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U-I President doesn’t support lowering drinking age

August 20, 2008 By

Nearly 100 college presidents support a proposal to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18, but University of Iowa President Sally Mason is not among them. Mason says there are already too many underage college students drinking illegally, adding, drunk students have been involved with assaults and unwanted sexual advances.

The U-of-I recently rated among the nation’s top "party" schools. Students at Iowa’s largest university, like Caitlin Polz, of Elk Grove, Illinois, aren’t convinced it would be wise to drop the drinking age to 18.

"I kind of feel like it’s like that already. People are underage drinking all the time. I think it might go a little crazy. I don’t know if it would be the best idea because I can see kids going nuts."

Since 1984, the legal age to buy and drink alcohol in Iowa has been 21. Another U-of-I student, Karson Rumpf, of Johnston, says he’s in favor of the proposal. Rumpf says, "I think people do it more because they like to rebel sometimes and they like to do things they’re not used to doing, so I think it’s a very good idea."

The Amethyst Initiative, supported by dozens of college presidents, calls on lawmakers to debate the effectiveness of the 24-year-old law, which could mean lowering the legal age to 18, the same age when people can vote or join the military. Iowa City Police Sergeant Troy Kelsay thinks lowering the age would only add to the college town’s problems.

Kelsay says, "If you go downtown on any given Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, now you’ll see that there are a lot of persons, 19 and 20-year-olds, who are now illegally drinking." Iowa City bars admit the underage patrons but are supposed to prevent them from drinking alcohol. Charged with overseeing nearly 400 high school students at Iowa City City High, Principal Mark Hanson thinks lowering the age limit is a bad idea that may mean even younger students will start drinking.

Hanson says: "Basically they’ve just been driving for a couple of years. If they are able to get the alcohol legally and start experimenting with that and then get behind the wheel of a car, that’s a whole other issue."

That issue has organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving outraged that college presidents would even consider the idea. Among all statewide colleges, only the president of Coe College has given his support to the proposal, saying he believes further research by the group might help identify solutions.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: ,

First "blender" gas pump mixing ethanol near Galva

August 20, 2008 By

Blender pump at Galva-Holstein Ag station. A small western Iowa town now has the first “blender” gas pump in the state. The new pump is located at the Galva-Holstein Ag fuel station south of Galva near the Highway 20 interchange.

The company’s energy department manager, Gary Brosamle, says the pump blends ethanol and regular gasoline to give drivers a choice of regular unleaded, a 10-precent mix of ethanol and gas (E-10), a 30-percent mixture of ethanol and gas (E-30) or E-85.

Brosamle thinks motorists will like the alternative fuel choices. He says they’ve already moved 175,000 gallons of E-85 at the site since spring 2005. “And for being right outside of Galva, where the population is only 350 people, we’re excited about that,” Brosamle says. Brosamle says each type of blended fuel comes out of a different hose on the same pump, so there’s no worry of getting the wrong mix in your car.

Brosamle says he believes this is a practical way of offering a higher-blend level of gas, and says the installer has 41 other blend pumps yet to install in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. He says his company plans to install two more blender pumps this fall.

The E-30 blend has become popular in the past year in South Dakota and Minnesota, and Brosamle says it’s a nice mid-range fuel he expects to catch on in Iowa. The pump price for E-85 is currently priced $2.80 cents, while E-30 is priced at $3.38 in Galva.

The Iowa D.N.R. says the average price for E-10 in the state on August 18th was $3.54 a gallon. For more information on the blended fuels, visit the Galva-Holstein website .

AUDIO: Radio Iowa’s Dar Danielson report on blender pump. :51 MP3

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: ,

Fire Marshal says many smoke detectors lack batteries

August 20, 2008 By

smoke alarm There have been 28 fire fatalities in Iowa this year and officials say 10 of the cases involved a home that did not have a working smoke detector.

State Fire Marshal Jim Kenkel says investigators are finding too many smoke detectors in charred houses that have no battery. He says the average price for a two pack of 9-volt batteries is $5.50.

"Batteries are reasonably inexpensive for a life-safety type of issue," Kenkel said. He encourages homeowners to test their smoke detectors once a month and change the batteries once a year. "It all boils down to people need to have early warning of a fire," Kenkel said. "The best early warning is to have a smoke detector and a plan of escape."

The 28 fire deaths so far this year compares to 30 fatalities in Iowa during all of last year. Kenkel says there’s no clear cut explanation for the increase in fatal fires, but many lives could’ve been saved if the home had a working alarm.

Kenkel says homeowners should never remove smoke alarm batteries to use them in games or toys – or to avoid the noise of the alarm when someone’s burned food in the kitchen. Beginning October 1st, all new homes and buildings constructed in Iowa will be required to have dual-sensored smoke detectors. Kenkel says the devices can detect both slow, smoldering type fires and fires that contain fast moving, intense flames.

AUDIO: Radio Iowa’s Pat Curtis report on fire deaths. :31 MP3

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

EPC says "no" to hog confinement in Dallas County

August 20, 2008 By

The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission has sided with opponents of two proposed hog confinements in Dallas County. The Commission voted to deny applications to build confinements that would hold 7200 hogs each near Dawson, in northwest Dallas County.

Commission member Paul Johnson says the panel decided to oppose a recommendation made by the Department of Natural Resources staff to approve the proposal. "We need to go beyond just the strict legal requirements that we have in our rules," Johnson says. "Our job is to protect the waters of the state of Iowa and this is a step in doing that."

The commission heard from representatives from the Des Moines Water Works, who said runoff from the confinements could enter the Raccoon River and threaten the drinking water in Iowa’s largest city. Mike Blaser, the lawyer representing the man who wants to build the hog confinements, says there’s no proof that would happen. "They made a decision that’s not based on any evidence that’s in the record, so we’ll have to decide if we want to appeal that," the lawyer says. "…This was more about sending a message and I think that’s exactly what they intended to do."

The Commission did grant the go-ahead for a confinement operation in Floyd County near Charles City, despite opposition by the Floyd County Board of Supervisors.

 

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