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Harlan men arrested on drug charges this week

News

May 20th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Police in Harlan report two Harlan men were arrested Wednesday (May 18th), on drug charges. Officials say 25-year old Shane Hill and 18-year old Adam Scheffler were taken into custody following a traffic stop.

Scheffler was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Hill was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and cited for improper tail lamps on his vehicle. Both men were brought to the Shelby County Jail.

Authorities in Harlan report also, 35-year old Shane Gordon Lester, of Council Bluffs, was arrested last Sunday (May 15th), at Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan, after police were called to the facility’s emergency room, where a female was being treated for a broken arm, allegedly caused by Lester, who officials say is the woman’s boyfriend. Shane Lester was charged with Felony Domestic Abuse Assault Causing Bodily Injury, 3rd or subsequent offense. He was taken to the Shelby County Jail, posted a $2,000 bond on Monday, and was scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on June 2nd. He was also ordered not to have contact with the alleged victim.

And, on May 5th, Harlan Police cited 18-year old Dustin Muell, of Panama, for providing tobacco to a person under the age of 18. Muell was cited for the offense, and released.

Atlantic Girls Soccer

Sports

May 20th, 2011 by Jim Field

5/19/11  at Atlantic

Carroll 2,  Atlantic 0

Both Tiger goals scored in the first half.  For Atlantic, Kate Wheatley led the way with 8 steals and Sarah Rohde had 6.  Next game is Monday at Perry.

Class 1-A Girls Regional Tennis

Sports

May 20th, 2011 by Jim Field

Individual results from Red Oak (Shenandoah host site, rain moved it to Red Oak indoors/outdoors):

Singles — Championship Liz Metheny, Atlantic over Catie Faust, St. Albert 6-2, 6-3

Doubles — Championship Emily Pierson/Rachel Pierson, Red Oak over Beth Reiter/Teal Driscoll, Clarinda 6-1, 6-0

Champions and Runners-up advance to State Tournament at Byrnes Park, Waterloo June 2,3

Atlantic results —

Singles — 1st Round #2 Seed Liz Metheny (A) over Sara Madison, St. Albert 6-0, 6-1 Shelby Svoboda (A) lost to #1 Seed Ana Van Scoy, Glenwood, 5-2 (retired — injury default) 2nd Round Metheny over Marely Chavez, Glenwood 6-1, 6-0 Semifinal Metheny over #3 Seed Britt Walker, Red Oak 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(7-3 tiebreak) Championship Metheny over #4 Seed Catie Faust, St. Albert 6-3, 6-3

Doubles — 1st Round Morgan Allen/Carli Thornton (A) over Angela Phipps/Abbey Bakerink, Creston 6-2, 6-1 Tierney Kamies/Sarah Schreiner (A) over Joni Thomas/Julianne Johnson, St. Albert 6-2, 6-3 2nd Round Allen/Thornton (A) lost to #3 Seed Mackenzie Johnson/Sarina Mohrhardt, Shenandoah 7-5, 6-4 Kamies/Schreiner (A) lost to #4 Seed Tarynne Kinghorn/Ashton Matheny, Shenandoah 6-3, 6-2

