On December 21st, at approximately 6:20 a.m. the Henry County Sheriff’s Office received a report of suspicious activity in the 2400-grid of 240th Street. It was reported two individuals drove into a farm residence and were approached by the resident. One individual fled on foot and another in the vehicle. The Henry County Sheriff’s Office arrived and began an investigation. During the investigation, a male subject, Andrew Joseph Stout, 36 of West Burlington, was located a short distance from the last known location of the subjects. Stout was charged with trespass, simple misdemeanor, and possession of a controlled substance 3rd offense, D-felony. Stout did have an active warrant through Des Moines County as well.
Iowa Girls High School Basketball Rankings: Winter Break Gifts the Top Teams and Leaves Stocking Stuffers
Prep Basketball- Another Thursday brings us another Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union rankings for the basketball season. Overall, the top teams remain atop the rankings, but we did see some movement within the Top 15 for all of the classes.
Algona Bishop Garrigan is 9-1 on the season and still rank number one, followed by Newell-Fonda, and North Linn. Council Bluffs St. Albert experience a three-spot jump from 10th to 7th. Despite no teams falling out of the top 15, Stanton and Martensdale-St. Marys fell from 7th and 8th to 14th and 15th, respectively. Burlington Notre Dame and Winfield-Mt. Union are still undefeated and continue climbing the rankings as the Nikes are now top 10 at the 10th spot followed by the Wolves at 11th.
Class 2A’s top 10 experienced no change with Dike-New Hartford in 1st. The biggest change came with South Hamilton’s jump from 15th to 11th after defeating West Marshall, a top 5 team in Class 3A, on Tuesday 48-47. Aplington-Parkerburg and Panorama were the only teams to fall as they went from 11th and 12th to 14th and 15th, respectively. West Burlington comes in ranked 12th and Mediapolis is 13th. No teams fell out of the top 15.
Class 3A had previously mentioned West Marshall fall from 2nd to 5th due to their loss to South Hamilton. Benton Community replaced West Marshall for 2nd. Estherville-Lincoln Central is still the boss of Class 3A. Osage fell from 5th to 9th; Des Moines Christian jumped four spots from 12th to 8th. Monticello and Harlan replaced West Liberty and West Lyon for the last two spots of the top 15.
Cedar Rapids Xavier, Dallas Center-Grimes, and Ballard are the new top three for Class 4A as North Polk fell from 3rd to 5th after a three-point loss to Cedar Rapids Kennedy 51-48. Indianola jumped Clear Creek-Amana (8th) and Carlisle (9th) to be ranked 7th. Lewis Central was ranked 10th last week but got dropped from the top 15 with Glenwood jumping into the rankings at 14th.
Class 5A had the top three teams remain the same with Waterloo West keeping the top spot. Southeast Polk and West Des Moines Valley switched spots from last week with West Des Moines Valley now on top in 4th. Iowa City West experienced the biggest fall in the rankings dropping five spots from 6th to 11th after losing two games last weekend to Linn-Mar and Bishop Heelan. With that win, Linn-Mar took over the 15th spot after previously being unranked. Waukee was the only team to fall out of the top 15 after losing to Ankeny Centennial–ranked 6th in Class 5A–and 2nd ranked Johnston.
Sports, December 22nd
High School Basketball
Mt. Pleasant will host New London January 2nd with the girls starting at 6 pm. The boys’ team is currently 5-3 on the season and the girls’ team is 4-6.
The New London Tigers girls’ team’s next game is January 1st against Van Buren County. The boys’ team is 6-2 being led by Blaise Porter and Kade Benjamin.
The Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves girls’ basketball team will travel to Lone Tree January 6th and the boys’ team will face off against Hillcrest Academy on January 3rd at 7:30 pm. The girls’ team is ranked within the top 15 of Class 1A and tout a 10-0 record.
Danville will host West Burlington January 6th with the girls starting at 6 pm and the boys to follow. The girls’ team goes into the break 5-5 on the season while the boys’ team touts a 7-2 record.
The WACO Warriors next game will be January 3rd at home against Louisa-Muscatine with the girls starting at 6 pm and the boys at 7:30 pm. The boys’ team is ranked fifth in Class 1A touting an undefeated record of 8-0, while the girls are off to a strong start as well at 6-2.
The Holy Trinity Catholic Crusaders will have to wait until January 6th to host Central Lee with the girls going at 6:30 pm. For the Crusaders, the girls’ team is 4-4 and the boys’ team is 3-6 heading into winter break. The Hawks girls’ team is also 4-4 with the boys’ team 2-7 after their last win over Columbus 68-46.
High School Wrestling
The Mt. Pleasant boys team will be back in action January 12th when they travel to face off with Washington. The girls team will compete at the Highland Tournament January 6th.
High School Bowling
The Mt. Pleasant Panthers girls and boys teams next competition will be January 5th against Washington at the Iris Bowling Center.
