Atlantic School District Technology Coordinator Roger Warne, Monday, updated the School Board on technology-related matters. Warne said his department has been very busy, with maintenance and looking ahead to future equipment upgrades. One of the things on his wish-list for the next budgeting session is some additional surveillance cameras. Last year, 25 cameras were added to the high school and middle school, in Atlantic. He says in 2015-16 they need to plan for more cameras to “keep ahead of the game.”

Atlantic School District Technology Coordinator Roger Warne talks to the School Board. (11/24) Ric Hanson, photo.

Warne deferred to the school principals as to whether or not replacement or additional cameras will be needed in their respective buildings. Middle School Principal Josh Rasmussen said the cameras installed helped him “tremendously this year.”  Washington Elementary Principal Stacey Hornung and Schuler Principal James Northwick said their schools have the old, analog cameras, instead of the clearer, digital versions. Warne acknowledged they do have their drawbacks.

He said it wouldn’t be difficult at all to add more digital cameras to the system the district already has in-place. Warne said also, they updated the slide-card access controls to each of the district’s buildings, and as an added security measure, over the Thanksgiving break, the locks will be changed so there is one lock and one-key used to get into the buildings. A limited number of people will have access to those keys.

He also spoke about the 1-to-1 laptop computer initiative which began in August, with 465 of the devices being used throughout the district. He says a cart they bought last year that was meant as a “contingency.” It had 475 computers, which means he has more than enough computers now, to rollover into the Freshman classes during the coming years.

Warne says there were some accidents including liquids spilled on three of the machines and two broken screens caused by earbuds that were left on the keyboard when the lids were slammed shut. Those computers had to be sent in for repairs. The warranty service covered those repairs, but Warne said the kids are learning that the devices are expensive, and they need to take better care of them, or else their teachers can take the machines away.

An SUV reported stolen late Monday afternoon in Montgomery County was recovered about 3-hours later, in Nebraska. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was notified at around 7:33-p.m. by officials with the Nebraska State Patrol, that authorities in Nebraska has located a 2003 Ford Escape that had been reported stolen in Iowa at around 4:30-p.m., Monday.

The SUV was found on Highway 75 in Douglas County, NE., and the owner (Richard McAlpin), was informed of its locating. An investigation into the incident was on-going.

The Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain announced Monday an inadvertent accounting error that caused them to miss paying more than 31-million dollars in tax during a 31-month period.
Casey’s chief financial officer, Bill Walljasper, talked about the issue during a conference call with reporters.”The error pertained to excise taxes owed since January 1st of 2012 on ethanol the company purchased separately, and then blended with gasoline. Commonly known as splash blending,” Walljasper explained. He says a tax credit for splash blending expired and was not updated in the company’s accounting process.

“This credit of 45 cents per gallon of ethanol more than offset the excise tax of 18-point-four cents per gallon,” Walljasper says. “Casey’s was correctly accounting for the excise tax on form 720, and the credit up to the point in time when the blending credit expired on December 31st, 2011.” Walljasper says the company immediately reported the failure to pay the proper taxes once it was discovered.

“The aggregate impact of the unrecorded excise taxes from period of January 1st of 2012 through July 31st of 2014 — including accrued interest — is approximately 31-point-five million. During over that period, the impact on Casey’s fully diluted share is approximately four-and-a-half cents in each of the affected quarters,” Walljasper says.

Casey’s has paid the I-R-S paid 30-point-four-million dollars in taxes due, along with one-point-one million dollars in interest to resolve the issue. Casey’s Chairman and C-E-O Robert Myers, says the company is modifying its information technology system to be sure something like this does not happen again. “The company does not believe that there has been a default of the note promise agreements relating to our outstanding senior notes. Additionally, our long-term growth plans remain intact,” Myers says. “Moreover, this does not impact our financial goals. As such, we remain committed to achieving our 2015 goals, including the margin on our fuel gallons sold.”

The fiscal year goals for Casey’s include increasing same-store fuel gallons sold by one percent with an average margin of 15point-three cents per gallon; increasing same-store grocery & other merchandise sales by five-point-three percent, with an average margin of 32-point-one percent; increasing same-store prepared food & fountain sales nine-point-five percent with an average margin of 60-percent, and building or acquiring 72 to 108 stores and replacing 25 existing locations.

“We want to emphasize that Casey’s business remains fundamentally strong as evidenced by our October same store sales numbers,” according to Myers. Casey’s operates roughly 18-hundred stores, with three of them here in Atlantic.

(Radio Iowa)