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Polk County test of "self arrest’ program goes well

March 24, 2009 By

The sheriff’s department in Iowa’s most populous county is experimenting with a new type of law enforcement — called self-arrest. More than 150 people with outstanding Polk County warrants were sent letters, telling them how to turn themselves in and be processed at a certain time and date at the courthouse in downtown Des Moines.

About a third of the letters were returned due to old or bad addresses, but Deputy Jana Rooker says 12 people actually came in — and one saw the warrant dismissed. "So of those 11, they were all fingerprinted that needed to be. They saw the judge and they got a fine or got another court date, but one of the two, and then they went on their way."

Rooker says the county’s first test of this process went smoothly. "Only the people who receive these letters do qualify," Deputy Rooker says. "That would include charges like an O-W-I, theft charges, driving while license suspended and we did have somebody with a charge of possession of a controlled substance." She says the self-arrest program benefits the taxpayers of Polk County and law enforcement agencies, in addition to the person facing charges.

Rooker says: "They’re never actually in our custody. It saves people time. If they get pulled over for a traffic violation, typically, if they have a warrant, they would be taken to jail, their car would be impounded, it’s a big inconvenience for them, and then there’s additional fees with the car being impounded. This way, we can avoid all that, make it a convenient time and save everybody some time and money."

Rooker says participation was better than expected so they plan to send another round of self-arrest letters for a court date in June.

AUDIO: Radio Iowa’s Matt Kelley reports on Polk County’s self arrests :40 MP3

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Altoona boy struck and killed while on way to school

March 24, 2009 By

An eight-year-old Altoona boy died this morning after being hit by a car while crossing the street on the way to school. Police in the Des Moines suburb say Jacob Pullen was with a friend and was crossing the street on a push scooter when he fell off the scooter and into the street where he was struck by a car.

The driver of the car, 34-year-old Renee Lynn Waters of Mitchellville, told police it was dark and she saw something in the roadway — but due to the heavy downpour of rain — she was unable to stop in time. Police say Waters stopped, and along with several other motorists, tried to help Pullen, but the boy died at the scene. Investigators say Waters was not impaired in any way, and speed did not appear to be a factor in the accident.

They also say they do not anticipate any charges being filed against Waters. 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Villisca couple happy to escape tornado alive

March 24, 2009 By

A farmer and his wife who live near Villisca are thankful to have their lives after a storm ripped through their property Monday evening. Darrel Herzberg and his wife Mavis were home when the storm hit.

"It was just a sudden thing in less than probably a minute and it was through with whatever came through…probably a tornado," Herzberg says. The chimney is missing on the house and damage is quite heavy elsewhere on his property.

Herzberg says, "I lost one barn and a machine shed. I had a tractor in there. There’s very little damage on it. And the machine shed had a combine and it has some damage. It took the roof off of one grain bin that had some corn in it. I’ll just deliver that corn to the grain elevator, I’ve got to get it out of there, because if it rains it’ll get wet."

Herzberg says the machine shed had a couple of smaller sheds on the side are all gone. He says the machine shed is "completely wrecked." The machine shed housed a combine that has minimal damage and will be usable. Many trees in his wind break of about a dozen evergreen trees north of the property are either completely knocked down or damaged.

Montgomery County Emergency Coordinator, Kevin Norris, says storm spotters confirmed a tornado near Villisca after eight o’clock.

Spotters reported that the tornado on the ground northwest of Villisca where it picked up some livestock handling equipment and set it into the traveled portion of the roadway.

Norris says there were signs damage in the little town of Tenville just north of Villisca on Highway 71. One home reported loss of windows, but no homes were lost. Norris says other reports are still coming in today from the Stanton area. He encourages residents that unless you’re a trained storm spotter, don’t go out and watch the storm.

"Unless you’re a trained weather spotter, I highly suggest not doing that, there are people trained to spot. There’s plenty of time afterward when the weather has calmed down and the system has passed to go assess the damage, but you certainly don’t want to go out while there’s an active [weather] pattern in the area," Norris says. Norris says no injuries were reported.  

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Weather

Unemployment rate moves up slighlty in February

March 24, 2009 By

Iowa lost more jobs in the month of February. Kerry Koonce, with Iowa Workforce Development, says the state’s unemployment rate last month rose to 4.9% That’s up from 4.8% in January and 3.9% in February 2008.

The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 8.1% last month. Koonce credits Iowa’s diverse economy for the lower jobless figures compared to many other states. Three sectors of Iowa’s economy added jobs in February.

Trade and transportation added 1,400 jobs, education/health services added 600 and construction added 400 jobs. Those gains, however, were offset by big dips elsewhere – primarily in manufacturing.

