Sheriff’s Officials in Adams County report a Corning man was arrested last weekend, on an OWI charge. 39-year old James Douglas Murry was stopped along the road when deputies made contact with him at around 2:10-a.m., Saturday. After speaking with Murry, authorities determined he was over the legal limit for alcohol consumption. Murry was taken into custody on a charge of OWI/1st Offense, and booked into the Adams County Jail. He posted a $1,500 bond on Monday, and was released. A preliminary hearing in his case was set for June 11th.

Four people – three from Illinois and one from Iowa – were killed, and one person was injured during a head-on collision Wednesday afternoon in southwest Iowa’s Union County. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened on Highway 34, about two-miles east of Thayer, at around 2:37-p.m. According to the Patrol’s report, a 2002 Chevy S-10 pickup driven by 44-year old Laura Hileman-Dyson, of Murray, was eastbound on Highway 34 when it crossed the center line of the road.

A westbound 2011 Nissan Altima, driven by 31-year old Jessica Jackson, of Chicago, Il, took evasive action by veering into the eastbound lane, but the Hileman-Dyson corrected her vehicle at the same time, veering back into the eastbound lane. Both drivers then tried to take evasive action again, but their vehicles collided head-on in the westbound lane of traffic.

Jackon, and two people in her car were killed, including 28-year old Mertis Harris and 35-year old Kenya Ervin, both of Chicago. A passenger in Hileman-Dyson’s pickup, 44-year old Randall Dyson, also died in the crash. Neither he nor Harris were wearing a seat belt. Harris died after being flown from the scene by LifeNet Helicopter to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines. Laura Hileman-Dyson, who was also not wearing a seat belt, was also flown by LifeNet to Methodist Hospital. A report on her condition was not available early this (Thursday) morning.

A College Springs man was sentenced Tuesday in U-S District Court to slightly more than 14-years in prison for his participation in a drug conspiracy. In addition to the 170 month prison term, U-S Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt says Judge John A. Jarvey sentenced 56-year old Orvis Lee Wagaman, to a supervised release term of ten years.

According to the written plea agreement, from approximately January of 2004 until November of 2010, Wagaman was involved in the distribution of methamphetamine in the Southwest Iowa and Northwest Missouri areas with co-conspirators 54-year old Edward Eugene Gray, Sr.,of Coin, 34-year old Edward Eugene Gray, Jr.,  and 23-year old Levi Edward Gray, both of Clarinda, and others.

Edward Eugene Gray, Jr., was sentenced on February 21st,  to 180 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and 60 months for possession of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking offense, for a total sentence of 240 months. Levi Gray was sentenced on February 21, 2012, to 48 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute
methamphetamine. Edward Eugene Gray, Sr., was sentenced on March 27, 2012, to 150 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

The case was investigated by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Taylor County, Iowa, Sheriff’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office (MO), Buchanan County Drug Strike Force
(MO), NITRO Task Force (MO), Tri County Task Force (Adams, Ringgold, and Taylor Counties), Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office, Page County Sheriff’s Office, and the Ringgold and Taylor County Attorneys’ Offices. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.