Incidents of vandalism continue to be a problem for Bayard.

Vandalism has recently occurred on both private and city property on Main Street as well as the city park.

Although no arrests have been made yet, authorities do have information about possible suspects. Charges in the vandalism crimes would result in fourth degree criminal mischief and destruction or vandalism of property.

Some of the incidents of vandalism include pornographic graffiti that was sprayed two weeks ago on an outside wall of the library.

Another incident last Saturday had a dumpster filled with cardboard that was lit of on fire at the old Bayard High School.

Anyone with information asked to call the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office.

Strong winds Thursday sparked a number of farm field fires in northwest Iowa.

More than ten fires were reported in Clay, Palo Alto, O’Brien and Buena Vista Counties with the dry, windy conditions. Media reports out of Spencer had wind gusts reported as high as 50 MPH.

Authorities in northwest Iowa are requesting that all farm activities be temporality suspended. No injuries were reported as a result of the fires.

The winds forecast for today are not expected to be as strong as Thursday.

The new addition to the Atlantic Medical Center opened on Wednesday and CCMH says it served its first patient in the new addition that day.

The addition expands Suite C at the medical center, creating a patient care area to be used primarily for obstetrics and gynecology services provided by Dr. James Brown.

The addition includes two patient exam rooms, one minor procedure room, one office and some storage space, bringing the total number of patient exam rooms in Suite C to eight. Suite C is also the area of AMC that is used for the evening clinic hours from 5 – 7 pm. Patients with evening appointments will come in directly through the new Suite C entrance.

Patients will drive past the north entrance, around the corner to the back of the building, and the Suite C entrance is on the right.

Assistant Administrator for Physician Clinics Sue Marsh says the addition will enhance the care provided by Dr. Brown and also others at the medical center by making more space available for patient care

The AMC addition is the first step to be completed in the Cass County Health System’s current construction and renovation project.

The Southwest Iowa District representative from Congressman Steve King’s Office was at the meeting to give more information about the possible closure of the Post Office and answer questions from residents.

Scott Corrie from Steve King’s office says that if the Cumberland Post Office were to close, the city would be left with a couple options.

The first option would include having the city switch over to a “village post office” system. Village Post Offices are operated by community businesses to provide selected postal products and services, including Forever stamps and Priority Mail Flat Rate packages and envelopes. These retail units may also provide Post Office Boxes either inside or outside the business.

The other option would be what’s known as “cluster boxes”. These would be a group of 16 boxes that would provide a centralized location for mail to be delivered. Corrie noted that these boxes would be placed outdoors meaning they would need someone from the postal service to clear snow and ice. There would also be a 13 oz. limit in which residents would have to go to the nearest post office location to get mail that weighs over 13 oz.

Corrie also notes that if the post office were to close, the city would still be able to keep its own zip code. As for rural delivery, he says the main change would be the delivery times.

Although the Cumberland Post Office is under review for closure, it does not necessarily mean that the post office will close.

Corrie says one of the next steps in the review process is that the postal service will hold a community meeting in Cumberland on November 14^th at 6 PM at the Cumberland Community Building. He says it is important that there be a strong turn out at that meeting to encourage the postal service to keep the Cumberland Post Office open.

Corrie also says Congressman King’s Office believes rural post offices are being unfairly targeted for closure. He notes that rural post offices make up only a small portion of the postal services overall budget.

He says that Congressman King thinks there are other areas where the postal service could cut. He says the Congressmen’s Office is encouraging the postal service to change its policy of funding health care benefits 75 years in advance.