Sibley, Iowa — A Sibley teen has been arrested on an assault charge.

The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office reports that on Wednesday (5/15), one of their deputies arrested 18-year-old Thressa Weishuhn of Sibley. She is accused of assaulting a 20-year-old woman at the Sibley Central Park. She was charged with assault.

Weishuhn was booked into the Osceola County Jail with a $300 bond.

To the members of Osceola Electric Cooperative: crews have pulled downed neutrals and broken poles out of fields for spring planting.  Please call the office if you have downed electrical lines or poles remaining in your fields, OEC will remove them as soon as possible – for your safety please assume every downed line is energized and dangerous.

Sibley, Iowa — It’s time for our monthly report from the Sibley Chamber. We talked to Sibley Chamber Director Sheryl Peters recently. We discussed the Picnic in the Park on May 15th, school awards day, graduation, the last day of school, the opening of the Sibley Swimming Pool, the Christian Reformed Church opening their garden as a community garden, and Good Old Summertime. The dates for Good Old Summertime this year are June 8 and 9.

Click the play button below to hear the chamber report.

You can get more information by going to sibleyiowa.net or by calling the Chamber at 712-754-3212.

Sibley, Iowa — Osceola County authorities are advising of a shooting in rural Sibley last night (4/29).

At this time, they are only advising that at approximately 8 PM, Osceola County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a call at rural Sibley, and that upon investigation there was found to be a victim of a gunshot wound. They say that the victim was transported to the Osceola Community Hospital by the Osceola County Ambulance Service.

The incident is still under investigation. At no time was the public in any danger, say Sheriff’s officials.

Sibley, Iowa — Two cars owned by Sibley residents were damaged in an accident on Wednesday (4/24).

The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office reports that about 5:40 PM, Brooke Thompson, age 30, of Sibley, IA, was backing a 2005 Buick from a parked position on private property at 9th Street & 5th Avenue, and backed into a legally-parked vehicle owned by Scott Solyntjes, also of Sibley.

The Buick received $500 damage and Solyntjes’ Toyota received $1800 damage. There were no injuries. Thompson was cited for unsafe backing.

Des Moines, Iowa — The weekly Iowa crop report from the USDA has no surprises. Farmers have had very little opportunity for field work, they’re way behind compared to last year, and it’s been much colder. But the good news is our moisture is recharging.

In fact, according to the National Drought Monitor, at the end of October of last year, in our four northwesternmost Iowa counties, there were fairly large portions of Lyon and Sioux Counties in the worst category of drought — exceptional drought. The rest of the four-county area was listed in “extreme” drought. Fast forward five and a half months to today — and basically the whole four-county area has improved to the next category, which admittedly is still called “severe drought”. There is just a very small area in the very southwest corner of Sioux County that’s still listed as “extreme”. So it’s still dry, but there’s been marked improvement. The eastern third of the state is no longer experiencing drought of any kind.

In the short term, wet conditions in Iowa during the week ending April 21, 2013 continued to limit fieldwork according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Snow was received in northern Iowa, while precipitation was mostly rain in southern Iowa. The additional moisture did help to improve both top and subsoil moisture levels. Statewide there was an average of 0.3 days suitable for fieldwork during the week.
Topsoil moisture levels rated 3 percent very short, 6 percent short, 60 percent adequate and 31 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated 14 percent very short, 32 percent short and 48 percent adequate and 6 percent surplus.

Oat planting was 22 percent complete, far behind last year’s 93 percent and the five-year average of 68 percent.

Pasture and range condition rated 18 percent very poor, 27 percent poor, 38 percent fair and 15 percent good and 2 percent excellent. Spring calving losses were higher than normal due to the wet and cool weather.

In fact, Sibley was reported as both the coldest and snowiest in the state this week. While rain fell early in the week for most of Iowa, snow fell in northwest Iowa late Wednesday (17th) through Thursday (18th). The resulting snowfall totals were in the neighborhood of 4-6 inches in northwest Iowa including 8 inches reported over two days, Wednesday (17th) and Thursday (18th), in Sibley. Sibley’s low on Saturday was 11 degrees.

For the whole crops and weather report, visit this story’s page at kiwaradio.com.

IOWA PRELIMINARY WEATHER SUMMARY
Provided by Allan Curtis, Assistant Climatologist
Midwestern Regional Climate Center
The past week varied greatly across the state for both temperature and precipitation. Precipitation was widespread early in the week, predominantly on Wednesday (17th) and Thursday (18th), with areas in south-central, southeast, and east-central Iowa receiving widespread totals of 4-5 inches or more of rain. The greatest rainfall totals during the week came from Pella with 8.71 inches, and the greatest 1-day total was 6.76 inches in Centerville on Wednesday (17th). While rain fell early in the week for most of Iowa, snow fell in northwest Iowa late Wednesday (17th) through Thursday (18th). The resulting snowfall totals were in the neighborhood of 4-6 inches in northwest Iowa including 8 inches reported over two days, Wednesday (17th) and Thursday (18th), in Sibley. The statewide precipitation for the week was one of the wetter ones in recent history with 2.79 inches, nearly tripling the normal of 0.96 inches.
Temperatures across the state were well below normal with the western half of Iowa taking the brunt of the unseasonably cold temperatures to the tune of 12 to 15 degrees below normal for the week. Statewide, the average temperature was 39.3 degrees, 12.1 degrees below normal. Southeast Iowa was the closest to normal at -8.7 degrees below normal. The worst of the cold came mid-week when large areas of western Iowa saw temperatures as much as 20 degrees below normal. All of the warmest temperatures during the week occurred on Monday (15th) or over the weekend, Saturday (20th) and Sunday (21st), when temperatures were in the mid-70s. The highest temperature was 77 degrees at Mt. Pleasant on Monday (15th) and the lowest temperature was 11 degrees at Sibley on Saturday (20th).
Four inch soil temperatures during week averaged in the upper 30’s in the northwest to the upper 40’s in the southeast as of Sunday (21st). One day soil temperatures, as of Sunday (21st), showed temperatures recovering from the mid-week chill with low 40’s in the northwest ranging to low 50’s in the southeast.