Coach Shawn Petersen’s Comments —

Girls Individual Regionals is all about getting to State — the girls are not competing as a team at all — so there’s a lot of pressure since it’s a lose-and-you’re done format; In the Singles draw, Liz was voted the #2 seed over Walker, who’s an outstanding player. If it played out according to seed, they would meet in the semifinal to determine who went to the State Tournament, which is a very difficult feat to accomplish — only 96 tennis players across the state of Iowa make it to the State Tournament regardless of class — and unlike some other sports, the girls must perform extremely well to make it — there’s no switching of teammates at the State level. Liz breezed through her first two matches, although Chavez from Glenwood battled her tough — the final score was not indicative of how close the match was in Round 2. In the match to go to State, Liz had a very gritty and talented Britt Walker to get through, who would probably be the #1 player for any team in the conference not named Red Oak. Liz jumped out early and won some tough deuce games to take the first set; Walker righted the ship in Set #2 and played flawlessly in squaring the match at a set apiece, setting up a third set for all the marbles. Liz was up 2-0, 4-2, and 5-4, before Britt won two straight games, forcing Liz to win her serve to force a tiebreak. She did that, and then it was one tiebreak game to decide the match. Liz was down 3-1 before running off 6 consecutive points to win 7-3 and punch her ticket to State. The match was easily the best singles match I’ve seen in four years as coach — both players deserved to win, and it was hard to see either player lose. Normally, I think that’s an overused cliche in sports, but that sums it up pretty well. Two very talented, very game competitors battling hard for every point — there were no freebies for either player. To have a berth at State come down to a 3rd Set tiebreaker is about as good as it gets in high school tennis. The two young ladies were on the court for 2 1/2 hours — it was thrilling to watch. Following a short break, Liz then had to come back and play another match for the title, and she grinded out an excellent win over Faust. Catie knocked out the #1 seed in the other semifinal, and had to be considered the favorite going into the final, especially with all the energy Liz had to expend in the semi. But, as I’ve said before, no one hates losing more than Liz, and she found a way to win, as she usually does. Shelby got a terrible break — she was playing well against the top seeded Van Scoy when her foot grabbed the surface too much and her right ankle completely rolled; it swelled immediately and she had no chance of continuing. Shelby had a great career for Trojanns tennis — it was difficult to see her career end on an injury. In Doubles, Morgan and Carli defeated Creston, then in Rd. 2 played very well against the #1 and #2 players from Shenandoah — both sets were tight and could’ve gone either way. They definitely performed to the best of their abilities and have nothing to be ashamed of — it took Shen’s best to knock them out of the tournament. Sarah and Tierney beat a duo from St. Albert before falling to a quality team from Shenandoah as well. Shenandoah had the second best team in the conference this year in my opinion, and losing to Coach Daoust and his squad is nothing to hang their heads about, either. This meet marks the end of the careers of 5 outstanding seniors for Atlantic — they will be missed, certainly. They were all freshmen my first year as coach, and to see how far they’ve come as tennis players is very rewarding. I hope they enjoyed their careers as Trojann tennis players as much as I enjoyed coaching them.

Also:

Region 1 at Spencer
Singles
KJ Veldman (Spirit Lake/Okoboji) over Erin Olson (Estherville –LC) 6/4, 6/4

Doubles
Alli Gerkeing & Aubry Kolegraff (Spirit Lake/Okoboji) over Kristen Allesch & Rachel Ingram (Denison-Schleswig) 6/4, 6/1

Region 3 at Norwalk
Singles
Kristy Carr (Ballard) over Chelsy Petersen (Harlan) 6/0, 6/1

Thursday Boys State Track Results

Sports

May 20th, 2011 by Jim Field

3200 Finals

  • Class 3-A
  • 1st — Johnny Fuller (Glenwood) 9:16.9
  • 15th — Brandon Phipps (Creston) 9:52.23
  • Class 2-A
  • 5th — Aaron Roberts (Audubon) 9:58.84
  • 10th — Sean Skillern (Shenandoah) 10:14.28
  • Class 1-A
  • 6th — Conrad Sain (Treynor) 10:01.03
  • 13th — Andrew Thompson (Nishnabotna) 10:20.92

4 x 800 Finals

  • Class 3-A
  • 2nd — Glenwood 7:56.1
  • 16th — Atlantic (Parker Hoye, Trevor Knuth, Luke Karamitros, Blake Esbeck) 8:16.58
  • Class 1-A
  • 6th — St. Albert 8:22.76
  • 20th — Orient-Macksburg 8:43.7
  • 23rd — Fremont-Mills 8:49.53

400 Finals

  • Class 3-A
  • 3rd — Kyle Wheeler (Glenwood) :49.87
  • 21st — Grant Reitz (Denison) :54.35
  • Class 2-A
  • 11th — Kyle Pudenz (Kuemper) :51.0
  • Class 1-A
  • 19th — Chase Jahnke (Griswold)
  • 21st — Julian Riesgaard (AHST) :52.81
  • DQ — Brice Sheeder (Adair-Casey)

Discus Finals

  • Class 3-A
  • 8th — Tyler Hovey (Atlantic) 151-4
  • 11th — Clayton Giesting (Glenwood) 148-0
  • 22nd — Daniel Gorman (Glenwood) 128-2

High Jump Finals

  • Class 3-A
  • 16th — Andy Vial (Red Oak) 5-10

Long Jump Finals

  • Class 2-A
  • 11th — Kirby Gunnerson (Kuemper) 19-10.25
  • Class 1-A
  • 5th — Dillon Robinson (Underwood) 21-5.75

