Author: Allison Jacobs

Roads are getting more crowded – and hazardous – as 2 million students prepare to return to school. This time of year is particularly dangerous due to the combination of young inexperienced drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists who will all share the road in the early morning and afternoon hours.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 64 percent of child pedestrians killed in traffic crashes occurred during the weekday (6 am-6 pm M-F) in 2021 (NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts).

Top Safety Tips for Drivers

AAA – The Auto Club Group, through its School’s Open Drive Carefully campaign reminds motorists to:

• Slow down. Speed limits in school zones are reduced for a reason. A pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling at 25 mph is nearly two-thirds less likely to be killed compared to a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling just 10 mph faster.
• Come to a complete stop. Research shows that more than one-third of drivers roll through stop signs in school zones or neighborhoods. Always come to a complete stop, checking carefully for children on sidewalks and in crosswalks before proceeding.
• Eliminate distractions. Research shows that taking your eyes off the road for just two seconds doubles your chances of crashing.
• Share the road with bicyclists. Children on bicycles are often inexperienced, unsteady and unpredictable. Slow down and allow at least three feet of passing distance between your vehicle and a bicyclist.
• Talk to your teen. Car crashes are one of the leading causes of death for teens in the United States, and nearly one in four fatal crashes involving teen drivers occurs during the after-school hours of 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Get evidence-based guidance and tips at TeenDriving.AAA.com.

Top AAA Safety Tips for Students

For Pedestrians

• Pay attention at all times. Avoid texting or wearing headphones, so you can detect nearby traffic.
• Use sidewalks where available. If not, walk against the direction of traffic so you can see oncoming vehicles.
• Make yourself easier to be seen by wearing reflective, bright colored clothing.

For Bicyclists

• Wear a helmet and neon or bright colored clothes.
• Ride in the same direction as traffic and stay as far to the right as possible. Use bike lanes when you can.
• Do not wear headphones so you can detect approaching traffic.
• Cross the street at intersections. Do not pull into the roadway from between parked cars.

For Students at the Bus Stop

• Arrive at least 5 minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive.
• Stay five steps away from the curb.
• Be alert and remove headphones so you can hear oncoming traffic.
• Wait until the bus comes to a complete stop and the bus driver signals for you to board.

School Bus Traffic Laws Explained

Motorists are required to stop when approaching a school bus that is stopped with its red lights flashing and STOP arms extended. The only exception is on a divided highway with a raised divider. Here is an explanation of the laws:

• Two Lane Street– All drivers moving in either direction on a two-way street must stop for a school bus displaying a stop signal and must remain stopped until the road is clear of children AND the school bus stop arm is withdrawn.
• Multi-Lane Paved Median– All drivers moving in either direction must stop for a school bus displaying a stop signal and must remain stopped until the road is clear of children AND the school bus stop arm is withdrawn.
• Divided Highway– Traffic approaching an oncoming school bus does not need to stop if there is a raised barrier such as a concrete divider or at least five feet of unpaved space separating the lanes of traffic. However, these motorists should slow down and watch for students loading or unloading from the bus.

The Labor Day holiday period is a busy time on our nation’s roadways. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is partnering with our law enforcement community to decrease impaired driving.  

From August 16 through September 4, law enforcement in our region and throughout the country will be participating in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over high-visibility enforcement campaign. No matter how you plan to celebrate the end of summer this year, plan to do it safely. 

13,384 people were killed in drunk-driving crashes in 2021 — that’s one person every 39 minutes. On average, more than 11,000 people were killed in drunk-driving crashes each year from 2017 to 2021. This is why our local law enforcement is working to remind drivers that impaired driving is not only illegal; it’s a matter of life and death. As you head out to festivities during the end of summer and Labor Day weekend, remember: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.  

For more information on impaired driving, visit www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving. 

Big Hollow Lake
The water temperature is in the upper 70s. Water clarity is about 3 feet. Bluegill – Fair: Find bluegill in the trees down 5 or 6 feet from the surface; use worm and bobber. Channel Catfish – Fair: Look for catfish along the face of the dam and in the old creek channel, especially out from the boat ramp bay where the old bridge was.  Largemouth Bass – Slow: Look for bass down at about 6 feet, no deeper. Flip soft plastics and jigs back into the flooded timber at 4-6 feet down to find them.

Iowa River (Columbus Junction to Mississippi River)
Lots of new sand showing as the Iowa River continues to drop. Jet drives would have problems getting around now. Channel Catfish – Fair: Find the deeper pools of water around the brush piles and logjams where catfish spend nearly every August waiting out the low water and hot weather. Most anglers have switched from live bait to cut bait and stink baits.

Lake Belva Deer
Water temperature is 76 degrees. A few more boats are on the water this week. Black Crappie – Slow: A few anglers early in the morning are still picking up a few crappie in about 6 to 7 feet of water along the trees out from the beach. Bluegill – Slow: Try vertically jigging around the trees to a depth of about 6-7 feet.  Drift quietly from spot to spot; use a 1/64 oz jig tipped with a waxworm. Try the bays on the south side where there is more shade on the water. Channel Catfish – Fair: Along the face of the dam is always a good place to catch nice catfish. Don’t forget to try the “Old Pond”. Largemouth Bass – Slow: Bass are suspended down about 6-7 feet out in the trees. Try soft plastic or weedless jigs early in the morning.

