tj BOWER
trevor FRAIN
erik FREED
carley ROBINS
libby BEMIS
jacob SOBOTKA
paige DAUGHTON jenna SANDQUIST
keegan LONGABAUGH
Who are the winners?
Turn to page 1S to find out.
kate PATTON
creston
News Advertiser
SHAW MEDIA GROUP SERVING SW IOWA SINCE 1879 BREAKING NEWS COVERAGE AT WWW.CRESTONNEWS.COM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2014
Four charged in Monday’s meth bust
Expect construction delays, detours across Union County this month. Cromwell and High and Dry road projects will start August 18-19. ■
‘TIS THE SEASON By JAKE WADDINGHAM
CNA associate editor jwaddingham@crestonnews.com
Union County Engineer Steve Akes said his crew will be traveling a lot of miles to supervise as the construction season hits the area in full force early next week. Work continues on the Highway 34 Platte River bridge replacement and two box culverts on REA Road. Projects on the Cromwell Road, High and Dry Road and bridge replacement on 167th Street start Aug. 1819. “The projects are almost as far apart as you can get in our county,” Akes said.
Getting started
A change of crews delayed the early start Akes was hoping for on the Cromwell Road and High and Dry Road projects. “They have been telling us they have been coming for
a while,” Akes said. “Their working days start Monday and they don’t like l o s i n g Akes days because they get penalized for every working day they run over.” The late start date is Aug. 18. Akes said he received an email that said a subcontractor will start patch work on Cromwell Road Aug. 19. Patching takes about a week, then the subcontractor will start patching on the High and Dry Road. Next, crews will cut slots in the concrete to get ready to place stabilizing dowel bars on the Cromwell Road first. The dowel bars interlock the joints of each concrete slab to make the road more vertically stable. “They use a gang saw
WHEN WILL PLATTE RIVER BRIDGE ON HWY. 34 BE DONE? Scott Nixon, IDOT resident construction engineer, said Platte River bridge on Highway 34 — 1.3 miles west of Highway 25 — will reopen as late as early September. with multiple blades to cut the slots,” Akes said. “They need a two-week head start cutting the slots, so they will have a lot of cutting before they do anything else.” The final step uses a machine to grind or profile the road to give it a smooth finish. Both roads should be completed within the 40-day contract. “They are only going to be shutting down one lane
USDA predicts record crops
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Volume 131 No. 52
2014
Please see DELAYS, Page 2
Please see METH BUST, Page 2
CNA photo by SARAH BROWN
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The bridge replacement on 167th Street is just east of the Yellow Rose Avenue intersection. This project was not scheduled until next year, but Akes said the bridge design was finished sooner
Tribute rider:
Please see RECORD CROPS, Page 2
80 62
167th Street
Jeff Moore, third from left, stopped at the Creston Fire Department Tuesday. Moore, 23, of Madison, Wis., is cycling from San Francisco, Calif., to New York City to bring awareness and raise funds for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. The foundation honors fallen firefighters and aids their surviving family members. He stayed in Creston overnight and today Moore will continue his ride, pedaling more than 80 miles from Creston to Altoona. Also pictured, from left, are Lee Freeman, Todd Jackson and Mick Landers.
corn. The abundant harvest has driven prices lower, prompting farmers to take more control of their grain marketing by building more on-farm storage, holding onto the crop and timing the sale to maximize profit. The USDA said the amount of corn produced from each acre will reach a new nationwide average of 167.4 bushels, up from the earlier spring estimate of
DES MOINES (AP) — Farmers will produce a record-breaking corn harvest this year, surpassing earlier expectations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which on Tuesday revised upward its estimate of this year’s corn crop to 14 billion bushels to exceed last year’s 13.9 billion bushel record. A bigger crop was expected as adequate rain and cool temperatures made for favorable growing conditions in the 18 states that produce 91 percent of the nation’s
at a time,” Akes said. “They wouldn’t gain much by closing down the whole road.” The dowel bars retrofit design still allows the concrete to expand and contrast with temperature, but will prevent the small bumps between each slab as vehicles drive across. Akes said installing the dowel bars should make the road smoother and extend the life of both roads. Both projects are being paid for with farm-tomarket road funds from the IDOT and through a federally funded program.
Aaron James Mangum, 28, 212 S. Pine St., and Marie Ann Johnson, 35, of Afton, were both charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of precursors with the intent to manufacture Monday. As well, Ronald Allen Gilbert, 29, of Corning and Modanna Marie Meyer, 27, of Blockton, were both charged with possession of precursors with intent to manufacture 4 p.m. Monday in the 800 block of West Taylor Street. According to Creston Police reports, officers conducted a stop on a blue Chevy Trail Blazer and a tan Buick Park Avenue that were both Mangum Johnson observed purchasing ingredients used to manufacture methamphetamine. During prior physical surveillance of the Chevy, a male and Gilbert female occupants Meyer of the vehicle were observed entering and exiting Hy-Vee pharmacy individually at separate times, where they each purchased pseudoephedrine. During the stop, the officer identified Johnson as the driver and Mangum as the passenger. Johnson gave officers permission to search the vehicle, where a folded paper, which contained a white crystal substance, was discovered in the console. A search of the vehicle resulted in the recovery of one box of pseudoephedrine. Post Miranda statements indicated that Johnson and Mangum knew the psuedoephedrine would be used to manufacture methamphetamine.
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