"From January to February, manufacturing lost 8,400 jobs," Koonce said. "Since February of ’08, manufacturing’s lost 20,000 jobs." Professional and business services has dropped 9,400 jobs from a year ago, while construction has trimmed 1,900 positions. There were 17,000 more unemployed Iowans in February compared to the same month one year ago.

Koonce says the agency’s report lists 82,500 unemployed Iowans – the largest number of jobless residents since July of 1987. There were 1.6 million Iowans working in February. 

Filed Under: Business Tagged With:

Storm blows train off tracks near Missouri Valley

March 24, 2009 By

A 133-car freight train headed for Wyoming had an unexpected layover in western Iowa last night. Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis says the train was forced to stop near the town of Missouri Valley when a tornado warning was issued for the area, but when the all-clear was given, a startling discovery was made.

The conductor walked back to inspect the cars and noticed "quite a few cars" had derailed. In all, 54 empty coal cars had jumped the tracks. Davis says crews are working to remedy the problem. He expects it will take most of the day to place all of the cars back on the rails. Davis says no one was injured in the incident. He says a repair team with heavy equipment started working early this morning to right the toppled cars.

It’s hoped the railway will be open again by 6 P.M. The train was coming from Illinois. Davis says it’s still not clear if the cars were derailed by a tornado or just very strong winds.  

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Weather

Awards recognize 9-1-1 dispatchers

March 24, 2009 By

Dispatchers that answer 9-1-1 calls in Iowa are being recognized for their extraordinary work over the past year. The Telecommunicator of the Year awards ceremony is tonight in Urbandale. Cara Sorrells is president of the Iowa Chapter of NENA, the National Emergency Number Association. She says 9-1-1 dispatchers work are under intense pressure for much of their daily shift.

"When you’ve had a very stressful day, you want to go home and hug your kids or pet your dog," Sorrells said. "It’s very hard sometimes when you’ve had a tragic call or you’ve been wired-up for four or five hours doing some terrible accident. It’s very hard not to think about it when you go home." New technology has made the job easier in some respects, but Sorrells says calls to 9-1-1 have tripled with the advent of cell phones.

"I can remember when I started, which was 20 years ago, we had the one stand-alone radio mic and one computer that was a Teletype," Sorrells said. "Now, we’re looking at six different computer screens…it can be overwhelming." Sorrells works in the Washington County Communications Center and is one of nearly 1,700 9-1-1 dispatchers in the state.

Their work not only involves sending the appropriate emergency response vehicles to the right location, but also asking the caller questions that could play a critical role in a courtroom. "The questions they ask, the way they ask them and the responses they get – if they don’t interpret them correctly, they might miss something," Sorrells said.

"They might miss a hang-up 9-1-1 that’s really a domestic (dispute) and someone disconnected the phone. Or maybe someone’s committed a crime and the caller’s giving important information for officer safety. They need to pick up on that and pass it along to the right person." Dispatchers from 15 counties have been nominated for tonight’s awards.

Sorrells says many of the dispatchers are being recognized for handling 9-1-1 calls that helped save lives in tornadoes and flooding. One of the nominees, Erik Martin, is a dispatcher in Monona County. He was the lone dispatcher on duty during the early morning hours of June 12, 2008 – when a tornado hit the Little Sioux Boy Scout Camp. Four boy scouts were killed in the storm.

Nineteen members of the Boy Scouts of American will be presented today with "9-1-1 NENA Hero" awards for their actions that likely saved other scouts’ lives.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Grassley says budget will have long term implications

March 24, 2009 By

While fears of flooding are renewed in Iowa, Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s worried about a different sort of flood — a sea of red ink engulfing the federal government. The Iowa Republican is on the Senate Budget Committee which begins working on the 2010 budget plan tomorrow.

Grassley says experts in the Congressional Budget Office say President Obama’s three-point-six trillion dollar budget would be extremely expensive. Grassley says, "They scored the president’s budget and said it would increase the deficit by, get this, two-and-three-tenths trillion more than what the president said that their own budget would cost."

Grassley says the proposed budget would have dangerous financial ripple effects into future generations. "Over the last 40 years, federal spending averaged just 20-.7% of the gross national product," Grassley says. "Under the new president’s (budget plan), spending is up to more than 28% this year and will stay around 24% of the economy for the next decade." Grassley has been on the Budget Committee each of his 29 years in the Senate and says America needs jobs but it also needs government to stop taxing, spending and borrowing such incredible sums.

Grassley says, "In the end, someone has to pay and eventually, it’s the middle class, because you can confiscate all the money from rich people and you still aren’t going to have enough to keep government functioning, particularly at this rate."

Grassley says the proposed budget will end up "destroying opportunities for the next generation," as it boosts the federal deficit to a projected $1.8 trillion. He says he hopes some "blue dog Democrats" in Congress will help the minority Republicans to trim out some of the massive spending from the proposed plan.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,
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