COACHING HIRES
YMCA DONATION
Southwestern Community College Athletic Director Todd Lorensen recently confirmed the hiring of several new athletics coaches. For more on the hires, see SPORTS, page 7A. >>
Iowa State Savings Bank recently donated new exercise equipment to Southern Prairie YMCA. For more on the donation, see BUSINESS/FARM, page 12A. >>
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Ex-Iowa Senate Council at impasse over GOP caucus fireworks permit proposal staffer awarded $2.2M in lawsuit
CITY COUNCIL
CNA photo by SCOTT VICKER
Streams of gold fall from the sky as a red firework explodes in the middle during the 10,000 Crestonians Fourth of July fireworks show in McKinley Park in Creston. Fireworks remain a topic of discussion for Creston City Council after the state legalized the sale of fireworks earlier this year.
By CARTER ECKL CNA staff reporter ceckl@crestonnews.com
Even though the window for shooting fireworks has come and gone, Creston City Council still spent most of Tuesday’s meeting discussing the highly debated topic. This discussion initiated around a proposal of a permit application for firework
shows inside the city limits of Creston outside of July 4 and Christmas. The debate about the application started around insurance coverage, but legality quickly shifted the conversation into old discussions over the current ordinance the city has discussed changing since fireworks became legal in Iowa earlier this year. The proposed permit
requires a $1 million total exposure insurance policy for anyone wishing to shoot off fireworks within the city limits. Brandon Vonk, vice president of the Creston Shooters, requested to host a shoot for a family friend, igniting the discussion. “The whole thing was, Brandon had requested to have a shoot. What do we need to do to get it done?
That is what really generated this,” said City Administrator Mike Taylor. Insurance policies with the proposed permit caused concern on Vonk’s part, especially regarding smaller shoots. “I’m not against saying that we need the insurance, but it’s the amount,” said Vonk. CITY | 2A
DES MOINES (AP) — A jury awarded $2.2 million Tuesday to a former Iowa Senate Republican caucus aide who sued the state and others for sexual harassment, and Iowa taxpayers will foot the bill. Jurors determined that Kirsten Anderson, who was fired in 2012 as the caucus communications director hours after handing in a memo detailing rampant sexual harassment in the caucus office, had suffered emotional distress and damages in the workplace. The office of Gov. Kim Reynolds confirmed Tuesday that the award will be paid out of Iowa’s general fund. Anderson, 39, testified at trial last week that sex, race and sexual orientation were regular topics of conversations and jokes in the office. Some of her testimony focused on the behavior of a male senior analyst whom she said in 2010 seemed angry and regularly referred to women using an obscenity. Jurors also heard testimony about testified accusing former Sen. Shawn Hamerlinck, R-DeWitt, of making comments about lobbyists’ and staffers’ breasts and the skirt lengths of female senate pages.
Hamerlinck lost his state senate re-election bid in 2012 and now serves as chairman of the Clinton County Board of Supervisors. Reached by The Associated Press on Tuesday, he asked for more time to respond, but later did not answer calls to his home. He did not return later messages left at his home. Republican officials had denied she was harassed and argued she was fired because of poor job performance. But several other current and former staffers corroborated her claims of a hostile work environment in testimony at the trial. State Senate Democratic leader Rob Hogg, of Cedar Rapids, blasted the actions of lawmakers and staff for failing to follow Senate p o l i c i e s Hogg already in place to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation. “If the Senate’s policies and procedures had been followed, this $2.2 million verdict LAWSUIT | 2A
Ex-Iowa seed company exec files $80M lawsuit over his firing ADEL (AP) — An executive for a prominent Iowa seed company is alleging he was wrongly fired by Iowa’s richest man and deprived his right to acquire $80 million worth of corporate stock. Joseph Saluri filed a lawsuit Tuesday against billionaire Harry H. Stine and Stine Seed Company over his termination after 18 years as general counsel and vice president. It alleges Stine fired Saluri in March as part of a conspiracy to enrich others at Saluri’s expense. Saluri alleges he was fired after trying to exercise his right to increase his ownership in M.S. Technologies, a Stine company that has agreements with Monsanto
for soybean trait technologies. He says Stine officials wanted him to waive his right so the ownership could be acquired by Stine’s former sonin-law, but Saluri blocked the deal. On Tuesday night, Stine Seed Company general counsel Chad Johnson said in a statement that the company was reviewing the allegations. Johnson added, “We are disappointed that our former lawyer has initiated a lawsuit and disagree with his presentation of the facts and his legal conclusions. We are preparing our response to this lawsuit and will vigorously protect the company, its confidential information and its reputation.”
CNA photo by CARTER ECKL
Farmers Market: Debra Harris, left, wipes the hand of Harlee Hanson of Seattle, Wash., after giving her a sample of a fra-
grance at Harris’ booth, Aroma Delight, Monday evening at the Creston Farmers Market. The farmers market is held in McKinley Park every Monday from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. throughout the summer.
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Volume 134 No. 34
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