Hundreds Attend Trick or Treat Around the Square in Jefferson
About 650 people partook of the Halloween festivities on Thursday in Jefferson.
Greene County Chamber Tourism and Events Coordinator Angie Pedersen says the Greene County Community Center and Jefferson Public Library activities were a “well-oiled machine” with all kinds of games and entertainment for the participating families.
30 businesses participated for the Trick or Treat Around the Square event. The evening ended with the first-ever Tricky Trick contest in the courthouse. Pedersen says eight year-old Randa Linberg won the youth division and 12 year-old Alyssa Manriquez won the adult division. Each received $20 in Chamber Bucks, which were donated by Addie’s and Uncorked Wine and Spirits.
She thanks everyone for volunteering and all the Chamber members that participated in the annual Halloween event.
Scranton Man Arrested Following a Sexual Abuse with a Minor Investigation
A Scranton man faces several sexual abuse charges after a search warrant was executed last weekend.
Greene County Sheriff Steve Haupert says at 11:44am on Saturday, October 24th, they received an anonymous call about a possible sexual abuse incident in the 400 block of Madison Street in Scranton. Following the initial investigation, four members of the Sheriff’s office executed a search warrant of the rental property around 10pm. Authorities retrieved a cellphone and a computer.
22 year-old Anthony Michael Grife was then subsequently arrested and charged with a Class B Felony for three counts of second degree sexual abuse; sexual exploitation of a minor-causing to engage in a sexual act, along with lascivious acts with a child-fondling or touching, both Class C Felonies; a Class D Felony for sexual exploitation of a minor to promote a film and a serious misdemeanor for lascivious conduct with a minor.
Haupert says the accused acted alone and more charges are possible pending completion of their investigation.
All-State Music Qualifiers for Greene County High School
Greene County High School will be well represented once again at next month’s Iowa High School Music Association’s All-State Festival.
Band Director Wes Anderson says four students qualified from Saturday’s auditions in Atlantic. Senior Reilly Harrington qualified on french horn for orchestra, juniors Emily Heupel on oboe and Noah Von Stein on bass clarinet made it for band and senior Brittany Richardson is an alternate on flute. Anderson points out that all are first-time all-staters.
Choir Director David Heupel says two students qualified for all-state choir with Michael Kennedy and David Peterson. Kennedy is making his second consecutive trip, while Peterson is going for a third straight year. Of the 18 students that auditioned, Heupel says he had four trios and two duets try out. He is incredibly proud of those who auditioned and for those who qualified. He is also proud that his daughter Emily made it through as a junior for the band.
The all-state festival is held at the Iowa State Center November 19th through the 21st, with the final concert at the Hilton Coliseum on the 21st.
Remember to Set Clocks Back this Weekend and Check Smoke Detectors
This Sunday Daylight Saving Time ends and everyone is reminded to set their clocks back one hour.
Along with “falling back” an hour this weekend, Jefferson Fire Chief Randy Love says it’s also a good time to check smoke detectors. Each year when Daylight Saving Time begins in March and ends in November are the ideal times to check smoke detectors and change the batteries, if needed.
Love comments that the volunteer fire department also supplies free smoke detectors for those residents that don’t have one in their home.
“It’s an advantage. It’s not the high dollar smoke detectors. But like I told the State Fire Marshall, a smoke detector is better than no smoke detector. So at least they have some kind of protection.”
To receive a free smoke detector, call the Law Enforcement Center’s non-emergency number at 386-2136.
Pheasant Hunting Season Starts this Weekend and Numbers Continue to Climb
Pheasant hunting season starts this weekend in Iowa.
Pheasant population numbers continue to increase across the state. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ August Roadside Survey, pheasant numbers are up 37 percent over last year from 17.5 pheasants to 24 pheasants per 30-mile radius. West central Iowa has the lowest percent increase in the state at 3.4 percent. Greene County Conservation Director Dan Towers says DNR biologists run the same 250 routes every year to conduct their survey on gravel roads, with little wind, during sunrise with preferably heavy dew. However, even with the increase, pheasants are only 50 percent above the ten-year average, which Towers points out isn’t good.
“Which tells us that the last ten years, we’ve been very, very bleak. The lowest counts on record came three or four years ago, after successive rough winters and wet springs. I do believe everybody probably believes they’re climbing faster than we anticipated they would.”
He says some of the contributing factors for the pheasant increase is due to not as much snowfall and not as many gullies washed out in the spring to allow the chicks to survive. However, Towers talks about the factors that have led to an overall drop in numbers over the last few years.
“Our habitat has decreased gradually over the ten years. High grain prices took a lot of our (Conservation Reserve Program) acres out. So that the acres of nesting cover are just a fraction of what they were 15 to 20 years ago. And that’s the very bottom line.”
But, Tower adds the DNR is predicting in overall pheasant harvest increase from 300,000 to 500,000 this season.
Pheasant hunting season is from October 31st to January 10th.