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Fiegen attacks business dealings of Conlin’s husband

May 24, 2010 By

There was a flashpoint during today’s debate among the three candidates who are seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate, as one of the male candidates challenged the business practices of a rival’s husband.  Tom Fiegen, a lawyer from Clarence, directly questioned rival Roxanne Conlin, who is a lawyer from Des Moines.

“I understand that you and your husband own a company called  ‘Conlin Properties’ and you received last year and this year $20 million in tax credits,” Fiegen said. “How can you credibly ask Charles Grassley to give up $270,000 in farm program benefits when you’ve collected yourself $20 million in tax credits?” 

A Conlin campaign spokesman says Fiegen’s figures are off, as Conlin Properties received 15 million in tax credits over 10 years rather than the 20 million over two years which Fiegen claimed.

“My husband builds low-income and moderate-income properties,” Conlin said. “The money, the tax credits that are provided for that are part of our effort nationally to provide housing to low-income people.” 

The exchange happened as the three U.S. Senate candidates were given a chance to question a competitor.  Conlin said she and her husband are “proud” of the properties they own and manage. “The properties house families, for the most part,” Conlin said. “We provide playgrounds and computer rooms and security and do everything that we can to be helpful to the people who live in the buildings that we build.” 

Fiegen attacked the rental rates for the apartments. ”I understand on your properties low-income people pay rent between $400 and $700 a month,” Fiegen said. “I’ve got to say in Clarence, Iowa, I don’t think that that’s necessarily affordable housing for low-income people.” 

Conlin, in reply, suggested rent in Iowa’s largest city were higher than in Fiegen’s hometown of Clarence, which has a population of about a thousand.  “The low-income housing properties are rent controlled in the sense that they’re based on the local in which they are,” Conlin said. “And a $400 apartment in Des Moines, Iowa, is — in fact — a very low-income property.” 

Fiegen’s other beef was that Conlin Properties sold the tax credits they were awarded. “I don’t know how selling tax credits for cash helps low-income (people),” Fiegen said. 

Conlin said it was “clear” that Fiegen didn’t understand how the tax credits for low-income housing development work.  “You always sell tax credits,” Conlin said. “That’s the purpose of tax credits is to sell (them) and provide equity in the building.”

When Conlin got her turn to ask a rival a question, she chose to ask candidate Bob Krause a question about veteran’s issues rather than question Fiegen.  The three candidates are competing for the chance to face Republican Senator Chuck Grassley on the November ballot.

Today’s debate will air at 9 a.m. Sunday on WHO-TV. You can watch it on-line now at www.DesMoinesRegister.com.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Northeast Iowa man charged with sexually assaulting a child

May 24, 2010 By

A northeast Iowa man is accused of sexually assaulting a child. Fourty-two-year-old Ricky Lee Putman of Arlington was arrested Sunday by Fayette County Sheriff’s deputies.

He’s charged with first-degree sexual assault in connection with an assault of a child. Authorities say they searched two homes and collected several bags of evidence. The child was taken to Mercy Hospital in Oelwein for treatment of injuries and later transported to University Hospitals in Iowa City.

The child’s condition is unknown. Investigators say more charges could be filed in the case.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Effigy Mounds superintendent fired

May 24, 2010 By

The superintendent of a national park in eastern Iowa was fired Friday over what one official calls “regrettable events.” The Effigy Mounds National Monument was established in 1949 to protect significant Native American burial mounds in northeast Iowa, near Harpers Ferry.

On Friday, Effigy Mounds superintendent Phyllis Ewing was “relieved of her duties” — officials won’t comment further because it’s a personnel matter. Park Service officials say someone “from outside the park” will be named acting superintendent this week.

The “regrettable events” involve construction of a boardwalk trail and maintenance building, as they were built without proper review of whether the construction would disturb the Native American burial grounds. The Effigy Mounds National Monument is on the National Register of Historic Places. There are more than 200 burial mounds on the site, constructed between 700 and 2,500 years ago. The deep holes dug for the support piers of the boardwalk may have damaged the archeological features of the mounds.

On Tuesday, an advisory council including members of the 12 tribes who have ancestors buried in the area will meet with park service staff and archeologists to discuss what should be done at the site. The regional director of the Park Service will be at Effigy Mounds  this Wednesday to meet with the park staff.

There are at least 30 “effigy” mounds in the park in the shape of bears and birds and they’re considered sacred grounds by the tribes.

The following 12 tribes will have representatives at Tuesday’s meeting:
Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Otoe-Missouri Tribe of Oklahoma
Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
Upper Sioux Community of Minnesota (Granite Falls)
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota
Lower Sioux Indian Community of Minnesota
Prairie Island Indian Community of Minnesota
Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa
Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska
Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, Politics & Government

DPS holds marrow donor drive

May 24, 2010 By

The Iowa Department of Public Safety is hosting a marrow donor drive this week in hopes of finding a match for two Iowans who need transplants. One is a state trooper; the other is the son of Public Safety employee. Julee Darner, spokeswoman for the University of Iowa Marrow Donor Program, says it’s easy to take the first step to save a life.

