The big Vail fire

Posted on March 28, 2026 by Marty Ryan

It was one of the strangest experiences in my life. I awoke for no obvious reason. Looking toward the window, I managed to believe that I ended up in the middle of the sun. The sky was the brightest orange anyone could imagine.

At once, it dawned on me. There’s a fire nearby, and it’s snowing. I got out of bed, put on my blue jeans, socks, grabbed my boots, coat, and hat and headed outside. The snow was blinding, and it seemed like the snow was bleeding.

I headed toward downtown. Yes! I spotted the fire. I think sirens helped me locate the source. I watched the firefight from any angle I could get. The Main Street was filled with hoses. Men shouting; ice developing on anything and everything. As much as I wanted to, I dared not ask anyone a question. We all knew what was going on. Like Rome; Vail was burning. But unlike Rome, it was burning in the middle of a raging blizzard. In the end, the fire consumed the weekly newspaper office, an empty building, a lawyer’s office (where the fire started), a bar and a bank.

Obviously, because of the blizzard, there was no school the following day, so I headed back downtown. The only thing I remember about the that day was running into Art Adams, who told me that he came to town to see if money in the bank’s vault burned.

On the Sunday after the big downtown fire, a few of us Marauders walked around the red picket snow fence to examine the remains of the fire. As with most Sundays in downtown Vail, there were no pedestrians, and very little vehicle traffic. The brick walls where the Lincoln Club used to be were now lying on the ground, and beer cans were mixed in with the red bricks and ash.

It didn’t take long to realize that some of the beer cans scattered throughout the debris were full. Most were Schlitz. The cans may have been slightly brown or black in a few places, but the cans that were full became salvage to us. We collected as many of the undamaged (but slightly singed) cans as we could and stashed them somewhere where my memory fails me.

However, the Sunday after accumulating damaged cans, we had a party at the McCoid’s home. We put ice in glasses and cups and poured the beer into the odd assortment of containers. We were having a blast until someone yelled: “They’re home!” That would have been Dale and Helen McCoid pulling up around back. Kids were trying to squeeze out of the front door so fast I’m not sure that a few were temporarily stuck.

Vail Boys! We were quick to open the door when opportunity knocked. Even after the doors burned down.

***

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This is bad: I know it!

Posted on March 21, 2026 by Marty Ryan

In the year 2525, if man is still alive, will there be archeologists?

Tire tracks on the Trestle-to-Trestle recreational trail had me wondering, today. Will futuristic artifacts reveal that giant animals with feet consisting of rubberized synthetic material were out searching for prey in the form of black semisolid material obviously originating from petroleum that had been heated with elements from native deposits found plentifully in the Twenty-first Century?

Perhaps the monster was hunting for a similar victim that tracked along the lines of the material above. Maybe the monster was seeking a grey, flat quarry with white stripes or yellow lines down the middle of its back. You know, that stuff made from where humans buried their voided decompositions – cement tarries.

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Everyday People

Posted on March 9, 2026 by Marty Ryan

I am no better and neither are you
We are the same, whatever we do
You love me, you hate me, you know me and then
You can’t figure out the bag I’m in
I am everyday people

Sly Stone, Sly and the Family Stone. 1968

Several years ago, I began writing what I thought would be a book about how different we are from each other. It’s still unfinished on my computer, and I hope to finish it someday with the title “There Are Two Kinds of People in This World: Me, and Everyone Else!” Meanwhile, I believe an essay on the gist of the book is in order during this tumultuous time of political indifference.

Often, I want to respond to a posting on Facebook where I disagree with a “friend’s” position. I pause, but not always. I may respond if someone has posted an untruth that I can correct with simple impartial research, but most of the time, I leave it alone. Even fact-checking these days is questioned by anyone who might have a different opinion than anyone else. A younger me never thought this possible. And you may have heard many times; ‘you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.’

Sometimes I’m right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I’m in

Upon seeing a posting in which the author pointed out the huge differences between products purchased in January of 2020 to the products bought in January of 2024, I conducted research of my own. Surprisingly, I discovered the margin between orange juice from both years was larger than portrayed in the meme. There was no need for me to respond. And, it surprised me.

A year or two ago, my nephew brought me a jar of his homemade salsa. As I opened it, I could smell cumin. I do not like cumin, curry, coconut, cilantro, or coriander. Do you see a pattern here? I do, however, like cinnamon, celery, and particularly cherry anything. But the cumin in the salsa was a turn off for me. I feel bad that I hurt his feelings by telling him I didn’t like the salsa. But I ate the salsa and cumin is beginning to grow on me. The point is that, although we are all equal, we are all different. We have our personal likes and dislikes. Step aside and open your mind.

