Getting Involved: Annual Volunteer Day Great Opportunity to Clean State Parks

By Yorke Prough · Thursday, September 12th, 2024 at 11:05 am CDT

Annual Volunteer Day is right around the corner and if you’ve been looking for a way to get your feet wet, the Iowa DNR has the job for you. Iowans are invited to lend a hand at state parks and forests on Saturday, September 28th. Join park staff to help care for Iowa’s natural areas, freshen up campgrounds and facilities, and spend time outdoors.

Clean-up efforts will be unique for each park depending on needs, and may include litter pick-up, staining or painting buildings, removing invasive species, rebuilding picnic tables, harvesting prairie seeds and more. In our area, Geode State Park, Lacey-Keosauqua, and Lake Darling are all participating.

Citizens interested in volunteering can find complete details on times, meeting locations, and activities, at www.iowadnr.gov/volunteer

Gas Now 88 Cents Less Than Last Year – Weekly Fuel Report

By Yorke Prough · Thursday, September 12th, 2024 at 11:04 am CDT

As of Wednesday, the price of regular unleaded gasoline averaged $3.06 across Iowa according to AAA.

Prices fell 5 cents from last week’s price and are down 88 cents from a year ago. The national average on Wednesday was $3.25, down 7 cents from last week’s price.

Retail diesel prices in Iowa fell 5 cents this week with a statewide average of $3.39. One year ago, diesel prices averaged $4.26 in Iowa. The current Iowa diesel price is 26 cents lower than the national average of $3.65.

Natural gas prices rose 13 cents at the Henry Hub reporting site and are currently priced at $2.32/MMbtu.

Tips for saving energy on the road or at home are available at energy.gov and fueleconomy.gov.

Mt. Pleasant City Council Meeting Report 09.11.24 – Animal Control, Police Chief Comments, Near Historic Election

By Yorke Prough · Thursday, September 12th, 2024 at 11:03 am CDT

The Mt. Pleasant City Council met on Wednesday evening for a regular meeting. The 3rd reading of the ordinance appealing and replacing certain sections regarding animal control was approved. This new language removes the city council and police chief from the appeal process of a dangerous animal distinction. The mayor asked the Chief of Police, Lyle Murray, if any officer can write a ticket for an animal, to which he replied yes. However, they usually pass the distinction to the community service officer. Murray stated that he does not want to see anyone put their dog down and mentioned that there are plenty of other options first.

During the public forum, Police Chief Murray brought up the situation from last week which saw a Mt. Pleasant Police Officer fired upon. He said that it was a bad situation, but could have been much worse. He was thankful that no one was hurt on their end and encouraged the council members to thank the officers in our community for their work.

Councilmember Griffith, who is also involved with county elections, commented on the recent special election. With over 1000 absentee ballots submitted, these numbers were nearly historic. The general election is on November 5th.

Rachel Lindeen Elected to MAPC

By Yorke Prough · Thursday, September 12th, 2024 at 6:57 am CDT

A familiar name in our community has been elected to the Mid-America Port Commission.

Rachel Lindeen is the Executive Vice President of the Mount Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance since February 2023. She has over 10 years of experience in the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development world. A native of Mount Pleasant, she has been living in working in Southeast Iowa for most of her professional career. She is responsible for providing highly visible leadership and building a strong reputation for the organization in all issues related to economic development, business development and community vitality for all of Henry County, Iowa. She oversees the daily activities for the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce, Area Development Commission and Henry County Tourism.

The MAPC Board is made up of 9 members representing the 26 counties in the three states forming the MAPC service area (Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri). Each state governor appoints a commissioner with the other two appointed by county boards/commissioners.

 

Sports, September 12th

By Slaten Swords · Thursday, September 12th, 2024 at 6:30 am CDT

High School Football

Mt. Pleasant will stay at home to compete against Tipton tomorrow, September 13th, at 7 pm for Military Appreciation Night. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. 

West Burlington/Notre Dame will go against West Liberty tomorrow at 7:30 pm at home.

WACO will celebrate homecoming tomorrow at 7 pm against Winfield-Mt. Union. 

New London will host Iowa Valley tomorrow at 7 pm.

Fairfield will face off against Washington tomorrow at 7:30 pm on the road. 

Danville is back at home to take on Pekin tomorrow at 7 pm.

Van Buren County will host Highland tomorrow at 7 pm for their home opener. 

Central Lee will take on Durant tomorrow at 7 pm at home.

Mediapolis will attempt to upset Regina Catholic tomorrow at 7 pm on the road. 

Columbus will hit the road to face off against Lisbon at 7 pm tomorrow. 

Wapello will compete at home against Louisa-Muscatine tomorrow at 7 pm. 

High School Volleyball

Winfield-Mt. Union will host WACO tonight at 7:30 pm. 

Van Buren County will take on Burlington Notre Dame tonight on the road at 7:30 pm.