Shot Put Finals

  • Class 2-A
  • 2nd — Levi Ettleman (Lo-Ma) 54-2
  • 21st — Robert Kinney (Tri-Center) 46-4
  • 23rd — Greg Smith (Nodaway Valley) 44-11
  • 24th — Dante Copeland (Panorama) 40-7
  • Class 1-A
  • 6th — Andrew Bonnet (Underwood) 49-10.5
  • 9th — Jim Johannes (Corning) 46-8.5
  • 11th — Jessie Leeper (Adair-Casey) 46-5
  • 19th — Trevor Pavlik (Treynor) 43-2.25

100 Preliminaries

  • Class 2-A
  • 14th — Alan Dalley (Shenandoah) :11.46
  • 16th — Kirby Gunnerson (Kuemper) :11.58
  • Class 1-A
  • 3rd — Nick Pittmon (East Mills) :11.31 (qualifier)
  • 10th — Joey Foss (Exira/EHK) :11.53
  • 13th — Greg Focht (Stanton) :11.59
  • 14th –Alex Klein (Woodbine) :11.6
  • 15th — Dillon Robinson (Underwood) :11.63

200 Preliminaries

  • Class 3-A
  • 22nd — Daniel Thomsen (Atlantic) :23.92
  • 24th — Trevor Langholdt (Denison) :24.31
  • Class 1-A
  • 1st — Jake Allen (Treynor) :22.52 (qualifier)
  • 3rd — Joey Foss (Exira/EHK) :22.66 (qualifier)
  • 5th — Nick Pittmon (East Mills) :22.81 (qualifier)

Shuttle Hurdle Preliminaries

  • Class 3-A
  • 2nd — Glenwood :59.6 (qualifier)
  • 14th — Creston 1:02.73
  • DQ — Harlan
  • Class 2-A
  • 19th — Panorama 1:02.21
  • DQ — Audubon (Zach Bohlman, Colby Rattenborg, John Toyne, Ranen Spies)
  • Class 1-A
  • 2nd –AHST (Josh Bryant, Julian Riesgaard, Kyle Bauerkemper, Hunter Nelson) 1:00.66 (qualifier)
  • 6th — Treynor 1:01.18 (qualifier)
  • 7th — Underwood 1:01.72 (qualifier)
  • 8th — Fremont-Mills 1:02.01 (qualifier)
  • 16th — Woodbine 1:04.38

 

Thursday Girls State Track Results

Sports

May 19th, 2011 by Jim Field

3000 Finals:

  • Class 3-A
  • 5th — Ali Krogman (Atlantic) 10:40.09 (school record)
  • 15th — Emily Wignall (Creston) 11:10.96
  • Class 2-A
  • 5th — Ashtyn Alfers (Tri-Center) 10:54.87
  • 13th — Megan Deist (Audubon) 11:08.3
  • 22nd — Delaney Turner (Panorama) 12:09.13
  • 23rd — Regina Hafner (Panorama) 12:19.47
  • Class 1-A
  • 2nd — Kristen Carmichael (Corning) 12:55.84
  • 18th — Therese Frels (Guthrie Center) 12:26.9

4 x 800 Finals:

  • Class 3-A
  • 4th — Harlan 9:43.53
  • 8th — Atlantic (Jessica Arneson, Sam Peterson, Ali Krogman, Alex Hartwig) 9:54.47
  • 18th – Glenwood 10:15.36
  • Class 2-A
  • 5th — Tri-Center 9:56.66
  • 19th — Shenandoah 10:23.84
  • 21st — Panorama 10:29.87
  • Class 1-A
  • 1st — Griswold (Larissa Backhaus, Jordynn Sindt, Rachel Northrup, Lauren Moore) 9:35.91
  • 18th — Underwood 10:33.49
  • 22nd– Boyer Valley 10:43.57
  • 23rd — Essex 10:48.33

400 Finals:

  • Class 3-A
  • 6th — Eden Youngberg (Carroll) :59.01
  • 8th — Alexa Beeck (Denison) :59.78
  • 17th — Ellen Klitgaard (Harlan) 1:02.04
  • Class 1-A
  • 2nd — Lauren Moore (Griswold) :57.84
  • 8th — Rachel Northrup (Griswold) :59.61
  • 18th — Anna Mulder (Adair-Casey) 1:02.49
  • 24th — Katie Clarke (Adair-Casey) 1:06.27

Shuttle Hurdle Preliminaries

  • Class 3-A
  • 5th — Harlan 1:08.34 (qualifier)
  • 13th — Glenwood 1:10.1
  • 21st — Atlantic (Paige Kennon, Amanda Gude, Mackenzie Holmes, Sam McConnell) 1:12.41
  • Class 2-A
  • 5th — Audubon 1:09.11 (qualifier)
  • Class 1-A
  • 1st — Treynor 1:06.75 (qualifier)
  • 5th — Guthrie Center 1:09.83 (qualifier)
  • 11th — Stanton 1:10.9
  • 18th — Boyer Valley 1:11.61

