The Clarinda Police Department reports two arrests and two cases of theft or vandalism this past weekend.

On Friday, July 13^th shortly before 4 AM. officers responded to 500 block of East Stuart Street to deal with a 14 year old white male juvenile who was out of control at the residence and destroying property. Officers were able to restore order and no arrests were made.

On Saturday, July 14^th The Clarinda Police Department reports three separate, unrelated incidents.

At about 2 AM, officers responded to a fight in the 200 block of East Lincoln Street. A 35 year old male was involved in a minor scuffle with his 25 year old sister. Officers were able to restore order and no arrests were made.

Also Saturday, 26-year-old Amanda Marie Searl of Clarinda reported that a door handle on her 2007 Buick Lucerne had been damaged in the 100 block of Logan Street. Damage was estimated at about $180.00. There are presently no suspects and the incident remains under investigation.

Clarinda Police also say Saturday that 70-year-old Fred Bennage of Clarinda reported that two tires had been slashed on a 1990 Ford F-150 pickup truck while the truck was parked in the driveway at 606 N. 11^th Street. Damage is estimated to be $200.00. There are presently no suspects and the incident remains under investigation.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Clarinda man and an ATV accident on Saturday.

The Sheriff’s Office says that on Saturday at about 1:45 PM on highway 2 about a half mile west of Clarinda, deputies arrested 35-year-old Steven Wayne Nothwehr of Clarinda for OWI first offense.  The arrest stemmed from a traffic stop where Nothwehr was operating a blue 2001 Dodge pickup traveling eastbound on Highway 2.  He was released pending an appearance in Page County District Court.

Later  Saturday at about 6:30, the Page County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the 2100 block of A Avenue for an ATV accident.  28-year-old Toby Jerome Scharp of Shenandoah was riding an ATV on A Avenue south of highway 2 when the ATV rolled and landed on top of Scharp.  He was treated for injuries at Shenandoah Memorial Hospital.  The accident remains under investigation.

Officials say tips are now pouring in from across the country because of national attention to the search for two missing northeast Iowa girls. Rick Abben — chief deputy in the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s office — says the calls are coming in from “all over.”

“Every tip that comes in is something that needs to be checked,” Abben says, “and we’re doing that.” The two girls were last seen riding their kids in downtown Evansdale early Friday afternoon. Some of the tipsters claim to have seen the girls outside of Evansdale — even in other states.

“We have people that think they may have seen someone and those tips are being followed up on,” Abben says. Abben would not estimate how many tips investigators have checked out, and ruled out. He dismisses the idea national attention to the case and tips from around the country are an unnecessary diversion for law enforcement.

“Law enforcement…we think we’re all professional here or try to do the best we can and so things are proceding,” Abben says. “But I don’t think it’s hurt anything, by any means.” The girls’ bicycles were found on a nature trail, near Meyers Lake and officials began draining the lake early Monday afternoon to completely rule out the possibility the girls drowned. A reporter asked Abben Tuesday afternoon if investigators from the F-B-I and other agencies might leave the Evansdale area if no more clues are found.

“Right now we’ll have ’em here as long as we need,” Abben says. “We’re still working this as a 24/7 operation. Nothing has been said that, ‘Hey, if the lake is dry that we’re going home’ because we’re not going to do that. We’ll just have to see what happens once the lake is drained.” Abben has been the chief spokesman for the search effort, which began Friday afternoon. Abben told a reporter yesterday the investigation was in the “same place” as it had been at the start and there was “nothing more” to say.

“We continue to get leads in continuously and they’re being to be followed up on, but we have,” Abben said, pausing before adding: “We still haven’t found these two young ladies.” As for whether the girls’ relatives may be suspects, Abben gave this response:

“Everyone is, you know, a suspect until we find something. (The families) have been talked to. They’ve been very cooperative with us and we have no reason to believe that there’s any foul play or anything at this time, so we just continue to investigate.” Search dogs have been seen around the lake, but Abben told reporters he is not able to discuss what the dogs did or may have found.