“To join the program, people will just be filling out an application form that includes their name, address, contact information and a short health history, and then a swab of their cheek cells,” Darner says. “That swab will be sent to a lab and their D.N.A. typing will be identified from that swab. That information is then put onto a large database.” That database is linked to others around the world with many thousands of potential donors. She says donors with diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds are especially critical as patients in need of a transplant are most likely to match someone who shares their race or ethnicity.

“If you are ever a match for someone, you would have blood testing done to confirm those results first and then you would be asked to come to Iowa City to actually donate your cells,” Darner says. “The cells would then be hand-carried to wherever the patient is located.” While the donor drive is in Des Moines on Wednesday, she says anyone in Iowa can find a place nearby where they can register by calling (800) 944-8220 or by visiting the website: “BeTheMatch.org”.

Darner says, “Your chances of being a match are fairly small and yet you might be one of several people that match, you might be one of hundreds that match that patient but you might also be just the only one in the world that matches that patient.” There is no cost to join the registry but the process does cost the program $52 to D.N.A. type each new person. She says the program relies on cash donations to cover the costs.

For thousands of patients with life-threatening diseases, like leukemia and lymphoma, Darner says a marrow transplant from an unrelated donor is their best or only hope for a cure.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Health & Medicine Tagged With:

Sioux City cat recovering from nail driven in its head

May 24, 2010 By

Sioux City officials are still trying to find the person who drove a nail through the head of a cat found in the back yard of a Sioux City residence. The calico cat was turned into Sioux City Animal Control after someone reported it had been living under their car for three days. Animal Control owner, Cindy Rarrat, says the cat dubbed “Amazing Grace” was taken for surgery to remove the nail.

Rarrat says she realized the cat needed immediate help and it was taken to the veterinarian who took an x-ray, stabilized her, and then did surgery to remove the nail. Rarrat says the cat spirit was great, and she was doing well after the surgery. The cat came out of the anesthesia and the vet said she was starting to eat and drink. Rarrat says they are waiting to see if there’s any eye damage from the nail.

Rarrat filed a report with Sioux City police, and hopes someone will be held accountable. She says it’s critical that the information is reported, because there is a correlation between cruelty to animals and cruelty to people. “If we’ve got somebody out there with a nail gun that’s doing things to animals, the whole community should be concerned, ’cause this is just a horrific act the owners need to be prosecuted for, and they will be,” Rarrat says.

Rarrat says three people have already come forward and offered to adopt the cat.

By Josie Cooper, KSCJ, Sioux City

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Radio Iowa/Baseball Coaches Association Poll 5/24/10

May 24, 2010 By

Class 4A
1.   Dowling Catholic
2.   Sioux City North
3.   Iowa City West
4.   Mason City
5.   Cedar Rapids Kennedy
6.   Davenport Central
7.   Fort Dodge
8.   Clinton
9.   Lewis Central
10. Urbandale

 

Class 3A
1.   Storm Lake
2.   Glenwood
3.   Boone
4.   Norwalk
5.   Harlan
6.   Davenport Assumption
7.   Carlisle
8.   ADM (Adel)
9.   Benton Community
10. Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley

 

Class 2A
1.   Solon
2.   Dyersville Beckman
3.   Fort Dodge St. Edmond
4.   Cherokee
5.   Wilton
6.   Mid-Prairie (Wellman)
7.   Council Bluffs St. Albert
8.   Gilbert
9.   Pekin
10. North Fayette

 

Class 1A
1.   Mason City Newman
2.   Don Bosco
3.   Martensdale-St. Marys
4.   Iowa Mennonite
5.   Calamus-Wheatland
6.   Lansing Kee
7.   N-U High (Cedar Falls)
8.   North Sentral Kossuth
9.   North Tama
10. Lisbon

Filed Under: Sports

Three die in Davenport crash

May 24, 2010 By

A weekend car crash in Davenport left three people dead. It happened about 3:45 Saturday afternoon on Kimberly Road near Wisconsin Avenue. Police say 37-year-old Donna Mitchell of Davenport was eastbound when her car went onto the right shoulder.

Witnesses say it veered into the oncoming lane when she tried to correct the car’s path and it hit a westbound van carrying a family from Wilton. Mitchell, a teacher’s aide at a Davenport elementary school, was hurt and later died. Her daughters, 11-year-old Susan, and 13-year-old Kourtni, also were killed.

Thirty-year-old Amanda Sawvell was driving the van, and her husband, 29-year-old Nathan Sawvell, was a front-seat passenger. The Sawvells and their 8-year-old twin sons and a one-year-old infant son were all hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

By Phil Roberts, Davenport

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters
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