Iowa Briefs; Church sues city, DOT for damage

DES MOINES - A local church has filed a lawsuit against the IowaDepartment of Transportation and the city claiming vibrations fromnearby road construction has damaged the church.

The Pentecostal Full-Gospel Congregation worships in the KingswayCathedral, and church leaders say the damage caused by the Interstate235 improvement project may lead to the building's demise.

State highway officials say water damage and a previous firecontributed to the structural damage to the 102-year-old brickbuilding.

Police investigating proposed kidney sale

CEDAR RAPIDS - Police are investigating a man who may have triedto sell one of his kidneys to a New York man for $600.

Jim Wilson, of Oswego, N.Y., whose son was born with one kidney,said Lucas Smith, of Cedar Rapids, offered to sell him one of hiskidneys, according to a copyright story in The Gazette.

Selling organs is illegal in the United States. The National OrganTransplant Act of 1984 prohibits "valuable consideration" orfinancial compensation to donors for organs.

Wilson's son, Jim Wilson Jr., 21, has been on a kidney transplantwaiting list for more than a year.

The elder Wilson said with the wait expected to last up to threeyears, the family sought donors on its own over the Internet lastyear. He said Smith responded, saying in an e-mail that he washealthy and willing to help.

Testing indicated that Smith was a viable match, but the family'shopes were dashed last month when Smith allegedly demanded $600 inreturn, Wilson said.

Amish man charged with selling meth

CORYDON - A southern Iowa drug task force has arrested a 28-year-old Amish man and charged him with trafficking methamphetamine andmarijuana possession.

"When we first received the intelligence from one of our sources,"said Wayne County Sheriff Keith Davis, "I said, 'What?"'

On May 21, two Iowa State Patrol troopers stopped Marvin D. Nisleyin a pickup truck near Rathbun Lake, about 20 miles from his home inrural Wayne County.

Drug agents said they found plastic bags with a white, crystal-like substance and another with what appeared to be marijuana. Theyalso found $2,750 and a scale with white residue in the truck. Therewas more cash in his clothes.

Court documents said Nisley admitted selling methamphetamine.

An Amish craftsman who asked that his name not be used said hecontacted the sheriff on suspicion that community members were usingdrugs. The Amish usually take care of their problems within theircommunity, but the man said those efforts had failed.

"Some people think I shouldn't have. I just think I did the rightthing," he said.

Nisley, who works for his father's sawmill business nearMillerton, is out on bond posted by his father. A court hearing isscheduled for Wednesday. On conviction, he could be sentenced to 10years in prison.

Davis said he does not suspect Nisley was making meth because thedrug agents allegedly found was of a refined variety, likely shippedinto the state. Davis also doubts that drugs are more widespread inthe local Amish community, which began to settle in Wayne and Lucascounties in the early 1990s.

"He's still a member of the church, and they're trying to helphim," Davis said Thursday, adding he has no evidence Nisley sold methto other Amish. Two men who delivered logs to the sawmill had earlierbeen arrested on meth charges, he said.

The craftsman who reported Nisley said he had pushed church rulessince he sneaked cigarettes as a child. He said he and his wifeprayed for guidance, then went to authorities in fear of what drugswould do to the community of 45 families.

"It's a sad deal, it's an awful sad deal somebody would do that,"he said.

The Amish, who typically make their living as farmers orcraftsmen, deliberately separate themselves from modern society. Theydress in plain clothes and don't drive cars, have telephones in theirhomes or use electricity because they can bring temptation.

Officers said Nisley traveled often to buy logs for the sawmill.The 1998 pickup he was stopped in was registered to him, but he didnot have a valid driver's license.

Copyright 2000 by Telegraph Herald, All rights Reserved.