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Camper found dead in tent at state park near Harlan

June 21, 2010 By

Authorities in western Iowa’s Shelby County are investigating a weekend death at Prairie Rose State Park, near Harlan.

The sheriff’s department says deputies received a call at around 6 AM Saturday regarding an unresponsive female in the camping area.

When officers arrived, the found 38-year-old Cinnia Culliver, of Omaha, Nebraska, unresponsive in her tent. Medical aid was rendered but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials say a preliminary death investigation did not indicate any evidence of foul play. An autopsy will be conducted by the State Medical Examiner’s office. The case remains under investigation.

Thanks to Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Motorcyclist dies after hit-and-run crash on I-80

June 21, 2010 By

A search is underway for a hit-and-run vehicle that was involved in a weekend death.

A motorcyclist from Illinois lost control of his bike on Interstate 80 in West Des Moines on Saturday afternoon, crossed the median and crashed. An oncoming vehicle hit the man and didn’t stop.

It’s descibed as a small, white SUV and it’s not clear if it would have any damage. The motorcyclist was declared dead at the scene. He’s identified as 55-year-old John Longman of El Paso, Illinois.

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

Female Iowa Guard troops prep for special mission

June 21, 2010 By

Iowa National Guard soldiers preparing for overseas deployment this summer are training on the use of weapons and survival skills, but they’re also learning about the culture in Afghanistan. Female Iowa soldiers will play an important role.

Captain Jodi Marti, of Knoxville, says teams of three-to-seven women will try to interact with and befriend the Afghan women in an effort to tap an under-utilized resource.

“Even something as simple as showing them proper hygiene,” Marti says, “I know it sounds trivial, but giving the kids toys or paper and pen or crayons. Those little things will go far in what we do over there as a battalion.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Military

Extreme sports fan jumps to death from dam

June 21, 2010 By

Foul play is not suspected in the weekend death of a man who was apparently a thrill-seeker.

A man was killed Saturday in Delaware County in eastern Iowa after jumping from a dam into a river. Authorities say the man jumped at least 50 feet into the Maquoketa River from the Lake Delhi dam.

The man was known for being active in extreme-risk sporting events. It’s believed he jumped intentionally, thinking he would survive. The body was recovered. The man’s name hasn’t been released.

Thanks to Janelle Tucker, KMCH, Manchester

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Substance abuse program sees under-the-radar success in rural Iowa

June 21, 2010 By

If your favorite Hollywood starlet or sports hero vanishes for a few months to seek treatment for an addiction to drugs or alcohol, it’s possible they’re at a facility in west-central Iowa. Mike Vasquez, spokesman for St. Gregory Retreat Center, says they’ve quietly been serving clients from across the country since January of 2007.

“Most people from around the U.S. search us out,” Vasquez says. “The reason most people in Iowa aren’t aware of our existence is we’ve only had 13 people from Iowa over the last three years go through the program out of the hundreds, almost a thousand now. We run vans to the Des Moines airport almost every day, picking somebody up from Maui, Alaska, L.A., New York, all over.”

St. Gregory is headquartered in Des Moines with a 20-bed women’s facility in Adair and a 32-bed men’s facility in Bayard. Vasquez says they use a proprietary substance abuse treatment program that’s not available anywhere else in America.

“We’re really the program where that successful Wall Street investment banker who truly wants to make a change, as opposed to going to a celebrity spa, who wants to go to a place where the research supports what’s going on and is going to pay for it,” Vasquez says. “Or that family in Philadelphia where it’s their 20-year-old son and if they’re going to pay, they’re going to pay for the best, most effective program they can find.”

While the facilities can discretely handle celebrity cases, he says everyone is treated with the same respect and privacy. “We do get the NASCAR drivers, the professional athletes, the college athletes, very successful business people, in addition to people who may have just a good job and great insurance,” Vasquez says. “Because of its success, the program is fully covered by all commercial insurance.”