New London will face off against Central Lee tonight at 7:30 pm at home.

Mediapolis will host Danville tonight at 7:30 pm. 

West Burlington will travel to take on Holy Trinity Catholic tonight at 7:30 pm. 

Mt. Pleasant will compete in a tournament at Wilton on Saturday, September 14th. Assistant coach Hattie Rowan talked about what the Panthers will work on heading into the tournament over the weekend,

“Told them we need to go into our sets and our passes with two arms. We’ll see if that happens, they like to maybe use some trick plays, maybe even some tougher defense.”

Fairfield will compete in a tournament at Williamsburg on Saturday.  

Wapello will compete against Winfield-Mt. Union on Tuesday, September 17th, at 7:30 pm at home. 

High School Cross Country

Fairfield will host their invitational tonight with Burlington Notre Dame, Central Lee, Danville, Holy Trinity Catholic, Mediapolis, Mt. Pleasant, Winfield-Mt. Union, Van Buren County, and New London all attending. 

WACO and Wapello will run on Thursday, September 17th, at Knoll Ridge Country Club at 5:40 pm.

Southeastern Community College

The volleyball team traveled to Des Moines Area Community College last night and fell in the first two sets before taking the third set 25-23, but ultimately lost 25-20 in the fourth set, losing 3-1. The Blackhawks will compete in a triangular at Heartland Community College tomorrow, September 13th, with their first contest against John A. Logan College at 5 pm. 

College Football

Iowa will attempt to get back on track against Troy at home on Saturday, September 14th, with kickoff at 3 pm. The broadcast will be on KILJ 105.5 FM.

Iowa State is on a bye week.

This Day in Sports History

1895 – Annie Londonderry [Annie Kopchovsky] arrives in Chicago to complete the first round-the-world trip by a woman on a bicycle in 15 months and collects her $10,000 prize.

1930 – Brooklyn catcher Al López hits major league’s last recorded bounce home run as the National League did not adopt the ground-rule double until 1931.

2004 – The Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears 20-16 at Soldier Field to snap their then- NFL record 24-game road losing streak. The Lions later reset the record at 26 in 2010.

Prep Cross Country: Danville Continues Their Early Season Dominance

By Slaten Swords · Wednesday, September 11th, 2024 at 4:52 pm CDT

Van Buren County High School, IA- In a star-studded cross country meet last night, it was Danville who swept the night, winning the girls’ and boys’ sides by at least 10 points. Here’s a look at how the teams performed.

Boys’ 5k Run

This race featured four ranked runners: in Class 2A Mediapolis’ Will Schmidgall and in Class 1A #7 Lincoln Bainbridge of Van Buren County, #10 Kohlby Newsom of Winfield-Mt. Union, and Danville’s #13 Jackson Shacklett.

Expectantly, the four delivered as they all finished within the top four. However, it was Shacklett who grabbed 1st place by 10 seconds with a time of 15 minutes and 43 seconds as Bainbridge took 2nd place.

Schmidgall raced to a 3rd place time of 15 minutes and 55 seconds, while Newsom grabbed a time of 16 minutes and 3 seconds and just a spot off the podium.

The Bears also had three more runners finish in the top 15 in Isaac Shinn, who took 5th, Noah Horn grabbed 11th and Nick Powell finished in 15th place with a time of 17 minutes and 51 seconds.

Danville’s 49 team points outpaced Mediapolis’ 59 and Van Buren County’s 66 points. Simon Wendell for the Bulldogs finished in 6th place and Mason Lindeen and Logan Frank grabbed 13th and 14th, respectively.

Landry Loeffler finished with a 10th place time of 17 minutes and 21 seconds, while Elijah Westercamp took 18th place for the Warriors.

Winfield-Mt. Union collected 143 points as a team, which was good enough for 6th place. Bowen Thomson was the next Wolve to finish as he grabbed 38th place with a time of 20 minutes and 11 seconds.

Jay Ellison led Holy Trinity Catholic with a 32nd place time of 19 minutes and 48 seconds with Layne Rung taking 43rd place for the Crusaders. Holy Trinity Catholic tabbed 188 points for 8th place.

Girls’ 5k Run

The top 10 was populated with Bears as the #19 runner in Class 1A, Alaina Gourley finished with the second-best time of 19 minutes and 38 seconds and Addison Henklevig, Abby Arnett, and Delaney Newberry grabbed 7th through 9th place, respectively.

Danville collected 45 points as a team with Davis County taking 2nd place with 58 points.

Pekin was anchored by Chloe Glosser who won the race with a time of 18 minutes and 44 seconds, but the Panthers finished in 3rd place as a team with 66 points.

Van Buren County did not have enough runners to finish with a team score, but Rylee Phillips and Kayley Snowgren garnered 4th and 5th place, respectively, with times of sub-21 minutes and 20 seconds.

