[COUNCIL BLUFFS, 10/25/22] – An open burning ban is in place for Pottawattamie County, effective immediately. The ban prohibits all open and controlled burning in Pottawattamie County, including all incorporated city limits within the county. Scott Manz, Pott. County Emergency Management Director, said “Despite yesterday’s (Monday’s) rainfall and forecast chances later in the week, accumulation amounts will yield little to no relief from the continuing moisture deficits in the county and region.:

Manz said with the dry and windy conditions, the risk of a fast-moving wildfire is increased, as witnessed recently in Lancaster County, Montgomery County, and Harrison County; large, rapidly advancing fires proved difficult to contain and prompted evacuations. Such conditions put the public and first responders at significant risk. The ban will remain in place through the harvest and/or until environmental and weather conditions improve to a level that doesn’t significantly diminish fire containment and suppression efforts. 

Citizens are reminded to never throw out cigarettes from moving vehicles. The burning of yard waste piled tree debris, grass/agricultural ground and set-asides, trash, or other items are prohibited during the ban. Disobeying an active burn ban is a simple misdemeanor. can subject a person to citation or arrest for reckless use of fire or disobeying a burn ban. You may also be liable for additional criminal charges, damages, losses, or injuries resulting from the fire.

For updated information on burn bans and the law you can find further information on the Emergency Management Agency website, Facebook, and twitter. While visiting the website, residents should sign up for Alert Iowa to receive alerts for fire warnings, evacuation orders, severe weather threats, and other emergency notifications for your community.

(Red Oak & Clarinda, Iowa) – Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman reports effective immediately, Montgomery County and Page County are placed into an Open Burn Ban by unanimous decision of all Fire Chiefs. The ban prohibits all open and controlled burning in Montgomery County and Page County unless an official burn ban permit has been issued by the proper fire chief.

Citizens are reminded to not throw out cigarettes from moving vehicles and to discontinue burning yard waste, piled tree debris, grass/agricultural ground and set-asides or other items during this ban. Small recreational camp fires are permitted only if they are conducted in a fire place of brick, metal or heavy one-inch wire mesh. Any camp fire not in an outdoor fire place is prohibited.

Violation of a burn ban can subject a person to citation or arrest for reckless use of fire or disobeying a burn ban.

(Tabor, Iowa) –  Investigators in southwest Iowa are looking into the claims of a woman who said that, as a child, her father forced her to help dispose of bodies on land he owned west of Tabor. In an article posted Friday on Newsweek.com, the woman suggested there may be as many as 70 bodies at the bottom of a 100 foot well, believed to be prostitutes or transients, and that all of them were killed by her father, Donald Dean Studey, over the course of three decades.

The well no longer exists. It was filled-in many years ago, and the woman’s father has long-since died.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope acknowledged there have been rumors about the bodies for years, and while cadaver dog picked up a scent of human remains this past weekend at the field, as of Monday, there was no credible evidence to support the woman’s claims, and that cadaver dogs are used as a tool, but are not a definitive sign of evidence being present.

(Radio Iowa) – The latest U-S-D-A crop report shows one part of the state is much closer to finishing up the harvest than others. The report shows the northeast and south-central regions of Iowa both are under 40 percent when it comes to the corn harvest — while 82 percent of the corn is already sitting in bins in northwest Iowa. The overall corn harvest is 59 percent complete — which is one day ahead of last year and eight days ahead of the five-year average. The report says the soybean harvest reached 88 percent complete — which is 11 days ahead of the average.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University’s Extension Department is selling a 2023 calendar that seeks to address some of the “Garden Lore” that’s been circulating the state. Consumer horticulture specialist, Aaron Steil, says they hear a lot of folklore or home remedies that don’t have a lot of research or evidence supporting them. One involves a popular garden flower. “You know, we often get a question, if peonies need ants to bloom, and peonies will open with or without ants, the ants are not required for bloom, they’re just there because they’re collecting nectar,” he says. Another myth is you should plant your potatoes on Good Friday.

He says planting should happen in mid-April in much of the state for potatoes, and sometimes Good Friday is in mid-April — but the holiday can move around as much as a month — and it can be too early to plan when Good Friday is near the end of March. The internet is the origin of some of the gardening stories — including one Style has heard quite often. “Planting sweet peppers, or bell peppers next to hot peppers will make your sweet or bell peppers more spicy. And that’s just not how biology works,” Style says. “If you saved the seed from inside that pepper and planted it the following year, the pepper will probably taste different. But the fruit of the pepper is determined by the genetics of the plant. And that doesn’t change whether it’s pollinated by us a bell pepper or sweet pepper.”

