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Fire causes $250,000 in damage to Cherokee apartment complex

December 19, 2009 By

There was a costly fire at an apartment complex in Cherokee last night.

Officials say a “heavy fire” was burning in a first floor apartment in the Timber Ridge Apartment Complex when fire fighters arrived. The fire spread to a second-floor deck and then to the roof above.

All 16 units in the building were evacuated. Eventually crews were able to contain the fire, but damage is estimated to be as high as a quarter of a million dollars.

One person was treated for smoke inhalation. 

Investigators say they believe the cause of the fire was probably an electrical cord under the sofa in that first floor apartment.  The sofa caught fire and then the flames spread.

(Reporting by Mark Bruggom, KICD, Spencer)

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Two children killed in wreck near Orange City

December 19, 2009 By

Two Orange City children have died as the result of an accident at the intersection of Highways 75 and 10, five miles west of Orange City. 

The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office reports that about 6:35 p.m. Friday, 29-year-old Alan Muilenburg of rural Maurice was driving a 1999 GMC Envoy southbound on Highway 75.  Thirty-one-year-old Michelle Toering of Orange City was driving a 1990 Dodge van westbound on Highway 10. Toering crossed Highway 75 in the path of Muilenburg’s vehicle. The vehicles collided within the intersection.

Five-year-old Kadean Toering and 17-month-old Chaz Toering, both sons of Michelle Toering and passengers in her vehicle, were killed as a result of the accident.  Michelle Toering and Muilenburg were both transported to the Orange City Hospital.  Condition reports are not available. 

The accident remains under investigation.

(Reporting by Scott Van Aartsen, KIWA, Sheldon)

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

State Patrol to close Cherokee office

December 19, 2009 By

The Iowa State Patrol office in Cherokee will close this spring. Jessica Lown of the Iowa Department of Public Safety says it’s a cost-saving measure. “It was sort of an opportune time. The lieutenant up there and the secretary of that district have indicated that they’re going to be retiring in the spring. There’s a couple of salaries right there that we can eliminate since they’re retiring,” Lown says. “Then we can just rearrange some of our staffing, reassign some folks to different offices.”

Troopers who used the Cherokee site as a base office will be reassigned to the Highway Patrol’s district office in Spencer or the one in Denison. There are two patrol offices in Des Moines — one is for statehouse security. There are another 13 district offices for the Patrol outside of Des Moines. Lown says the Patrol continues to look at ways to reduce costs, but there’s no plan right now to close another district office.

“It’s not out of the question, but it’s not something that I know of or know that is being seriously considered in other places right now,” Lown says. “But if there’s an opportunity, if it’s strategically smart for our office, it may happen.” The State Troopers who patrol Iowa highways are able to connect to driving records and other law enforcement via the modern technology in their squad cars, but Lown says it’s still important to have a physical office space for troopers to gather.

“We need to have staff meetings. You can’t just be out in no-man’s land forever and ever before you have contact with a supervisor,” Lown says. “You need to have training meetings on at least a semi-regular basis.” Troopers carry guns and Lown says it would be impractical to have troopers meet in a public place like a coffee shop, for example, to review gun procedures.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With:

Nominations sought for ESGR awards

December 19, 2009 By

Iowans serving in the National Guard or Reserves who feel they’re well-supported by their employers are encouraged to nominate them for a national award. Dick Rue, of Des Moines, is field committee chairman of the Iowa Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, or ESGR. Rue says employers are obligated to do certain things for citizen-soldiers, like having a comparable job waiting for the soldier when they come home from active duty and are ready to return to work.

Rue says, “All employers are required to comply with the law but many employers, particularly Iowa employers, go above and beyond the requirement by providing supplemental pay, extended medical benefits, just a variety of things beyond that.” The highest award given to an employer by the U-S government is the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. Rue, who is a veteran of the U.S. Marines, says the award is a big honor that’s reserved for only a select few employers.

“We, as part of our ESGR program, try to identify and recognize those individuals,” Rue says. “There are a number of state awards that we do provide but the Freedom Award is a separate application process above and beyond that. There’s only 15 in the country that get that recognition.” The deadline to nominate an employer for the Freedom Award is January 18th. A small southeast Iowa company won the national award in 2007, Augustine and Sons, based in Rose Hill. Rue says the owners were thrilled with the recognition.

“They were taken to Washington, D.C,” Rue says. “They were provided a five-minute interview with President Bush and that got extended, at his determination, to about 50 minutes and then there’s a black-tie dinner with a national-level speaker and these awards are then presented.” To learn more about the program, visit:

Filed Under: Military Tagged With:

Farmers can still harvest corn stranded in fields

December 19, 2009 By

Last week’s snow storm stranded more than motorists – about 4% of Iowa’s corn crop is still trapped in the field. Iowa State University farm economist William Edwards says  90% of the state’s farmers have crop insurance policies that expired December 10th. He says they shouldn’t have any problem receiving an extension.

“It’s pretty obvious the corn that’s still in the field is there because of adverse weather conditions and those are things that are covered under the insurance policy” Edwards said. “What (farmers) need to do, if they haven’t already done so, is contact their insurance agent.” At more than $4 a bushel, the corn left standing represents more than $500 million.

Along with the monetary considerations, there’s another reason to get the crop harvested. “I think, generally, farmers want to harvest the crop if they can…certainly looking ahead to next spring, having standing corn in the field will present a real problem when they go to plant the next crop,” Edwards said.

Farmers throughout the Midwest have fought Mother Nature this year. A cool spring led to late planting and a wet October delayed the harvest which increased costs to dry the grain before it could be stored.

Filed Under: Agriculture Tagged With: