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Getting public intox charges erased

July 28, 2010 By

The Iowa Court of Appeals has sided with prosecutors in a case involving a former northeast Iowa college student who had two “public intox” convictions before his 21st birthday. 

In May of 2006 Samuel Myers was charged with public intoxication in Black Hawk County. Almost a year later Myers was convicted of second-offense public intoxication.

Myers applied to have those convictions erased from his record, arguing he’d graduated from college, undergone substance abuse treatment and made positive changes in his life. He’d also reached the legal drinking age of 21 by then.

A district court granted Myers’ request to be exonerated, but state prosecutors appealed, citing his second public intox charge about a year after the first.  State law lets people appeal to have their public intoxication convictions expunged if they go for two years without any other criminal convictions.

The Court of Appeals has ruled that two year period had not expired in Myers’ case.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With: ,

Polk County deputy appeals drunk driving conviction

July 28, 2010 By

The Iowa Court of Appeals has ruled on a deputy sheriff’s drunk driving conviction.  

On a cold night in February of last year a state trooper found Polk County Deputy Sheriff John Braswell and his girlfriend asleep in a black Mercedes that was parked outside a convenience store in West Des Moines. The engine was running and the car’s lights were on.

Braswell appealed his drunken driving conviction, arguing the test which showed his blood alcohol level at .137 should not have been used against him during his jury trial.  The appeals court has agreed, ruling the test was taken more than two hours after the deputy’s arrest, despite the “concerted effort” of the state trooper to get it done.  Such tests, by law, are to be taken within two hours of a drunken driving arrest. 

The case now goes back to district court, for a new trial — one in which the blood alcohol test cannot be cited as evidence.  

One of the judges on the Iowa Court of Appeals wrote a dissent, arguing his colleagues had come to the “erroneous” conclusion about the timing of the arrest, and he cited to “stalling” tactics the deputy sheriff may have engaged in to delay the test.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Shooting leaves Des Moines man dead, another hurt

July 28, 2010 By
Daryl Kinchelow

Daryl Kinchelow

An early morning shooting in a Des Moines residential area left one man dead, another injured. Police were called out shortly after midnight and found both Des Moines men lying near an intersection.

Sergeant Lori Lavorato says one of them had been shot in the chest. Thirty-year-old Daryl Lee Kinchelow died at the hospital. The other man, 18-year-old Jacolby Wright, was shot in the leg. He was treated and released.

Sergant Lavorato says investigators are still trying to determine what sparked the shootings. “At this time, we do not know a motive and we are questioning witnesses right now,” Lavorato says. “Hopefully, after this afternoon, we might be able to find out why this indeed happened.”

It’s also unclear if the men shot each other or if someone else pulled the trigger. Lavorato couldn’t say if either man was found with a gun. “We just don’t know at this point,” Lavorato says. “We believe there’s more involved and we are questioning witnesses at this time.”

No arrests have been made in what Lavorato says is the second homicide in Des Moines this year.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Report: Iowa 6th best state for kids

July 28, 2010 By
2010 Kids Count Data Book

2010 Kids Count Data Book

A new study ranks Iowa as the sixth best state for children to live. The annual Kids Count study from the Anne E. Casey Foundation places Iowa behind only Massachusetts, Utah, Vermont, Minnesota and New Hampshire – which topped the rankings.

Michael Crawford is the Iowa Kids Count Director with the Child and Family Policy Center in Des Moines. “Every year since 1991, when they started doing the Kids Count national report, (Iowa) has been in the top ten…I think every year except for one,” Crawford said.

Iowa ranked as the best in the nation in two categories; percentage of teens not in school and not working (4%) and the high school dropout rate (3%). “I think we have a good culture in place where we understand education, we think it’s important and that’s passed on from generation to generation,” Crawford said. “Kids go to school thinking that’s an important thing and know they need a high school diploma to get a decent job, if not going on to college afterwards.”

The Kids Count study compared data collected between 2007 and 2008 with the results of the study in 2000. During that time, the number of Iowa children living in poverty rose from 13% to 14%. “Some of that is a reflection of what’s happened in the economy the last few years,” Crawford said. “We saw a little bit of an increase in the early part of this decade, then things leveled off, but now it’s increased again unfortunately.”

The study also shows Iowa recorded a 12% increase in low-birthweight babies between 2000 and 2008. The percentage of children in single-parent families also climbed over the period. “I think the reason for that is we have a lot of mothers who are giving birth at a young age, in their late teens and early 20s, and are probably not ready either financially or emotionally to give birth. Unfortunately, some kids suffer because of that,” Crawford said.

