Cass County Engineer Charles Marker provided the County Board of Supervisors with an update on secondary road and bridge projects. He said some shoulder work was conducted by Henningsen Construction of Atlantic, on County Road M-56, where paving was recently completed. Shoulder work is still needed on the Lewis road to Highway 71. Both projects need centerline painting as well, before the work is finished.

Murphy Construction meanwhile, is conducting work on the Research Farm Road bridge crossing the Nishnabotna River. That project is nearly complete, but work has stalled. He says that’s because they’re waiting for a minority sub-contractor to finish the guardrails. Federal law requires the county to have a certain percentage of all projects issued to minority subcontractors, but they are already on other projects, and it’s not clear how soon they will be available.

Marker said also, Gus Construction of Casey is conducting box culvert work on Boston Road, just east of the “Valley.” And, the County road crews are keeping busy working on a bridge south of Highway 92 by Steinbeck Farms, near Griswold. Marker says a new beam was installed underneath the bridge. Steel deck work should be completed next week, followed by the adding of dirt and road rock and the re-opening of the bridge.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors met in a brief session Wednesday morning. On their light agenda for the day, was a 1^st Quarter report for Fiscal Year 2013-2014 from Veterans Affairs Director Mitch Holmes.

Holmes said his office has assisted 288 individual veterans during the Quarter. Claims for assistance in the Quarter amounted to slightly more than $2,100, with 16 having been filed. Holmes says that’s slightly higher than the same time frame last year, and is likely the result of an increase in the cost of living. Holmes said there were 25 applications for Federal VA Compensation and Pension benefits, which he said was spurred by the recently approved driver’s license benefit.

Claims covered reimbursement for transportation costs, rent, utilities and groceries. Holmes said Veterans who desire to have a “Veteran” designation on their license, need to come to his courthouse office. He said you’ll need to bring your DD-214 form as proof of Honorable Discharge in order to qualify.

Total contacts with Veterans for the quarter, including office and home visits, e-mail and other forms of correspondence, amounted to 1,717. Holmes said his office was not affected by the partial government shutdown, since he is a County employee. The only hitch was that he was unable to get into the Federal VA office, but he was still able to get paperwork accomplished on his end. Holmes said also, there should be no issues with Veterans receiving their disability benefits, due to the partial government shutdown.

The Atlantic Police Department reports a Pottawattamie County woman was arrested Tuesday on a Theft charge. 18-year old Allyson Miller, of Avoca, was arrested for 5th degree Theft (Shoplifting). Miller was booked into the Cass County Jail and held pending an appearance before the magistrate.

An electrical fire Tuesday evening at a business in Harlan caused minimal damage and no one was injured. According to Harlan Fire Chief Roger Bissen, the department responded to a call around 4:57pm to 1111 Cyclone Ave for a structure fire. Bissen said the owner of the building was about to leave for the day and smelled something burning. Upon further investigation, smoke was coming from the south wall as the fire was inside the wall.

Firefighters were able to put out the fire with minimal damage done to the structure. The chief said some insulation and wiring would need to be replaced. Bissen said the owner was lucky he was still at work and was able to report it quickly. If the fire occurred two hours later, the building may have been in jeopardy. The Harlan Fire Department was on scene for about 30 minutes.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)