100 Preliminaries:

  • Class 3-A
  • 5th — Tricia Nowatzke (Harlan) :12.85 (qualifier)
  • 21st — Lauren Janning (Carroll) :13.48
  • 23rd — Zaidy Frank (Creston) :13.66
  • Class 2-A
  • 1st — Alex Gochenour (Lo-Ma) :12.46 (qualifier)
  • 2nd — Karen Hutson (Lo-Ma) :12.49 (qualifier)
  • 11th — Laura Eberly (IKM-Manning) :12.93
  • Class 1-A
  • 1st — Caitlyn Stroud (Corning) :12.51 (qualifier)
  • 2nd — Johnni Schueman (AHST) :12.61 (qualifier)
  • 4th — Courtney Auxier (Villisca) :12.76 (qualifier)

200 Preliminaries:

  • Class 3-A
  • 10th — Melanie Nielsen (Atlantic) :26.67
  • Class 2-A
  • 1st — Alex Gochenour (Lo-Ma) :25.28 (qualifier)
  • 23rd — Karen Fischer (Shenandoah) :28.01
  • Class 1-A
  • 2nd — Caitlyn Stroud (Corning) :25.95 (qualifier)
  • 6th — Johnni Schueman (AHST) :26.62 (qualifier)
  • 10th — Casey James (O-M) :26.73
  • 19th — Katie Clarke (Adair-Casey) :27.59

Discus Finals:

  • Class 3-A
  • 6th — Abby Sonderman (Harlan) 118-02
  • 18th — Taylor Schwartz (Harlan) 106-05
  • 21st — Paige Kennon (Atlantic) 102-03

High Jump Finals:

  • Class 3-A
  • 8th — Dena Baughman (Harlan) 5-02
  • 14th — Liz Riessen (Harlan) 5-0
  • 22nd — Morgan Slechta (Denison) 4-10

Shot Put Finals:

  • Class 2-A
  • 4th — Alex Halbur (IKM-Manning) 38-9.5
  • 8th — Kaylee Buch (Clarinda) 36-8.5
  • 15th — Kylee Loftus (Lo-Ma) 34-11.5
  • 24th — Sami Haase (Nodaway Valley) 30-10.5
  • Class 1-A
  • 15th — Erin Kliefoth (Exira/EHK) 33-4.25

Long Jump Finals:

  • Class 2-A
  • 1st — Karen Hutson (Lo-Ma) 18-0.25
  • 16th — Sidney Beckman (Panorama) 15-9

Drug arrest reported in Atlantic

News

May 19th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Police in Atlantic report the arrest today (Thursday), of 20-year old Krystina Hughes, of Atlantic, on a drug charge. Officials say Hughes was taken into custody for Possession of a Controlled substance and Driving While Suspended.

And, 21-year old Jeremy Michael Petersen, of Atlantic, was arrested on a valid Pottawattamie County warrant for Failure to Comply.

Both individuals were brought to the Cass County Jail and held pending a court appearance.

Menard’s, Plumrose USA & Tyson tax incentives from IEDB for western IA projects

News

May 19th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Three western Iowa companies were awarded financial incentives packages today (Thursday), from the Iowa Economic Development Board. In all, the IEDB approved awards for projects that officials say will create up to 447 jobs across the state.

The board approved Enterprise Zone tax incentives to Menard’s Incorporated, to expand a warehouse at its distribution center in Shelby County, which will allow for a further expansion of its product lines. The Iowa Department of Economic Development says the company was considering out-of-state locations for the expansion project, which represents an estimated $10.9-million capital investment and is expected to create 28-new jobs. The center opened in 2007.

The IEDB also approved $520,000 in direct financial assistance from the Grow Iowa Values Financial Assistance Program (GIVFAP) and tax incentives, to meat processor Plumrose USA, to build a proposed manufacturing facility in Council Bluffs. If the project becomes a reality, it would represent a $57.8-million capital investment and create 65 new jobs supported by state incentives.

The company, which produced premium bacons, packaged deli meats, deli-counter hams and cooked ribs. They already have a production facility in Council Bluffs. The proposal calls for a 100,000-square foot LEED-certified facility that would house new slicing and packaging operations. The tax incentives approved for the project are though the High Quality Jobs Program.

