Felicia Carner
Published: April 30, 2009

This past Friday the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps began preparation for their new season by performing a free debut of their show here in Dubuque.

The Colts' official season starts in the beginning of June and goes through most the month of August.

This year their show Fathoms will be hitting the field. It’s an 11 minuet ocean themed show.

Both students and staff are excited for the upcoming season and to reconnect and make new friendships.

Grandma Mary Deschepper has been with the colts since 1997 making this her twelfth year with the ‘family’ community that the Colts create is what keeps Grandma Mary traveling with group.

“They are all such wonderful young men and women and the staff treat us the best,” she commented.

Second year pit player Kyle Barshinger agrees, “I’m not just another member here, I’m a part of the family.”

Barshinger and the rest of his ‘family’ are ready to show the work off to both their audience and their competitors comments, “Be ready for us we are going to come out with a lot of notes and we hope everyone enjoys it.”

Felicia Carner can be reached at felicia.carner@loras.edu

In an email to LCTV13 Mark Wyatt, the head of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, stated why his organization believes Iowa needs a law protecting cyclists.

The bill has passed one chamber of the legislature and will remain alive through next year.

The important part to note is bicyclists have rights to use the roadways as defined in the Iowa Code 321.234 and affirmed by the Iowa Supreme Court (Vasconz v. Mills 2001). The bicycle safety bill attempted to clarify bicycle in instances where police or prosecutors felt the law was vague. I also think the law clarified passing and following of bicycles which would have made it clear to the motoring public, driver's education classes and the drivers examination. Passage of law or not, there is a lot of work to be done to educate the public and law enforcement about the rights and duties of bicyclists on the roads.

While auto deaths have been dropping, bicycle fatalities have been on the rise with 8 deaths in 2008. Nationally, there are 773 fatal bicycle crashes vs. 42,000 fatal automobile crashes. While we don't have an accurate comparison on vehicle miles traveled, the bicycle seems to be a safe mode of transportation despite it's obvious vulnerabilities.

The bicycle remains a healthy, clean, and green way to travel for transportation. Half of automobile trips are 3 miles or less - the same distance can be covered with a 20 minute bicycle ride at an easy pace. Also, bicycle are a means of transportation for children below 16 years of age. Yet, the CDC estimates in 2001 16% of kids walked or bicycled to school, whereas in 1969 42% of kids walked or bicycled to school. Local trends are matching the national statistic.

Best rides,

Mark Wyatt
Iowa Bicycle Coalition
P.O. Box 572
North Liberty, IA 52317
515-309-2867 office
319-626-6017 fax
319-936-4948 cell
www.iowabicyclecoalition.org
mark@iowabicyclecoalition.org

To read the full story and learn some bicycle safety tips click here to read our story.

Iowa's Supreme Court ruled unanimously today to lift the ban on same sex marriage in the state of Iowa. You can voice your opinion below in our poll and leave comments to this story on your thoughts and feels of the ruling today.

The Dubuque Regional Humane Society needs your help for "Shelter Make-over."

The society is using a website, zootoo.com, to help fund a new one million dollar shelter. The site uses points that rank different shelters from across America.

Users help accumulate points by registering on the site, adding a photo of their pet, or referring a friend to the site.

Only the top twenty ranked shelters continue to phase two of the process and the Dubuque Humane Society currently ranked twentieth.

"We could actually have trails for people to walk the dogs on and we could have an adequate parking space and adequate space for our people programs as well as for the animals,” says Jane McCall President and CEO of the Dubuque Regional Humane Society

There are only sixteen days left in the competition. You can help the society by logging on to zootoo.com

If you missed out on the Kids Expo, here is a link that will take you to the Empowerment of Dubuque website. They supply information on Dubuque’s local health programs, early childhood education, community resources, and much more.

http://www.empowerdubuque.org/index.html