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Son of slain coach to be school’s A.D.

July 14, 2009 By

The son of longtime Aplington-Parkersburg football coach Ed Thomas has been hired as the school’s athletic director.

Thirty-year-old Aaron Thomas has spent the past seven years at Union High School in La Porte City, where he was an assistant principal, activities director and boys basketball coach. Thomas, who is married with three young sons, says his dad would approve of the move.

“One thing he always wanted was for us to return and he talked about coaching all the way through my three boys in football,” Aaron said of his father. “He talked to me many times about someday returning to A-P.”

Ed Thomas was shot and killed on June 24 inside the school’s makeshift weight-training room. In addition to coaching football, the 58-year-old Thomas served as the school’s athletic director. In the summer, Ed Thomas could be found almost every day at the school’s football field – weeding, watering and mowing the grass that locals refer to as the “Sacred Acre.”

Aaron Thomas says he doesn’t imagine being able to devote as much time as his dad did to those kinds of duties.

“With my three boys being as young as they are, ya know, I don’t think I’ll be up mowing the football field and some of those things,” Thomas said. “I want our facilities to be as nice as they can be, but where my dad was and where I will be coming into…it’s just two different places in our lives.”

The Union School Board accepted Thomas’ resignation on Monday. Thomas says he and his wife wrestled with the decision for two days before deciding to move back to Parkersburg.

“The fact we couldn’t get over was the ability to be closer and with our families during this time,” Thomas said. In addition to Thomas’ mother, his wife’s parents also live in Parkersburg. “So now our kids will be around their three remaining grandparents,” Thomas said.

In addition to athletic director, Thomas will serve as A-P’s at-risk coordinator and student service counselor. He doesn’t plan to coach a Falcon athletic team next season, but isn’t ruling that out in the future.

“We’ll just kind of have to wait and see with the coaching,” Thomas said.

Longtime assistants Jon Wiegmann and Al Kerns will serve as co-head coaches of the football team.

A former A-P football player and student is accused in Ed Thomas’ death. Twenty-four-year-old Mark Becker is charged with first-degree murder and is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail. His trial is scheduled for September 15. Becker’s attorney, Susan Flander of Mason City, has filed court documents that indicate she plans to use a defense of insanity or diminished responsibility.

 

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Education, Human Interest Tagged With:

Two killed in Bettendorf train crash

July 14, 2009 By

Two crew members were killed when a freight train crashed in Bettendorf early this morning.

The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern train was southbound when it struck a group of cars in a rail yard. DM&E Railroad Vice-President Ed Terbell spoke at an afternoon press conference in Bettendorf.

"It is with great sadness that I confirm the fatalities of the locomotive engineer and the conductor involved in the derailment early this morning," Terbell said.

He identified the conducter as 27-year-old Andrew Reed of Savanna, Illinois. The identity of the engineer was not released, based on a request from the victim’s family. The engineer also lived in Savanna.

The crash happened just after 2 a.m. and involved two freight trains and a host of cars.

"Emergency response crews contained a small diesel leak from the second locomotive," Terbell said. "Most of the rail cars were empty, none contained any hazardous materials. Approximately one dozen cars were involved in the derailment."

Terbell says the focus right now is on the needs of the victim’s families, but a full investigation into what caused the crash is underway.

"In addition to working with the families, (DM&E) has launched a full investigation into this incident," Terbell said.

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board are also investigating the crash.

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With: ,

Shooting in Waterloo sends three people to hospitals

July 14, 2009 By

Three people are hospitalized following a shooting in Waterloo. Police were called to a residential neighborhood a few blocks from downtown just after 6 p.m. Monday. When they arrived, officers found a man and two teenagers with gunshot wounds.

Police have identified the victims as 25-year-old Travell McCoy, 17-year-old Damarrius Todd and 16-year-old Edward Degraffinreed — all of Waterloo. Authorities say Degraffinreed suffered gunshot wounds to the torso and is in guarded condition at a Waterloo hospital. McCoy was shot in the leg and Todd in the arm. Both are in stable conditon at University Hospitals in Iowa City.

Police continue to investigate the shooting. No other information about the incident is being released at this time.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Culver reluctant to embrace "public option" in health care reform

July 14, 2009 By

Health Care Reform Iowa’s Democratic governor is urging congress to pass a health care reform package by the end of this year, but Governor Chet Culver is reluctant to express support for a "public option" that would let Americans choose from a private insurance plan or a government-run plan similar to the policy for members of congress.

