(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, heard a request from the City’s Code Enforcement Officer, Kris Erickson, who suggested proposed changes to the City’s Code of Ordinances, with regard to Nuisance Abatement fees and fines. She said it’s been about six-years since the City has raised its prices for nuisance abatement’s, and they are seeing more abatement’s taking place. The last time they raised it, she said, they had less abatement’s to do, because people didn’t want those bills.

The City charges for services anytime a property owner fails to clean-up their property when requested to do so, fails to mow or clear their sidewalk, and other infractions of the Code.

Erickson spoke with Mayor Grace Garrett, and both agreed it is time to increase the fees because of the wear and tear on both the equipment and City employees who take care of the nuisance.

She says the fees are collected through an invoice from the City Clerk. The property owner has 30 days to set-up a payment plan or pay the bill. If they don’t it gets assessed to the property owner’s taxes and it is spread out over 10-years if the amount is over $500. The City Council was fully supportive of the proposed changes, which will be presented next to the Community Protection Committee for a more detailed review and recommendation. Councilman Dana Halder asked about changing the Mowing Ordinance. Currently, the Ordinance says grass must not be allowed to grow to 12-inches tall before it is declared a nuisance. That’s the highest allowed in the State. Halder suggested it be lowered to nine-inches. For comparison, Pella’s limit is six-inches, and their ordinance is highly enforced.

Erickson says she wouldn’t go lower than nine-inches, because they don’t have the employees to be constantly out mowing grass on problem properties.

On a separate note, Erickson showed to the Council some signs they would like to sell at the Atlantic Animal Shelter about the City’s “pooper scooper” law, when it comes to dog droppings on City sidewalks and grassy areas frequented by the public. Erickson said they would be sold not only as a fundraiser for the Shelter, and as a reminder for persons who don’t pick up and dispose of the droppings as required under the Code of Ordinances.

Atlantic Code Enforcement Office Kris Erickson w/one of the fundraising/ordinance reminder signs.

The Council gave its full blessing to move forward with the sale of the signs.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report the arrest Wednesday, of 38-year-old Lee Ryan Fowler, of Creston. He was taken into custody for Violation of Probation, and transported to the Union County Jail. Fowler was being held without bond, pending an appearance before a Judge.

An attempted traffic stop a little before 1-a.m. today (Thursday), in northern Mills County, resulted in a pursuit that ended in Pottawattamie County and the arrest of a man from Nebraska. According to the Mills County Sheriff’s Department, a Deputy with the Sheriff’s Dept. K9 Unit attempted to conduct the traffic stop on a 2014 GMC Sierra pickup, that was without license plates. When the deputy activated his patrol vehicles’ emergency lights and sirens, the suspect pickup truck sped-off at speeds of more than 100 mph.

The pursuit went northbound on Wabash Avenue into Pott. County. Troopers with the Iowa State Patrol set up “stop sticks” at the intersection of Highway 92 and Wabash Avenue, but the pickup instead turned east on Valley View Drive, in an attempt to evade the tire puncturing device. The vehicle then drove through the dead end on Valley View Drive and crashed into a large embankment. While the male driver took off on foot, a female passenger in the vehicle was detained by the K9 Unit. Over 28 grams of methamphetamine was located near the crash site.

Tyler Evans (photo courtesy Mills County S/O)

After a brief foot chase, the Council Bluffs Police Department K9 “Rudy” was able to apprehend the suspect driver at the bottom of a creek spillway. Authorities say 27-year-old Tyler Keith Evans, of Omaha, was taken into custody and transported to Mercy Hospital, where he was treated for injuries to his hand. He was then transported to the Mills County Jail and is facing several felony charges, including: Felony Eluding; Possession of Meth w/the intent to deliver; Theft in the 1st Degree; and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp, along with other, misdemeanor offenses. Evans also had several warrants out for his arrest from Virginia, but they were non-extraditable in Iowa. His bond was set at $40,000.

