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Multiple car burglary and thefts reported at Diamondhead Lake

Feb 11, 2025 | News

Special to the Times Vedette

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reported multiple car burglary and theft reports, involving stolen wallets, cash and debit/credit cards at Diamondhead Lake occurring on Feb. 4. 

The Sheriff’s Office received home security footage of the suspects and the vehicle and also lifted fingerprints off one of the victims’ vehicles, presumed to be that of one of the suspects.

A press release from the Sheriff’s Office stated they discovered that one of the stolen credit cards was used at the Wal-Mart and Lowes stores in West Des Moines. Security footage from both stores were provided to the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office showing the suspects committing the transactions. The suspects were identified as being the same individuals from the victim’s residences and could be seen entering and leaving the stores in the same vehicle.

The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office was requested to assist, and their license plate readers confirmed that the registered owner of the vehicle was located in Kansas. It was discovered that the vehicle’s registered owner admitted his son and his son’s girlfriend had taken his vehicle approximately 30 days prior and he has not seen them since.

When running a driver’s license check through Kansas, the suspects can be 100% identified and confirmed as being the suspects in the Lowes/Wal-Mart security footage. The suspects are believed to be out of the area and continuing their crime spree in the same manner.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reminds residents to lock vehicle doors and to not leave items of value in vehicles overnight.

Criminal charges are pending.

Panora approves grant for water plant backup

Feb 11, 2025 | News

By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette

At the Feb. 10 meeting of the Panora City Council, City Administrator Lisa Grossman provided details about a Subaward Agreement with the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for the Renewable Energy Mobile Microgrid Project.

“This is the $414,500 grant that we were awarded. We are responsible for 15%, so it’s about $70,000 or a little less than that,” Grossman said.

The council unanimously approved Resolution 25-07, which is the agreement for the project. The description of the proposed project includes: “The proposed mitigation activity will create an innovative, versatile, and scalable solution that will greatly increase the resiliency of the community and provide several substantial benefits, both in terms of operational reliability and environmental sustainability. The project will be comprised of a stationary photovoltaic (PV) solar array and a portable battery trailer that will be placed at the city’s Wastewater Lagoon to provide backup power to the aerators and allow continuous operation of the facility even when power is not available from the grid.”

The city received a letter from the Lake Panorama Association (LPA), stating that the LPA has set a water rate of $9.31 per thousand gallons for the two-year period beginning July 1, 2025.

Council member Roger Dorr said he attended the recent meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, and there are plans to replace the “entrance signs” welcoming visitors to Panora.

The next regular meeting of the Panora council is set for Feb. 24 at 5:30 p.m. The public is welcome. Interested persons may attend in person or electronically by visiting the website https://meet.goto.com/cityofpanora or by phone 1-312-757-3121 (Access Code 295-099-701, Audio PIN 220#).

Duck and cover

Feb 11, 2025 | Publisher's Column

Duck and cover may sound like a country music duo, but it’s not. At least I don’t think so. Those three words were a technique used in air raid drills that many of you who attended public schools in the 1950s and 1960s may recall. It was part of a preparation for U.S. citizens to survive being bombed by the Soviet Union. 

Students were instructed to get under their school desks or get on their knees and cover their heads. Mandatory drills were in place to have kids practice the technique, handouts were sent home with students, and President Kennedy was telling Americans to build nuclear fallout shelters in their backyards. Congress allocated $169 million to identify suitable public buildings, erect fallout shelter signs on them, and stock them with supplies. It was a time of immense fear about something we were told was deadly and imminent, and even the silliest of precautionary efforts that were promoted by the government were taken seriously.

The nuclear fallout shelters were to be stocked with water (at least one gallon of water per person, per day), canned food and a supply of potassium iodide tablets to help protect from cancer caused by radioactive fallout. We now know these shelters would have been mostly useless in cities that were attacked and of limited benefit in outlying areas. What were the survivors to do when they eventually had to leave the shelter after five days or 30 days or whatever the nightly news said and be exposed to the nuclear fallout? OK, so maybe all the details weren’t pieced together to survive a nuclear attack. They still aren’t, at least not for us commoners. But in the 1960s, President Kennedy was attempting to persuade the Soviet Union that we were prepared and indestructible. Do you think Khrushchev was convinced?

I was too young for the duck and cover drill. The practice, along with the stocking and use of nuclear fallout shelters, had mostly disappeared by the 1970s when I was in elementary school. But those nuclear fallout shelter signs with the three yellow triangles in a black circle were still posted, and my friends and I often wondered what they were for. A few of these signs can still be seen in banks, hotels, libraries, post offices, schools and hospitals. The fear of nuclear war subsided in the 1970s but reared its ugly head again in the 1980s. The threat will likely always be imminent, as long as war-mongering humans are on this planet. We tend to be slow learners — and, at times, a bit naive. Duck and cover.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

Nickel describes life in Thailand

Feb 10, 2025 | News

Curtis Nickel is enjoying a brief trip back to Guthrie County.

By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette

For most anyone who has moved away, coming back home can be a special joy. But, for some, that is a much longer trip than others. Curtis Nickel, a 1983 graduate of Guthrie Center High School, recently came back to visit family, and he took the time to tell the story of where life has taken him.

Nickel is a U.S. Navy veteran who now lives in Thailand.

“I work in the oil and gas industry, driving what they call a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in the water,” Nickel said. “We do underwater construction, and we do the inspections on drill rigs. We do a lot of pipeline inspections.”

On this homecoming trip, Nickel has been able to visit his parents (Janet Clark and Wayne Nickel) and his sister (Alicia Ciesielski), but he’ll soon be heading back to Thailand. Moving there was not something Nickel had planned.

“I’ve been working in the Gulf of Thailand for the last five years. Prior to that, I was working worldwide,” Nickel said. “As far as how I got to Thailand, I was working in Cypress, and some people from Thailand came and worked on the boat I was on, and they said I should come to Thailand, so I did. That was in 2013.”

When Nickel is working, he is out at sea for weeks at a time, working shifts on a “12 hours on, 12 hours off” rotation. But he says he enjoys the job and has adjusted well to life in Thailand, although there were numerous challenges.

“It’s nice, but I had to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road,” Nickel said. “And the food is different — the spiciness of the food.”

The biggest challenge for Nickel was the language.

“The communication is the hardest part, but most people there speak English to some extent,” Nickel said. “I’m not fluent, but I’ve I studied the alphabet. There are four different consonants and 33 vowels. I can recognize them.”

Nickel also had to adjust to an urban setting, living in a city with a population of 1.2 million.

“Everybody drives a motorbike or a scooter over there,” he said.

Nickel says he has enjoyed the climate in Thailand.

“Thailand is warm year-round. I usually golf about three days a week, even though my score doesn’t reflect that,” Nickel said.

No. 12 ACGC defeats Coon Rapids-Bayard, 48-40

Feb 7, 2025 | News

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

On Thursday, Feb. 6, No. 12 ACGC girls basketball (18-1) defeated Coon Rapids-Bayard (14-4) at home in a close contest. Coon Rapids-Bayard led by the end of the first quarter, 9-6. ACGC had the best quarter of either team in the second, scoring 18 points, giving the Chargers a 24-18 lead into half. ACGC was able to extend its lead in each of the last two quarters by one point to give the Chargers the eight-point win. ACGC makes a quick return to the court when the team travels to Pleasantville tonight, Friday, Feb. 7. The Chargers won last year in dominant fashion, 66-11.