(Radio Iowa) – Snow is not in the forecast — but several big orange D-O-T trucks have been out on the highway with their sprayers going. D-O-T winter operations director, Craig Bargfrede says they are spraying plain water, not salt brine. “The purpose of that is to make sure that everything is calibrated, and that we’re putting out exactly the right amount of material and the right amount of liquid. Depending upon which material we’re using,” he says. He says all of the trucks are outfitted with a G-P-S system that is connected to the spreader controllers.

“So part of the reason why we do the calibration is to make sure our accuracy in distributing the material. And then during the winter as we go through the winter season, as the trucks around operating and doing their winter operations, that information of is fed back through the G-P-S modem,” Bargfrede says. “And we capture all that data so that we know exactly how much material by each truck has done has been split out on the highway.”

Bargfrede says most of the treatment they do now is a salt brine. They may sometimes put down some wet salt, but only for certain conditions. Bargfrede says they have developed a guide for the plow drivers for setting the material that is deployed. “You know, depending on the weather conditions, and what type of precipitation we got, dependent upon the temperature, that’s a guide that gives them a range for what kind of treatment strategies that they’re going to use,” Bargfrede says. He says they started earlier this month to get everything ready for when there’s actual winter weather.

“October 15 is the magical date. According to our policy and procedures, we need to have a certain percentage of our equipment and vehicles ready to go. And typically those early season type situations are some type of frost run or something like that depends upon conditions and the weather,” Bargfrede says. Bargfrede says there is some early indication they may be busy.

“Now in talking to our weather service provider, they’re kind of looking at the forecast for the winter season as being a below normal temperatures, meaning colder, and above normal precipitation, meaning we’re going to be wetter,” he says. “Now whether that comes in the form of rain or snow, we can’t really say for sure.” Bargfrede says they will have the equipment ready — whatever Mother Nature throws their way.

(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa man is charged with making threats that led to lock downs at two health facilities. The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office arrested 60-year-old Ryan Betcke of Granville Wednesday afternoon, after Betke allegedly called Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and threatened to shoot employees with an AK-47 rifle.

Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls and Orange City Health were placed on lock down status until Betcke was arrested. Betcke was charged with making terroristic threats, a class D felony. He’s being held on a 10-thousand dollar cash bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The ownership of Waldorf University in Forest City may change before the end of the year. A family-owned company in Alabama called Columbia Southern Educational Group bought Waldorf in 2010 and converted it into a for-profit institution. However, plans are in the works to transition the ownership to the Waldorf Lutheran College Foundation. The change is expected to take place in December. Waldorf University President Robert Alsop says the current owners initiated the change. “That family has decided that they’re at a point in their life where they’re looking to kind of simplify their lives and one of the ways of doing was to see if there would be a suitable owner for Waldorf that that would be able to take good stewardship of both the campus and the online programs for generations to come,” Alsop says, “and we’ve found that ownership with the Waldorf Lutheran College Foundation.”

The foundation has been supporting the university for the past 15 years by providing scholarships for students and sponsoring other activities. “Alumni events and campus ministry for our students here,” Alsop says, “so that’s how we got to this point.” Alsop says students shouldn’t see any changes in university operations after the ownership change is made. “It should be very seamless for our students,” Alsop says. “Hopefully, they will only see benefits.” Alsop is hopeful the closing date on the sale will be in the first week of December. “We’ve made application to our accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission,” Alsop says. “They’ve come to visit campus to evaluate the application and, while they do not make a recommendation to the board, their report indicates that we’ve met all five of the key aspects for a change of ownership transaction.” Alsop expects enrollment growth after the change.

“First, it’s a return to our roots as a private, non-profit Christian university,” Alsop says. “We will continue to leverage our progress both in incremental enrollment growth on campus and then continue to grow our online programs with new offerings and new partnerships and then we can leverage what we had in the past with an advancement office, giving alumni and friends more opportunities to support Waldorf University in the future.” Waldorf was founded in 1903. Its current enrollment is around 45-hundred students.

(Radio Iowa) – The mayor of Dubuque is recommending the city spend more than 150-thousand dollars to add to the more than 13-hundred cameras already surveilling the city. The A-C-L-U of Iowa doesn’t like the idea — but Dubuque Chief of Police Jeremy Jensen defends the system. He tells K-C-R-G T-V cameras are instrumental in helping his department solve crimes.  “It helps us be just quicker. It just changes the speed at what we can do investigations by quite a bit,” he says.

Dubuque cameras

David Ness with the city’s Traffic Engineering Department added the cameras aren’t just for solving crime and provide valuable information. “You know, a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth that much more,” Ness says. Ness cites the example of a camera on the highway near the Q Casino which helped them monitor people coming and going from a concert to see what type of traffic issues they have. “They are used citywide…and it makes us all more efficient at our jobs,” said Ness. The Executive Director of the A-C-L-U of Iowa, Mark Stringer, says the ability to investigate crimes more quickly is not a good enough reason to have this surveillance, let alone using it to study traffic.

“We’re not supportive, generally suspicious even, of local governments using video surveillance to watch and record people just because they want to,” Stringer says. Police Chief Jensen said people in Dubuque had privacy concerns when cameras went in initially — but he says they now “pretty much expect us to be checking the cameras.” Stringer said it’s important for people to reflect on why do they feel like they need to do this.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Mills County has joined the list of counties in southwest Iowa, to implement a ban on open burning. According to the Mills County Emergency Management Agency, “A county-wide burning ban will be in place for Mills County starting today, Oct. 27, 2022, at 5-p.m.  The ban prohibits open burning in Mills County, including all the cities within the county.”

(Atlantic, Iowa) – You have probably seen, or at least heard of, “The Tree in the Middle of the Road.” The Cottonwood tree has become a landmark in Audubon County. The story is when the county lines were being established the surveyor placed a green cottonwood stick into the ground at the exact point where the lines crossed and grew into the present tree. You have a chance to learn more about the landmark. Mary Rendleman Gilchrist is the presenter at Cass County Genealogical Society. Her presentation begins at 1-p.m. at the Atlantic Public Library.

Via Travel Iowa

Gilchrist is a part of the Parker family who put a branch in the soil between Cass and Audubon Counties. It grew into the tree in the middle of the road. The tree is a popular item on the internet. Gilchrist also tells of the Crooked Creek Gang terrorizing the area, and death by cholera, influenza and a cyclone. The Parker family also survived an earthquake and a year without a summer.

The Cass County Genealogical Society is a membership organization with the purpose of preserving, compiling and helping maintain genealogy and historical data particularly of ancestors and early settlers of southwest Iowa. Anyone needing information about people, buildings, businesses and more may request assistance. Make contact at 712-243-5466, casscgs@gmail.com, or visit the Library. Everybody is welcome to the presentations.