Amana - Would you like to turn $100 into $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 or even $5,000?

It might be possible when you buy a raffle ticket during The Old Creamery Theatre's 2nd Annual Great Raffle for the Arts!

Buy a ticket for $100 and you get the chance to be one of four cash winners, top prize of  up to $5,000! Only 400 raffle tickets will be sold.

Final cash prize amounts will be determined by actual number of tickets sold.

If all 400 tickets are sold, prizes will be as follows:

One cash prize of $5,000

One cash prize of $3,000

One cash prize of $2,000

One cash prizes of $1,000

Tell your friends and coworkers and purchase a ticket together! The drawing will be held as soon as 400 tickets have been sold, or December 22, 2013.

Tickets are available at The Old Creamery box office or call us and we'll send you a ticket order form, 319-622-6262. The box office is open 7 days a week and always at least 2 hours prior to a performance.

Money raised will go toward sound equipment and other theatre enhancements.

All prizes awarded are subject to federal and state taxes.

The Old Creamery Theatre Company is a not-for-profit professional theatre founded in 1971 in Garrison, Iowa. The company has been bringing live, professional theatre to the people of Iowa and the Midwest for 42 years.

SPRINGFIELD, IL (09/16/2013)(readMedia)-- Sixty-four Soldiers competed in the Illinois National Guard's fourth annual Adjutant General's Combatives Tournament at Camp Lincoln in Springfield, Ill, Sept. 15.

The tournament was open to all Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers regardless of combatives experience.

Fighters competed individually in brackets based on weight class, while team points were awarded based on total number of bout wins and individual placement. The 2nd Squadron, 106th Cavalry Regiment received the overall team award, an axe hand forged by Col. Michael Glisson, the 65th Troop Command Brigade commander.

The tournament was double elimination. The preliminary rounds were fought under Modern Army Combatives standard rules, which allows takedowns, joint locks and choke submissions. The championship bouts were fought under intermediate rules, which added open hand strikes to the head, punches to the body and head to toe kicks.

Individual winners included:

Bantamweight division (110 pounds and under): Sgt. Kassandra Cussen of Johnsburg, Ill., with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 33rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion in Machesney Park, Ill.

Flyweight division (110.1 to 125 pounds): Spc. Jose Duarte Jr. of Elgin, Ill., with Troop C, 2nd Squadron, 106th Cavalry Regiment in Aurora, Ill.

Lightweight division (125.1 to 140 pounds): Sgt. Jacob Trigleth of Effingham, Ill., with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment in Marion, Ill.

Welterweight division (140.1 to 155 pounds): Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Lipa of Decatur, Ill., with the Recruiting and Retention Battalion

Middleweight division (155.1 to 170 pounds): Sgt. Allen Simmerman of Chillicothe, Ill., with Company A, 33rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion in Marseilles, Ill.

Cruiserweight division (170.1 to 185 pounds): Spc. Logan Weir of Monmouth, Ill., with the 444th Chemical Company in Galesburg, Ill.

Light heavyweight division (185.1 to 205 pounds): Sgt. Thomas Luca of Springfield, Ill., with Company B, 935th Aviation Support Battalion at Chicago Midway

Heavyweight division (over 205.1 pounds): Pfc. Steven McMahon of Streamwood, Ill., with Troop C, 2nd Squadron, 106th Cavalry Regiment in Aurora, Ill.

The Modern Army Combative Program (MACP) uses competitions as a tool to motivate Soldiers to train, build esprit de corps and to build confidence by testing techniques against a fully resistant opponent. MACP Instructors with the Illinois Army National Guard administered this year's tournament.

During the tournament, MACP Instructors gave a tactical demonstration to present several techniques and training methods recently added to the MACP course curriculum. The demonstration included close quarters fighting in full combat equipment, detainee handling and hand-cuffing, as well as extraction of a non-compliant subject from a vehicle.

For more information on Illinois' Combatives Program and updates on future competitions, please visit the Illinois Army National Guard Combatives Team's Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Illinois-Army-National-Guard-Combatives-Team/224254734272195

Danville, Va. – Constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead will speak to students and faculty at 11a.m. on September 17, Constitution Day, in Oliver Hall at Danville Community College in Danville, Va. in order to emphasize the importance of the Constitution in the era of the emerging American police state. Described by one historian as "the owners' manual to the greatest form of government the world has ever known," the Constitution has come under increasing attack by government agents in recent years, a phenomenon which is thoroughly documented in Whitehead's new book, A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State (SelectBooks, 2013).