Lake Darling
After the rain, the lake still hasn’t come up much. Water temperature is 76 degrees. Water at the top foot or so is still green; it’s clear below that. Bluegill – Fair: Bluegill fishing has picked up some. Try slow trolling a small (1/64 oz) jig tipped with a waxworm out over tops of the rock piles. Channel Catfish – Fair: Try along the rock piles out in front of the fishing trail between to “point” and the campground boat ramp. They are working for crawdads in the rock piles and are about a cast from shore. Use chicken liver; using nightcrawlers will get you a bunch of bluegills. Largemouth Bass – Slow: Water is fairly clear below the phytoplankton layer (about 2.5 feet). Run a shallow diving crankbait (0-4 feet) just below that in the morning or a medium diver (5-9 feet) trolled a little later in the day.

Lost Grove Lake
Water clarity is 7-8 feet with a little green tint to the water. Water temperature is 76 degrees. The thermocline starts at 7 feet and bottoms out at 14 feet; find most fish at 10-14 feet. Lost Grove Lake has Eurasian Watermilfoil; be sure to clean all vegetation off your boat and trailer before leaving the boat ramp area. Black Crappie – Slow: Crappies are out along the edge of the flooded timber in 10 to 12 feet of water. Try vertical jigging or slow trolling until you find them. Bluegill – Fair: Most bluegill anglers were fishing out a little deeper this week in 10-12 feet of water; they were still catching bluegills. Largemouth Bass – Fair: Most boats are out from shore either vertically jigging or slow trolling crankbaits in about 10-12 feet of water. The thermocline bottoms out a little deeper at about 14 feet.

Skunk River (Rose Hill to Coppock)
The last rains brought the Skunk up a good foot or so, but we lost about 6 inches of that last night (8/16). Channel Catfish – Good: Try fishing the deeper water around the established log jams (the ones where the trees still don’t have leaves). Had a good spawn earlier this year, so there is a lot of fiddlers. Stink baits work well; don’t forget the nightcrawlers.

For more information on the above lakes and rivers call the Lake Darling Fisheries Office at 319- 694-2430.

Seeding on W. Henry St. will begin today. This will complete the Replacement of W. Henry St. The plan is to have all traffic control signs picked up at the beginning of next week. The Construction that is still taking place on W. Henry St. now is Mediacom, Lisco, and Windstream relocating their cables so Mt Pleasant Utilities can finish removing some power poles for clearance on the sidewalks.

The Danville, IA community and the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities have combined their efforts to secure a World War II-era rail car from Germany, which Danville Station plans to include in its Holocaust exhibit. The collection aims to educate visitors about this devastating period in history and pay tribute to Holocaust victims.

The rail car arrived in Iowa this week at the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities and will be delivered to its final destination in Danville today about noon. The idea for the Holocaust exhibit in Danville stems from a 1940 pen pal exchange between Anne Frank and her sister Margot in Amsterdam and Juanita and Betty Wagner, who lived on a Southeast Iowa farm. Digital images of the letters are on display at Danville Station, along with a replica of the Amsterdam hideaway attic in which the Frank family lived before their 1944 arrest and transport to concentration camps. The Danville community is still working toward their goal of collecting 1.5 million postcards to honor the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust.

If you would like to witness the arrival of the rail car, it is set to arrive at the Danville Station, 102 N. Main St Danville, IA at about noon today.

In the last 15 days there have been 18 calls for service to the Mount Pleasant Police Department for the Christamore House located at 905 S Iris Rd in Mount Pleasant. The facility was supposed to be shut down due to staff unable to handle the minors placed at the facility. Mount Pleasant Police Chief Lyle Murray has contacted the Department of Human Services twice on this facility due to broken windows, broken furniture, minors climbing out of windows, fighting in the streets, assaults on staff members, and inappropriate sexual relations on campus.

According to Police Chief Murray, “We have filed charges any time we can, but if they are not serious enough, they do not go to a locked facility. Therefore they just keep doing more and more crimes.“ Because the minors are placed at the Christamore House on DHS and Court ordered placement they do not meet the criteria for the Mount Pleasant Police Department to move them to a different location or facility.

Police Chief Murray also states, “It is my understanding that Cedar Rapids (who sent some of these girls) have a locked facility but easier to deal with girls. We have an unlocked facility with the more serious girls.”

In the call for service yesterday three minors ran away from the facility and were found in the pond directly across the driveway. There were four police officers, a deputy, and a community service officer on scene. Police Chief Murray states, “This is a waste of the police resources. One girl walked out and staff told her to stay and she said no and kept going.”

The fear is that serious harm will come to a minor or staff member at the facility with the trajectory actions are escalating. Many of the limited staff at the Christamore House are prepared to quit as they are unable to handle the treatment and lack of support any longer.

The Mount Pleasant Police Department is asking Henry County Residents for help. Support the police department by reaching out to your legislators and asking for support and action on this matter.

Below is a link to find your State Senator and Representative because Henry County was split after redistricting as well as contact information for State Representatives Jeff Shipley and Taylor Collins, and State Senators Adrian Dickey and Mark Lofgren.

Find your legislator by your address: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find

State Representative Jeff Shipley: jeff.shipley@legis.iowa.gov  Cell Phone: 319.432.3108 Capitol Phone: 515.281.3221

State Senator Adrian Dickey: adrian.dickey@legis.iowa.gov Capitol Phone: 515.281.3371

State Representative Taylor Collins: taylor.collins@legis.iowa.gov Capitol Phone: 515.281.3221

State Senator Mark Lofgren: mark.lofgren@legis.iowa.gov Capitol Phone: 515.281.3371