There is a blue one
Who can’t accept the green one
For living with a fat one
Trying to be a skinny one
Different strokes
For different folks


Letters to the editor display various slants toward or against political policies. I agree with some, and disagree with others. I have penned many LTEs myself, but I never attacked another writer personally. At least, not that the editor published. More than once, I did have someone write an LTE responding to what I had written. It made me feel good, knowing that someone cared enough to emote their own tilt toward the issue.

I am no better and neither are you
We are the same, whatever we do
You love me, you hate me, you know me and then
You can’t figure out the bag I’m in 

And so on and so on
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Poverty vs. Poor

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Marty Ryan

Johanna Scanlon has been on my mind, lately. I’ve been thinking of her because I have been diagnosed with osteopenia, “a condition characterized by lower-than-normal bone density, which can increase the risk of fractures and may progress to osteoporosis if not managed.” I believe Johanna suffered from osteoporosis.

I felt sorry for Johanna all the while we lived next door. She was more than poor; she lived in poverty. She would leave her back door and walk down her yard with a cane. She was so hunched over that I was often wondering if she might fall forward. She left her house only to get her mail at the Post Office and pick up a few groceries, no more than she could carry three blocks.

Her back yard sloped toward the alley, and I could figure out that the path down the middle of her backyard was raised and separated what had to have been two gardens at one time. When I mowed our yard, I mowed her front yard, but the backyard had turned to what some would call weeds. I viewed it as prairie.

One very cold winter day, Johanna summoned me from her back door. She was standing on the platform at the top of her outdoor stairs to the yard. I walked over to see what she needed. She handed me a pail and asked if I could drain some heating oil from a 50-gallon drum on its side from below the platform and bring it into her home. I had never done this before, and I had never seen anyone else perform the task.

I brought the heating oil up the steps and, as she opened the door, asked me to set it by the small old oil burning stove in the middle of the room. The house was cold! The oil burning stove was in what I would label as the kitchen, but I saw no refrigerator, no stove – not even a cook stove, but only a small table with two white chairs abutting the window in the back side of the house. I could see her sitting at the window day after day reading. However, the only thing to read in that room was a stack of papers; shoppers – not newspapers. I have to assume that she used them to burn in the oil burning stove.

The kitchen was cut off from the rest of the house with a blanket hanging over what had to be a doorway to another room, most likely the living room. When I think about it, I had never noticed lights on in her home.

Johanna was a sweet old woman. She often had a smile on her face, even though it must have been difficult for her. She was not poor; she was living in poverty.

As I get older, I notice that there is a huge difference between being poor and living in poverty. Sadly, not everyone understands the difference.

Poor is not having a good enough credit score to finance the purchase a used car. Poverty is not having a credit score, a credit card, a car, or a house.

Poor is when you are in college and you have to eat tuna, like candidate Willard Mitt Romney’s claimed when he ran for President in 2012. Or, poor is when you ran out of beer and payday isn’t for another day or two. Poor is temporary; poverty is a lifetime.

Former Iowa State Representative Wayne Ford told me that poverty is a constant struggle to move up, rarely making it.

There is a cliché that goes: “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” It’s meant to encourage poor people to strive for success. However, people living in poverty have no bootstraps; they have no boots; some barely have decent socks. Some people have nothing but a half-gallon of heating oil, some old shoppers, and cold solitude.

Related blog: https://iowappa.com/?p=1977

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The rest of the story

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Marty Ryan

Almost any curmudgeon from the previous century has heard Paul Harvey say, “And now you know — the rest of the story.” Let’s hear the rest of the story.

State Republican representatives are flaunting an initiative this year with a serious “tough on crime” agenda. Three Republican legislators have introduced three bills that 1) provide a mandatory minimum 20-year prison sentence without parole for a person convicted of multiple specific crimes (HSB 666); 2) “a bill (HSB 641) that would make it harder to be released on bail,” and 3) a bill requiring “the state court administrator to annually collect and publish information about how individual judges handle criminal cases.”  (HSB 631)

According to Rep. Steven Holt (R-Denison), the need for HSB 666 is based upon “a bill that is now sweeping the nation and began in North Carolina, called “Iryna’s Bill.”” Rep. Holt stated that he is sick and tired of dangerous criminals being convicted of violent crimes and being released back into society after serving short sentences in prison.

The rest of the story begins with Iryna Zarutska, who was stabbed to death by DeCarlos Brown, Jr., while riding a late-night Blue Line light rail train in Charlotte, NC. Brown was sitting in the seat behind her as she held her phone in her hand. He stabbed her three times and she died within a minute. Would a law like the one Holt introduced prevent this from happening? Probably not.

