Henry County Democrats Met With John DaBeet, Discuss Issues at Saturday’s Meeting

A group of 56 Henry County Democrats gathered on Saturday morning to hear from John DaBeet, a candidate for Senate District 48. The district includes nine rural townships in Henry County, excluding Mount Pleasant. Currently DaBeet serves as a distinguished Professor of Economics and  Statistics at Muscatine Community College and as a member of  the Muscatine Community School Board. During the meeting, he expressed concerns about how the new voucher plan will siphon funds from Iowa’s public schools.

DaBeet is challenging Republican incumbent Mark Lofgren who assumed the role in January 2023.

Recently elected Co-Chairs Mary Elgar and Dave Helman welcomed the attendees and presented laminated maps of all the precincts in Henry County and the 2020 redrawn Senate and House District maps.  Helman discussed the need to effectively communicate with Democrats in Henry County. Registered Democrats and Independents are encouraged to forward their e-mail addresses to Elgar (maryelgar41@gmail.com) and Helman (cdhelman@gmail.com).

Miller-Meeks Calls for President Biden to Resign After Withdrawing from Campaign

President Biden announced that he will be withdrawing from the 2024 Presidential race on Sunday, and Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks chimed in.

“A historic injustice perpetrated by the Democrats who lecture the country about democracy. Yet they just disenfranchised millions of primary voters while covering up the President’s cognitive decline, despite it being readily apparent to millions of Americans.”

Meeks then highlights “failed policies” which have torched the nation, mentioning inflation, open borders, and weakness on the world stage to name a few.

She also believes that Biden should resign from office if he is not fit enough to campaign.

Washington County Child Predator Caught, Will Serve 20 Years in Prison

Trevor Miller, 23 of Washington County, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for producing child pornography.

According to public court documents, Miller had produced a video of himself engaged in a sexual activity with a female minor. He then sent that video via snapchat to other minors. Investigators confronted Miller after witnesses notified the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, where they discovered that he had produced a similar video with a separate minor.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Miller will be required to serve 10 years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Miller will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case was investigated by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Surprise! Burlington Man Arrested After Planning to Meet Two Female Minors, Meets Sheriff Deputies Instead

A Burlington man was sentenced on Thursday, July 11, 2024, to 120 months in federal prison for attempting to entice a minor.

10 years in federal prison is the sentence for 48 year old Corey Ritz of Burlington, after he was found guilty for attempting to entice a minor.

According to public court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, Corey Lee Ritz, engaged in a Facebook conversation with an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old female. Ritz proceeded to graphically describe the kinds of acts he would like to perform on the 15-year-old if they met in person, and even went as far as making plans to meet. If that wasn’t gross enough, Ritz suggested that the 15 year old bring another underage female to their planned meeting, and began communicating with a second undercover officer posing as a 14 year old.

Ritz arrived at the pre-planned in-person meeting and was arrested by the Des Moines County Sherriff’s Department. He had a Samsung cell phone and three condoms in his possession.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Ritz will be required to serve five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was investigated by Des Moines County Sheriff Department.

Sports, July 22nd

High School Postseason Baseball

State baseball begins today with Classes 1A and 2A traveling to Carroll to play at Merchants Park while Classes 3A and 4A will compete at Kernels Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. Here’s a look at today’s schedule.

Akron-Westfield enters as the favorite in Class 1A and they will start off the day with an 11 am matchup against Bedford. 

#4 Lynnville-Sully will take on #5 Sigourney at 1:30 pm in a rematch from earlier in the season when the Hawks won 4-3. Caden Clarahan will look to continue his dominance on the mound and at the plate for Sigourney.

Newman Catholic will face off against South Winneshiek at 4:30 pm. The Knights have a 7-1 record against the Warriors in their past decade of matchups.

Lastly, Remsen St. Mary’s title defense starts at 7 pm with a matchup against North Linn. This is their third time meeting up in the postseason in the last eight years with Lynx winning 6-3 back in 2018. 

The Class 2A state tournament will begin play tomorrow, July 23rd. 

For Class 3A, North Polk will face off against Harlan Community at 11:30 am on Monday.

Marion will act as the home team against Center Point-Urbana (CP-U) with their contest starting at 2 pm. The Wolves hold a 19-1 record over CP-U as a Stormin Pointer win in 2022 ended a 15-game winning streak for Marion.

Bishop Heelan will square off against Pella at 5 pm and Central DeWitt will attempt to pull off the upset against Wahlert Catholic at 7:30 pm. Central DeWitt has a devastating offense with seven straight contests of scoring at least eight runs, while Wahlert Catholic has 19 games of their defense holding their opponent to two runs or less.

Class 4A will begin their tournament trail tomorrow.

High School Postseason Softball

The state tournament for all five classes will take place at Fort Dodge with Class 5A kicking off the action today at 10 am. Here’s a look at today’s slate of games.

