COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – Court records show two Council Bluffs men were sentenced to prison in U-S District court, for being a prohibited person in Possession of a firearm. 30-year-old Dalton Theodore Holland was sentenced Tuesday, May 10th, to 4 1/2 years (51 months). His co-defendant, 26-year-old Joshua Michael Holmes was sentenced to 5 1/4 years (63 months). Each man will also serve three-years of supervised release.

Holland plead guilty to the charge Nov. 18, 2021. Holmes plead guilty on April 15, 2021 and was sentenced in Aug. 2021.

In November of 2020, officers observed Holland and Holmes arrive at a home in Council Bluffs driving stolen vehicles. As officers attempted to approach Holland and Holmes, they attempted to flee in one of the stolen trucks but the truck got stuck. Officers boxed the truck in and apprehended Holmes. Holland ran from the bed of the truck and was stopped a short distance away by a police dog. Holland and Holms were found in possession of stolen items and firearms.

Officers located a firearm on Holmes in a hip holster and another in his coveralls pocket. Two firearms were also located in the stolen Silverado that Holland drove to the home.

The Council Bluffs Police Department, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Iowa.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa report 20-year-old Cole Jacob Bergantzel, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced Thursday, May 12, 2022, to 48 months in federal prison for Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm. His term of imprisonment will be followed by three years of supervised release. According to court documents, Bergantzel pleaded guilty to the charge on January 5, 2022.

In March of 2021, Bergantzel attempted to sell firearms on Snapchat and in September of 2021, Bergantzel was arrested after he discharged a firearm in a residential area. Bergantzel was prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition as he is a drug user and addicted to a controlled substance.

The Council Bluffs Police Department, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – A sixth-grade math and science teacher at South Hardin Middle School in Eldora has resigned after allegedly spouting his personal political views in the classroom. Paul Miller had been on administrative leave since April from the school. During a special meeting, the Hubbard Radcliffe Community School Board and Miller mutually agreed to the resignation agreement.

The Iowa Standard website is reporting that Miller was caught on camera telling his students he cannot understand how anyone supported President Donald Trump. The revelation comes less than a week after undercover interviews were released with a handful of educators in central Iowa about efforts to violate the law when it comes to teaching Critical Race Theory in the state. 

The board will begin advertising for a new sixth grade teacher at South Hardin. The substitute teacher who has been serving the students for the last three weeks will continue serving the students for the final few weeks of the current school year.

(Radio Iowa) – It won’t likely make Iowans feel any better about paying more than four bucks a gallon for gasoline, but those record high prices aren’t really so high, nor are they records, according to one expert. Herman Quirmbach, a retired economics professor at Iowa State University, says this week’s gasoline prices are indeed more expensive than the previous highest-ever prices dating back to July of 2008, but he says it’s not apples to apples.

“When you’re comparing prices of products over gaps of many years, you have to adjust for the purchasing power of the dollar,” Quirmbach says. “The dollar back in 2008, which was the previous quote-unquote record, that dollar bought a lot more.” Triple-A-Iowa says the statewide average for gas today (Friday) is four-13 a gallon. Earlier this week, the high prices wiped out the previous high price from 2008 of four-02 a gallon. In today’s dollars, Quirmbach says that four-02 would actually be more like five-28 a gallon. 

“If you’re going to make comparisons to what was available in the past, you have to do it on a purchasing power adjusted basis,” Quirmbach says. “On that basis, even with the new figure today, we’re more than a dollar short of what the real price, what economists call the ‘real’ price, of gasoline was back in 2008.” Quirmbach, a state senator from Ames and a Democrat, says multiple factors go into the price of gas, even though it’s often reduced to being a political football.

Quirmbach says, “As long as this war is going on in Ukraine, as long as we are limiting the supply of Russian oil to the West, that’s going to create an artificial shortage and when supply exceeds demand, the markets adjust by raising the price.” He agrees with a statement issued by a Triple-A spokesman this week which said, “There are very few things that a president can do to help lower the cost of oil, and this administration tried to do pretty much everything that it can.”