And, the board today (Thurssday) awarded $800,000 in direct financial assistance from GIVFAP and Enterprise Zone tax incentives to Tyson Prepared Foods, Inc., for a proposed renovation of its Council Bluffs facility. The project involves 53 jobs, and includes an addition of roughly 60,000-square feet, and renovating the cooked meats facility, for a total investment of $48-million. The company employs 9,400 people in Iowa.

ACSD BOE acts on Certified staff contract

News

May 19th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education has approved Contracts and/or Letters of Assignment, along with the 2011-2012 Master Contract with the certified bargaining unit. The action came during a special session held at Noon today (Thursday), in the Middle School Board Room.

Superintendent Mike Amstein (am’stine) said by their calculations, the settlement amounts to a 3.29-percent package increase for the certified staff, although the bargaining unit sees it as a 3.5-percentage increase. In any event, while there are still some parts of the language of the contract which still need to be “tweaked,“ according to Amstein, both sides agreed to the negotiated settlement, and he recommended approval.

The basic settlement, he says, calls for a $400 increase on the base salary, which would establish the base at $27,300. That amount will also be used to generate the Teacher Salary Supplement — or, T-S-S – monies. 95-percent of the T.S.S. money will be distributed throughout the 2011-2012 school year, with 5% set aside to address any changes, with the remainder to be paid out in last check of the contract year.”

The agreement also means a change in the amount the district and certified staff will pay out toward insurance and Tax Sheltered Annuities (TSA’s).The district will increase raise the amount paid to those included in the family plan from 50-to $100 per month, and those with a TSA from 50-to $100 per month, as well.

The package amounts to a $500 increase in cost to the district, per certified employee. He says regardless of what the package percentage amounts to, the numbers involved speak for themselves.

The board established the issuance date for the contracts as May 24th, and the return date as June 14th. Last week, the Atlantic Board of Education approved the 2011-2012 Master Contract with the non-certified staff’s bargaining unit. Superintendent Mike Amstein said the package included a 39-cent per hour raise.

Last week, the Atlantic Board of Education approved the 2011-2012 Master Contract with the non-certified staff’s bargaining unit. Superintendent Mike Amstein said the package includes a 39-cent per hour raise.

Adair County BOS sets date for LOST ordinance vote

News

May 19th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

The Adair County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, set June 8th as the date for a public hearing on an ordinance pertaining to the voter approved renewal of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST). Adair County Auditor Mindy Schaefer says the ordinance has to be approved in order for the tax to go into effect in 2012.

Schaefer says they’ll hold the 1st reading of the Ordinance on June 8th, and if no one objects, the 2nd and 3rd readings are likely to be waived, and the Ordinance adopted. It will then become effective on July 1st, 2012.

The vote to renew the penny sales tax was approved by the voters during a special election held May 3rd. Only the communities of Casey and Stuart failed to approve the Tax, but a requested re-vote will be held in those communities on August 2nd. By failing to renew the local option tax earlier this month, the City of Casey stands to lose about $650 in annual revenue for street repairs and improvements, while Stuart would be out about $42,000. The money would have gone toward the City’s General Fund.

Each City in the County designates what the money from the penny tax will be used for. Most of the cities will used the monies for capital improvements, such as street and other infrastructure repairs.

Schaefer says the Adair County Supervisor’s Wednesday, also approved a contract for Child Support Recovery. She says there are seven or eight counties included in the agreement, which needed to be updated. Cass County is the control county for the agreement.

Atlantic City Council tables Boulder’s Development Agreement & other business

News

May 19th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

The Atlantic City Council Wednesday tabled until their next meeting, approval of a resolution for a Development Agreement with Boulders Inn and Suites and the authorizing of Tax Increment payments for the project, until the City’s Finance Committee could review a proposal from Boulders with regard to a $100,000 tax rebate and other, related matters.

The $1.5-million dollar upscale hotel and suites officially opened May 13th. An open house for the public will be held on Sunday, May 22nd, from 1-to 4-p.m. Officials report the business is already completely booked for the Ragbrai, during the weekend of July 24th.

In other business, the Council unanimously passed a $510,500 budget amendment to the Fiscal Year 2011 budget.

They also passed the second reading, and adopted on the third-reading, an amendment to the wastewater fee schedule, to help pay for the new $15-million wastewater treatment project, which is currently under construction.

And, the Council authorized Mayor Dave Jones to enter into an agreement with the Nishna Valley YMCA, for the operation and oversight of the City Swimming Pool and other, recreational programs. The agreement will be for a one-year, trial period.