(Mongtomery County, Iowa) – A traffic stop northeast of Elliott at around 4:05-a.m. today (Sunday), resulted in the arrest on drug charges, of a man from Adams County. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports Deputies conducted the traffic stop on 100th Street and O Avenue. As a result of an investigation, 43-year-old Joshua James M. Mullen, of Corning, was arrested for Possession of Methamphetamine/3rd offense, a Class-D Felony, and Interference with Official Acts, a Simple Misdemeanor.

Mullen was transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $5,000. Red Oak Police and the Cass County (IA) Sheriff’s Department assisted during the traffic stop.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City of Atlantic’s Department of Parks and Recreation Board, will meet 5:15-p.m. Monday (11/21), in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. During their regularly scheduled session, the Board will receive a Splash Pad Project update from Snyder and Associates Engineer Dave Sturm, and act on a location for the pad.

Elsewhere under “Old Business” on their agenda, the Board will hear reports on Trees Forever, from Board Member Erin McFadden, and the Trails, from Board Member Shirley Jensen. They will also discuss any new developments on the Hotel/Motel Tax.

New Business includes a Board Vote/action on:

• The appointment of Erin McFadden, Board Chair Jolene Smith, and Assistant Parks Director Jeff Christensen, to the Splash Pad Executive Committee.
• The appointment of Board Member Jeremy Butler as Splash Pad Fundraising Committee Chair with the authority to form the Committee and Recruit Volunteers.
• Ross Camblin Shelter repairs
• and other matters.

The Board will also receive an update on filling the position of Parks and Rec Director that was vacated by the resignation last month of former Director Bryant Rasmussen, who has accepted a position with the USDA. A committee in charge of searching for a park director will be interviewing four candidates for the position by Zoom, next month. The hope is they can narrow the field down and hold in-person interviews after that.

In his report, Assistant Director Jeff Christensen will talk about the Bill Reilly Talent Show, Zombie Run, Maintenance Building Cleaning & Security, and the Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway.

In an update to our previous posted reports, the Iowa State Patrol says three people were injured during a head-on collision this (Saturday) afternoon, northeast of Lewis. They were identified as 24-year-old Shane D. Dunkeson, of Elliott, 19-year-old Trinity N. Ericksen, of Lewis, and 18-year-old Ty W. Eblen, of Cumberland.

Photo courtesy Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Kyle Quist

The Patrol says the accident happened at around 1:30-p.m. A 1995 Ford Ranger pickup driven by Dunkeson was traveling east on Nishna Valley Road, at the same time a 2014 Chevy Silverado pickup driven by Eblen was traveling west, approaching 550th Street. The pickups collided head-on when the Ranger was on the left side of the center of the road, for reasons unknown. The crash remains under investigation.

Shane Dunkeson was transported by LifeFlight to the UNMC in Omaha. Trinity Ericksen was transported by Cass EMS to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, and Eblen was transported to CCMH by private vehicle.

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Griswold Rescue, Lewis Fire and Rescue, Unity Point Lifeflight and Cass EMS.

(Cass County, Iowa) – Rescue crews from Lewis and Griswold, as well as Cass EMS, were dispatched to the scene of a head-on crash north of Lewis, at around 1:30-p.m., today (Saturday). The crash occurred near Iranistan, or 550th and Nishna Valley Road. Early reports indicated one male was trapped in his vehicle with leg or ankle injuries. A second person was more critically hurt and unresponsive. (Photos courtesy Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Kyle Quist)

Two helicopters were initially requested. One was LifeFlight out of Audubon.

(Update 2-p.m.): Two people in a Ford Ranger were among those injured. The male was flown from the scene by helicopter to a trauma center, while a female was transported by ambulance to Cass Health in Atlantic. A third person was said to be transported to the hospital by private vehicle.

Medical Helicopter transported one of the accident victims from CCMH to a trauma center.

The agencies responding to the accident were; the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Cass County Drone Team, Iowa State Patrol, The Iowa State Patrol Traffic Investigation Unit, Cass EMS, Lifeflight, Griswold Fire and Rescue, and Lewis Fire and Rescue.

The crash remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Historians generally agree that the sport of baseball likely came to America from England, but how did the sport get to Iowa? That’s the topic of a free presentation set to take place this Sunday, in Atlantic. John Liepa, long time baseball fan, life-long baseball card collector, historian and professor, will discuss the origins of baseball and how it came to Iowa. His presentation, entitled “How Iowa Met Baseball: The Myths, The History, The players,” serves to dispel some of the myths regarding the invention of baseball, origins and evolution of the early game in the United States, and how the Civil War played a role in accelerating the spread of the game. The very first mention of the game coming to Iowa, he says, was in 1858.

