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Strawberry Point man charged with sexual abuse

June 29, 2009 By

A northeast Iowa man is facing charges after a 16-year-old girl reported she was kidnapped and sexually abused. The Fayette County Sheriff’s office took a report at noon on Saturday that a sexual assault victim was at a residence in Lamont.

Deputies spoke with the 16-year-old female victim, who said she was taken by vehicle to a remote location near Arlington and sexually abused. The girl was taken to Oelwein Mercy Hospital. Deputies identified the suspect as 38-year-old Dustin Lloyd Millard of Strawberry Point.

A Clayton County Conservation officer spotted Millard’s vehicle at 4:30 Saturday afternoon. He was arrested without incident near his home. Millard was transported to the Fayette County Jail and charged with second-degree sexual abuse and third-degree kidnapping.

Authorities say they found a number of marijuana plants and other items in Millard’s home that may lead to more charges being filed in Clayton County.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Search continues on Missouri River for missing man

June 29, 2009 By

The search continues for a South Sioux City, Nebraska, man who vanished after a weekend boating accident on the Missouri River. Thirty-one-year-old Bruce Wright and 33-year-old South Sioux City councilman Oscar Gomez were both thrown from the boat piloted by 32-year-old Samuel Gomez of Jackson, Nebraska, Oscar Gomez’ cousin.

It happened about a mile south of Sioux City near Salix, Iowa, on Saturday night. Apparently, Samuel Gomez slowed the boat down very quickly and caused the two men to be ejected. Oscar Gomez was injured by the propeller and taken to a hospital for treatment. Samuel Gomez was arrested for boating while intoxicated. A search Saturday night and all day Sunday failed to turn up any sign of Wright.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Iowa Games deadline today for several sports

June 29, 2009 By

Today is the final deadline to register for several Iowa Games sports. Spokesman Cory Kennedy says teams and athletes should be sure to sign up before the deadlines.

He says registration is due in youth baseball, three- on-three basketball, five-on-five basketball, billiards, four person best shot golf, stroke play golf, handball, sand volleyball, shooting, adult soccer, youth soccer, volleyball.

Kennedy says you have to sign up before the deadline to be able to take part. He says this is the final on-line registration deadline as the postmark deadline was last Monday. Kennedy says registering on-line does not take very long.

Kennedy says you’ll need coaches and assistant coach information for a team sport, along with the athletes names and addresses, birthdates, as well as a credit card. The Iowa Summer Games begin July 10th.

You can register here . 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Hundreds turn out at visitation for A-P coach, funeral today

June 29, 2009 By

Hundreds of people showed up to pay their respects to a slain Iowa high school football coach. The line extended nearly six city blocks. Mourners waited nearly three-and-a-half hours on Sunday to attend the visitation for Aplington-Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas, who was shot to death last week.

Authorities have charged one of Thomas’ former players, 24-year-old Mark Becker, with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting, which occurred Wednesday in the school’s weight room.

Among the mourners who paid their respects at the visitation were Iowa Senator Charles Grassley and many of Thomas’ rival coaches. The funeral for Thomas takes place at 10:30 this morning at First Congregational Church in Parkersburg.

 

Filed Under: Human Interest Tagged With: ,

Iowa won’t ban smiles on driver’s licenses

June 29, 2009 By

Sample Iowa driver's license Iowa is phasing in the use of a high-tech facial recognition software for driver’s license pictures in an effort to ward off identity theft.

Some states are banning people from smiling in their photos so the computerized gadgets will work properly, as the Iowa D.O.T.’s Dena Gray-Fisher says it’s a complex process.

The computer software scans the picture and looks at certain points on your face, like the distance between your eyes or from the tip of your nose to the end of your chin. It stores everything in a database and then cross-references it with pictures that have similar dimensions to determine if there are enough similar characteristics that might indicate identity theft.

Gray-Fisher says the software Iowa is putting into practice will not require people to put on a blank, stony face. “Any Iowan can certainly have a modest, reasonable smile and that’s not going to affect the software,” Gray-Fisher says. “We’re not going to have any crazy faces or something that might really distort your face, but anybody can have a reasonable smile.”

