The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports a Pottawattamie County man was sentenced Tuesday to slightly more than  2 1/2 years in prison for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. 25-year old Charles Edward Duncan, of Council Bluffs received his sentence from Chief U-S District Judge James E. Gritzner, in United States District Court in Council Bluffs.

United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt says Judge Gritzner sentenced Duncan to 34 months in prison,  and ordered him to serve 2 years of supervised release following his imprisonment. Duncan is also required to pay $100 to the Crime Victim Fund, and forfeit the firearm and ammunition found in his possession.

Duncan, the victim of a recent shooting, was allowed to remain under the supervision of the United States Probation Office to receive further medical care for his wound, pending the
Federal Bureau of Prisons designating the facility at which he is to serve his term of
imprisonment.

The indictment against him alleged that Duncan was an unlawful user of controlled substances
(marijuana) and that he had, prior to possessing the firearm, been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Either circumstance barred Duncan from possessing a firearm. The charge arose out of the execution of a State of Iowa search warrant by the SouthWest Iowa Narcotics Task Force on April 11th, 2012, at Duncan’s residence in Council Bluffs.

During the search, officers found various indications of marijuana use by Duncan, and an AK-47 style rifle and ammunition. Duncan had, on November 15th, 2011, been convicted in the District Court of the State of Iowa for Pottawattamie County, of a misdemeanor domestic assault resulting in physical injury, and was at the time of the search subject to a domestic abuse protection order.

The case against him was investigated by the SouthWest Iowa Narcotics Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Authorities in Adams County say a man wanted on a warrant for a violation of his probation has voluntarily turned himself-in. 25-year old Cody Wilson, of Corning, was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the Adams County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant stemming from a domestic abuse incident earlier this month. Wilson was booked into the Adams County Jail and held without bond, pending a court appearance.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers says no one was killed or injured during a bizarre accident Tuesday afternoon. Brothers reports a 2007 Ford Taurus driven by 85-year old Violette Henneman, of Clarinda, was pulling into a parking stall at 402 West Willow Street at around 3:30-p.m., when Henneman hit the gas pedal instead of the brake.

Her car drove over a curb and down a yard before crashing into the Clar Haven Apartment building. Even though her car was inside an apartment rented by Merlin Cavner, Henneman still had her foot on the gas, as evidenced by a burn mark on the carpet which was caused by the fast-spinning front left tire.The collision also damaged a box spring mattress in an apartment.

Henneman told authorities she was not hurt, but the woman was transported to the Clarinda Regional Health Center for examination. Damage to the building and box spring was estimated at $20,150 altogether, while the car sustained  $10,000 damage.

The Shelby County Board of Supervisors moved one step closer to approving the 2014 Fiscal Year budget. In a special board meeting Tuesday morning, Shelby County Auditor Marsha Carter introduced eight options for the 2014 budget. After much discussion from the Board, the taxable valuation increase options were narrowed down to two, and finally one.

Shelby County Supervisor Steve Kenkel said the option they narrowed down called for “Ag property 5-percent, Land 5-percent, no increase for residential and minus 4 to Commercial. That was a total of 4.6percent.”  Auditor Marsha Carter told the board even if the option was approved, the County needed to be aware of changes to Mental Health Dollars.  Carter said “We have always been limited since 1993 when the state as froze our Mental Health tax dollars, they were funding with growth dollars to fill the deficit on the county level. Now the state has regionalized, at this point the max we can tax is $47.28 per capita which is a decrease of about $300,000. So that is taken into consideration when talking about the percentage of increase.”  She said the state could change the number later on and would affect the budget.

Before approving the option, Kenkel said every department was well prepared. “I appreciate the process you guys go through. We spent about three partial days and I thought all the department heads were very prepared when they came. We froze some budgets and we raised some for the cost of business and cut some too. We have a good process here and everything was well put together.”

The Shelby County Supervisors approved the Fiscal Year 2014 proposed Budget and set the hearing for Tuesday, February 19^th at 9-am in the basement of the Shelby County Courthouse.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)