Iowa had 222 major league baseball players over the years, including Hall-of-Famer Bob Feller, from Van Meter.

A Bob Feller baseball card. (photo frpm John Liepa)

He says over 40 Iowans have made it to the Major Leagues, and during their careers played less than 10-games. There were seven Hall-of-Fame inductees.

Leipa will bring a lot of memorabilia with him to use as part of the presentation, including three cases with old baseball cards.

His free presentation will be held Sunday, November 20, 1:30 pm at the American Legion Memorial Building (also known as “The Armory,” in Atlantic. The program is sponsored by Atlantic Rock Island Society Enterprise (ARISE), and supported by Atlantic Community Promotion Commission.

(Radio Iowa) – Representatives of the Utah-based company that owns mobile home parks in Iowa City have met with residents who say they’re not getting answers about rent hikes and diminishing services. Havenpark Communities recently bought the Modern Manor Mobile Home park in Iowa City. A resident who gave his name as Jim attended the meeting. “We got no answers whatsoever. They’ve owned it 11 months and they’re checking into everything,” he said. “It’s about just what I expected from a big corporation like that and they’ve raised the rents and cut services on all of ’em.”A woman named Debra says she’s lived in the park for 35 years.

“They didn’t give us straight answers,” she said. “They just went around in circles. They just kept talking about market values and inflation. Well, if it’s inflation, why do you want to raise the rent on us, then?” Both residents declined to give their last names, fearing retribution for speaking out. Residents of mobile home parks CAN buy their home, but typically cannot buy the land on which it sits, so they pay rent to the property owner.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports Havenpark bought the Modern Manor and Lake Ridge Mobile Home Parks in Iowa City last January for 33-and-a-half million dollars. Havenpark owns several other mobile home parks in the state and the company has argued rent increases are necessary to match rates at similar properties. Since 2019, mobile home residents have been lobbing legislators to limit rent hikes — but the new Iowa law that went into effect July 1st now requires an additional 30 days notice of rent hikes and utility increases — for a total of 90 days prior notice to mobile home park residents.

(Radio Iowa) – The number of edible cannabis products in Iowa and surrounding states has created problems in trying to figure out which ones meet the state’s guidelines for legal medical use. Kelli Flanagan of the D-C-I crime lab spoke to the medical marijuana program board, Friday, and says edibles pose a volume problem.  “We would have to test every different type of edible out there. And as you know, things like gummies, and the suckers, brownies, any type of edible like that, they have very high complex matrices,” she says. She says they do an analysis of plant materials or concentrates and that each product requires a dedicated optimized sample preparation.

“So for every edible out there, we would have to have a separate procedure. Now with that, every procedure then needs to be validated according to our accreditation guidelines,” Flanagan says. She says developing those procedures is time consuming. “Just for getting the procedure involved for plant materials, and the concentrates that I spoke of earlier, took approximately four to six months just to get to the validation procedure,” according to Flanagan. “So now you can imagine how cumbersome that would be to do it for every possible matrix out there.” Flanagan says they reached out to the D-E-A and found federal officials face the same issue.

“Essentially, they’re saying the same things that I’ve just said that developing and validated quantitative T-H-C and T-H-C A methods for the hundreds of sample matrices out there is almost impossible. And they tend to focus, as they say, in the last line there, they tend to prioritize the other controlled substances that they get in on a daily basis, such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin and etcetera,” she says. Flanagan says the D-C-I has taken the same type of focus as federal officials on the issue. She says another issue is the number of products and their size and trying to figure out the total T-H-C by weight. And they can’t determine whether the source of the cannabinoids are naturally occurring, or whether they were synthetically produced

“In court should we have to testify to this, we would not be able to determine the source of the cannabinoids that are present, whether they were naturally occurring, or the or whether they were synthetically produced,” Flanagan says. “C-B-D can be converted to Delta-eight with heat. And so does that make it synthetically produced? That’s just one of the problems we run into because we can’t really answer that question with any degree of certainty on that.” Flanagan was invited to speak because of the questions the board gets about the legality of edibles. The Bureau Chief of the medical cannabis program says the edibles sold legally under Iowa’s programs are tested by the State Hygienic Lab to certify that they meet state standards.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Todd Halbur has abandoned his call for a statewide recount of his race against State Auditor Rob Sand and has conceded today (Friday). County officials have been conducting the official canvases of votes this week. According to the Iowa Secretary of State’s website, Sand finishes the race with 27-hundred-13 more votes than Halbur. Sand is the only Democrat on the statewide ballot to win this year. A week ago, Halbur said he would ask for a recount because he didn’t feel confident in the unofficial results. Now, Halbur says his campaign lacks the resources and manpower to conduct a legitimate recount in this statewide race — and Halbur says the Iowa Republican Party and its leadership team failed to provide any support and resources for a recount and has abandoned his campaign.

