The Carroll Broadcasting News team of Former News Director Jeff Blankman, Assistant News Director Quinn Palmer and current News Director Chantelle Grove put out 1,661 stories so far this year, and you, the listeners, have ranked the top 10 stories of 2015 with your clicks onto our website to read about what is happening in the Carroll area.
Coming in at the number 10 spot was the story of jogger who was life-flighted to Des Moines after being hit by Farmer’s Coop of Arcadia truck and hopper on Sept. 25. Twenty-seven Tess Sturm of Carroll was crossing Hawthorne Ave. near Breda and failed to see the Sterling LT9500 truck at the 230th Street intersection. Sturm was transported to St. Anthony Regional Hospital and later airlifted to Des Moines.
A toxin released by blue-green algae in both Blackhawk and North Twin Lake was the number nine story of 2015 as the Iowa Department of Public Health put out warnings that the toxins can create skin and gastrointestinal issues as well as headache, fever, runny eyes and nose, cough, sore through and asthma-like symptoms. The micorcystin toxin blooms are not at all uncommon and generally occur in late summer and early fall.
Aaron Bauman lost his battle with cancer this year, but the web story of his battle and the fundraiser on Band Day to support Bauman and his wife Michelle and daughter Britt came in as the number eight story of 2015.
Haleigh Wehr of Carroll certainly would have preferred to have not been on the list of year-end stories at all, but her heartfelt plea on Facebook drew in readers and her story ranked seventh for the year. Wehr woke up on a Thursday morning in early September to find that her car had been burglarized. But what was so heartbreaking was that her MacBooks and memory cards were stolen with over 20 recent photoshoots of families, newborn babies and weddings.
It was another tragedy, this time in Manning, that drew in our listeners and their support in the number six spot of the countdown. A fire at the Leroy and Julia Schlichte farm on the morning of March 2 tragically ended with the death of Julie. A benefit supper was planned for Sunday, March 22 in Templeton and saw an entire community turn out in support of the family who lost what was most important to them.
The popularity of two Iowans who have made a career out of sorting through other people’s “treasures” ranked fifth in this year’s collection of stories. Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe of Antique Archeology and the television show American Pickers put out a call for places in Carroll County to explore on June 1, and the listeners were happy to oblige.
In early October, a student at Kuemper was injured in the parking lot of the high school and this incident showcased a community’s concern, coming in at number four. Carroll Police Chief Brad Burke said they were working on getting answers as to what happened to the student who was found unconscious and transported to St. Anthony Regional Hospital for treatment. Reports that he was later air-lifted to a Des Moines hospital were not confirmed.
Number three was a story that rose to the top of the heap, despite its posting only a few short weeks ago on Dec. 8. Levi Gray of Manning become upset after the local police department and city council upheld a city ordinance limiting the number of animals in a household to three. Gray said his three dogs and six cats were not hurting anyone and he protested the decision that mandated he remove all but three animals from his home with a strongly worded sign hung on the front porch of his Center Street home that said, “Manning, Iowa where the local police lie and the city council tells you how you can and can’t live in the privacy of your own home.” In smaller letters underneath was a contact number for the sale of the home.
It was a bomb scare at the middle school on Nov. 9 that saw the second most numbers of visits on the Carroll Broadcasting website. Superintendent Rob Cordes put out a statement that a threatening message was written on toilet paper in a girl’s restroom and that a bomb was set to go off the next morning at 8:00 a.m. The Carroll Police Department and the school administration and staff worked together to sweep the building Monday and Tuesday. With no dangerous items found, classes resumed on Tuesday. A few days later the announcement was made that a middle school student had been identified as the culprit through the use of new video surveillance cameras recently installed in the building.
And the most viewed story of 2015 is not one of natural disaster or the resolution of a murder trial, it occurred last week and was a report from the Carroll County Sheriff’s office of a vehicle found abandoned in the ditch with a strong odor of alcohol and a small amount of blood inside. After one person reported to St. Anthony Regional Hospital a little over an hour after the accident, at 3:16 a.m., authorities learned the vehicle was driven by 18-year-old Chelsie Burnett of Carroll and there were two passengers at the time of the accident, Emily Staert and Micaela Bretey, both 18 and both of Carroll. All three were injured in the rollover accident that occurred at the intersection of 210th Street and Walnut Ave. west of Ralston.