He says traditional A-A-style drug rehab and alcohol treatment programs only have a success rate of between ten-and-12-percent. St. Gregory, he says, offers an alternative to those 12-step programs.

Vasquez says, “University research has proven the modalities we use, brief intervention, motivational interviewing, cognitive therapy, with about a 65% long-term success rate because we talk to every graduate every week as part of our program.”

He says many traditional programs only last 28 days because that’s a length of time commonly reimbursed by insurance companies, not because it’s an effective time frame. The program used at St. Gregory runs eight weeks, which Vasquez says allows sufficient time to instill and practice the new learning before applying it to one’s life back home.

For more information, visit: www.stgregoryctr.com. By the way, St. Gregory is the patron saint of desperate, forgotten, impossible or lost causes.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Over 5000 ticket-holders skipped Iowa Corn Indy

June 21, 2010 By

Thousands of race fans gambled and lost on Sunday at the Iowa Corn Indy 250. More than 40,000 tickets were sold, but an announced crowd of just over 34,200 was on hand to watch Tony Kanaan take the checkered flag. 

“I think that people just had it in their minds that there was a 95 percent chance of rain,” Iowa Speedway president Jerry Jauron said after the race, adding it didn’t rain “a drop” in Newton on Sunday.  “…We had nearly 5000 people not come to the race.  My heart goes out to them because they missed the best race in history: 16 lead changes, seven different leaders, an amazing race here.”

Fans from 31 states purchased tickets fot the race.

(Reporting by Randy Van, KCOB, Newton)

Filed Under: Sports

Someone from outside education establishment for Dept of Education

June 21, 2010 By

The director of the Iowa Department of Education retired last month and some are recommending that Governor Culver look outside the education establishment for a replacement.

Judy Jeffrey, a former classroom teacher, worked in the Iowa Department of Education for 14 years — the last six years as its director. Jeffrey says her successor needs to be able to communicate with those who aren’t familiar with the lingo of the education establishment. 

 ”Every occupation has its own language and you can expect that,” Jeffrey says. “But you have to be able to translate that to the people who do make the policies and provide the resources.” 

State Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City who is a former classroom teacher, says it may be time to look for an education director who has experience elsewhere. ”You know, I think we have to start thinking outside the box and not limit it to educational folks only,” Mascher says. 

Mascher wants a “change agent” to be the next head of the education department. ”Somebody who really and truly will be able to identify a path and then how to get there,” Mascher says. 

But Jeffrey argues that putting someone in her old job who doesn’t have an education background would backfire.  “Education is not a business.  Education is a service that we provide for our children of Iowa,” Jeffrey says.  “So you need an individual who truly understands the needs of the students and the curriculum and the instruction that needs to take place in our schools because it’s very hard to lead educators if you truly don’t understand just sort of the make-up of education.”

Des Moines School Board member Margaret Buckton says the person the governor chooses should have a track record of improving an education system somewhere, even out of state. ”That they’re not going to come into this role without having demonstrated some change, being able to lead from where they were to a higher level of performance,” Buckton says. 

Governor Culver has appointed an interim director of the agency and has not said when he might appoint a permanent director.  For example, Culver took a little more than a year to name a permanent leader of the Iowa Veterans Home and the Iowa Lottery had an interim director for 462 days before Culver named a permanent chief executive in February of 2009.  Culver has said he wants a new education director who will “raise the bar” for student achievement.

“We have some outstanding applicants and we will move as quickly as we possibly can,” Culver says. 

The acting director of the Iowa Department of Education is Kevin Fangman.  Fangman is a 1986 graduate of Western Dubuque High School who hold an undergraduate degree from the University of Nothern Iowa and a masters from Iowa State University.  He was an elementary principal in Ottumwa, Ames and West Des Moines. Fangman  was became administrator of the Department of Education’s PK-12 division in 2007 and he took over as the department’s acting director in May.

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