Halbur loaned his campaign 10-thousand dollars in the last fundraising period and had about four-thousand dollars left in the bank in mid-October. Halbur did not receive financial support from the Iowa Republican Party and was not included in the campaign events Governor Kim Reynolds hosted in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

A spokesman for the Iowa Republican Party says hard-working candidates win elections by attending events, talking to voters and raising money — and the Iowa G-O-P looks forward to defeating Sand in his next election. In October, a jury awarded Halbur a million dollar settlement in his lawsuit against the State of Iowa. Halbur was fired as comptroller of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division in 2018. Halbur argues he was fired for determining the state was overcharging restaurants, bars and retailers who have to buy liquor and alcohol from the state’s wholesaling agency. Attorneys for the State of Iowa are exploring an appeal of the jury’s verdict.

(Fontanelle, Iowa) – Adair County Elections Deputy Joshua Nelson reports the City of Fontanelle will hold a Special Election on Tuesday, December 13, 2022 to determine who will fill three vacancy seats on the City Council. The candidates who have filed papers to run in the Special Election include:

• Carol M. Barrett
• Dawn Brown
• James L. Campbell
• Lane A. Ellis
• Dianna Goetz
• Jeffery Ivan Thompson

Voter pre-registration deadline is 5:00 p.m. Monday, November 28, 2022. Pre-registered voters are required to provide an approved form of identification at the polling place before receiving and casting a regular ballot. Voters who are not pre-registered – such as voters registering to vote on election day – and voters changing precincts must also provide proof of residence.

A voter who is unable to provide an approved form of identification (or prove residence if required) 1) may have the voter’s identity/residence attested to by another registered voter in the precinct, 2) prove identity and residence using Election Day Registration documents, or 3) cast a provisional ballot and provide proof of identity/residence at the county auditor’s office by 12:00 p.m. (noon), December 19, 2022.

Election Day Registrant attesters must provide an approved form of identification. For additional information about providing proof of identity and/or residence visit: https://sos.iowa.gov/voterid or phone (641) 743-2546. Voters may request an absentee ballot from the Auditor’s Office. Voters may vote in the office between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, beginning November 23, 2022, or they may request a ballot be mailed to them.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot be mailed is 5:00 p.m. Monday, November 28, 2022. The last day to vote absentee in the Auditor’s Office is Monday, December 12, 2022, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Polls will open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Election Day December 13, 2022.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Police Chief Devin Hogue reports the Atlantic Police Department and Atlantic Police Reserves will be holding their annual Christmas Programs the weekend of December 17th and 13th 2022.

On December 17th, the Atlantic Police Reserves will be holding their “Family Dreams Christmas” program. This program is available to Cass County Residents and consist of taking the entire family shopping locally in Atlantic. Families are paired up with Atlantic Police Reserves and taken around town to purchase items of need and a few items on their wish list. The Reserve officers are currently accepting applications for participation in this program. Families can fill out an application for themselves and individuals can fill out an application to nominate a family as well. Applications can be picked up at the Atlantic Police Department between 8AM-4PM, Monday Through Friday. Applications must be turned in by December 7th at 4:00PM to be considered.

On December 13th, the Atlantic Police Department will be hosting their annual “Shop with a Cop” program. This program consist of pairing up children from Cass County with members of the APD and surrounding agencies and spending an afternoon shopping at the Atlantic Wal-Mart store. There is no application for this program and officers will contact individuals directly and invite them to join. (Pics are from last year’s programs, courtesy of Chief Hogue)

In 2021, these two programs helped 73 children and 17 adults from 25 different Cass County families to have a much more enjoyable Holiday. The APD is gladly accepting donations at this time to help support these two programs. Feel free to reach out and set up a donation 01· stop by our office to do so. Checks can be made to APCCO (Atlantic Police Community Charitable Organization.)

Chief Hogue says “We can’t express how important the community is in ensuring these programs continue to be as successful as they have been and continue to positively impact lives in Cass County. Thank you to everyone who has donated in the past and is considering a donation this year!”