Page 1 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 7-29-2015

Fire on Lady of the Lake pg. 2
USPS 117-120 VOL. 145 Issue 30
Clear Lake
Mirror-Reporter
CALENDAR
Wednesday
Juggling fun
The Ventura Public Library
invites the public to attend a
special summer program this
week. Today (Wednesday, July
29) at 1 p.m. the Hanson Fam-
ily from Kanawha, Iowa will en-
tertain with juggling and unicyl-
ing fun. Everyone is cordially
invited to attend.
Open mic night
The Surf Ballroom holds its
Open Mic Night each Wednes-
day. Anyone interested in per-
forming may take the stage
in the Surf ’s Cypress Lounge.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; show
time is 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Thursday
Thursdays on Main
The Clear Lake Area Cham-
ber of Commerce hosts Thurs-
days on Main each week. From
6-11 p.m. Thursday, July 23,
there will be live music, featured
entertainment, classic cars, a
bounce house, hand-powered
kiddie train rides, a vendor
street market and retail stores
stay open late. The night will
be topped off with a movie in
the park. Main Avenue activi-
ties are 6-9 p.m. At 6:30, special
entertainment on the 300 block
(SE corner of City Park) will be
provided by Sheltered Reality.
continued
More CALENDAR
on page 2
Inside
Opinion..................... 4
Weather.................... 5
Sports................13-14
Legals..................... 17
Classifieds.........18-19
Heavy rain last week caused
the lake level to rise to +2.76”
above the weir. Last year at
this time the lake measured
-.36” below the weir.
PHONE: 641-923-2837 EXT. 3
How to contact us at:
Mail: 12 N. 4th St.,
Clear Lake, IA 50428
Telephone: 641-357-2131
Fax: 641-357-2133
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.clreporter.com
@CLReporter
Isolated T-storms
for the weekend
Chance of scattered
thunder storms for
Saturday and Sunday.
High of 85 degrees on Saturday.
More weather on page 5.
July 29, 2015 Serving Clear Lake and Ventura since 1869 • Hometown newspaper of Scott & Cherise James $1.50
Clear Lake senior Jacob Hogan is welcomed home after hitting a walk-off grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Lions a win Clinton,
and a State Tournament berth. It was the second seventh inning grand slam for Hogan in the post-season.-Reporter photo by Chris Barragy. Sanders and
other top
Lions take State by storm Democrats to
These Lions seem attend Wing
destined for success Ding at Surf
Seniors Matt Stephany and Brock Adams exchange fist bumps after each made stellar defensive If ever there was a team destined for success, it has The annual Iowa Democratic Wing Ding on Friday,
plays in the final innings of the Lions’ quarterfinal win over Treynor Monday night. to be the 2015 Clear Lake Lions baseball team. Twice Aug. 14, will be the largest-ever gathering of Democratic
within a week the Lions found themselves down to Party faithful at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. Four
their final out, facing the end of their season. They of the five announced Democratic Party candidates run-
had started the summer as the top rated team in Class ning for president will be in attendance: former Rhode
2A and the favorite to win the North Central Confer- Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, former Secretary of
ence title. Some bumps along the way, including a late State Hillary Clinton, former Maryland Governor Mar-
season loss to St. Edmonds, dropped them from first tin O’Malley, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.
to fifth in the rankings and dashed NCC title hopes. The Wing Ding has grown substantially over the
But in the post-season the Lions simply refuse to give years and now is recognized as a statewide event, draw-
up. Twice in District play they were down to their last ing attendees and press from all over the state. It pro-
out, trailing in the bottom of the seventh, and unbe- vides grass roots funding for Democratic candidates in
lievably pulled out victories. They began their quest for the 23 counties that sponsor and support the event.
a State title Monday night and after heavy rains made Attendees will once again experience an event filled
a mess of the tournament, the Lions stepped out onto with great food and will have an opportunity to meet
the Principal Park field at 8:45 p.m. and posted a shut- area and state Democratic officeholders and candidates.
out win. A State title is just two games away! See our Another highlight of the evening will be a special
sports section for more about the Lions. announcement by a new candidate declaring a run for
U.S. House of Representatives. The annual Beacon
Award will also be presented, honoring an outstanding
Democrat who represents the best attributes of Demo-
cratic Party values.
Entertainment for the evening will be provided by
Paul Micich and World Port.
Tickets for the evening are $30 in advance or $35
at the door. Purchase tickets by calling one of the fol-
lowing Wing Ding Committee members or by visiting
the website: www.iowawingding.com, where tickets can
be purchased online. In the past, doors opened at 5
p.m. Given the presence of the Secret Service this year,
organizers will have to defer to them on plans for letting
people in. Check our website for updates on the open-
ing time.
Tickets are available from the following: John
Stone, 641-390-3271; Dean Genth, 641-583-2024;
Gary Gelner, 641-843-3695; John Columbo, 641-420-
7610; Linda Vaudt, 515-341-0125; Dave Mansheim,
319-983-4026; Susan Nelson, 641-315-2654; John
Ralls, 641-562-2993.
Gone Cold: Exploring Iowa’s unsolved murders is a year-long collaborative effort by Iowa news organizations JIM ADCOCK MIKE MOTSINGER
to revisit some of the most brutal and mystifying homicides in Iowa’s history. Beginning today and in the
weeks following, we’ll share information about many of the state’s 438 unsolved homicides. It is our hope that
by sharing these stories with a broad audience, justice will come for some of these victims.
40 years after ‘Waverly Stranglings,’ Getting away with murder
Killers identified only about half the time
a renewed search for answers
by Mike Kilen of five daughters of Lowell and JoAnn to California in 1974, she begged to by Jason Clayworth,
Des Moines Register, Benning, Julia had been the picture of stop in Winslow, Arizona, because the Des Moines Register, [email protected]
[email protected] a good farm girl, following her father Eagles sang about standing on a corner Roughly a third of homicides in the U.S. go unsolved.
Julia Benning lived on a farm near around to do chores as a youngster, there. They did, and she sang. In the Midwest, it’s even less likely a killer will be caught: Just over half — 52
Clarksville, but she wanted to experi- growing into a beautiful 4-foot-11- Lighten up while you still can/ percent — are identified, according to FBI data referred to as “clearance rates.”
ence the wider world. She had pen pals inch tall young woman who sang in the don’t even try to understand/Just find Criminologists and forensic death consultants such as Jim Adcock estimate
in Michigan and Scotland and shared Plainfield High School choir, played in a place to make your stand/and take it more than 200,000 homicides have gone unsolved in the United States since
with them her righteous rants about the band and performed for the speech easy. 1980. And the longer a case goes unsolved — the colder it becomes — the harder
small-minded prejudices against black team. She wanted to work at a radio sta- it is to crack.
people, Indians and young women who But with no money to attend col- tion, but the managers said she needed Advances in forensics and social media have helped identify some killers, but
spoke their mind and didn’t conform in lege, Julia went to nearby Waverly to more experience and education. She the bitter truth for victims’ families is that the national clearance rate has re-
dress or behavior. find a job after high school. She loved settled for trying to find a job at a bowl- mained relatively static for more than 20 years.
Her family didn’t know where this the music of the era — bands like the ing alley, but they already had stacks of Why?
came from, but accepted it. The oldest Eagles. When the family took a rare trip “It’s a tough question to answer,” Adcock said, noting the number of mur-
See WAVERLY on page 7 ders in the U.S. has dropped from around 25,000 in 1993 to 13,000 today.
See INVESTIGATORS on page 7
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