Declarations – Midwest

Unsafe for Transport

“Would you put your child on a bus if the brakes weren’t fixed? Of course not.”

—State Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City, comments on a study that found 100 Iowa school buses have been repeatedly labeled unsafe in the past five years. Gaps in the bus inspection system make it possible for those buses to return to service without being fixed, according to a report by the Des Moines Register. Re-inspections of buses that have been deemed unsafe are not required, state inspectors don’t keep detailed records about needed repairs and there are no penalties for districts with repeat safety problems, the study found. Nearly 238,000 Iowa children ride buses daily.

Can’t Hold it All

“Everybody’s really starting to worry. If we get all this water they’re talking about, we’ll have to deal with flooding, especially in fields along rivers. The rivers just can’t hold all of that water.”

—Morgan County, Ind., grain farmer Jeff Thomas. With the National Weather Service reporting on Aug. 30 that drought-stricken Indiana could be in for a drenching from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac, Thomas said he and other farmers were concerned about too much rain too late in the growing season. Rainfall amounts of two to three inches, with isolated amounts of four to five inches or higher, were expected.

Taking Exception

“While we are just seeing the suit and its allegations, it appears to be based on nothing more or less than the OSHA citations, with which we take total exception and which we therefore, certainly have appealed.”

—Kansas City, Mo.-based Bartlett Grain Co., in statement addressing the filing of lawsuits over the deaths of four workers who were killed in the company’s grain elevator explosion last year in northeast Kansas. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the grain-dust explosion could have been prevented and fined Bartlett $406,000. The company has contested the citations and fine. Bartlett said its employees acted reasonably at all times prior to the explosion.