Brown had a history of mental illness longer than his criminal record. He had been “struggling in recent years” with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and suffered hallucinations and paranoia.” He claimed the government had planted a chip in him, and he also believed Iryna was reading his mind.

Records indicate that Brown has been arrested in at least fourteen cases in less than a decade. Mecklenburg County (Charlotte), North Carolina where this incident occurred, uses pretrial risk assessments prior to sentencing in order to “help determine the likelihood of a defendant failing to appear in court or reoffending while on release.” Iowa enacted risk assessments as a “tool” several years ago. It goes to show that analysis used to predict the future are inaccurate. What is needed is a thorough follow-up after incarceration to make sure former inmates are continuing with the medication they were taking while imprisoned. Many times, a former inmate will revert back to self-medicating for various reasons: booze is cheaper than medication; booze and drugs are more readily available; and drugs and liquor are more familiar to the addict – a user understands the side effects.

Iowa has a law that has been gutted over the past many sessions: Minority Impact Statements. A minority impact statement is a significant portion of a fiscal note prepared by the Fiscal Division of the nonpartisan Iowa Legislative Services Agency.  In cooperation with the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning of the Department of Human Rights, the Fiscal Division analyzes legislation to determine if the legislation will have any impact on minorities (negative or positive).

Already, Iowa uses mandatory minimum sentencing for forcible felonies and requires risk assessments in pre-sentencing investigations. Mandatory minimum legislation was developed in the 1990s, and every bill establishing a mandatory minimum had a racial impact statement attached. The minority impact statement helped reduce the percentage of black Iowans in Iowa’s prisons. If this bill (HSB 666) is enacted, the population of black men in prison will be increased, once again.

In 2014, the Sentencing Project cited an Associated Press finding that minority impact statements in Iowa “appear to be having a modest effect.” A review of 61 impact statements issued since 2009 suggests that the policy has been “helping to defeat some legislation that could have exacerbated disparities and providing a smoother path to passage for measures deemed neutral or beneficial to minorities.” https://apnews.com/d320d9fdb9794d71b8b6436b808e0b16

In a United States Supreme Court case from 2017, Buck v. Davis, 580 U.S. 100 (2017), Chief Justice Roberts wrote: “when a jury hears expert testimony that expressly makes a defendant’s race directly pertinent on the question of life or death, the impact of that evidence cannot be measured simply by how much air time it received at trial or how many pages it occupies in the record. Some toxins can be deadly in small doses.” This analogy applies to legislation as well as the courts. Without knowing the consequences of some crimes resulting in incarcerating black men more than other offenders, the small doses become the big overdose.

One legislator said that Fiscal Notes have the ability to be used to shame legislators into opposing otherwise good legislation.  Yes, we agree. And it often depends upon what “otherwise good” means. “Otherwise good” is in the hands of the beholder.

Enhancing penalties is one of the biggest red herrings in the lawmaking business.  It looks like the legislature is doing “something” to prevent crime from occurring, but it does very little to prevent crime.  It places a defendant in prison or jail for a longer period of time. That’s all it can do.

Even an offender with a mental health problem, especially schizophrenia, will be released sometime after twenty years. Maintaining sanity in a correctional setting does not go well after an inmate with mental health issues is released without parole.

Consider these facts:

