tool that can be used by many people. She says they hope it will be useful to law enforcement, teachers and others to teach about the dangers of meth.

Matt Whittaker, Iowa’s U-S Attorney for the Southern District, says the state’s new pseudoephedrine law has helped cut meth labs by 77-percent, and made Iowa a leader in the fight. Whittaker says while the state can’t declare victory, the cutback in meth lab can be seen as a major victory. Whittaker says we can’t afford to become complacent in the fight against meth.

Whittaker says good cooperation among law officers at all levels has helped in the fight and that will continue. Whittaker says he’s committing his office to work together to redouble their efforts to combat methamphetamine, and especially the organization that bring meth into the state. Brand says the majority of meth is now coming into the country from Mexico, and federal officials are working on cutting that supply.

Brand says the U.S. Attorney General got together early this year with the Mexican Attorney General to work on the problem. Brand says the announced a number of new joint issues they’re working on, such as sharing information at the border, they’re implementing enforcement teams at the border, and she says Mexico is improving its precursor laws to work with the United States. Iowa law officers are taking part in two-day training session for drug task forces to learn how to do complex drug conspiracy investigations.

Related web sites:
Meth Awareness website

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With: ,

Groups gear up for "World AIDS Day"

November 30, 2006 By

Communities throughout Iowa are holding public-education events and offering health information tomorrow for “World AIDS Day”. Bryce Sitter, an educator with the Red Cross of Central Iowa, says there are still too many people unconcerned about the risk. A lot of people have the idea that it’s someone else’s problem, he says. But there is a population of H-I-V-positive people in Des Moines. Some help with education today, going out to speak to groups and explain that they’re one of the faces of H-I-V.

“They also thought that that it’s someone else, it won’t happen to me,” he says, “and it did happen to them.” Sitter says young people tend to dismiss all risks, and older people are sometimes resistant tolearning about the disease. “When it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter what race or culture you live in, it comes down to what are your behaviors that would keep you from getting H-I-V or put you at risk.” He says education ranges from basic facts about AIDS, the risks of different kinds of behavior, and treatments available.

Sitter says education can reduce the stigma of the disease, for patients and others. You’ll generally accept people with H-I-V more willingly if you understand that you can’t catch it through casual contact, he explains, and someone can work more comfortably with an H-I-V-positive person. With less stigma someone’s more likely to go get tested for their H-I-V status, and people living with the disease are likely to live longer if they’re accepted in the community.

In 2005 Iowa recorded the greatest increase in new cases of AIDS since the state began reporting them in 1998, 113 new cases of the disease diagnosed last year. White males born in the U.S. are the most likely to become a victim according to specialists who gathered for a conference earlier this year in Des Moines.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:

Spencer’s library cat dies

November 30, 2006 By

One of Iowa’s most famous felines has gone to that great scratching post in the sky. A cat named Dewey Readmore Books, the library cat at the Spencer Public Library, has died. The 20-year-old Dewey was diagnosed with serious health problems and had to be put to sleep. The tale of how he came to be the library cat two decades ago inspired thousands around the globe.

Library director Vicky Myron found Dewey. Myron says she came in one very cold morning when it had hit ten-below the night before, opened the book drop to empty it out and was surprised to hear a noise coming from inside and found the tiny little kitten hidden between all the books. She says they had to act fast to save the small cat’s life.

Myron says the kitten was half-frozen and didn’t look very good so they took him in and gave him a bath to warm him up and he purred the whole time and he purred whenever anyone held him. She says the cat’s celebrity status quickly spread and never faded. A film crew from Japan recently was in Spencer to shoot a one-hour special on Dewey.

Myron says the cat gets e-mail and regular mail from all over the world and just got a letter from an admirer in Jerusalem. He had other fans in South Africa, Canada and got birthday cards and gifts from New York, California, Texas and other states. Dewey just marked his 20th birthday this month. A memorial service is planned. At least three other Iowa libraries have library cats — in Bettendorf, Richland and Readlyn.