Style says the questions have picked up as more people tried their hand at gardening. “Especially since the spring of 2020, and so we’ve been answering many questions like this, there’s lots of information out there and some of its good and some of its bad,” he says. “Hopefully this calendar can help kind of show people the difference between those two things.” The calendar addresses the lore, and he says it’s also a great way to keep track of your work. “The garden calendar is actually a wonderful gardening journal to keep track of things, when you planted things and take note of the things you put in your yard, those kinds of things. It makes a wonderful garden journal that way,” Style says.

The calendar can be purchased from the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach online store, and you can also find it in most of your local county extension offices. It costs eight dollars.

(Sidney, Iowa) – Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope says more than a dozen people were arrested on various charges, between Sept. 27th and Oct. 24th. Most recently…

On Oct. 24th, 39-year-old Patrick Raven, of Nebraska City, NE., was arrested for Domestic Abuse (Strangulation), and Going Armed with Intent. Mills County Sheriff’s Deputies assisted in his arrest. Raven was being held without bond, pending an initial court appearance.

On Oct. 19th, 43-year-old Dewight Binau, of Red Oak, was arrested on nine counts of Violation of a No Contact Order. Red Oak Police assisted in the matter.

On the 16th, Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 39-year-old Rex Peterson, of Dunbar, NE., for Possession of Meth. He was later released on a $1,000 bond. That same day, 39-year-old Megan Austin, of Thurman, was arrested for Domestic Abuse. She was Released on her Own Recognizance (ROR).

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports 50-year-old Glen Gallagher, of Omaha, was arrested Oct. 12th, for Poss. of Meth, Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia, and Poss. of Marijuana. He was released on a $6,000 bond.  On Oct. 9th, 22-year-old Michael Perez Gutierrez, of Omaha, was arrested in Fremont County for OWI/1st offense (later released on a $1,000 bond).

There were three arrests on Oct. 8th: 39-year-old Aaron Childs, of Shenandoah, was arrested for Poss. of Meth & drug paraphernalia (released on $1k bond); 29-year-old Dakotah Barnett, of Sidney, was arrested for OWI/1st offense (Released on $1k bond); & 39-year-old Pedro Andrade, of Muscatine, was arrested for Attempted Murder and Willful Injury. He was later released on $1k bond.

On Oct. 6th, 42-year-old Randy Burton, of Glenwood, was arrested on a warrant for Failure to Appear (ROR). On Oct. 4th, 25-year-old Gavin Driskell, of Hamburg, was arrested for OWI/1st offense (released on $1k bond). Sept 28th, Fremont County Deputies arrested 29-year-old Elijah Faust, of Thurman, for Probation Violation (ROR); On the 27th, 32-year-old Ashley McClarnon, of Clarinda, was arrested for Harassment in the 2nd Degree ($1k bond). The Page County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the arrest.

And, on Sept. 27th, 30-year-old Mary Sorenson, of Ruthven, was arrested in Fremont County for Harassment in the 3rd Degree ($1k bond).

(Radio Iowa) – A massive fire Sunday afternoon along Highway 34 near Red Oak, illustrates how quickly a grass fire can escalate in current conditions. Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman says fire fighters arrived on the scene shortly after a small fire in a ditch was reported late Sunday afternoon. “Within a matter of two to three minutes the fire grew to the point where it was running north and there was no way to stop it,” Hamman says.

“At that point, we made the decision to start evacuating homes and call for additional mutual aid resources to the scene.” Hamman says a couple of farmers were already on the scene with discs, trying to cut fire breaks, when the first fire engines arrived. “The fire grew rapidly and very intensively,” Hamman says. Nearly 12 dozen fire fighters and more then five dozen vehicles from 18 area fire departments ultimately responded. “A very massive response, especially for our area, unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Hamman says.

“Obviously, early on, we didn’t know if we were going to get it stopped.” Hamman credits the dozen or so farmers who joined in the fire fight. “I can’t stress enough how beneficial it is to have the farmers out there with us with tractors and discs, happy to help, happy to put their machinery at risk for us and for their neighbors,” Hamman says, “because, honestly, it was the tractors and discs that saved the western part of the county.” The fire consumed 750 acres.

Hamman says it was an intense scene with extreme winds whipping up smoke and dust — and spreading the fire. “Unfortunately we did have two fire fighters who sustained very minor burns as a result of their active fire fighting efforts, but thankfully no other injuries.” There was a grass fire in the same area two weeks ago and investigators believe strong winds on Sunday may have rekindled it.

