New Hawkeye Coach

Maybe it's because I just spent four days in Florida to catch my Cardinals at spring training, but some sports headlines are grabbing my attention tonight.

How many people do you think are "googling" Fran McCaffery? He is the new head men's basketball coach at the University of Iowa. Good luck, Coach. It wasn't a pretty season in Iowa City.

As you may know, I'm a big fan of bowling. Yeah, that's right. And I'm not afraid to say it. A guy who went to my high school in Belleville, Illinois (yes, waaaay after I graduated from there) just did was should be nearly impossible. He rolled three perfect games in a row for a 900 series. Wow! I doubt many people can even do that on a Wii.

This one has nothing to do with sports, but it did catch my eye. The Ames Police Benevolent Association sent out a release that describes a possible misuse of funds. Apparently, no CIETC-type money scandal here. But it might be a couple hundred bucks or so, according to the release. The release said the group found out about the problem on February 1st. Today is March 28th. The release doesn't explain the delay.

Ames Police Benevolent Association
On Monday, February 1, 2010, the Ames Police Benevolent Association learned that a member may have misappropriated funds from the association. In order to avoid any conflict of interest, the Ames Police Department referred this allegation to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. At present, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is conducting an investigation into this situation. It is our understanding that the investigation has revealed the level of misappropriated funds is within the $200 range.
The APBA has addressed this issue within its membership and the member involved in the misappropriation is no longer a member of the association. Procedures for handling funds have been updated and changed to insure that this does not happen in the future.
The Ames Police Benevolent Association is an organization that is separate from the City of Ames Police Department. The Ames Police Benevolent Association maintains its own accounting and audit procedures; it is not funds derived from the Ames Police Department budget. The Ames Police Benevolent Association has been involved in assisting many charities throughout the community. The Ames Police Benevolent Association has organized the Shop with a Cop program since 1994, and because of the generosity of citizens and businesses we have helped many less fortunate families. We also assist with the City of Ames employees' Angel Tree program, since 1998. Our organization has also donated to numerous families and organizations within our community, both financially and through volunteer work. We hope that we can maintain the trust with the community and keep the faith bestowed on our organization by taking quick action in this matter and by correcting our past mistakes, so we can keep assisting those who need help in our community.