News
Holding on:
• Trunk or Treat
Trunk or Treat is planned 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the courthouse lawn in Osceola today. The city’s Beggars’ Night is also planned 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. today.
O’Dea interceptions thwart SWV comeback
QUICK PIC DEPOSIT ASB’s Mobile Deposit americanstatebank.com
page 6 www.osceolaiowa.com
154 YEARS • NO. 44
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014
1000 Jeffreys Drive, Osceola, Iowa (641) 342-2175 101 North Main, Osceola, Iowa (641) 342-2191 801 East Main, Lamoni, Iowa (641) 784-3120 113 South John Wayne Drive, Winterset, Iowa (515) 462-5090 Member FDIC • Equal Housing Lender
OSCEOLA, IOWA 50213
SINGLE COPY PRICE: 75¢
DESTROYED Sunday fire blazes through Osceola Farm & Home By AMY HANSEN and KYLE WILSON ahansen@osceolaiowa.com
You could smell it before you saw it — the charred and smoking remains of a popular Osceola business. That long-standing business, Osceola Farm & Home, completely burned to the ground Sunday. What once was a building with almost every farm and home item imaginable, as well as a tire shop, was gone in less than 24 hours. “If you needed it, they had it, and they had more than one of it,” said Osceola Police Chief Marty Duffus. The fire Duffus started around 5:30 a.m. Sunday at Osceola Farm & Home. The fire burned all morning and Todd Jackson, fire chief in Creston, said the supply store was still burning in the afternoon. Firefighters used a backhoe to tear down the east wall of the business Sunday afternoon so they could better extinguish the fire. “It will be a total loss,” Jackson said Sunday. Highway 34 near the business was closed to traffic all day Sunday as lines were draped across the highway. Duffus said numerous streets were also blocked off
so fire trucks that were needed on the scene wouldn’t have to deal with any other traffic congestion. He added, the public also has a habit of wanting to look and get as close to the fire as possible, which can also create a hazard. The highway and streets have since been reopened. No injuries are being reported with this fire. On Monday, Osceola Fire Chief Mike Fry said the cause is still unknown, but the fire did start on the north side of the building. “I don’t know that we’ll get a cause, either,” Fry said. The cause of the fire will continue to be under investigation by Osceola Fire Department, Osceola Police Department and the State Fire Marshall. Eight area fire departments responded to the fire in Osceola. The local police department and ambulance personnel also provided assistance. No other structures were affected by the fire, as the firefighters were able to contain any spread of the blaze from affecting other buildings or businesses. Osceola Farm & Home is owned by brothers Jeff and Patrick Edwards. The supply store in Osceola has been in the family since the 1970s. “It’s going to make a pretty good impact on retail, sales tax, the community,” Duffus said.
Contributed photo by TONY GREIF
The fire at Osceola Farm & Home started around 5:30 a.m. Sunday. The store is being considered a total loss.
OST photo by AMY HANSEN
This is a view of the burned north side of the Osceola Farm & Home building. According to Osceola Fire Chief Mike Fry, the fire is believed to have started on the north side of the building.
OST staff photo
Law enforcement and emergency personnel respond to the fire at Osceola Farm & Home Sunday.
• For more photos of the fire at Osceola Farm & Home, go to page 14.
Taha promotes soil conservation in bid for secretary of ag By AMY HANSEN
OST news editor ahansen@osceolaiowa.com
For Sherrie Taha, running as the Democratic candidate for Iowa’s secretary of agriculture position has been a long time coming. “We’ve got to have results, and I’m very implementation results oriented. I’m also interested in policies and putting those two together,” Taha said during a phone interview with the Osceola Sentinel-Tribune. Taha will go up against Republican incumbent Bill Northey, Iowa’s secretary of agriculture, in the November elections. SINGLE COPY PRICE: 75¢
Copyright 2014
More on Taha Currently, Taha serves as a commissioner for the Polk County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD). She has served since 2012. However, her interest in agriculture was sparked more than 30 years ago when she began to have concerns about the quality of food she was consuming. A radio report on chicken hormones in food caught Taha’s attention, and she realized she bought produce without ever worrying about the quality of the food that was being sold. Taha said focusing on soil health and water quality is the way to start
improving the quality of life. “One of the great things about Polk County, we’re half urban and half agriculture,” Taha said. “We Taha get to see what’s really effective in the urban and rural environments.” Since serving as a commissioner for Polk County’s SWCD, Taha said she has gotten a good feel on how programs are implemented and how money flows from both the federal dollars and state dollars.
Index Obituary .......................3 Editorial ........................4 Church Directory .........9 Classifieds ........... 12-13
Legals.........................11 Record .........................2 Sports....................... 6-8
Three goals In Taha’s campaign, there are three main goal’s she is promoting. The first is her belief that government should work for long term and in the best interest of all Iowans, including the farmers, associations and producers. “I want to make sure everyone’s interest is part of the package considered,” Taha said. “... We are actually all impacted by the decisions that get made here.” Taha’s next goal is to really focus on soil health. She said soil health is the place that will provide the best results in terms of managing and minimizing erosion issues that could appear
Weather Your Local Weather Thu
10/30
63/39
Times of sun and clouds.
Fri
10/31
50/31
Mainly sunny. Highs in
Sat
11/1
53/41
Abundant sunshine.
across the state. This also goes for water quantity and quality. Taha said Iowa has lots of good, healthy organic soil, but other factors, such as the state’s severe drought of 2012, can also make an impact. This is a reason for the importance of drought mitigation. As for Taha’s third goal, it is to rebuild the local food system. According to Taha, Iowa currently has a lot of great farmers’ markets and buy fresh, buy local food programs, but those programs need to be taken to the next level to help redevelop the local food system.
Don’t Forget
Please see TAHA, Page 4
The school’s PTCO Vendor Fair is planned 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Clarke Community Elementary School.
Highs in the low 60s and the low 50s and lows in Highs in the low 50s and CHECK OUT OSCEOLAIOWA.COM FOR DAILY NEWS, DEATH lowsUPDATED in the upper 30s. the low 30s. lows in the low 40s. NOTICES AND SPORTS.