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Today is Thursday, Oct. 30, the 303rd day of the year. There are 62 days remaining in 2025. Below is a collection of news items found in the Creston News Advertiser for this week in history.
5 years ago (2020)
Creston’s new fireworks ordinance could include a full week of legal shoot times after a debate by the members of the Creston City Council during their regular meeting Tuesday via Zoom. The first public hearing on the ordinance change will be held 6 p.m. Nov. 17. Two weeks ago the council voted 6 to 1 to limit legal fireworks to three days surrounding the Fourth of July. Matt Levine cast the dissenting vote, saying he was in favor of a longer period.
Creston softball player Peyton Rice signed her letter of intent to play softball with Southwestern Community College Wednesday afternoon. The fleet-footed backstop was a second-team all-conference selection in the Hawkeye 10 this past season and was an honorable mention in 2018. Rice hit .303 in 19 games, hitting one extra-base hit and an RBI out of the two-hole in the Panther lineup. On the basepaths, Rice was nearly perfect with a 10-for-11 success rate in stolen bases.
Mark Shepherd has won the position of Union County Sheriff, according to unofficial results from the Union County Auditor’s Office. Shepherd received 3,321 votes or 61.01% and 2,122 or 38.99% were votes for write-in candidates. Write-in candidates included deputies Dan McNeill and Brian Burkhalter.
10 years ago (2015)
Camryn Somers’ road show is just about over, and she hopes it ends in multiple all-state performances. Somers, a senior at Creston High School, competes in four events for the Waukee High School swim team at Saturday’s state meet at the Marshalltown YMCA. Since Creston didn’t have a high school team when Somers was interested in pursuing the sport, she was granted permission by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union to participate for a team of close proximity, Waukee.
A new Creston mayor was elected Tuesday evening. Gary Lybarger defeated incumbent Warren Woods unofficially by 45 votes in an election that had 16% voter turnout (956/5,734). Unofficially, Lybarger garnered 384 total votes. Woods had 339 and Laryl Vanden Berg earned 67.
Also elected/re-elected to Creston City Council Tuesday, running unopposed, were Dr. Gabe Carroll (ward 3), Steve Wintermute (at large), Rich Madison (ward 2) and Marsha Wilson (ward 4).
The restoration of the 114-year-old water fountain at Rainbow Park is now complete and, this spring, the fountain will be turned on for the first time in three years.
15 years ago (2010)
It’s a murder mystery where nobody knows who the killer is, not even the actors. Crest Area Theatre and Creston Rotary Club are presenting “Murder on the Petulant Express,” a murder mystery dinner theater.
Four-term supervisor and chairman of the board of supervisors, Mike King, was again defeated by challenger Lois Monday Tuesday in the District 2 race. King, who was defeated in the June primary by Monday, ran on the Independent ticket, coming in third in total votes behind Monday and Democratic runner-up Tom Woodin.
Dropping the first set of a match to make the State Volleyball Tournament may rattle most teams, but for East Union, it was familiar territory. The Eagles dropped the opening set of a Class 1A Regional Final Monday night against Adair-Casey, but for the eighth time this season the team rallied from a 0-1 deficit to win a match. East Union took the final three sets from the Bombers to claim a regional title and advance to state for the third time in school history.
20 years ago (2005)
Both Corning’s Todd Wolf and Creston’s Scott Vicker showed exceptional growth at the 2005 State Cross Country Championships -- and they each still have a year to improve. The juniors improved several positions from their sophomore campaigns, establishing themselves as some of the state’s best competition. Wolf finished eighth overall in the Class 1A race, while Vicker was 13th in the Class 3A race.
A South Dakota jail escapee who robbed an Afton woman at knifepoint pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery in Union County District Court Oct. 26 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Justin Lee Mynatt, 24, will serve the sentence consecutively with a 25-year sentence already imposed in Polk County. The Union County charges stem from an incident Jan. 12. Mynatt and Jason Heasley, 31, escaped from Beadle County Jail in Huron, South Dakota, Jan. 11 by breaking a second-floor window, bending some bars, squeezing through, climbing to the roof, jumping to the ground and stealing a vehicle there before driving to Iowa.