Overall, the Kids Count study shows Iowa improved on 5 of the 10 measures affecting child well-being since 2000. Those included infant mortality rate, child death rate, teen death rate, teen birth rate and teens not in school or high school graduates.

Filed Under: Human Interest

CEO: Iowa Lottery sees “surprising” results for FY2010

July 28, 2010 By

Despite a sour economy and a harsh winter, the Iowa Lottery is reporting several records and near-records for earnings during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2010.

Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich says he didn’t expect the final figures to reach as high as they did.  There were more than $256 million in sales for the year, which included the highest totals from Lotto, instant-scratch and pull-tab games since the Iowa Lottery started in 1985.

“Looking at the economy and the bad weather in January and February, this is surprising to us, especially with the national gaming industry being down about five-percent, that the Iowa Lottery was actually up four percent in sales this year,” Rich says. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Politics & Government, Recreation & Entertainment

Zaun accused of being “insensitive” to flood victims

July 27, 2010 By

Democrats say Republican congressional candidate Brad Zaun of Urbandale is “insensitive” for complaining earlier this year about flood victims who seek government help.

Zaun made the comments four months ago during a forum in Des Moines.  “What has been forgotten is personal responsibility.  We’ve lost that as a country,” Zaun said. “We expect when there’s a flood or something that’s going on, the government to come in and help us.”

Zaun is challenging Democratic Congressman Leonard Boswell in November and Zaun’s comments were posted on-line Tuesday by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Sue Dvorsky chimed in, too, saying Iowans believe there is a role for government when natural disaster strikes.

“Brad Zaun, talking about personal responsibility is where they need to go when their house gets washed away,” Dvorsky said during an IowaPolitics.com forum this morning.  “…People in this state do not believe for a minute that the people in Manchester or Cedar Rapids are standing there with their hand out, waiting for some kind of government…to come down and save them, but they’re looking for partnership.” 

Boswell, the Democrat Zaun hopes to unseat, issued a written statement this afternoon, calling Zaun’s comment about flood victims “insensitive and out-of-touch.”  Boswell accused Zaun of having a “long record of repeatedly voting against helping Iowa’s families, small businesses, and farmers in the aftermath of the 2008 floods.”  According to Boswell, Iowans pay taxes with the “expectation that when a disaster strikes” they’ll get some help from the government to rebuild their homes and businesses.”

Zaun is in Washington, D.C., and this evening he issued a written statement about the remarks he made in late March.  “My statements have been taken out of context by the liberal hit machine in DC.,” Zaun said in the written statement.  ”…Shame on Congressman Boswell and his liberal friends in DC for using people’s recent tragedy to attempt to score cheap political points. This specific display of politics is example of why Leonard Boswell will be retired this Fall.” 

Boswell and the four other men in Iowa’s congressional delegation issued a joint statement Tuesday, urging the Obama administration to speed up damage assessments in Iowa so federal disaster aid can be distributed more quickly. The group of two Republicans and three Democrats in Iowa’s congressional delegation co-signed a letter, complaining about red tape that delays the delivery of federal disaster aid.

(This story was updated at 6:45 p.m. with Zaun’s statement.)

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government, Weather Tagged With: , ,

National leaders poised to keep Iowa Caucuses first in 2012

July 27, 2010 By

The leaders of Iowa’s two major political parties say they’re confident Iowa’s Caucuses will remain first-in-the-nation.

The Caucuses have been the kick-off event of the presidential nominating season for nearly four decades. National leaders in the Democratic and Republican parties appear poised to adopt rules this summer which would schedule the 2012 Iowa Caucuses on February 6.

Iowa Republican Party chairman Matt Strawn says the proposed rules allow Iowa, then New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina to hold Caucuses and Primaries before March 1, 2012.  ”I’m confident that we’ll move forward with that plan,”  Strawn says. “It’s just a great area where the parties do work well together.”

Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Sue Dvorsky says it’s a topic on which the two parties in Iowa are in total agreement.

“It is remarkably important for Iowa to remain first-in-the-nation and I think there are a multiple set of reasons for that, one of which is that we are a tremendously engaged electorate here — a politically-literate electorate,” Dvorsky says.  “And we can host these candidates from both sides in a way that really allows them to showcase themselves become better candidates.”

Dvorsky was elected chair of the Democratic Party in June after Michael Kiernan, her predecessor, resigned for health reasons. Dvorsky and Strawn made their comments earlier today during a forum sponsored by IowaPolitics.com. 

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a potential Republican candidate in 2012, is due to campaign in Iowa this weekend. More than a handful of other Republicans who are pondering a bid for the White House have campaigned in Iowa since the 2008 General Election, including former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, the winner of the Republican winner of the January 3, 2008 Iowa Caucuses.

Filed Under: Campaign Countdown, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,
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