In Class 5A, #1 Valley will face off against #8 Prairie at 10 am. #4 Waukee Northwest will take on #5 Ankeny. #2 Pleasant Valley will square off against #7 Waukee and #3 Muscatine will compete against #6 Urbandale at 12:45 pm.

In Class 4A, #2 Dallas Center-Grimes will take on Carlisle at 2:30 pm. #3 Norwalk will compete against #6 North Scott. #1 North Polk will tango with #8 Western Dubuque at 4:45 pm and #4 ADM will face off against #5 Fort Dodge at 5:15 pm.

Lastly, the top half of the Class 3A bracket is schedule to round out the day with #2 Williamsburg taking on #7 PCM and #3 Wahlert Catholic facing off against #6 Sumner-Fredericksburg with the matchups expected to start at 7 pm and 7:30 pm, respectively. 

Prospect League

The Burlington Bees and Clinton LumberKings went down to the wire Saturday night but the hometown Bees looked to be on the losing end until a two-RBI double by Bryce Brown walked it off for a 7-6 victory. Karson Grout led the LumberKings with three RBIs in the loss.

Clinton managed to get their own type of dramatic revenge last night with a 12th inning walk off against the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes, taking the win 11-10. Ben Swails clobbered a home run and finished with three RBIs in the win.

The LumberKings will travel to take on the Bees tonight with first pitch at 6:30 pm. 

This Day in Sports History

1923 – Washington Senators future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson becomes the first to reach the 3,000 career strikeout milestone (enroute to 3,508) with 5 K’s in 3-1 win over Cleveland.

1997 – Greg Maddux threw a complete game with just 76 pitches.

2018 – Seattle basketball guard Sue Bird plays a record 500th WNBA game as the Storm go down 87-74 to the Atlanta Dream; finishes career with 508 games for Seattle.

Mt. Pleasant Community School Board Special Session Meeting Agenda 07/22

Mount Pleasant Community School Board Special Session, July 22nd, 2o24

Meeting time: 5:00pm (This is ONE HOUR EARLIER than usual)

Mount Pleasant High School Media Center

Meeting Agenda
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Approval of Agenda
4. New Business
a. Approve Lease Agreement with Southeast Iowa Symphony (Motion)
b. Update on Mount Pleasant Community Daycare Use of Building
5. Work Session Items
a. Review Initial Central Office Floor Plan Design
b. District Master Planning Discussion
c. 2024 ISASP Data
6. Adjournment

2024 Henry County Beef and Rabbit Show Results

Here are the results from the 2024 Henry County Beef Show on Saturday judged by Shawn Varner:

For Market Beef your champion and reserve champions in each category are…

Champion Market Heifer – Zenlynn Lee | Reserve – Allie Wagner
Champion Purebred Market – Ehtan Graber | Reserve – Katie Miller
Champion Lightweight Market – Olivia Francy | Reserve – Natalie Francy
Champion Medium Weight Market – Grant Anderson | Reserve – Elyssa Graber
Champion Heavyweight Market – Libby Myers | Reserve – Kya Heaton
Grand Champion Market Beef – Libby Myers | Reserve – Ethan Graber
Champion County Raised Market Beef – Grant Anderson
Champion Returning Bucket Calf – Hagen Loyd, Reserve – Lincoln Garvey
Champion Rate of Gain – Brylor Lair

Now turning to the Breeding Beef portion of the show. Your champion and reserve champions in each category are…

Champion AOB Heifer – Morgan Meyer | Reserve – Tyi-Alicyn Alter
Champion Charolais Heifer – Silas Shepherd | Reserve – Caleb Shepherd
Champion Simmental Heifer – Alexis Francy | Reserve – Ehtan Graber
Champion Crossbred Heifer – Zenlynn Lee | Reserve – Kylie Loyd
Grand Champion Breeding Heifer – Alexis Francy | Reserve – Zenlynn Lee
Champion County Raised Breeding Heifer – Ethan Graber
Grand Champion Cow/Calf – Kylie Loyd | Reserve – Alexis Francy

2024 Henry County Rabbit Show Results

At the 2024 Henry County Rabbit Show, Mariella McClellan took Best Commercial Rabbit, while Allie Wagner won Reserve Commercial Rabbit. Best Breeding Pair went to Zenlynn Lee and Best Doe & Litter was given to Makynna Carpenter. Morgan Meyer took home Best of Show Rabbit as well as Best Fancy Rabbit while Hadley Freese won Best of Opposite Rabbit and Reserve Fancy Rabbit.

Cathy Lynn Wellington – Pending

Cathy Lynn Wellington, 65, of Mt. Pleasant, died Sunday, July 21, 2024 at her residence. Funeral arrangements are pending at the Kimzey Funeral Home, 213 North Main Street, Mount Pleasant. Online condolences may be directed to www.kimzeyfh.com.