Des Moines, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Insurance Fraud Division report a Ringgold County woman, 44-year-old Lesa Darrah, from Redding, pled guilty on October 3, 2022, to one count of Forgery (Aggravated Misdemeanor) following an investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau. The investigation began in May of 2022 after the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau received information indicating Darrah had forged information on an insurance document presented to the local police department following an accident investigation.

Darrah was arrested on July 3, 2022. Following her guilty plea, Darrah was placed on supervised probation for two years. Darrah was also ordered to pay a civil penalty of $855.

Lesa Darrah photo courtesy of the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office.

Iowans with information about insurance fraud are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau at 515-654-6556.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday), approved a Courthouse snow removal bid from Jason Brewer, in the amount of $225 per snow event. That was the only bid that was submitted. The Board agreed to sign-on to the ISAC (Iowa State Association of Counties’) Soil Compaction Project. Auditor Mandy Berg explains what the agreement entails.

(The study looks at moisture content in soil around pipeline construction. It will determine when construction has to stop on pipelines based on the moisture content of the soil. The analysis will be done by the State of Iowa and the cost of the project is $51,098. ISAC is looking for $600 from each county to pay for the study.)

There are currently plans for three companies to build carbon sequestration pipelines across 70 counties in the state. And again, the study could help reduce damage to property from construction equipment when the soil has too much moisture in it, regardless of what type of project is involved.

The Adair County Supervisors acknowledged and approved the 2022 Weed Commissioner’s Annual Report from Nathan Jensen. And, they approved a 28-E agreement for the maintenance and repair of primary with the Iowa Department of Transportation. The agreement is renewed every 5-years, or whenever there are major changes to the agreement. County Treasurer Brenda Bird said the agreement, which was looked over by Adair County Attorney Melissa Larson, has very little changes this year.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Auditor Kathy Somers has issued information with regard to the November 8, 2022, General Election. Somers says the Polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. on that day. Voters may vote absentee by mail. Absentee ballot request forms may be requested from the Cass County Auditor’s Office by calling 712-243-4570 or by visiting https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/electioninfo/absenteeinfo.html. All absentee ballot request forms for a mailed ballot must be received in the Cass County Auditor’s Office before 5:00 p.m. on October 24, 2022. Requests received after that time will be rejected in accordance to the state law.

Voters may vote absentee in-person at the Cass County Auditor’s Office, 5 W 7th Street Atlantic, IA, during regular business hours through November 7, 2022. The Cass County Auditor’s Office will also be open for General Election business Saturday, November 5, 2022, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Pre-registered voters are required to provide an approved form of identification at the polling place before receiving and casting a regular ballot. Voters who are not pre-registered – such as voters registering to vote on Election Day – and voters changing precincts must also provide proof of residence. A voter who is unable to provide an approved form of identification (or prove residence if required) 1) may have the voter’s identity/residence attested to by another registered voter in the precinct, 2) prove identity and residence using Election Day Registration documents, or 3) cast a provisional ballot and provide proof of identity/residence at the Cass County Auditor’s Office by November 14, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. (noon). Election Day Registrant attesters must provide an approved form of identification. For additional information about providing proof of identity and/or residence visit: https://sos.iowa.gov/voterid or phone 712-243-4570.
CASS COUNTY POLLING PLACES
Precinct/Polling Location

• Atlantic Ward 1: Zion Lutheran Church, 811 Oak St, Atlantic
• Atlantic Ward 2: Atlantic Public Library, 507 Poplar St, Atlantic
• Atlantic Ward 3: Cass County Community Center, 805 W 10th St, Atlantic
• Atlantic Ward 4: United Church of Christ, 1607 Hazel St, Atlantic
• Atlantic Ward 5: Heritage House, 1200 Brookridge Circle, Atlantic
• Bear Grove Twp/Cass Twp/ City of Lewis*: Lewis Community Center 400 W Main St, Lewis
• Benton Twp/Franklin Twp/Grant Twp/ Lincoln Twp/City of Anita/City of Wiota*: Anita Community Center 805 Main St, Anita
• Brighton Twp/Grove Twp/Pymosa Twp/Washington Twp/City of Marne: Cass County Community Center 805 W 10th St, Atlantic
• Noble Twp/Pleasant Twp/City of Griswold: Griswold Community Building 601 2nd St, Griswold
• Union Twp/City of Cumberland: Cumberland Community Building 200 W 2nd St, Cumberland
• Edna Twp/Victoria Twp/ Easterly Portion of Massena Twp: Massena Public Library 122 Main St, Massena
• Westerly Portion of Massena Twp/City of Massena*: CAM Middle School 207 E 6th St, Massena
  *Notice of polling location change: the precincts noted are listed with their new permanent polling location, voters in those precincts will vote at the listed polling location.

Absentee and special voter ballots will be counted at the Cass County Courthouse, 5 W 7th Street, Atlantic, Iowa 50022. Voting equipment will be used at the election. Public test of election equipment will be Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. in the courthouse and continue until completion of the required test. Voters can find sample ballots on the Cass County Elections website: https://www.casscountyia.gov/county-government/elections/general-elections/. Any voter who is physically unable to enter a polling place has the right to vote in the voter’s vehicle.

