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Iowa town ponders end of "noon whistle"

November 28, 2008 By

It’s a tradition in many Iowa towns. The "whistle" blows at noon. Oftentimes it’s the town’s tornado siren that marks the start of the noon hour.

Grinnell Mayor Gordon Canfield has been fielding complaints about the noise of Grinnell’s noon-time whistle. "There are people who are sleeping during that time because they work a night shift and children, babies are trying to take naps and so forth and it wakes ‘em up," Canfield says, "and it’s just not the best thing to be using an emergency-sound siren for the noon whistle."

Grinnell’s public safety committee has recommended that the city council vote to end the noon whistle in Grinnell. Mayor Canfield says the custom is a throw-back to earlier times. 

"I think noon whistles came from the old days when they even had factory whistles and told people when they ought to quit for lunch," Canfield says. "…Now, everybody has a watch or a clock."

Grinnell’s noon whistle still sounds daily at straight up 12 o’clock, but the city council will consider ending the tradition.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Human Interest

Change up computer passwords to thwart I-D thieves

November 28, 2008 By

Many Iowans do much of their holiday shopping online instead of in malls, but this season is the busiest time of year for internet fraud and identity thieves. Michael Barrett, information security officer at Omaha-based PayPal, says shopping online can be safe and easy but you need to follow some rules.

First, he says, change up your passwords. Barrett says: "Maybe four or five different passwords and segment them according to risk. You’d use one password for your online banking, another password for your e-mail account, one password for the e-commerce sites and then one password for everything else."

Barrett says mixing up your passwords can make a big difference in keeping your accounts safe. He says, "People tend to pick names of pets or family members thinking, ‘Criminals will never guess my cat’s name is Fluffy.’ Well, actually criminals have dictionaries of common passwords and Fluffy is indeed in there. What we recommend is that people just put a numeric character or special character like an exclamation mark in a funny position in the password." Barrett says that makes it a lot harder for the crooks to come up with your chosen word.

He says if you have had your e-mail account for a while, the spammers likely already have you targeted, which is why you have to be very cautious when exploring junk e-mails. "When you see an e-mail and after you read it, do a mental test on how you are feeling," Barrett says. "If you are feeling really squeamish and you have to act right now, then it’s probably bogus. That’s actually one of the things they are trying to do is engender a sense of urgency because folks like me are out there whacking those websites as fast as we can find them." Barrett says thieves can also access your computer and do all sorts of damage to your accounts. He says it’s vital to keep your anti-virus program current, or it’s like driving with expired insurance.

PayPal is an online payment system owned by eBay, the online auction service, and has more than two-thousand employees in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area.

Filed Under: Business, Crime & Courts, Technology Tagged With: ,

Algona brothers found dead from apparent overdose

November 28, 2008 By

The bodies of two men were found yesterday in a home in northern Iowa — dead of an apparent accidental overdose.

Algona police say alcohol combined with prescription medication is the suspected cause of deaths of two Algona brothers. They’re identified as 37-year-old Ashley Hix and 30-year-old David Hix.

Both were pronounced dead at the home on Thanksgiving morning. Police say foul play is not suspected. Autopsies have been ordered.

 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

No "deep-seeded" sexism keeping Iowa women from congress

November 28, 2008 By

Iowa and Mississippi remain the two states in the country which have never elected a woman to Congress. In this month’s election, two women were seeking to break through that so-called "glass ceiling" but both Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa and Democrat Becky Greenwald of Perry lost to incumbents who are men.

University of Iowa political science professor Tracy Osborn doesn’t see "deep-seeded sexism" in the state.  "We have other things in Iowa, too, that speak to the fact that sexism doesn’t exist," Osborn says. "…We do have a pretty good amount of women in our legislature compared to a lot of other places and Iowa is only one of five states that requires some sort of parity in their state bureaucracy, so that puts them at the very top, gender-wise, from that perspective."

In the past three decades, five women from the two major political parties have run for Congress unsuccessfully, but Osborn says there’s no single link in those races. "I mean, there are definitely reasons that are central to Iowa politics that there hasn’t been a woman elected," Osborn says, "but the reason that they’re down at the bottom with Mississippi and kind of unusual is purely historical fluke, I think."

Former Iowa Secretary of State Elaine Baxter of Burlington twice ran for Congress in the 1990s, losing both times to Congressman Jim Ross Lightfoot. Baxter believes a woman can win higher office in Iowa, under the right set of circumstances.