(Radio Iowa) – Information gathered by the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy shows an increase in alcohol-related deaths from 440 in 2011 to 827 in 2021. The director of the office. Dale Woolery, says the pandemic could be part of the reason for the increase. “I think some of that happened regardless of the pandemic, but the pandemic it seems, may have exacerbated, not just excessive alcohol use, but the use of other addictive or intoxicating substances,” Woolery says.

He says alcohol wasn’t the only issue during the pandemic. “For the two-year period, I think from 2019 to 2021, we saw increases pretty much across the board in alcohol-related deaths, opioid overdose deaths, stimulant overdose deaths, to include then all drug overdose deaths,” he says. “So I don’t know, you know, some of that again, and it’s hard to know how much of that might have been pandemic related.” Woolery says there is one thing that stands out about the deaths linked to alcohol.

“We see that a lot of those skew older as far as the age of the individuals. When we look at the drug overdose deaths, those are spread fairly evenly throughout different age groups,” Woolery says. He says alcohol deaths are often part of a larger medical history. “Some of the alcohol deaths — and maybe many of them — involve chronic health conditions where alcohol contributes to or causes things, like liver disease, or heart disease, and other diseases that may take years to develop or manifest themselves to the point of causing death,” he says.

He says the drug overdose deaths are usually much quicker — and more recently they can happen pretty quickly without long-term drug use. Woolery says those who study this as a matter of cultural differences have historically found Iowa and other Midwestern states have had a track record of higher than average drinking with binge and excessive drinking included. “We trend in Iowa above the national average on things like binge drinking and nicotine use. By contrast, Iowa trends lower than the national average, and among the lowest states, actually, in terms of illicit drug use rates, and drug overdose death rates. So that gives us some context, that’s helpful, I guess,” Woolery says.

Woolery says we might be relatively low for drug overdose deaths — but we have trended up over the last two years — so those numbers are not going in the direction we want. There were 258 opioid-related deaths in Iowa in 2021. The ODCP gathers the information to create its report to the governor each year and it is used to set its drug control policies.

(Denison, Iowa) – The Iowa State Patrol reports eight people – six teenagers (4 17-year-old’s from Storm Lake, a 16-year-old from Defiance), an eight-year old and an adult – were injured during a collision that happened a little after 2-a.m. Sunday, in Crawford County. The crash happened on westbound US Highway 30, west of Lincoln Way.

Authorities say a 2015 Honda Pilot driven by a 17-year-old was eastbound in the westbound lanes, at the same time a 2012 GMC Acadia driven by 50-year-old Cari Segebart, from Defiance, was traveling westbound. The vehicles collided head-on and slightly left before coming to rest on the road.

Four of the teens were in the Honda, the two 16-year-olds were in the GMC, along with the driver and an eight-year old. None of the crash victims were wearing a seat belt. The accident victims were transported to the Crawford County Memorial Hospital in Denison.

The accident remains under investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – Due to parched conditions, field fires are popping up around the state this fall. A fire south of the golf course in Sidney on Sunday was finally contained after it scorched nearly 350 acres. Dustin Sheldon is the assistant fire chief in Sidney. He says firefighters in all but one town in Fremont County and some units from neighboring Page County battled the blaze — and local farmers cut fire breaks. “We probably had 10 to 12 discs out in the fields, trying flank the fire,” he says.

The initial report about the fire was made to the Riverton Fire Department at about 2:40 p.m. Sunday and it took four hours to contain it. “The winds were terrible,” Sheldon says. “I think we were at 30-35 mile an hour sustained winds during the entire active fire scene.” The fire burned a few acres of corn that hadn’t been harvested and spread into a wooded area. “Always creates a problem when you get timber to burn and it’s hard to put those out without a dozer or a big tree where you can cut everything down…We weren’t able to do that,” he says. “Our dozer out there was pretty busy doing what he was doing and we did get all the ground disced around those wooded fence lines and things like that.”

Investigators believe the fire started in a road ditch and was sparked by a short in a light pole.  “We can’t emphasize enough how important it is for people not to flick a cigarette out the window or burn your trash or anything like that because it’s dangerous out,” Sheldon says. “…Until we get some significant moisture, it’s going to be that way.” The National Weather Service shows the fire threat for cropland in the entire state is at moderate, high or great risk.

Pastures and grassy areas in the northwest corner of Iowa are rated at high risk of fire, with several other areas of the state at moderate risk.