Police in the Taylor County community of Lenox say a central Iowa man was arrested Monday on a warrant associated fraud, and connected to repair work he was contracted to perform following the May 11th tornado that devastated a portion of the town. Officials say 27-year old Joseph Adam Whitehead, of Marshalltown, was arrested on a felony 1st Degree Theft charge, following an ongoing criminal investigation conducted by the Lenox P-D and the fraud division of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.

Whitehead is accused of soliciting work from victims of the May 11th tornado in Lenox, being paid for the work and failing to perform the work. According to Lenox Police Chief Jon Huggins, the charge stems from a single incident in which Whitehead is alleged to have taken $11,000 from a single victim. Chief Huggins said also, that there are at least two known additional people who paid Whitehead for work that was never completed, and additional charges are expected to be filed in those cases as well.

Whitehead is currently being held in the Marion County Jail in Knoxville where he is facing felony theft charges filed by the Pella Police Department. The charges filed in Pella are unrelated to the Lenox charges.

According to Huggins, Whitehead is expected to be held in Marion County until the charges there are resolved and then be brought to Taylor County.

The City of Atlantic is issuing a reminder to property owners in the community, that City Ordinance states “All trees on private property and the abutting right of way (normally the area between the sidewalk and street), are the responsibility of the property owner.” The ordinance requires tree limbs to be maintained at a height clearance of seven-feet above the sidewalks, and 14-feet above the street.

The City is currently reviewing hazards to both vehicles and pedestrians from tree limbs, and it encourages property owners to review your trees and make certain they are in compliance. If the City is forced to trim trees on your property or the adjacent right of way, the property owner will be billed for the expense.

City officials say it is less expensive for property owners to have the work handled on their own, or contracted out, then it is for the City to take care of your trees for you.

A two-vehicle collision Friday afternoon at 4^th and Chestnut Streets in Atlantic caused $4,100 damage, but no injuries were reported. According to Atlantic Police, vehicles driven by Heidi Johnson, of Adair, and Mabel Stahl, of Atlantic, collided at around 4-p.m., when Johnson backed out of a parking space from the west side of Chestnut and hit Stahl’s vehicle on the right side, as she was traveling south on Chestnut.

Johnson was given a written warning for “Unsafe backing.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Federal officials have expanded a disaster declaration for six Iowa counties hammered by Missouri River flooding. Gov. Terry Branstad announced the new declaration Monday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying it would enable local officials to begin permanent repairs to damaged infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. Earlier declarations were focused on initial cleanup. The declaration covers Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Pottawattamie and Woodbury counties.

FEMA officials approved the declaration after studying damage reports submitted by the state. That agency earlier rejected the state’s request for individual assistance programs in the six counties, designed to help those who saw damage to homes or businesses. Branstad says state officials will continue to press for that aid. FEMA spokesman Bob Josephson says his agency will consider whatever applications the state submits.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A scholarship will be created to honor the memory of a stunt pilot whose plane crashed during the Kansas City Air Show. Fifty-year-old Bryan Jensen of Ponte Vedra, Fla., and formerly of Atlantic, IA, was performing loops and spirals Saturday afternoon when his biplane failed to pull out of a dive. The plane crashed in flames on grass next to a runway at Wheeler Downtown Airport.

Air show officials announced Monday that a scholarship in Jensen’s honor will be established through the Mid-American Youth Aviation Association. Details will be announced later.  The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash. Sunday’s show was dedicated to Jensen and went off without any problems.