  • “Iowa is hard to beat if you’re looking for a state with a low crime rate and a high quality of life. When it comes to property crime, which includes burglary and vandalism, the Hawkeye State is among the best 10 states in the nation and its incidence of violent crime is also comparably low.”[1]
  • “Des Moines Police say preliminary data from 2025 shows things are trending in a positive direction when it comes to major crimes.”[2]
  • “Iowa had the 4th-lowest violent crime rate in the region and the 19th-lowest violent crime rate in the country.”[3]
  • “In 2023, the property crime rate in Iowa (1,441 per 100,000 residents) was 25 percent lower than the national average (1,954 per 100,000). Between 2013 and 2023, property crime decreased by 34 percent in Iowa.”[4]
  • “The rates of burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft were lower in Iowa than the national average. Burglary decreased by 58 percent, the largest change of any property crime. The next largest change was larceny, which decreased by 32 percent.”[5]
  • “Black people were victims of violent crime 4.5 times more often than their share of the Iowa population.”[6]
  • “Black people were arrested for violent crime 6.6 times more often than their share of the Iowa population.”[7]
  • “Between 2012 and 2022 in Iowa, the prison population serving sentences for violent offenses decreased by 13 percent, while the prison population serving sentences for nonviolent offenses increased by 3 percent.”[8]
  • “Based on a 2019 calculation of operational capacity, a statistic that determines how many prisoners an institution can safely hold, the most overcrowded prisons were concentrated in the Midwest, with Iowa (119 percent), Nebraska (115.4 percent), and Idaho (110.1 percent) the most overcrowded.”[9]On January 31, 2026, the Iowa Correctional system was overcrowded by 23.52%.[10] “Prison overcrowding leads to severe consequences, including inadequate healthcare, increased violence, and heightened mental health issues among inmates. It also hampers rehabilitation efforts and can result in life-threatening conditions due to poor living environments.”
  • In 2011, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Plata[11] held that a court-mandated population limit was necessary to remedy the violation of prisoners’ constitutional rights and was authorized by the PLRA.[12] “The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has set 130% as a long-term goal for population levels in the federal prison system.” Brown, et al. v. Plata, et al., 563 U.S. 493, 540 (2011).
  • “One in five adults or roughly 600,000 Iowans live with some form of mental illness. About 37,000 grapples with serious mental illness daily.”[13]
  • “Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama had the least access to care and highest rates of imprisonment.”[14] “Iowa was ranked 51st in the nation for the number of state psychiatric beds, according to the latest report by the Treatment Advocacy Center.”[15]
  • “Iowa’s urban-rural provider disparity underscores the ongoing challenges rural communities face in accessing mental health care. Despite the efforts to improve, the state still lacks an adequate level of mental healthcare to rural communities, directly impacting the lives of many Iowans. Individuals in these rural communities are more likely to experience untreated mental health conditions, which can contribute to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and more. Addressing this gap is essential for breaking cycles of mental health illness and improving the well-being of rural communities.”[16]
  • Violent crime rates
  • (per 100,000 residents)
·       Crime Type ·       Iowa ·       National
Murder ·       2.5 ·       5.7
Aggravated assault ·       213.9 ·       263.7
Robbery ·       22.3 ·       65.4
Rape ·       41.3 ·       38.0
  • Violent crime has been steadily declining overall, down 2.3 percent in the state year over year. Theft, burglary and robbery are all notably lower in Iowa than in the U.S. too. Property crime has increased 8 percent year over year but, overall, it’s 25 percent lower than the national average.

The murder rate is projected to hit its lowest point in a century

  • A new analysis of 2025 crime data from dozens of U.S. cities found across-the-board decreases in violent crime last year compared with 2019, including 13 percent fewer shootings, 29 percent fewer carjackings and 36 percent fewer robberies. The analysis also found that last year will likely register as the lowest national homicide rate since 1900.
  • No one knows for sure why the rate of violence is down, though some criminologists pointed to efforts over the past few years, including hot-spot policing, summer jobs for youth and cognitive behavioral therapy. Polls suggest that even the public has started to believe that there has been improvement, which is unusual in any era.
  • Fewer homicides, more guns seized as Des Moines reviews early 2025 …
  • Jan 3, 2026 Preliminary 2025 data show fewer homicides and assaults in Des Moines, with police also seizing more guns as leaders look ahead to a full annual report.
  • The Global Statistics
  • https://www.theglobalstatistics.com › violent-crime-rate-in-us
  • Violent Crime Rate in US 2025 | Statistics & Facts
  • Violent Crime Rate in America 2025: The landscape of public safety in America has witnessed remarkable transformation throughout 2025, with violent crime rates reaching historic lows not seen in over two decades. According to the latest data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  • From 2024 to 2025, homicide rates fell in 31 of the 35 major cities included in the study, for an average decline of 21 percent.
  • The largest drop in homicide rates came from Denver, Washington, D.C., and Omaha, Neb. — which reported declines of 41 percent, 40 percent and 40 percent, respectively. Another seven cities saw drops of more than 30 percent: Los Angeles, Buffalo, N.Y., Albuquerque, N.M., Long Beach, Calif., Atlanta, Baltimore and Chicago, according to the study.

The Hill, by Sarah Fortinsky – 01/22/26

So, what’s going on? Politics, as usual.

***

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[1] https://www.safehome.org/safest-cities/ia/

[2] https://www.kcci.com/article/fewer-homicides-more-guns-seized-in-des-moines-2025/69905713

[3] Iowa Criminal Justice Data Snapshot January 2025 Version 2.1, updated 01.06.2025, P. 8. https://justicereinvestmentinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Iowa-Criminal-Justice-Data-Snapshot.pdf

[4] Id. P. 9

[5] Id.

