Area Law Enforcement Agencies are strongly advising against any travel in western Iowa today (Thursday). If your vehicle becomes stuck, you may be waiting hours or days before it can be extracted from the ditch or median.  Currently, Towing Bans are in-place in Cass, Guthrie and Pottawattamie Counties, meaning those services are prohibited by order of Law Enforcement Agencies until the weather conditions begin to improve.

Because of the blowing and drifting of snow, vehicles which skid off into the median or ditches will not be removed from those locations until the winds and visibility on the roadways improve. The Iowa Department of Public Safety reports at least 13 other counties in Iowa had instituted a ban on towing until conditions improve.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors Wednesday, received an annual report from West Central Community Action Executive Director Joel Dirks. WCCA, based in Harlan, assists low-income families and individuals in a 10-county area, in southwest Iowa. The County is in partnership with WCCA, and as such makes an annual contribution towards its services. Last year, Cass County contributed $3,000. Dirks said this year, WCCA is asking for a $500 increase in the amount of the contribution.The Board will consider the request when they begin work on next year’s budget.

West Central provides a number of services in Cass County, including three Head Start classrooms…one in Anita, and two in Atlantic. Dirks says they worked with 59 children over the last year. They worked with 522 WIC – Women, Infants and Children – Program participants in 2012, which amounted to slightly more than $204,000 in WIC vouchers which were spent locally.

WCCA also worked with 523 households participating in LiHeap, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and provided just assistance amount to slightly less than $215,000. In all, Dirks said West Central provided a little more than $1.8-million in services in the County in 2012. He says service dollars which went out clients, local vendors and through delivery of their programs, amounted to just under $1.56-million.

The organization he says, worked with 676 households in the County, which were comprised of 1,586 individuals which received services from West Central last year. 17% of the people they worked with were single-parent, female head-of-households. 41% were households run by a single-adult. 56% of the households were at 100% of the poverty line or below. The means a family of four, living on just under $23,000 per year.

Dirks said also, 37% percent of their clients are either in the process of buying, or own their own homes. 62% of their clients receive what are often referred to as food stamps, which is a slight increase over last year. (More info. available on the web at www.westcentralca.org/)

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa said Wednesday (Dec. 19th), that 26-year old Chad Allen Brayman, of Carroll, was sentenced Dec. 11th to 10-years in prison for being a felon in possession of firearms. United States District Court Judge John A. Jarvey handed down the 120 month sentence in Council Bluffs against Brayman.

Jarvey also ordered Brayman to serve 3-years of supervised release following his imprisonment. In addition, he will have to pay a $200 special assessment to the Crime Victim Fund, and forfeit the firearms and ammunition found in his possession. Brayman remains in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending designation the Federal Bureau of Prisons facility at which he will serve his sentence.

Brayman was sentenced upon his pleas of guilty to the two counts of felon in possession of a firearm. The first charge arose from a call to the Council Bluffs Police Department from a Council Bluffs motel on February 6, 2012, regarding a person sleeping in an automobile in the parking lot of the motel. In answering the call, Council Bluffs police officers found Brayman in the vehicle at the motel, and in possession of a loaded Norinco SKS 7.62X39 rifle, a loaded Remington 22-250 rifle, a 12-gauge Remington shotgun, a 410-gauge Westernfield shotgun, a Ruger 9mm pistol, and several rounds of ammunition. The second charge arose from the stop of a vehicle in Council Bluffs, Iowa, by Council Bluffs police officers on April 30, 2012, in which Brayman was found to be the driver of a vehicle with expired registration.

During the stop, Brayman was found in possession of a loaded ACCU-Tec pistol. Prior to possessing the firearms and ammunition, Brayman had been convicted of various felony offenses, including burglary, theft-related crimes, and felon in possession of a firearm.

The case was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.