Filed Under: Human Interest

Body identified as Red Oak woman, boyfriend charged with murder

November 30, 2006 By

The Pottowattamie County Sheriff says the body of woman found in a well has been identified — and the woman’s boyfriend has been charged with her murder. Sheriff Jeff Danker says an Oklahoma dentist helped identify the body as that of a missing Red Oak woman.

Danker says the state medical examiner sent dental records to the dentist, who identified the remains as those of April Corder. Corder was last seen in September and reported missing by her family on October 13th. Danker says an autopsy determined Corder had been strangled with a zip tie that’s normally used to secure wiring or hosing on equipment.

Danker says the Montgomery County Sheriff had been looking for Corder, and a lead led them to the body. Danker says they’ve arrested Corder’s boyfriend. Danker says with the information from the investigation prior to the location of the body, and after the location of the body, a first-degree murder warrant was issued for 25-year-old Daniel Miller of Elliott, Iowa.

Danker says state and local officers from Iowa went to Walker, Minnesota where Miller was working construction and Miller was arrested. Danker says they don’t know for sure why Miller may’ve killed Corder, but they have an idea.

Danker says they think Corder may’ve been going to give officers information on something Miller had done in the past. Miller was being held on a two-million dollar bond and Danker says the process is underway to return him to Iowa.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Former Swaledale mayor faces theft charges

November 30, 2006 By

The former mayor of the northern Iowa town of Swaledale is charged with taking 65-thousand dollars from a Rockwell church. Rockwell police chief Barry Mackey says Susan Lyles has been charged with four counts of first-degree theft.

Mackey says according to a complaint filed in Cerro Gordo County District Court on Wednesday, Lyles allegedly diverted $65,000 of funds to her own personal use while being the treasurer of the First Baptist Church in Rockwell between 2003 and 2006. Lyles is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $52,000 bond.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Former Otho fire chief faces murder charge in Arizona

November 30, 2006 By

The former fire chief of the Webster County town of Otho is charged with murder in Arizona. Fifty-year-old Dennis Crouse was arrested Tuesday after his wife, 36-year-old Diane Crouse, was found stabbed to death at their home in Queen Creek, Arizona. Mr. Crouse was arraigned yesterday on a charge of first-degree murder.

The Crouse family moved to Arizona from Iowa earlier this year. Mrs. Crouse’s body was discovered by her eight-year-old daughter who was returning home from school. An 18-month-old child was in the home at the time but wasn’t hurt. Mr. Crouse is jailed. His next court appearance is slated for December 8th. The children are in state custody until relatives from Iowa arrive in Arizona to pick them up.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Two law officers honored with Sullivan Awards

November 30, 2006 By

An Iowa state trooper and a Lee County sheriff?s deputy were honored Wednesday during a special ceremony at the statehouse. Trooper Tom Law of Burlington and Sheriff?s Deputy Bradley Roberts were both given the Sullivan Brothers Award of Valor, an honor designed for peace officers and firefighters who perform heroic acts on the job.

Deputy Roberts received the award for pulling three victims from icy water when the truck they were riding in hit a culvert last April. He says he could see the driver had tried to get out of the vehicle but he was still belted in, with his head partly out of the water. The deputy cut him out of the seatbelt and helped him to shore, then did the same with the other two. “I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t been there at that time.” Roberts says it?s nice to be recognized by the governor, but says he was just doing his job.

Trooper Tom Law of Burlington was honored for pulling three victims from an overturned van in June, and then holding the driver until more help arrived. Law tells how he crawled into the van and wrapped his arms around the driver’s chest and “did a lift,” to put his neck into a neutral position, and the man started breathing again. Then he just held the victim until fire and rescue showed up to extract the man from the van.

A doctor told him the man probably would have died if he hadn’t repositioned him, because he’d stopped breathing. Law stayed with the man even though gasoline was spilling onto the roadway, threatening an explosion.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Fires/Accidents/Disasters
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