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Three Emmetsburg teens charged with setting fires

November 11, 2009 By

Authorities in northwest Iowa believe they’ve found the persons responsible for more than a dozen fires set at vacant farm sites over the past couple of years. Three Emmetsburg teens are facing charges. The Palo Alto County Sheriff’s office says the first reports came in July of 2007 with arson fires set on abandoned farms in West Bend Township near the Pocahontas County line.

Since then, a total of 13 arson blazes were discovered with the final fire reported on July 6th of this year. The fires caused nearly $250,000 in damage to old farm houses, building sites, vehicles and machinery. On Monday, 19-year-old Lucas Ezarski and 17-year-old Mason Hoffman were both charged with second degree arson and fifth degree theft of property. Eighteen-year-old Jacob Firkins is charged with second degree arson.

Contributed by Ryan Long, KICD, Spencer

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Kirkwood student’s death believed to be bacterial meningitis

November 11, 2009 By

Health officials are waiting for confirmation from lab work, but believe a college student in Cedar Rapids died of bacterial meningitis. The 21-year-old victim’s name is not being released, but 10 people who were in close contact with the man have been given antibiotic treatment. The student attended Kirkwood Community College.

Curtis Dickson is with the Linn County Public Health Department. He says the student also had H1N1, which contributed to the suspected case of bacterial meningitis. Symptoms of bacterial meningitis include a high fever, headache and stiff neck. Bacterial meningitis is separate from viral meningitis, which is not considered fatal.

Contributed by Justin Foss, KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Seven new names added to I.S.U. Gold Star Hall

November 11, 2009 By

Seven new names of Iowa State students who died serving their country have been engraved in the wall of “Gold Star Hall” at the I.S.U. Memorial Union. The new names added to the memorial wall often get there after hours of research to confirm they went to Iowa State and should be honored.

It begins with union marketing director, Kathy Svec, who comes up with a list of possibilities. That list is then turned over to assistant registrar Judy Minnick who then looks through various records. Minnick says from 1976 on, the records are computerized, but from the 1961 to 1976 the records are alphabetized in a hard copy file. If the student attended Iowa State prior to 1961, then Minnick has to look to another source to find the hard copy of their record.

Minnick says all of the old records are indexed on microfilm, so they can go to the microfilm and find what year the record is located in. For the years between 1926 and 1976 there are more than 400,000 hard copy records on file. Minnick says knowing the year doesn’t always lead directly to the student.

Minnick says you might have a name, but there could be several students with the same name. She says they have to do some cross-checking of the time frame, for instance, if the person was a casualty of the Korean War, then they would not have a record on file in the late 1950′s or the 1960′s. So a person with that name in the 1960′s would not be the person they are looking to identify.

After they are able to narrow down the hometown, they send the information by to Svec at the Memorial Union. Svec then does further research on the person’s background. The fallen soldiers added to the wall this year are being honored on this Veterans Day. Five are from the Korean War and one each from World War II and Vietnam. The Gold Star honorees added this year are listed below. 

2009 Gold Star Honorees
WORLD WAR II
Kenneth Norman Okeson
Hometown: Wakefield, Nebraska
At Iowa State: Civil engineering, fall 1935 to winter 1939
Military: 1st Lt., Army Air Forces; 81st Squadron, 436th Troop Carrier Group; navigator, C47. Participated in Normandy invasion. Missing in Action, Sept. 19, 1944, over Holland during Operation Market Garden

KOREA
Robert Emory Dummermuth
Hometown: Elgin, Iowa
At Iowa State: Dairy plant operation, 1947 to 48
Military: CPL. Company B, 7th Cavalry Reg., 1st Cavalry Div.
Died: Oct. 10, 1951, near Chorwon, North Korea, most likely during the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge

Charles Emery Collins
Hometown: Melbourne, Iowa
At Iowa State: Animal husbandry, fall 1949
Military: PFC, 27th Infantry Reg., 25th Infantry Div.
Died: May 22, 1952, on Heartbreak Ridge

