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First class graduates from National Civilian Community Corps facility in Vinton.

August 11, 2008 By

The first class of Americorps volunteers graduated today at the new National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) facility in Vinton. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin pushed to have the facility created at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School campus.

Harkin, a Democrat, says several hundred volunteers will be trained at the site each year. Harkin says they’ll come from all parts of the country to be trained before heading off to all parts of the country to do their volunteer service. Harkin says it’s anticipated the federal government will put five-and-a-half million dollars a year into the facility for training.

Harkin says two-and-a-half million dollars of federal money was secured to renovate the unused portion of the school for the facility. Harkin says the first class was able to train even though the new facility isn’t complete.

Harkin says they’ve been using some other facilities for now, but by this time next year expect to have all the renovation done for the training center. Harkin says the facility is expected to create 160 jobs locally. Members who graduate from the training will work in teams on a variety of community projects, including building and rehabilitating low-income housing, responding to natural disasters, tutoring students, cleaning up waterways, and helping communities develop emergency plans.

After their service, N-C-C-C members receive an education award worth 4,725 dollars which can be used as a scholarship or loan repayment.  

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

New book chronicles love in Northwest Iowa

August 11, 2008 By

Martha McCarty A new book written by a northwest Iowa native focuses on the Emmetsburg area and true tales about life and love. Martha McCarty grew up in Emmetsburg during what she says was the seemingly-idyllic time between World War II and Vietnam.

The non-fiction work, “Five Island Diaries: Stories of Love, Lost and Found,” is a collection of linked stories that uses a family farm and Palo Alto County’s Five Island Lake as the backdrop. “These are true stories and when I realized that this book would be published, I had to call everyone I’d written about because I didn’t really expect to see it in print.”

McCarty says she has trouble telling in just a few sentences what the book is about, as it’s not exactly about her life. “It’s my characters who come and go but they’re your characters, too,” McCarty says. “You have the first kiss that didn’t go well and you had the grandmother and you had the teachers, some who liked you and some who did not appreciate you or influence you. You had the brothers and the sisters.” She says the characters all share at least two common threads — love — and the lake.

“I couldn’t just say, ‘Gee, the lake was part of our life,’ but indeed it was,” McCarty says. “I even feel that life is like the lake in that it can really shimmer and shine and be buoyant but there’s some deepness and some undercurrents and some cold.”

McCarty, now living in Kansas City, says she’s getting e-mail from enthralled readers, not just from Iowa, but from Connecticut to California. The book is a finalist for the 2008 Thorpe Menn Award for Literary Excellence. McCarty started her career as an obituary writer for the Fort Dodge Messenger and has since done a host of book reviews and feature stories on the arts, theatre and authors in a variety of publications. For more information, visit her website .

AUDIO: Radio Iowa’s Matt Kelley report. :35 MP3

Filed Under: Human Interest

Schmett hands out "Boswell/Obama meters" at Fair

August 11, 2008 By

Kim Schmett holds up "Boswell/Obama meter," a tire guage. Republican congressional candidate Kim Schmett adopted the role of carnival barker during his 20-minute stint at The Des Moines Register’s Soap Box on the Iowa State Fair.  Schmett stepped up to the microphone and immediately began his pitch.

"Come on over and have a seat because in just a few minutes we’re going to follow a great Iowa State Fair tradition and we’re going to be giving away free stuff," Schmett said. "We’re going to be giving away Boswell/Obama meters."

Schmett, the Republican candidate in Iowa’s third congressional district, is hoping to unseat incumbent Democrat Leonard Boswell. Schmett’s linking Boswell now with the advice Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama recently offered, that checking your tires to ensure they’re properly inflated improves gas mileage. "If you don’t have a Boswell/Obama meter, this is your chance to get it. We’re going to give up to 50 free Boswell/Obama meters away, just in a couple of minutes. Come on over. Have a seat. These are really important to have," Schmett said. "If you haven’t got one of these, you won’t want to miss out."

You guessed it.  That free "Boswell/Obama meter" was a tire gauge and Schmett, like many a maligned salesman, doesn’t really believe the pitch he was making.  "It’s a miracle gadget. You really do have to have one of these things," Schmett said. "…These things are miracle working devices. They will save a fortune for your family. They will solve your fuel problems. They will help the American economy. If you don’t have one of these for your family, you are going to be missing out."

Schmett, like other Republicans, used the tire gauge as a way to ridicule Democrats like Obama and Boswell on the issue of energy. But Schmett went one step further, jokingly suggesting a federal "Department of Pressure Evaluation" could be established at the intersection of Interstates 35 and 80 in Des Moines — so a federal employee could check your tire pressure. Schmett even had a clipboard, urging fairgoers to sign up to work in that agency.

"If any of you think that this little devise is going to save all of our energy problems for the future, I’ve got some early applications for you. It says: ‘I want to sign up to be a DOPE employee,’" Schmett said. "If you believe Senator Obama’s going to solve your energy problems, let’s sign up folks."

Schmett later told reporters he’s never held a sales job, but talked the talk of a ginsu knife salesman to make his political point. "It’s the Iowa State Fair and we were behaving in the best Iowa State Fair tradition so I think you’ve got some tough competition out there with a lot of great things and some fun things," Schmett said. "We wanted to have some fun, but we wanted to have some real serious conversation on some real serious issues, too."