In a Radio Iowa interview on Tuesday, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, placed the blame of high gas prices on the Democrat in the White House, saying: “I think Congress has set a pretty good policy for energy. This president has screwed it up.”

(Radio Iowa) – Starting Memorial Day weekend, visitors will be allowed back on the deck of the retired Navy vessel named for the five Waterloo brothers who died together in World War II. The U-S-S The Sullivans — a floating museum in Buffalo, New York’s harbor — began sinking in April. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown says the ship was listing at 22 degrees.

“The effort to save The Sullivans and the ship is righted and floating,” Brown says. Crews pumped more than half a million gallons of water out of the ship, removed contaminants and began steam cleaning the ship last week. Buffalo’s Naval and Military Park will reopen Memorial Day weekend. Buffalo’s mayor says the emergency response is complete and the U.S.S. The Sullivans is now upright.

The Destroyer USS The Sullivans, via bufflonavalpark.org.

“A critical piece of naval and US military history that we are fortunate to have in our community.” The five Sullivan brothers enlisted in the Navy in early 1942 and asked to serve together. They were killed about 11 months later when a Japanese torpedo struck their ship. The U-S-S The Sullivans was launched in April of 1943 and decommissioned in 1965. The ship was donated to Buffalo’s Naval Park in 1977.

Anthony Titus

Sheriff’s deputies in Page County,Thursday, arrested 39-year-old Anthony David Titus, of Clarinda. He was taken into custody at his residence, on a Page County Warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. Titus was transported to the Page County Jail and held on $300 bond, pending further court proceedings.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel, Friday, issued a statement with regard to Tuesday’s residential fire at W. 7th and LOCUST Streets. Cappel said the State Fire Marshal and the affected insurance company determined the fire was caused by an over-loaded electrical circuit, and declared accidental. It began at around 3-p.m. Tuesday, in the north third-floor window area.

Cappel said no one was in the apartment at the time. Smoke coming from the roof was observed by a neighbor across the street, who called 9-1-1.  The rental property is owned by Pat McCurdy, was home to eight people in five separate apartments.

Atlantic fire was assisted at the scene by firefighters from Griswold, Lewis, Marne and Anita. The Cass County Fire Association and others brought cold, bottled water to the scene. At one point in the afternoon, fire trucks sounded their horns, warning those inside the home to evacuate due to fears the roof would collapse.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Municipal Utilities General Manager Steve Tjepkes, today (Friday), said a common telephone scam is going on in the Atlantic area again: Scammers are calling local individuals and requesting immediate payment for a past due electric bill. If payment is not made immediately, they claim your electric service will be disconnected.

Tjepkes reminds you, “AMU only calls customers during regular office hours 7:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday and allows customers at least 24 hours to pay their accounts during regular office hours. If customers have any questions at all about a suspicious call about your utility service, immediately hang up and call AMU directly.”

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors visited with Talya Kamies, Tierney Tanner and Cheryl Malzer-Kamies, owners of Lucy Mae’s Boutique, on Thursday, May 12th, 2022, to celebrate the Grand Opening of their clothing boutique in Atlantic.

The mother/daughter trio shared that their family purchased an acreage six or seven years ago and renovated the farmhouse into a beautiful boutique. They were running the business out of Talya’s home for a few years and are very happy to now have the space to display all the items and have a professional place to take photos of their merchandise. Talya describes the space as a “show room” due to the majority of their business being conducted through Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Photo/info. submitted by the Chamber

Lucy Mae’s Boutique carries a variety of clothing sizes XS-3XL, jewelry, purses, and bags for women of all ages. The boutique will be open on Saturdays from 9AM-12PM to reach those customers that prefer to shop in person.

Lucy Mae’s Boutique is located at 54166 598th Street, Atlantic.