Authorities in Harlan say two people were arrested Monday on separate charges. According to Harlan Police, 47-year old Timothy Turner, of Harlan, was arrested on an OWI/2nd offense charge as well as for Driving Under Suspension. And, 26-year old Zane Szeliga, of Harlan, was charged with Public Intoxication, after officers responded to a reported disturbance in the 500 block of Market Street. Both men were booked into the Shelby County Jail.

And, last Friday, 24-year old Janice Massey, of Harlan, was cited for allowing a dog to run at large, after officers investigated a report of a dog allegedly attacking children in Little George Park. The aggressive dog, belonging to Shawn Schechinger, of Harlan, was surrendered to the animal shelter.

The H-PD said also, Kirk Petersen, of Harlan, suffered from shoulder pain and scrapes during a motorcycle accident last Friday. Authorities say the 1979 Honda motorcycle Petersen was riding went out of control as it came over a hill in the 1100 block of 1100th Street. The cycle went onto its right side and slid for several feet. The damage was estimated at $400. Petersen was thrown from the cycle and rolled down the ditch. He was transported to Myrtue Medical Center for Treatment.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on Saturday of a Central Iowa man. 31-year old Andy Alden Hanson, of Grimes, was arrested on charges of OWI 1st Offense and Driving While Suspended. Hanson was taken to the Cass County Jail where he is being held on $1000 bond.

Two people were arrested after a search warrant executed this (Tuesday) morning at a residence in rural, southeastern Audubon County. The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reports 47-year old Mark Wayne Rydl, of Exira, and 55-year old Pamela Jo Steele, of Council Bluffs were arrested during the execution of a warrant at 3312 Quail Avenue.

Officials say Rydl had outstanding warrants from Harrison and Pottawattamie Counties. Rydl has been charged with Felon in Possession of a Firerarm/Ammunition, Possession of Methamphetamine/3rd offense, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Unlawful Possession of Prescription Pills, and Possessing a Stolen Motor vehicle. The latter charge was assessed following the discovery on the property, of a vehicle reported stolen from Omaha.

Steele was charged with Possession of Meth with the intent to Deliver, Possession of Marijuana/2nd offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Both suspects were booked into the Audubon County Jail. The incident remains under investigation.

(12-p.m. News)

A whistleblower from western Iowa reported allegations of very expensive mistakes being made within the U-S Postal Service. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he talked with the whistleblower personally, then asked for an Inspector General’s investigation of how a contract was awarded for maintaining and changing the locks on P-O boxes in post offices across the region. “The contract was not awarded in accordance with Postal Service policies and procedures and it did not develop a purchase plan or conduct a price analysis before awarding the contract,” Grassley says, “and possibly $18-million was spent that didn’t need to be spent at a time when the Postal Service is bleeding billions of dollars.”

The investigation found the whistleblower was right, Grassley says, and calls it a “good example of why whistleblowers who identify waste, fraud and abuse deserve a Rose Garden ceremony.” Grassley says every federal agency that serves the public needs an independent watchdog to review issues of concern.  “I thanked the whistleblower for coming forward,” Grassley says. “Hopefully, this will put the Postal Service on the alert to follow their own rules and regulations.” It’s still unclear if one or more people are responsible for the problem and Grassley isn’t sure if there will be charges filed or firings because of the case.

“The Postal Service is kind of independent,” Grassley says. “They probably have some opportunity to have heads roll. I’ve always said, unless heads don’t roll, you aren’t going to change anything. I’m going to have to make further inquiries and follow up.” The 18-million dollar contract for the post office box work is with Diebold Incorporated. The inspector general’s report concluded the Postal Service overestimated the annual cost savings by six-point-eight million dollars per year and awarded the contract based on the inflated cost.

(Radio Iowa)

The Harlan Community School Board of Education has approved an amendment to the 2013-2014 budget. In a regular board meeting Monday, the board made the motion after discussing the amendment at length at the public hearing held on Tuesday, May 27th. The amendment was in regards to PPEL funding and the Merrill Field Project. In other business, the school board approved milk bids with Anderson Dairy, bread bids with Bee Bo bakery, fuel bids with Agriland FS for $170,176.40 and a new Thomas Bus for $84,069. Primary School Principal Scott Frolich reported to the board, the school district submitted an elementary school wide title 1 application to the state for flexibility in using reading resources for all students in the elementary school district. Superintendent Justin Wagner said those dollars will help students who struggle in reading.

“It’s a federally funded program from the federal government. And basically it helps kids who struggle in reading. Well our reading rate at the elementary building has typically hovered around the 40 percent rate. Now that it has increased over 40 percent, we were able to put in our application to really use our Title 1 funds, resources and staff for all students instead of certain students.”

The application was approved by the school board. Mr. Frolich also mentioned the primary building has 55 students taking summer school, 35 in the intermediate and 16 more in the high school. In the discussion items, Wagner spoke about the blue zones initiative in the Harlan Community. The school district must meet the Wellmark Blue Zone criteria in order for Harlan to become a blue zone designated community.

Wagner spoke for quite sometime on the recommendations Wellmark handed out to the school district. The school district is focusing solely on the elementary building first before trying to install the new proposals in the other school buildings. Some of the recommendations included not using physical activity as a punishment, no unhealthy foods to be used for fundraisers and not using foods at class celebrations. The school needs to hit 54 points in order to pass for a blue zone designation. Wagner says some are controversial.

“Things like out at recess, if a student misbehaves you would send them to a timeout. They go stand by a wall and we do other things. In the blue zone initiative, they say that takes away physical activity during recess. It makes sense. I understand the physical side of it. The flip side, what do we do to students who aren’t following direction or bullying other students? There has to be some kind of consequence.”

Wagner said the school district is in negotiations with Wellmark and more details will follow at a later school board meeting.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)