[6] Id. P.13

[7] Id. P. 15

[8] Id. P.21

[9] https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/prison-overcrowding-united-states

[10] https://doc-search.iowa.gov/dailystatistics

[11] https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/563/493/

[12] Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA). 18 U. S. C. §3626

[13] https://naminorthiowa.org/what-is-mental-illness/facts-figures/

[14] https://namiiowa.org/the-state-of-mental-health-in-america/

[15] https://who13.com/news/iowa-ranks-worst-in-the-nation-for-number-of-state-psychiatric-beds/

[16] https://www.commonsenseinstituteus.org/iowa/research/healthcare/-iowas-healthcare-landscape

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What are you afraid of?

Posted on January 23, 2026 by Marty Ryan

As technology advances, law enforcement agencies seek innovative methods of utilizing newfound technology in the name of public safety. However, any legislative proposal that would change public access to the information acquired through those methods are met with strong opposition.

Twenty years ago, “In dicta from an Iowa Supreme Court decision from 2006, State v. Hajtic, the late Justice Jerry Larson (father of current Chief Justice Susan Christensen), speaking for a unanimous Court stated: ‘We believe electronic recording, particularly videotaping, of custodial interrogations should be encouraged, and we take this opportunity to do so.’”

“Most jurisdictions in the United States now record interrogations, including all federal law enforcement agencies, thirty states, and the District of Columbia.”  But not Iowa. The time for change is in 2026.

The Iowa Bar Association met with many stakeholders in 2009 to discuss the issue of electronically-recorded custodial interrogations. Although most stakeholders “support recording in principle,” concerns about the cost of implementation were expressed by several participants. Today, cost is no longer a legitimate concern.

A former legislator once explained Moore’s Law to me. “Moore’s Law is the observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years, leading to increased computing power and decreased costs.”

I recently purchased a mini action dash camera from Menards for only $6.99 plus tax. The camera is not only a windshield mount, but has a clothing clip so that I may wear it like a police officer’s bodycam. It has a high-resolution HD 1080p video with 8 GB card. It comes with audio and has 90 minutes of rechargeable battery life. Also, I get an 11% rebate.

Not only is the cost of recording equipment decreasing, but practically every law enforcement officer in Iowa wears a bodycam. Currently, Iowa has no law regulating the use of body cameras on law enforcement officers. According to a 2025 article by the Iowa Newspaper Association, “Erin Jordan, of The (Cedar Rapids) Gazette, and Jared Strong, of the Carroll Times Herald, found many of the [local] policies were outdated – some still mentioned videotape – and inconsistent. About half did not acknowledge police video as a public record.”

A legislative measure that sets minimum standards for body cameras should be enacted, and it should include the use of bodycams in interviewing suspects in custody. Fancy equipment used by Hollywood directors is not necessary.

Randy Evans, executive director at Iowa of Freedom of Information Council, contends that “police videos regularly are deemed to be open public records.” That could be a factor in the fear that law enforcement, county attorneys and the Iowa Attorney General express in their opposition to supporting the recordings. “What do you have to fear” is a mantra that goes both ways.

Iowa Code section 22.7, subsection 5 is an exception to the Open Records law in which “officers’ investigative reports” and privileged records are exempt from public disclosure “if that information is part of an ongoing investigation.” At the present time, it appears as though investigations in Iowa seem to never cease. Language that makes custodial recordings accessible to defense attorneys should be a requirement for any legislative proposal.

Attempts in the past to amend section 5 of Chapter 22 have been met with strong resistance by a concerted effort of lobbyists representing police, sheriffs, and other agencies such as the Iowa Department of Public Safety and the Iowa Attorney General. For them, opposing any legislation changing the status quo is an affront to their ongoing need to be in control.

The last time a bill was considered that required the video and audio recording of custodial interrogations (House Study Bill 572 in 2014), the bill was intended to be a compromise between advocates and opponents. Unfortunately, the powerful law enforcement community persuaded lawmakers that the bill was a “solution looking for a problem.”

This year, House Republicans are preparing to prioritize a package they label “tough on crime.” Yet, due process does not seem to be a part of their parcel. Including a provision on requiring the video and audio taping of custodial interviews should be seen as a necessary constitutional safeguard.

Government employees, local, state, or federal, have added protection in the form of the federal Bill of Rights.  A government employee is provided due process of law, the right to confront witnesses, and all the other protections usually offered to criminal defendants.  What you may not know, is that in Iowa, anyone with a law enforcement certification is provided with an additional set of protections, such as an “interview of an officer who is the subject of the complaint shall, at a minimum, be audio recorded.”  The “Officer’s Bill of Rights,” which is embedded in section 80F.1 of the Iowa Code, should extend to all Iowans.

This article was previously published in the Prairie Progressive, January 2026.

***

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