Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say an incident in Villisca Friday night, led to one person being arrested on an assault charge. 47-year old Douglas Franklin Nicholas, of Villisca, was arrested at around 7:50-p.m. for Domestic Assault, following an investigation into an incident that took place in the 300 block of south 3rd Avenue, in Villisca. Nicholas was being held without bond, in the Montgomery County Jail. Red Oak Police assisted in the investigation and arrest.

A traffic stop south of Villisca Friday night turned into a chase with speeds that reached 130-miles per hour. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says at around 7-p.m., a deputy attempted to stop a 1996 Cadillac Seville that had fraudulent license plates, at the intersection of Highway 71 and South U Avenue. When the vehicle failed to yield, deputies engaged in a pursuit. About two-miles north of the intersection of Business Highway 2 and Highway 71, the car hit stop sticks laid down by deputies with the Page County Sheriff’s Office.

The car continued southbound before turning west into Clarinda on Washington Street, then onto 5th Street, where Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputies used “Legal intervention” to stop the vehicle. The driver, 30-year old Nicholas Allen ray, of Nelson, MO., was arrested without further incident. A female passenger in the car was detained for questioning, but later released.

Ray was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held pending an appearance before the magistrate. He’s been charged with Eluding, Driving While Suspended, Fraudulent Use of Plates, and Speed by Pace (130-mph in a 55-mph zone). Ray was also being held on a felony Missouri warrant for Probation Violation.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was assisted during the incident by the Page County Sheriff’s Office, Clarinda P-D, and the Iowa State Patrol.

Key legislators involved in crafting a bill to raise the state tax on motor fuel by a dime a gallon say the legislation will include an attempt to rein in county borrowing for road and bridge projects. Representative Josh Byrnes, a Republican from Osage, says Black Hawk County, for example, has borrowed over 35 million dollars for transportation-related projects in the past seven years.”That’s $46,000 of debt per mile of secondary road and it’s $269 per person that they’ve got on their backs,” Byrnes says.

Byrnes, who is chairman of the House Transportation Committee, says the problem is many roads will have to be repaired or even replaced long before residents have paid back the 30-year bond for the original project. Senator Tod Bowman, a Democrat from Maquoketa, is chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. Bowman says the bill to raise the gas tax likely will include a call for counties to match the length of their loans to the “life-expectancy” of the road or bridge.

“We’re not finalized,” Bowman says. “It could change yet before we publish the draft, but there are under consideration some other ideas to be in the bill.” Bowman and Byrnes discussed the issue today (Friday) during taping of Iowa Public Television’s weekly “Iowa Press” program. Iowans for Tax Relief founder David Stanley, a critic of the fuel tax hike, was also a guest. “As I hear these people talk…about the bill, they’re still having trouble putting it together,” Stanley said. “I don’t think they have a done deal yet.” Stanley say the gas tax is the most regressive tax the state levies.

“After several years of recession, we’ve got thousands of Iowans out there who’ve lost their jobs. They’re working for half the money they used to get. Many now have to drive 30, 40, 50 miles to work,” Stanley says. “We’ve got people hurting. This is the wrong time.” Other groups, like Americans For Prosperity, argue state policymakers should prioritize state spending and divert three-and-a-half percent of all the other taxes the state collects into the gas tax fund which is used exclusively for road projects.

Supporters of the gas tax increase say that will pit roads against other priorites, like spending on schools and the mentally ill, and the gas tax is a user fee that is also paid by out-of-state motorists and truckers who drive on Iowa roads.

(Radio Iowa)