The female passenger in truck was released with no criminal charges. Mills County Sheriff’s Deputies were assisted during the incident by the aforementioned Council Bluffs P-D K9 Unit and Iowa State Patrol, along with Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Deputies.

Disclaimer: a Criminal charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s rural communities are losing emergency service volunteers and more and more small towns are relying on bigger hospitals farther away. Shenandoah Medical Center C-E-O, Matt Sells, says that translates to longer response times. He says their service area continues to grow while staffing and budgets shrink. “The average person believes that when they call 9-1-1 an E-M-S service is going to respond. And the truth of that statement is that there is no guarantee,” Sells says.

He estimates Shenandoah’s ambulance services lose 700 dollars a day. The lack of rural services has a domino effect on larger cities according to West Des Moines assistant chief of emergency services Dave Edgar. He says the more communities rely on larger facilities, the bigger strain those ambulance services feel. “It’s about ready to potentially cause a pretty big collapse of the of the E-M-S system which will result in a partial collapse of the healthcare system,” according to Edgar.

from the Shenandoah Ambulance Service Facebook page.

The Iowa legislature said last year that counties could fund emergency services by increasing property taxes. But Sells says it’s difficult to secure the 60 percent of voter support needed to help Shenandoah.

(reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is poised to adopt a program already operating in 18 states that’s designed to help deaf and hard of hearing children gain language skills, so they’re prepared to enter kindergarten. Joni Boone of Ankeny and her husband found out their daughter, Lena, was profoundly hard of hearing at birth and the child lost her hearing by the time she was six months old.

“When you’re a hearing parent and you find out your child is deaf, it can be really overwhelming,” Boone says. “You’re essentially told, first of all, that there’s a language barrier that you’re going to have to overcome.” Lena Boone struggled to communicate in preschool, but she’s now five and her mother says Lena is thriving. Studies show many deaf or hard of hearing children do not learn communications skills like American Sign Language early enough and they enter kindergarten at a distinct disadvantage.

The legislature has passed a bill to set up a mentoring program, so parents like Boone can help the parents of newborns and toddlers who’re diagnosed with hearing difficulties. “As a hearing parent, what we don’t always get is a lot of options and a lot of education right off the bat,” Boone says, “We get solutions. We get medical help, but we don’t necessarily get another family that’s going to come alongside us and say: ‘I know what you’re thinking. I know what you’re feeling and I want to answer any questions you may have.'”

Boone’s father — and Lena’s grandfather — is Danny Carroll, a statehouse lobbyist who’s a former legislator and he was a leading advocate for passage of the bill. In addition to the parent mentoring program, it outlines the benchmarks toddlers and young children who are deaf or hard of hearing need to reach to be able to communicate.  “What so many families find out if they don’t do what is necessary to get their child ready for school, they show up at kindergarten behind and it’s very, very hard then to catch up,” Carroll says. “You just keep falling further behind because of an inability to communicate, so this will help parents know where they stand as they prepare their child for those early school years.”

Senator Ken Rozenboom, of Oskaloosa, worked on the bill and he says state records indicate testing shows about 100 deaf or hard of hearing babies are born in Iowa each year. “The Department of Public Health, the Department of Education, the AEAs will provide support to help them learn to communicate hopefully before they get to the classroom, so they can learn, they can stay current with their peers, so they have a chance,” Rozenboom says, “that’s what it’s all about.” Representative Sandy Salmon of Janesville says the bill is the product of years worth of work.

“This bill is needed because too many deaf children come to school lacking language or having very limited language,” Salmon says, “thus critical time learning to read, do math or gain other content is lost, putting them behind grade level right from the start.” Representative Art Staed of Cedar Rapids notes the bill passed the House and Senate unanimously. “Deaf children, by the time they reach school — kindergarten, are often 4-5 years behind their peers and never have the opportunity to catch up,” Staed says. “This is a way to address that issue.”

Governor Reynolds is expected to sign the bill into law.