"I think when you look at: Can a woman win in Iowa? I think (an) open seat is best (when you’re not running against an incumbent) and constituencies that are probably more urban, younger," Baxter says. "Those kinds of voters are more likely to elect a woman."

Becky Greenwald, the 2008 Democratic candidate in Iowa’s fourth district, isn’t ruling out a rematch against Republican Congressman Tom Latham of Ames in 2010. "I do believe that it is a historical fluke and that we will elect a woman one of these days. It needs to be the right person at the right time," Greenwald says. "Before I decide if I try it again, I need to do a gap analysis and just see where we were apart and see where we might be able to overcome."

The three women made their comments during a joint appearance on Iowa Public Radio. 

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

Scrutinize gift cards before purchasing them

November 28, 2008 By

Gift cards are a popular Christmas present, but shoppers are warned to read the fine print before buying.

A lot of gift cards carry expiration dates or fees if they aren’t used in a certain period of time. State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald says it’s a good idea to ask about those terms beforehand. For several years now, Fitzgerald has asked state lawmakers to ban the use expiration dates or fees on gift cards in Iowa.

"However, the legislature has not agreed with us and so there are fees and expiration dates," Fitzgerald said. "So, we’re warning consumers in Iowa to be aware of that and if you get a gift card, use it right away."

In today’s economy, Fitzgerald warns it’s also a risk to buy from a retailer that’s facing financial trouble. He says if the company goes bankrupt, the gift card will be worthless.

Filed Under: Business

Iowan writes wedding book from view through camera

November 28, 2008 By

Book on wedding advice by Iowan Dan Maiers. Future brides might consider an Iowa man’s new book for their Christmas wish list. Dan Maiers wrote 51 Bride’s Wedding Day Embarrassments using tidbits he and his wife Stephanie collected in 10 years behind a camera shooting wedding videos.

"We saw a lot of the more behind the scenes types of thing that a lot of the brides and a lot of the wedding planners don’t necessarily see, a lot of the nuts and bolts of putting a wedding together," Maiers says, "and so we just compiled a bunch of ideas from all the weddings that we filmed over the years and put them into a book."

Maiers, who lives in Johnston, says the subtitle of the book is: "51 solutions to avoid ruining your wedding as well." He says the book is a little more practical, hands on, ideas that make you say "oh why didn’t I think of that" before you get into the wedding.

Maiers cites the example of extra planning for a rural Iowa church wedding that’s in the book. He says a lot of the rural churches don’t have the minister living too close to the church anymore, and he’s seen weddings where the wedding party gets to the church three hours early to shoot pictures and there’s no one there with keys to let them.

"So, it’s that type of thing that we put into our book just to kind of remind brides there’s a lot of other things involved in the planning other than the lists that you might see in some of the magazines," Maiers explains. There are also advice on keeping young kids occupied at weddings so they don’t become the focal point of the big day instead of the bride and groom.

Maiers says an incident involving a young kid is one of his most memorable. The child didn’t get the instructions for taking the birdseed out of its gauze bag before throwing it at the bride and groom as they came out of the church. Maiers says the kid reared back and threw the gauze full of seed at the bride and pegged her right in the eye, and the bride ended up at her reception with a black eye. Maiers says it’s funny to look back on now, but it wasn’t one of the funny things at the wedding reception that night.

Maiers says the book is available on the  Amazon.com and the Target website .

 

Filed Under: Human Interest, Recreation & Entertainment

Iowans urged to conserve gas, even as prices fall

November 28, 2008 By

For many Iowans, it’s traditional to go holiday shopping today and it’s cheaper to drive to the mall than it has been in a long time. Gasoline is well under two-dollars a gallon with some areas of the state posting a dollar-50 or so, the lowest prices Iowans have seen in more than three years.

Mitch Beaumont, at Triple-A-Iowa says the savings will add up with each fill-up at the pump "and hopefully consumers will take some of that extra money and spend it on gifts for loved ones and try to boost the economy a little bit there."

Beaumont fears motorists will have a short memory and return to old, bad habits. He says one "danger" with prices falling as far as they have is that consumers might be tempted to go back to their wasteful driving habits from earlier this summer, before prices shot so high. Beaumont says if you’ve been combining errands, carpooling and cutting back on your driving in other ways, keep it up.

He says, "Consumers need to keep in mind that conservation has helped prices plummet since the record high seen in July and so as prices fall, consumers need to continue to be efficient and keep conservation in mind at all times."

 

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Human Interest Tagged With:
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