The Good
Last week Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) and Des Moines school officials announced their acceptance of a $300,000 start-up grant from the Walmart Foundation to give high school dropouts in central Iowa another chance to continue their education. Joining a network of 25 other community colleges nationwide that offer the plan, the Gateway to College program will begin in the fall 2010 and is free to students ages 16 to 21 in the Des Moines school district. The program will operate from the DMACC Urban Campus in Des Moines and is expected to serve more than 300 students during its first three years.
We are a proponent of free speech, so we’re pleased to know the Ames Public Library will keep the magazine, Sex, Etc. on its shelf despite a petition being signed by more than 100 parents to scrap it, saying the content is too explicit. Sex, Etc. is a magazine written by and for teens under the oversight of Answer, a national sexuality organization at Rutgers University. It addresses a wide range of topics including teen sexuality issues, substance abuse and eating disorders. The Ames Library Board voted 6-1 to support the library director’s recommendation to keep the magazine in the teen section.
The Bad
More monkey business. The colony of six orangutans at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines will be relocated in 2013 after Blank Park officials declined to build a center for the apes. Original plans were to have all four great ape species and a visitor center at the trust campus near Easter Lake, but trust officials began looking for a new home after last year’s floods caused $1.2 million damage. The trust will continue to research the group of six bonobos at the Des Moines campus. Officials have yet to name a zoo outside of Iowa that will become a new home for the six orangutans.
It seems some cops just love to use their tasers, no matter the victim’s age. Last week, Ozark, Ark., Officer Dustin Bradshaw used a taser on a 10-year-old girl after she was combative when he tried to get her in his patrol car. The girl’s mother originally called police because her daughter refused to take a shower. When Bradshaw arrived, he found the screaming and crying girl on the living room floor. He told the girl she was going to jail, and she kicked him in the legs and groin. Bradshaw blasted the little girl with his taser, handcuffed her and carried her to his car. Bradshaw was suspended, but not for tasing. He didn’t have a video camera attached to the weapon. We have two questions: How is Bradshaw a cop when he can’t control a little girl? And is it normal for parents in Arkansas to call police when their kids won’t shower?
The Ugly
Looks likes the U.S. Postal System can add a new commitment to its oath, “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of light” — nor being drunk. Police in Marion are dealing with a public intoxication charge against mail carrier Kristine Pflughaupt, a 17-year employee who was charged after being discovered sitting on the kitchen floor of 95-year-old Marie O’Kelly, eating leftover noodles. Pflughaupt apparently entered the house through an unlocked front door, was in her uniform and had a mail-carrying bag with her. She is currently on paid leave. Talk about coming home to a special delivery.
Already indicted on 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, computer fraud and aggravated identity theft, the spouse of alleged embezzler Phyllis Stevens has now been indicted by a federal grand jury. Last week, Marla Randolph Stevens, 58, was charged with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering and three counts of participating in financial transactions with money derived from criminal activity. The indictments stem after Aviva officials discovered that $5.9 million in payments had been deposited into a bank account held by the couple.CV
