Two men were arrested Thursday in Atlantic, on drug charges. The Atlantic Police Dept. reports 20-year old Andrew Laughlin and 19-year old Dakota Miller, both of Atlantic, were taken into custody on Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of a Controlled Substance, charges. Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

In an update to our report earlier this (Friday) morning, authorities in Pottawattamie County say a Shelby County man was charged with OWI/1st offense following an accident Thursday night on Interstate 80 in Pottawattamie County. Jail officials say bond for 37-year old Ryan Schwery, of Earling, was set at $1,000. The Iowa State Patrol says Schwery was found at the Country Inn in Shelby following a collision between his SUV and a van on I-80 westbound, about a mile west of the Shelby exit at around 8:45-p.m.  He was transported to Myrtue Memorial Hospital in Harlan for treatment of minor injuries before being taken into custody and transported to the Pottawattamie County Jail.

Officials say the 1991 Chevy Blazer Schwery was driving, was experiencing engine problems and was traveling below the posted minimum speed (40-mph), when a 2008 Dodge Sprinter van driven by 24-year old Tyler Mark of Lincoln, NE, approached from behind. Mark swerved to avoid hitting the SUV but was unable to prevent the collision. The impact spun the Blazer off the road to the right before it rolled over into the north ditch and came to rest upright. The van spun out and came to rest in the north ditch.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A 23-year-old Sioux City man has been given 10 years in prison for slamming his two young daughters’ heads against a floor.  On Wednesday Christopher Schmidt pleaded guilty to two counts of child endangerment resulting in serious injury. Prosecutors dismissed another child endangerment count and three counts of willful injury in return for Schmidt’s pleas.
Court documents say Schmidt’s daughters were 2 years old and 7 months old when they were injured last October. Police say Schmidt acknowledged grabbing the girls by their faces and slamming their heads into the floor, fracturing their skulls.

Officials with Harlan Municipal Utilities discussed at length Thursday, the next step to find a new Chief Executive Officer. The HMU Board of Trustees talked about several options. Chairman David Tyrell says one search option is to use an executive recruiting organization or firm. “This has been brought to my attention by a lot of people so I contacted Mycoff Fry and Prouse group and they sent us two proposals. The idea is they are a professional search team that practices in the utilities area. They have a large group of contacts. The positives they can move quickly. They have a lot of prescreened. They have expertise in this field. The negative is they are expensive and there is some cost involved.”

Tyrell says the second option would be to use the employees at HMU for an internal process. “The second suggestion is to create an internal search team and use ads on numerous websites including the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities and the American Public Power Association and various state organizations similar to IAMU and surrounding states.”

Board member Terry Arentson said he was for hiring an external search group because they would ask the right questions and hire the right person. Board member Michael Jones, however, disagreed. “My personal take is the second option would be the better option for our rate payer’s money. I do not mean this in a derogatory way to you Darrell, but this is the same firm that contacted Darrell and paid by Waverly to contact Darrell. And then we are going to turn around and give them several thousands of dollars to replace an employee that they took from HMU. I have a hard time not at least putting faith in the department heads that Tom (former CEO Tom Gaffigan) put in place when he was gone for health issues. I think he put the right people in place to do things here. I would like two board members to meet with the department heads. I have a hard time writing a check to the people that put us in this position in the first place.”

In his rebuttal, Tyrell said that it was in fact current CEO Darrell Wenzel who is leaving that put HMU in the position to look for a new CEO not the hiring firm. In the end it was Arentson who made a motion. “So I will make a motion to make a committee consisting of two board members and the management team to investigate the options. Jones seconded.”

The board approved the motion and will discuss the issue at their next board meeting on Thursday, February 27^th.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)