Click here for the whole report.

April 17, 2013, 5:20am, on Hwy 60 1/4 mile South of 190th, South of Sibley, Henry Fisher, age 61, of Sibley, IA was southbound on Hwy 60 in his 2001 Buick when he struck a deer that ran onto the roadway. There was $2200 damage to his vehicle. He was not injured.

April 17, 2013, 8:10am, at 200th St and Nettle Ave, 4 miles SW of Sibley, Paul Engelkes, age 48, of Rushmore, MN, was driving a 1998 Chevy southbound on Nettle Ave. Christina Matthieson, age 41, of Ocheyedan, IA, was driving a 2002 Ford westbound on 200th St. Matthieson failed to stop at the stop sign and hit the Engelkes vehicle broadside. Engelkes had to be extricated from his vehicle by the Sibley Fire & Rescue and was transported to the Osceola Community Hospital by the Osceola County Ambulance Service. Matthieson was written a citation for failure to obey stop sign. Her vehicle sustained $4000 damages. Engelkes’ vehicle sustained $2000 damages.

April 17, 2013, 11:00pm, on Hwy 60, 2 miles NE of Sibley on the overpass on Hwy 9, Hai Wah, age 38, of Grand Island, NE was driving a 2004 SAAB owned by Doe Htoo, of Worthington, MN. He was northbound on Hwy 60 and had just crossed the overpass of Hwy 9 and lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle entered the east ditch going down the embankment and collided with the hill/ditch. There was $1500 damages to the vehicle. He may have lost control due to the slushy condition of the roadway. Driver was not injured and was given a citation for failure to maintain control.

April 19, 2013, 2:00pm, 5 miles W of Sibley on A22 1/4 mile east of McKinley Ave, Monty Mayer, age 41, of Sibley, was driving a 2003 Jeep westbound on A22 when the vehicle hit a large area of slushy roadway. He lost control of the vehicle and rolled it into the ditch. Mayer was not injured. There was $1500 damage to his vehicle.

Tea, SD — Officials with the Lewis and Clark Water system that is supposed to provide Missouri River aquifer water to northwest Iowa, southeast South Dakota and southwest Minnesota have been advised that the Obama administration budget provides for only $3.2 million for the Lewis and Clark Regional Water system. Executive Director Troy Larson says that considering the extensive efforts of the tri-state Congressional delegation, governors, and project officials to convince the Administration to increase funding from the $4.5 million it proposed in fiscal year 2013, they really expected more.

Larson says there’s another reason more money should have been available.

The water systems paid in their share years ago, but the federal government has not been keeping up their end of the bargain. Lewis and Clark officials say that the funding in recent years hasn’t even kept up with inflation on the remaining federal cost share, and the project is QUOTE, “Dead In the Water”.

Larson says they’re trying everything to get around the earmark ban and the administration’s low budget numbers.

He says this appears to be the best solution so far to the funding problems they are running into, and they’re trying to get all tri-state Senators on board with it. But realistically, he says, the bill has long odds of passing.

Find more information on the project by following this link: www.lcrws.org.

Boston, Massachusetts — At least one northwest Iowa native was not too far away from the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday (4/15).

According to news reports, the two bombs exploded at about 2:50 PM local time along Boylston Street near Boston’s Copley Square. The blasts killed 3 people, and injured at least 183 others.

Northwest Iowa native Sue (Nilles) Sonnenberg competed in the Boston Marathon on Monday and was quite near the bombing.

Sonnenberg says in addition to the awful events going on around her, she personally had some tense moments when she couldn’t reach a friend that she knew was still in the marathon, behind her.

She says while her thoughts are with the victims and their families, she was fortunate that she and her family and friends were safe.

She says the mood in Boston changed instantly. Sonnenberg says the mood was magical, and then immediately turned tragic. She says people opened up their houses to runners who couldn’t finish the race. She also says the day after the race and the bombings, there were armed guards everywhere.

Sonnenberg, who is originally from the Ashton and Sheldon area, currently lives in Dike, Iowa and works at the University of Northern Iowa bookstore in Cedar Falls.

Tea, SD — Officials with the Lewis and Clark Water system that is supposed to provide Missouri River aquifer water to northwest Iowa, Southeast South Dakota and southwest Minnesota are reacting with “shock, disbelief, and disgust” after hearing the latest numbers the Obama administration is proposing for funding the project in the next fiscal year. Troy Larson, executive director of the system says they will not be able to initiate any construction in 2013, due to the lack of federal funding. He says based on the $3.2 million allotted to Lewis and Clark in the President’s budget, they won’t be doing any construction in 2014 either. He says that considering the extensive efforts of the tri-state Congressional delegation, governors, and project officials to convince the Administration to increase funding from the $4.5 million it proposed in fiscal year 2013, the Lewis and Clark board members couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Read The Full Story…