WEEKEND EDITION
Friday
June 6, 2014
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Fyock, Taylor make Panther tennis doubles history SPORTS, page 1S
209 Broadway St • Diagonal 641.734.5436 • firesidebg@gmail.com
Sweet Rhythm Karaoke featuring Jeremy Long Friday, June 13th 7pm - Midnight
Sharing stories in the garden By SARAH BROWN
CNA staff reporter sbrown@crestonnews.com
Calling all gardening enthusiasts — Friends of the Library’s fourth annual garden walk is happening 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. June 14. This year, four locations have been selected — residences of Margaret Wilkins, 501 Wyoming Ave.; Dana and Marilyn Larimore, 1204 W. Prairie St.; Martha Pine, 1207 Country Club Dr., #7 and She-Nae’s, 311 W. Montgomery St. Each garden on the tour has it’s own unique story. Pine, who lives in a condo, exercises her green thumb in a container gar- ■ Tickets for den located on her back patio. Friends of the Among the lil- Library Garden lies and hibis- Walk are $5 cus a “survivor” and can be purgrows. Pine is refer- chased at Gibson ring to a single Memorial Library red tulip, which was planted in or at garden sites her yard prior the day of the tour to her moving in to the condo in 2008. However, after Creston’s 2012 tornado uprooted everything in her yard and damaged her house, she was sure everything was gone. “With all the construction and new concrete, I thought it was gone,” Pine said. When the tulip reappeared the following year, Pine said, “It just blew me away.” “I call it my little survivor,” Pine said. Garden Walk details Tickets for Friends of the Library Garden Walk are $5 and can be purchased at Gibson Memorial Library, 200 W. Howard St., or at the garden sites the day of the tour. Each ticket includes a drawing for a rain barrel donated by Innovative Industries and hand-painted by Lincoln United 4-H Club of Union County. Additionally, She-Nae’s is offering a garden art workshop for $3 during the tour. Supplies will be provided to participants to paint and decorate a garden sign made from reclaimed wood lath. Additional information and updates are available at http://crestonfol.weebly.com/.
CNA photo by JAKE WADDINGHAM
Dale Bickel surveys the extensive damage done to his corn crop on one of his farms in Grant Township in Ringgold County. The area was whipped with 80 to 100 mph winds and pelted with jagged, quarter-sized hail Tuesday.
‘There’s almost nothing left’ Severe wind, heavy rain and hail Tuesday damaged properties and destroyed crop fields in its wake. Farmers are struggling to decide if they should replant or call it a loss. ■
By JAKE WADDINGHAM
CNA associate editor jwaddingham@crestonnews.com
When Dale Bickel emerged from the basement Tuesday night after a strong system of thunderstorms moved through southern Iowa, his family looked out at a front yard that Bickel described as a warzone. “When we came up out of the basement, we could just hear bumps on the roof,” Bickel said. “When I looked out in the yard, the hail was awful jagged.” Once the hail subsided — which was larger than a quarter — Bickel and his family went straight to work fixing fence until after dark so their cattle wouldn’t get out. But it wasn’t until the next day that Bickel and his neighbors were able to see the extent of the damage. In addition to a damaged hoop shed, half the roof missing off of his barn and large tree limbs down in his yard, Bickel’s corn, soybeans and alfalfa hay had taken a beating. These next 10 days will be
a critical period as farmers and insurance companies survey the damage and decide if there is enough time to replant or if the crops damaged by high winds, heavy rain and hail are a loss for the 2014 growing season. “It’s sickening,” Bickel said while standing in one of his hay fields Thursday. “I just don’t think it is going to come back.” Widespread damage Aaron Saeugling, extension field agronomist for 14 counties in southwest Iowa, said the crops were off to a solid start despite the challenge of colder temperatures to start the growing season. “Once farmers were able to get into the field, they were moving right along,” Saeugling said. “Here in the last two weeks things have really started to look a lot better.” Bickel agreed that the warmer temperatures over the past two weeks really helped the corn and soybeans he planted in late April and his alfalfa stand spring up. “There’s almost nothing left,” Bickel said. “Just stubs.” Saeugling said the storm had a pocket of hail and
CNA photo by JAKE WADDINGHAM
A stalk of corn is shredded from wind and hail damage in one of Dave Bickel’s fields in Ringgold County. Bickel said the stand was more than a foot high before the storm damaged the crop Tuesday night.
strong winds that hit south of Creston near Lenox. Ringgold County also received damage, which is where Bickel farms with his son Brian in Grant Township. “The storm produced a little bit of everything,” Saeugling said. “It is pretty devastating, making a lot of replant decisions in the next 10 days for some folks.”
Donnie Willet, emergency management coordinator for Adams County, reported tennis ball sized hail and about 5 1/2 inches of rainfall in his area. Saeugling said it takes time to mobilize to physically assess the damage for insurance Please see DAMAGED, Page 2
Obama salutes D-Day veterans at Normandy ceremony COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France (MCT) — President Barack Obama on Friday declared the hallowed shores of Normandy “democracy’s beachhead” as he remembered the Allied invasions as the beginning of a century of freedom movements that spread across continents. “Nations that once knew only the blinders of fear began to taste the blessings of freedom,” Obama said. “That would not have happened without the men who were willing to lay down their lives for people they’d never met, and ideals they couldn’t live without.” Obama spoke at the Normandy Ameri-
can Cemetery and Memorial, where nearly 9,400 American soldiers are buried on the bluffs overlooking the English Channel. The blanket of white crosses and Stars of David perches over beaches where 70 years ago Allied forces launched invasions that would liberate France Obama from the Nazis, turn the tide of the war and over the course of months leave more than 425,000 men dead, wounded or missing.
“Gentlemen, we are truly humbled by your presence today,” Obama said to the veterans gathered in the midday sun for the anniversary ceremony. The aging vets sitting behind him — some in baggy military dress, canes in hand — rose slowly, if they could, to accept the applause. Straying from prepared remarks, Obama noted how this ceremony affected him personally. “I don’t think there’s a time I miss my grandfather more, or a time I’d be more happy to have him here
CNA photo by SARAH BROWN
This wooden garden angel is one of the first decorations to greet visitors at the garden of Dana and Marilyn Larimore.
Please see D-DAY, Page 2
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Volume 131 No. 5 Copyright 2014
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Contents
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-9 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Deaths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Heloise Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1S-3S
Weekend weather High 73 Low 57 Full weather report, 3A