"The Constitution provides us with the blueprint for maintaining a balanced republic, and it must always be the starting point. Each of us, from public officials to citizens, has an affirmative duty to hold our government accountable," said Whitehead. "However, in the end, it is still the people who hold the ultimate power, and with it the concomitant responsibility, to maintain our freedoms."

Hailed by those at all points along the political spectrum for its masterful chronicling of America's shift away from the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution, which historically shielded the citizenry from government abuses, A Government of Wolves paints a chilling portrait of a nation in the final stages of transformation into a police state, complete with surveillance cameras, drug-sniffing dogs, SWAT team raids, roadside strip searches, blood draws at DUI checkpoints, mosquito drones, tasers, privatized prisons, GPS tracking devices, zero tolerance policies, overcriminalization, and free speech zones. Drawing on his vast knowledge of history, culture, and law, John W. Whitehead compellingly argues that fiction has now become fact. Indeed, with sci fi movies such as Minority Report, 1984, The Matrix, They Live, and V for Vendetta pointing the way, America has become that futuristic society of celluloid fantasies in which a passive, uninformed populace gives rise to an overbearing, out-of-control government. This is the future Aldous Huxley and George Orwell warned against. This is the present that Whitehead cautions could become an endless nightmare from which there is no awakening unless we act now. As American historian and nationally syndicated columnist Nat Hentoff notes in his special introduction to A Government of Wolves: "We have been through some troubling times before in our nation's history. There were the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 . . . the Red Raids in the early 1920s . . . the Japanese internment camps of World War Two . . . What we have now may be more insidious. Indeed, I believe we are in a worse state now than ever before in this country. With the surveillance state closing in on us, we are fighting to keep our country free from our own government."

John Whitehead is an attorney and author who has written, debated, and practiced widely in the area of constitutional law. A prominent leader in the national dialogue on civil liberties and human rights and a formidable champion of the Constitution, Whitehead's concern for the persecuted and oppressed led him in 1982 to establish The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the defense of civil liberties and human rights. "John Whitehead is one of the most eloquent and knowledgeable defenders of liberty, and opponents of the growing American police state, writing today," declared Ron Paul, twelve-term US congressman and former presidential candidate. "I am pleased to recommend A Government of Wolves to anyone interested in learning how modern America increasingly resembles a dystopian science fiction film instead of a Constitutional Republic."

A Government of Wolves is available in bookstores and online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley

Q:        Why should people pay attention to National Farm Safety and Health Week?

A:        One of the busiest seasons of the year is fast approaching in Iowa.  Heads of household can breathe a sigh of relief.  It's not yet tax season.  Over the course of the next couple of months, tens of thousands of Iowa farmers, hired hands and grain haulers will harvest more than 22 million acres of crops.  Our state's economy and heritage is heavily anchored in agriculture.  When the fall harvest hits, it's good for Iowans to have a bit more patience behind the wheel when sharing the road with farm traffic.  It's the perfect time to emphasize to new drivers that the fluorescent orange emblem on the rear of a vehicle means to slow down.  And, it never hurts to make a mental note to appreciate the grain making its way to market is not only a farm family's livelihood.  It's helping to fuel, clothe and feed America, all the while invigorating the local economy.  For generations, farm families have understood the risk that comes with earning a living from the land, tending livestock and fixing what's broken, from fences to heavy machinery.  On a daily basis, farm safety is key to survival and livelihood.  Farm families, especially those with young children, understand that safety is a high priority all 365 days of the year.  National Farm Safety and Health Week, Sept. 15-21, helps to draw attention to environmental safety, workplace precautions and emergency response practices that farming communities can put in place to keep families and their neighbors safe and sound.  Whether we live on the farm or in a town or city, it's a good reminder to take farm safety seriously.

Q:        What precautions are recommended?

A: As a farmer, I appreciate the job pressures that are handed down from one generation to the next.  During harvest season, farmers put in even longer hours and must deal with seemingly endless equipment breakdowns and uncooperative weather.  Just consider the drought has spread across nearly 42 percent of the state, impacting crop yields and adding more stress to a farmer's worries.  Injuries and illnesses also add to the uncertainty.  According to Farm Safety For Just Kids, a national farm safety organization based in Iowa, farmers are advised to secure the slow moving vehicle emblem on their farm equipment.  Be sure it's clean and visible.  Be mindful of flowing grain suffocation hazards while unloading in bins and wagons.  Take advantage of rollover protection, especially for older tractors.  Staying alert and getting enough sleep is perhaps the cheapest advice, but also the hardest to follow during the harvest season.  It's tempting to take short cuts or avoid a safety precaution when time seems more important.  Remember a golden rule of farming:  It's better to be safe than sorry.  Taking common sense precautions will help yield a safe, bountiful harvest.