Sheriff’s officials in Cass County report four men were arrested over the past couple of weeks on OWI charges. On Sunday, 29-year old Jeffrey Joseph Rickert, of Wheatfield, IN, was taken into custody on a charge of OWI/1st offense. Last Saturday, 35-year old Richard Edwin Swain, of Griswold, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, and on a Magistrate’s warrant for Failure to Appear on a charge of Careless Driving.  On October 15th, 41-year old Charles Ray Balius, of Diagonal, was arrested for OWI/1st Offense. And, on October 11th, 26-year old Robert Sutton Krisinger, of Atlantic was arrested for OWI/1st Offense. Swain, Balius, and Krisinger were later released on their  own recognizance, while Rickert was later released on $1,000 bond.

The Sheriff’s Department reports also, 26-year old Jesse James Daniel, of Atlantic, was arrested October 12th, on a charge of Driving Under Suspension. He was brought to the Cass County Jail, and later released on his own recognizance. And, 33-year old Robert Anthony Ross, of Omaha, was arrested October 19th on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Ross was being held in the Cass County Jail on $5,000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Amtrak ridership dropped nearly 16 percent over the past 12 months in Iowa, and officials blame most of the decline on Missouri River flooding. Officials say nearly 58,000 passengers got on and off Amtrak trains at six Iowa stations for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That’s 10,000 fewer passengers than the previous fiscal year. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says that more than 90 Iowa-bound Amtrak trains were canceled this year, primarily because of flooding in western Iowa.

Amtrak’s California Zephyr stops in Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa, Osceola and Creston. The Southwest Chief stops in Fort Madison. The trains run between Chicago and the West Coast. Amtrak reported a record 30.2 million passengers nationally for the past 12 months.

Leaders of Iowa’s rural telecommunication companies are sounding off about a plan that would shift money away from a federal fund that benefits broadband service. The Federal Communications Commission wants to move more than 15-billion dollars away from the Universal Service Fund, a small surcharge that helps subsidize phone service to high-cost rural areas. Chuck Deisbeck, CEO of Western Iowa Networks — based in Breda, says the plan would deal a blow to rural economic development.

Deisbeck says, “The FCC needs to understand that if they don’t move forward with some of the rules that we have asked for, they’re going to fail to advance broadband in rural America, they’re going to fail to promote jobs, and that’s going to have a huge economic impact on the entire country.” If the FCC votes this week to move the money from the Universal Service Fund, or USF, Deisbeck says phone and internet rates in Iowa will continue to rise.

He says studies show the benchmark rates will significantly jump $30-50 per month. Diesbeck says doing away with the money from the USF will mean the rural phone companies will have trouble maintaining and upgrading their current networks. Deisbeck says many people in the rural U-S depend on broadband services and shifting money away from the fund would have a great impact.

“What’s really scary is when the FCC thinks of Des Moines and Ames and Iowa City as rural,” he says. “That’s not what we consider rural. If they think those areas are rural, then what do they think about the real rural areas in Iowa?” He says farming operations and telecommuters are two of the biggest users of broadband in rural America, and the FCC doesn’t understand what rural Iowa is like. Tom Conry is the general manager of the Farmers Mutual Cooperative Telephone Company of Harlan. Conry says a national wireless broadband plan, like the FCC is proposing, would heavily rely on infrastructure serviced by rural telephone companies.

Conry says the FCC believes wireless broadband is the end-all solution, but cell towers and wireless connection points wouldn’t have a broadband connection if it wasn’t for the fiber provided and serviced by the rural companies. Deisbeck and Conry are encouraging people to go to the website “thegreatdisconnect.org” and contact their local legislator by clicking on the “Take Action” button.

(Radio Iowa)