Carl Jacob Claus
Hometown: Plymouth, Iowa
At Iowa State: Veterinary medicine, fall 1947
Military: Cpl., 8th Cavalry Reg., 1st Cavalry Div., scout dog trainer
Died: June 6, 1952, of wounds received while on patrol during hostile action

Sidney Jasper Botts
Hometown: rural Elliott, Iowa
At Iowa State: Animal husbandry, 1947-48
Military: Sgt., 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Div.
Died: Oct. 15, 1952, in hostile action during Battle of Triangle Hill

William Ward Sharp
Hometown: Plover, Iowa
At Iowa State: Agricultural education, 1951-52
Military: PFC., Company A, 17th Infantry Reg., 7th Infantry Div.
Missing in action, presumed dead: July 6, 1953 during hostile action at Pork Chop Hill

VIETNAM
Michael Keith Lewis
Hometown: Lake City, Iowa
At Iowa State: Horticulture, 1964-67
Military: Staff SGT., Company D, 3/60th 9th Infantry Div., Mobile Riverine Force
Died: June 13, 1969, in Kien Hoa, while clearing an area for medical evacuation of wounded

Filed Under: Human Interest, Military Tagged With:

ISU researcher builds machine to study glaciers

November 11, 2009 By

An Iowa State University researcher has built a special machine to help chart the movement of glaciers. Neal Iverson, a professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, worked for three years to build this one-of-a-kind machine that’s nine feet tall.

“The ice inside the machine is shaped like a great big donut. It’s about three feet in its outside diameter and it’s inside diameter — it’s about one-and-a-half feet,” he says. “So imagine this donut-shaped piece of ice in there. It’s about a foot tall.”

Iverson will drag that “donut-ring” of ice across a rocky surface and across surfaces with soil sediments — to measure how quickly the ice moves across different kinds of surfaces. This mimics the movement of glaciers in the real world as they melt and pass over the earth below. It will provide first-of-their-kind readings that may help researchers investigating sea level changes.

Iverson hopes researchers from around the globe come to his lab in Ames to conduct experiments. Iverson got interested in the subject because much of the topography of modern-day Iowa was formed by glaciers.

Filed Under: Education, Environment & Conservation Tagged With:

USDA says money is available for rural phone, internet service

November 11, 2009 By

A representative from the United States Department of Agriculture says access to phone and high-speed internet service is improving throughout rural Iowa — and it could get even better. The U.S.D.A.’s deputy director of the Rural Utilities Service, Jessica Zufolo, says they can provide low-interest loans and grants to rural telecommunications cooperatives to help them improve their service.

She says,”The cost of building networks in rural areas is just very , very high and that’s a reality that rural communities face every day in trying to attract businesses and capital to their regions.” Zufolo says Iowa is in a better position than some states. “Iowa is somewhat unique because there’s about 147 independent rural telephone companies that serve the state and so very few states have that level of activity among rural co-ops,” Zufolo says. She says getting the money to expand the service is still the key.

Zufolo says some of the challenges that the Iowa co-ops face are similar to those faced in other states, where the cost of service is extremely expensive, while users are facing costs issues in the tougher economic times. Zufolo and Iowa’s director of the service, Bill Menner stopped in Wellman, southwest of Iowa City and in Dyersville to promote telecommunications technology.

Menner says Iowa has never been in a better position to improve rural economies.

Menner says,” There’s no doubt that we have the resources we need right now to help co-ops and other telecommunications providers. We have an unprecedented opportunity through the Recovery Act with dollars we’ve never seen before.” Menner says more than 100-million stimulus dollars are available for rural development in Iowa. The deadline to apply for the money is next September.

Filed Under: Business, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Harkin says abortion restrictions in health bill go too far

November 11, 2009 By

Senator Tom Harkin says the abortion restrictions included in the health care reform plan that passed the U.S. House last weekend go too far. Current federal restrictions prevent the use of federal funds to pay for abortions unless the life of the mother is threatened, or the pregnancy is the result of a rape or incest.

The House-passed restrictions would forbid the so-called “public option” that would compete with private insurance plans from covering abortions. Harkin, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, says senators will move forward “aggressively” with their own version of a health care plan.

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