"That may or may not be part of the final agreement," Culver says. "…The bottom line is we need health care reform in America."

Many rate Des Moines, Iowa, along with London and New Hartford, Connecticut, among the top centers for insurance companies in the world and a so-called "public option" in a national health care reform plan might hurt private insurers in Iowa.

"There are a lot of different ways to do this and at this point it’s clearly a federal challenge," Culver says, "and I believe they need to come up with a bill and get it to the president’s desk by the end of the year."

Culver toured Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines this morning to highlight the state’s "Healthy And Well Kids in Iowa" program, called HAWK-I, which provides no-cost or low-cost insurance plans for kids who aren’t covered by a policy.

"We can cover families on the HAWK-I program up to 300 percent above the federal poverty level," Culver said. "So that means for a family of three in Iowa, the gross income eligibility cut-off is $52,800."

Culver staff arranged for 17-year-old Kristi Ruth of Chariton to tell her story to reporters. Ruth’s arm was severely injured in a farm accident two years ago, and she’s had several surgeries and lots of physical therapy — all covered by HAWK-I.

"The Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa program is such an important program because it covers so many farm families and lower income families," Ruth said. "…And from personal experience I can tell you it’s a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing."

Ruth has become involved in the Farm Safety for Just Kids program and she urges farmers who are parents — and who find it difficult to buy insurance for themselves and their families — to enroll their children in the state-subsidized HAWK-I program.

"You should never be too proud to get insurance because children are the future and it’s really important that they’re covered and that they’re safe," she said.

According to Governor Culver, Iowa parents have enrolled 45,000 children in HAWK-I in the last 30 months. State officials estimate at least 27,000 Iowa kids who are eligible for HAWK-I are not covered by any insurance policy today.

"We have to find a way to push forward and provide access to health care for kids and for all Iowans," Culver said.

The governor is hosting a "town hall meeting" about children’s health care this afternoon. The hour-long event in the Old Capitol on the University of Iowa campus starts at 3 p.m.

Click on the audio link below to listen to Culver’s morning news conference in Des Moines.

AUDIO: Culver news conference…MP3 19 min.

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

Spanish filmmaker shoots in Madrid (Iowa)

July 14, 2009 By

A small central Iowa town will be one of a handful of American cities highlighted in a Spanish documentary. Eloy Parra, a filmmaker from Madrid, Spain, says he put "Madrid" in a weather site to get the forecast one day and was surprised to see so many other Madrids in the U-S. He wanted to learn more and share his knowledge.

Parra says, "I thought this would make an interesting story for people in Spain who, like me, until a couple of months ago, do not know of the existence of all these towns in the U.S. called Madrid." Parra packed his bags and camera gear and traveled to America to visit each of the nine Madrids.

"We went to Madrid, Iowa, from there we traveled all the way to Madrid, Nebraska, and now we are in Colorado where there is another Madrid," he says. In addition to those three, Parra says there are Madrids in New Mexico, New York, Maine, Virginia, Alabama and Kentucky — and he plans to visit each one.

Parra says the Madrids they visited in the Midwest had a unique disposition. "What we saw was a small town with very, very strong family values, hard-working people and stong religious values as well," he says. "We were struck by the warmth of the people who welcomed us." Parra will visit the Madrids in Colorado and New Mexico before heading back to Spain.

Next summer, he plans to visit the remaining towns in the U.S. and then will begin work on editing his footage to create a documentary. At this point, Parra is uncertain how he will release his documentary, but hopes to have it hit public television, among other media outlets, in the next couple of years.

 

Filed Under: Human Interest Tagged With: ,

Class 1A: Jacob Milton, Lansing Kee

July 14, 2009 By

The junior second baseman batted .579 in six games last week. He was 11-of-19 at the plate with three doubles, three RBI and scored five runs. In the first game of a doubleheader sweep against Valley of Elgin, Milton was three-of-four with three RBI. He doubled, drove in three runs and was also the winning pitcher in the second game.Milton gave up six hits and two runs in six innings of work.

 

Filed Under: INS Player of the Week, Uncategorized

Class 2A: Mitch Schmitt, Sumner-Fredricksburg

July 14, 2009 By

The junior first baseman reached base 10 times in 18 plate appearances and finished the week with a .467 batting average. Schmitt had two home runs, a double, seven RBI, scored five runs and drew three walks. Schmitt slammed a homer, doubled and drove in four runs in a loss to North Fayette and also homered, drove in three runs and crossed the plate three times in a victory over Starmont.

 

Filed Under: INS Player of the Week, Uncategorized
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