Iowa Wesleyan Athletics
The men’s basketball team, now 14-1 and rocking a 13-game winning streak, will have to wait until January 6th to compete against Crowley’s Ridge College for a CAC Classic. Coach Ashton knows that this team still has not hit their peak.
The women’s basketball team will look to have Coach Williamson break the record for most career victories in Iowa Wesleyan history December 29th on the road against Bellevue University for the Bellevue Classic at 12:30 pm.
The women’s wrestling team will compete December 29th and 30th at the Soldier Salute Tournament.
The men’s wrestling team will have to wait until next year to wrestle at Central Methodist University on January 10th.
The Tiger’s next indoor meet will be the Dutch Athletics Classic on January 14th.
This Day in Sports History
1962 – 1,000,000th NBA point scored.
1969 – Pete Maravich sets an NCAA record by hitting 30 of 31 foul shots, and scores 46 points to lead LSU to a 98-89 victory over Georgia.
2019 – New Orleans wide receiver Michael Thomas sets NFL record for most catches in a season with his 144th as Saints beat Tennessee 38-28; breaks 17-year old record held by Marvin Harrison (143).
Reminder from the City of Mount Pleasant
It looks like we may have a white Christmas after all! With the upcoming snow fall here are a few reminders regarding sidewalk and street snow removal.
SIDEWALKS
• Snow must be removed from most public sidewalks 24 hours after the end of the storm
• Snow must be removed from downtown public sidewalks 12 hours after the end of the storm
• Sidewalks treated so it isn’t slippery within the same timeframes as above
• Snow removed from most public sidewalks 24 hours after being deposited by street clearing crews
• Snow removed from downtown public sidewalks 12 hours after being deposited by street clearing crews
STREETS
• We ask that all residents of Mount Pleasant be mindful and limit/remove parked cars on side streets to allow the Public Works Department to clear the streets completely and safety.
• Please refrain from parking overnight and in restricted parking spaces around the square so the snow removal crews can clear parking areas and collect the snow in the designated spaces.
IHSAA Board Meeting Notes and Boy’s Basketball Rankings
Prep Sports- The IHSAA board met last Friday and made a big move for high school soccer along with releasing the rankings for the five classes of boys basketball.
Firstly, basketball and bowling had their winter classifications approved and they will be ready for the postseason come February. The wrestling postseason manual was updated due to the offseason changes such as: the elimination of sectional tournaments, addition of qualifiers to the traditional tournament, and changes to duals in state tournament site and regional qualifying.
The big kicker for the meeting was the announcement that soccer was going to add Class 4A in 2023. IHSAA executive director Tom Keating stated that the move should add more parity to the classifications,
“With the growth of soccer, particularly in our smaller schools, adding an additional class will reduce the disparity in enrollment in each class, providing for a more competitive season and state tournament series…”
The classification will be divided as such: Class 4A will be the largest 36 schools, Class 3A will be the next 40 schools, Class 2A will be the next 48 schools, and Class 1A will take the remaining schools.
Boy’s Basketball Rankings
Waukee Northwest holds the top spot in Class 4A, Cedar Rapids Xavier sits atop Class 3A, Central Lyon is the top dog in Class 2A, and Grand View Christian is the king of Class 1A. West Burlington is ranked 4th in Class 2A thanks to a strong 8-0 start to the season. WACO is 5th in Class 1A with the Warriors still undefeated to start their season.
Washington Man Sentenced for Insurance Fraud Scheme
Thomas Stephanie, age 46, of Washington, Iowa, received a deferred judgment on December 19, 2022 and was placed on probation for five years following a guilty plea on October 26, 2022, to one count of Presenting False Information, a class “D” Felony, following an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau. Stephanie was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,181.60 and a civil penalty in the amount of $1,025.
The charges against Stephanie stem from an investigation which began in June 2022. According to criminal complaints filed by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau, Stephanie provided false statements to an insurer in connection with a workers’ compensation insurance claim. Stephanie received insurance benefits due to these false statements. Stephanie was arrested on August 10, 2022.
Iowans with information about insurance fraud are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau at 515-654-6556.
Sarah Swift (final arrangements)
Sarah E. Swift, 68, of Salem passed away on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, at her home in Salem.
A Celebration of Sarah’s life will be held on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, at 11:30 a.m. at the Salem Friends Church in Salem with Pastor Deb Savage officiating. The family will receive friends from 11:00 until time of the service at the church. Following the service there will be a time of food and fellowship at the church.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.murphyfuneralandmonuments.com
Murphy Funeral Home of Mt. Pleasant, is caring for her arrangements.
Water Main Break
The Mt. Pleasant Municipal Utilities is currently experiencing a water main break on Mapleleaf Dr. and Lincoln Street. The water will be temporarily shut off in that area for our water department to make repairs.
The Utilities regrets any inconvenience. For questions, please call 319-385-2121 (24 hrs.).