Several states, including Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia, require people to have a “neutral” face for their photos, something like the people featured in Iowa native Grant Wood’s classic painting “American Gothic.”

Not so for Iowa, Gray-Fisher says, show those pearly whites. Besides, she says, it’d be pretty tough to wipe the grin off the face of a 16-year-old kid who’s just gotten his first driver’s license. She adds, if you don’t like the looks of your driver’s license photo, you have an option.

“The examiners will always give you a chance to look at your photograph after it’s taken,” Gray-Fisher says. “You can actually have it retaken right away if you’re really not happy with it. Sometimes, it might just be the image.”

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Playground expert says recycled rubber is okay

June 29, 2009 By

An expert on playground safety in Iowa is standing behind the use of recycled rubber for play surfaces, despite concerns raised by the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA officials are studying the health hazards associated with repeated exposure to tire crumbs.

Donna Thompson is director of the National Program for Playground Safety based at the University of Northern Iowa. "At this point, I’m more concerned about there being metal in the rubber," Thompson said. "The playground surfacing manufacturers are supposed to being taking the lead out so that can’t bother children either."

Around a half dozen synthetic playing fields, made with recycled rubber, were closed down last year in New York and New Jersey because of high lead levels. Thompson doubts rubber playground surfaces contain enough toxins to be dangerous. "Some years ago, there was concern about CCA, which is another kind of chemical that goes into wood products. They’re not supposed to use that with on any kind of material used by children, so they don’t eat it," Thompson said.

"But, it really took a whole teaspoon of that material in order to cause a kid to have any serious problem." Playground injuries send roughly 200,000 U.S. children to hospital emergency rooms every year. Thompson says playgrounds made with rubber surfaces are proven to lessen the risk of injury from falls – especially compared to concrete or wood surfaces or even surfaces made of sand or bark mulch.

"In addition to that, I think they’re really good for Iowa in particular when our weather changes so much," Thompson said. "When we get as much rain as we’ve had this year in the Spring, they’re not going to dissolve or rot the way some wood products do."

Filed Under: Education, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With:

Four potential candidates offer Rx for GOP

June 29, 2009 By

Rod Roberts meets with fellow Republicans. Four Republicans who may run for governor in 2010 outlined some of their prescriptions for reviving the G.O.P. brand this weekend.

Bob Vander Plaats, a Sioux City business consultant, said Republicans have to stop being known as "the party of no" and address some of the concerns that recently have been raised about the G.O.P.

"Republicans need to be trusted," Vander Plaats said. "…If we campaign on family values, we’d better walk-the-walk of family values."

Representative Christopher Rants of Sioux City said if Republicans are to be successful in 2010, they must address voters’ number one issue of concern: the economy.

"We ought to set as a goal for this state that Iowa becomes one of the top 10 states in the nation to operate a business," Rants said.

Representative Rod Roberts of Carroll listed "friendly, approachable…and willing to work with others" as key traits for the party’s next nominee for governor.

"We can put a Republican back in the governor’s office, but we need to be as thoughtful and considerate about the messenger who carries our message as the message itself," Roberts said.

Senator Jerry Behn of Boone suggested Republicans need to talk about the gay marriage issue and urge voters to vote "no" on retention elections for judges who have issued pro-gay marriage rulings.

"We can reign in the judges by simply kicking them out of office," Behn said.

The four men spoke Saturday morning to nearly 70 northwest Iowa Republicans who gathered in Sac City for a party fundraiser.

Joan Luchtel and Mickie Champion, both of Lake View, thought Vander Plaats was the strongest speaker of the group, but they’re not yet ready to choose a candidate.

The women said there is "wiggle room" since the party primary won’t be held ’til June of next year. "Things change," the two said.

Don Nehman of Lytton isn’t ready to choose a candidate either. "I’m not going to decide right away," he says.

Reverend Brian Krause of Sac City was the event’s emcee.  "I don’t have a horse in the race yet, but I saw some guys connecting with people," Krause says.

The four potential candidates who were in Sac City on Saturday have agreed to appear, together, at another forum scheduled in late July in Des Moines.

AUDIO: Henderson report…MP3 1.2 min

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