For further information, please contact the County Auditor’s Office at the telephone number or e-mail address listed below:
Telephone: 712-243-4570; E-mail address: auditor@casscoia.us

Information regarding Iowa’s election security:

• Iowa uses paper ballots, which are the official record of the votes cast.
• Precinct election officials are members of the community – neighbors, friends, family – and are party balanced.
• Iowa conducts post-election audits. Randomly selected races are hand counted to verify the accuracy of tabulators.
• Election equipment is not connected to the internet and undergoes vigorous logic and accuracy testing prior to the election.
• Our voter registration database is protected by a firewall and other protective measures and is secured through an Access Control List and multi-factor authentication.
• All 99 county auditor networks have End Point Protection with 24/7 monitoring.

The public is hereby notified that the post-election audit for the 2022 General Election will take place on Tuesday, November 14, 2022 at 1:00pm in the Cass County Board of Supervisors Meeting Room. A listing of the candidates that will appear on the ballot are listed below. Please note that this is only one rotation and each precinct will have their corresponding ballot with their rotation posted as a sample ballot at the precinct.

(Radio Iowa) – A small toy manufacturing company in eastern Iowa plans to devote its entire shift on Friday to building and packaging several hundred race car kits that will be donated to local Toys for Tots campaigns. Amy Belding, spokeswoman for Blu Track, says the Anamosa factory makes flexible two-lane racetracks that allow kids to race two cars at once, side-by-side. “In each of these boxes that are going for Toys for Tots, there are two cars that have been donated, so two race cars, and 15 feet of track, and what we call an anchor bar, so that can help hold whatever design the kids are trying to make, and then a suction cup.”

The dual tracks are also being used in school science and physics labs for basic force and motion lessons and even complex roller coaster designs. The goal for Friday is to produce 500 kits for Toys for Tots, all of which will be destined to be placed under Christmas trees across eastern Iowa during December. “Two-hundred units will go to Jones County and then 300 units will go to Cedar Rapids,” Belding says, “and then their local contact person will decide based on previous needs where those might be distributed.”

Blu Track has seven employees and Belding says Friday’s special shift will also include volunteers from a local bank, a veterans’ group and the Anamosa Chamber of Commerce. “We’ll have staff and partners working side by side,” Belding says. “We’ll have people folding the boxes, we’ll have people putting cars in and sorting cars. We’ll have people putting in the other things that go in, and then we’ll have people pack those out and put them into case boxes for shipping.”

Blu Track was founded in Pella more than 20 years ago and ships the race track kits to individuals as toys — and to schools as learning tools — all across the U-S and as far away as Germany and Greece.

(Radio Iowa) – Music has changed through the years and so has the way we buy and listen to it, but one thing that’s remained constant is Weird Harold’s. The record shop in downtown Burlington is making plans for a 50th anniversary celebration next month. The original owner, Danny Bessine, started out selling eight-track tapes and some vinyl. Coincidentally, Bessine says he wasn’t a huge music fan when he opened Weird Harold’s. “Nope, not at all,” Bessine says. “I was just an entrepreneur looking for a business, and I felt that this was a business that we needed in this town.” Bessine has since retired but still helps out at the store. The current owner, Andrea Fritz, started working at Weird Harold’s in 1994 when she was just a teenager. Fritz says she had the most coveted position and considers herself very lucky.

“I was 16 and I needed a job, and I was hired,” Fritz says, laughing, “and I’ve never left.” The store has endured the decades and the shift from vinyl to cassettes, then to C-Ds and M-P-3s. She credits loyal clients and collectors from around the world, and in-person visitors who marvel at the stock of more than 50-thousand records. Weird Harold’s, named for a character in the old “Fat Albert” cartoon, was forced to close for about six weeks at the beginning of the pandemic, but Fritz says she was still coming to the store to fill orders for their eBay store. “I would see people come to the door and if they wanted something, I’d go get it for them and sell it to them and take it to the door to them,” she says, “and we sold a lot online and kept our correctional facility orders flowing.”

Bessine says they’ve been selling music to inmates for close to 30 years, including prisons all around Iowa, Nebraska and other states. Fritz says there’s a difference between someone who just listens to music and someone who loves music. She says a music listener might hear a song and download it if they like it enough. “But a music lover loves a band, loves an artist, they can tell you everything about it,” Fritz says. “They know all the words to all the songs. They collect everything. They go to the shows. They know the band members. They know the triangle player in the touring band. They know all that.”

The store has diversified, with about one-third of sales in store-based music sales, another third in mail orders, and the final third in music-related items like t-shirts, posters and stickers. Over the years, many musical celebrities have visited the store, including Johnny Cash, Roy Clark and several members of Guns N’ Roses. The anniversary celebration is scheduled for Saturday, November 19th at the store.

A store in Council Bluffs that’s been in business for 37-years, claims to have more than 1-million records in a 10,000 square foot facility. Kanesville Kollectibles sells some of those records for just a Dollar.

(Rich Egger, Tri States Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – A man who once ran a photography business in eastern Iowa has pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge. Gordon Grabau’s home in Marion was searched last summer. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, investigators found 160-thousand files containing child pornography on five different devices. Some of the images involved infants and toddlers. Grabau had previously worked as a T-S-A supervisor at the Cedar Rapids airport. After his arrest last summer, he was immediately suspended from his long-time volunteer role as a reserve deputy in the Linn County Sheriff’s Department.

Grabau, who is 51, has pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography. The conviction carries at least five years or a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Grabau had operated a business in Marion called G-G Photography. During a hearing last year, an F-B-I agent testified Grabau had been sharing pornographic images for the previous nine years.