Mediapolis’ top runner was Avery Dietz as she grabbed 12th place with a time of 22 minutes and 38 seconds, while Maylen Zaugg took 14th place with a time of 22 minutes and 50 seconds. The Bulldogs finished in 4th place with a score of 72 points.

Next on the Schedule

Fairfield will host their Ron Hunerdosse Invitational tomorrow, September 12th, with Danville, Holy Trinity Catholic, Mediapolis, Winfield-Mt. Union, and Van Buren County attending.

Prep Cross Country: WACO’s Josie Dykstra Resets the School Record

By Slaten Swords · Wednesday, September 11th, 2024 at 10:47 am CDT

Sigourney, IA- WACO and Columbus were invited to Sigourney last night for a cross country meet and the Warriors saw a school record fall again after all the runners had crossed the finish line.

Despite the broken record, English Valleys claimed the top spot in both the girls’ and boys’ meets with Anna Luers outpacing her competition by a full 30 seconds with a time of 20 minutes and 52 seconds, which also helped the Bears claim the team title.

On the boys’ side, Gage Heyne claimed 1st place with a time of 16 minutes and 52 seconds as he was one of three members of English Valleys to finish in the top ten with Isaac Frazier claiming 7th and Evan Koehn taking 10th. But there were not enough members for a team score.

The Columbus boys’ team was the one to take the team gold with six runners finishing within the top 15, including four in the top 10. Ty Muniz led the pack with a time of 17 minutes and 20 seconds, which was good enough for 2nd place.

Ryan Vila and Cade Storm finished 5th and 6th with time of 18 minutes and 34 seconds and 36 seconds, respectively. Elias Gonzalez Bravo was he last Wildcat to finish in the top 10 with a time of 19 minutes and 4 seconds, giving him 9th place.

On the girls’ side for Columbus, the Wildcats finish in 4th as a team with 90 points. Isabel Rendon was the top finisher, claiming 10th place with a time of 22 minutes and 37 seconds. Naveiah Garza was the next finisher in 28th place.

WACO’s Josie Dykstra raced to a new school record for girls’ cross country last night with a time of 21 minutes and 54 seconds, which was good enough for 6th place. For Dykstra, this comes a week after she set the new school record.

Deedra Graber was the next Warrior to finish with a time of 31 minutes and 56 seconds, taking 35th place.

On the boys’ side, Tristan Luitjens was the first Warrior to finish in 21st place with a time of 21 minutes and 10 seconds with Keiran Luitjens taking 27th place with a time of 22 minutes and 9 seconds.

WACO’s next meet will take place on Tuesday, September 17th, at Knoll Ridge Country Club. The Wildcats will compete at Rodeo Park Trail on Thursday, September 19th.

Darnell Jones of Ottumwa Pleads Guilty to Six Charges, Including Sex Trafficking a Child

By Yorke Prough · Wednesday, September 11th, 2024 at 9:32 am CDT

An Ottumwa man was sentenced on September 6, 2024, to 40 years in federal prison for sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion of two victims, sex trafficking of one child, enticement and attempted enticement of two minors, and using the internet to facilitate prostitution after pleading guilty to all six charges in April 2024, roughly a week before his trial was scheduled to begin.

According to public court documents, from 2018 to 2023, Darnell Keith Jones, 32, victimized at least five individuals—two children and three adults—throughout parts of Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, including in the areas of Ottumwa, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Chicago. Jones successfully sex trafficked one adult and one child. To cause his victims to engage in sex acts in exchange for money, Jones used physical assaults, harassment, and threats.

He also acted like a boyfriend to his victims, attempting to convince victims that they could demonstrate their loyalty and love by completing sex acts for money. Among other things, Jones threatened a victim with a knife, hit a victim with a brick, and choked and strangled victims with such force that his victims lost consciousness or even urinated. Jones raped one victim and attempted to rape another. Jones admitted that he drove his victims to locations where they completed sex acts for money and that he used various internet websites to advertise the adult victims.

Jones coerced and attempted to coerce two female children to engage in illegal sexual conduct, including prostitution. One child was just fourteen years old, and Jones used text-message communications to persuade the child to engage in prostitution and to engage in sex acts with him.

“This case and many similar cases have a lifelong impact on the victims, which is not something the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office takes lightly,” said Wapello County Sheriff Don Phillips. “Local, state, and federal agencies worked together towards the common goal of ensuring justice for the victims and protecting the community. I will always make sure the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office does our part in combating human trafficking in the State of Iowa.”

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This criminal case was investigated jointly by the Ottumwa Police Department, Wapello County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations.

Wapello County Sheriff’s Office Detective Aaron McConnell, Ottumwa Police Department Investigator Jeremy Tosh, and Ottumwa Police Department Investigator Caleb Mitchell served as case agents, with assistance from Special Agent Hai Tran, of Homeland Security Investigations and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Kyle Essley and Laura Roan prosecuted the case.