A spokesman for Congressman Boswell’s campaign issued a written statement late Monday afternoon.  "For more than two decades, Congressman Boswell has been working to bring real solutions to our energy crisis through investment in alternative fuels," said Mark Daley, a Boswell campaign spokesman. "Perhaps Mr. Schmett’s time would be better served trying to figure out how to put some air into the tires of his failing campaign."

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Gov’t watchdogs raise concerns about Rebuild Iowa Office

August 11, 2008 By

The Rebuild Iowa Office has been open a month and is already touted as a success story by state officials, but government watch dogs warn an extra layer of bureaucracy could hamper the effort to rebuild after this spring’s flooding and tornadoes.

Ed Failor, Junior, of "Iowans for Tax Relief" says his group is keeping an eye on the budget for the Rebuild Iowa Office. "In this environment it is all too easy to, you know, tack on costs because everyone wants to make this better. We do and everyone does," Failor says, "but we just have to be real careful that decisions are made logically and not from emotion."

The state has reassigned about 40 state employees to work in the Rebuild Iowa Office and they work in office space in a suburban business park about 15 miles from the statehouse. The rent for that is $5,800 a month.

Dave Roederer was chief of staff for former Governor Terry Branstad back in 1993 when much of the state suffered through devastating floods. Roederer says while current Governor Chet Culver’s intentions are good, adding another layer of bureaucracy could actually slow the state’s response time.

"The other thing you always need to caution about is whether it ever stops and as we know in government, once you get something started it’s pretty hard to stop," Roederer says. "Bureaucracies seems to find something to do even if there isn’t something to do."

The Rebuild Iowa Commission will hold another series of "listening sessions" this week in Red Oak, Fort Dodge and Johnston, where Roederer’s wife is mayor. "I’ve been talking to people throughout the state and they want assistance and they want assistance now," Roederer says. "…While it’s fine to have listening sessions –and those are always good to get input from people — but in the end, somebody has to make a decision."

Lyle Asell of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources was less than a month away from retirement from state government when he was asked to work in the Rebuild Iowa Office for 90 days. At first, when the office had no computers or phones, Asell questioned his decision to delay his retirement, but he’s changed his tune. "Quite frankly, this is either a disaster or it’s not," Asell says. "If we’re not willing to devote the resources — including the time and attention — to address it, then let’s not do it at all."

Failor, the Iowans for Tax Relief spokesman, says his group isn’t saying the office should be closed, just that taxdollars should be spent wisely. "We just want to be certain that there’s a place at the table for the taxpayers of Iowa when the decisions get made of how they’re going to fund the expenditures that obviously need to be made," Failor says.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Consultant says energy efficiency money should go directly to industries

August 11, 2008 By

The Iowa Environmental Council recently expressed criticism of MidAmerian Energy for failing to require enough energy savings from industrial customers in the company’s five-year efficiency plan. An energy industry consultant says companies are already taking many steps to conserve energy and cut production costs.

Bill Glahn of Piedmont Consulting says industry has to think beyond rebates and incentives for energy efficiency when it comes to keeping plants running. Glahn says businesses often don’t have time to wait when replacing machinery, it if means keeping a plant running, so they don’t make decisions based on whether it will qualify for a rebate.

He says the industries have to think ahead and be able to react quickly. The MidAmerican plan proposes 24-million dollars for industrial energy efficiency programs. Glahn says that’s a lot of money, but he says even with that much put forward, only about 78 cents on the dollar gets back to customers in the form of rebates and customer incentive. He says 22 cents of the dollar goes to overhead and running rebate programs, so industry would like to see more of that money going to them. Glahn says they’d like to cut out the middle man.

Glahn says industry believes it could run the energy efficiency programs itself and have 100-percent of the money going into energy efficiency programs. He says industries won’t be asking for more utility dollars or for more government dollars, as he says they have all the incentive to do it themselves and want more opportunity to do things themselves.

Glahn says industries are looking for any area where they can save money and finding ways to be more energy efficient is a natural way to do that. 

Filed Under: Business, Environment & Conservation

Settlement reached in death of worker at Iowa mill

August 11, 2008 By

A settlement has been reached between an Ames company and a state safety agency over the death of a Minnesota man working at a feed mill construction site near Thompson.

The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Bureau originally fined Todd & Sargent Incorporated $4,500 for failing to take safety precautions that might have prevented the death of Jose Maltos, of Fairmont, Minnesota.

Maltos was employed by the company, which was the general contractor on the Christensen Farms feed mill project. He died in April after falling more than 100 feet from the feed mill. According to an informal settlement, the company agreed to correct the violations as cited and will pay a lower fine of just over $3,800.  

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Jury selection begins in Des Moines double-murder trial

August 11, 2008 By

Jury selection opens this morning on a double-murder trial in Des Moines. Twenty-eight-year-old D.J. Schofield of Des Moines is accused in the 2004 shooting deaths of Terry and Lisa Dilks at their home in Urbandale.

The Dilks were federal drugs informants who had been preparing to testify against Schofield’s sister and her then-boyfriend, who were facing meth charges. If convicted, Scholfield could face two sentences of life in prison. He’s already in prison on ten counts of attempted murder following a shootout with police at a Des Moines hotel in 2005.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts
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