The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed information KJAN received from the Roland Funeral Home late Tuesday night, with regard to an accident Tuesday afternoon that claimed the life of an Atlantic man. Authorities said late Wednesday afternoon, that 68-year old Dennis Oathoudt, of Atlantic, died when the truck he was driving experienced a mechanical malfunction..apparently a blown tire…and crashed into the wall of a building at a private airport near Dallas Center.

The accident happened at around 1:45-p.m. Tuesday, at the privately owned Husband Field about three-miles west of Dallas Center.  Officials say the truck driven by Oathoudt hit a cinder block wall, causing him to suffer fatal injuries. The accident remains under investigation.

Sheriff’s officials in Cass County report the arrest on Sunday of an Atlantic man. 45-year old Richard Dean Fineran was taken into custody on a charge of Driving While Suspended. Fineran was brought to the Cass County Jail, pled guilty before a magistrate on Monday, and was then released.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a Page County man was arrested today (Wednesday). 41-year old Merlin Glenn Lininger, of Clarinda, was arrested at around 7:30-a.m. in the Page County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Driving While Barred. His bond was set at $2,500.

Iowans are being warned about pre-recorded calls that promise a free home security system in exchange for putting a sign in your yard. Consumer advocate Jerad Albrecht says the calls don’t appear to be from a real company and are very likely a scam. “These are unsolicited sales calls, they are illegal and from what we can tell, they’re not legitimate in any way,” Albrecht says. “If anyone gets these calls, you’re asked just to hang up.” The calls offer the option of pressing a button to talk to an operator or to be removed from the contact list, but Albrecht says both options are bad choices.

“You don’t really want to do either of those,” he says, “because either action, any key you press during the call, will tell the scammers that your number is active and it could lead to continued scam calls in the future.” The best option, he says, is to just hang up — and not to worry about offending anyone, since it’s just an automated call. Catching the crooks, Albrecht says, is no easy chore.

“Unfortunately, these calls are often made by autodial by computer, often from overseas,” he says. “It’s extremely difficult, certainly at a state level but even from the federal level, to attack it.” If you do decide to talk to an operator, Albrecht warns they’ll eventually get around to needing your personal information, banking information or some sort of downpayment for that “free” security system.

(Radio Iowa)