(Radio Iowa) – Antique car lovers shelled out big bucks in north-central Iowa over the weekend. A two-day auction of classic cars in the Hamilton County town of Williams late last week netted 1.5 million dollars. The proceeds of the car auction from the Hemken Car Museum will benefit the auto restoration and technology program at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas. Over 60 classic cars including Studebaker, Rolls-Royce, Pontiac, Playboy and more were on the auction block plus plenty of auto parts.

Daryl and Ann Hemken opened their car museum in 2000 and closed in 2018. Daryl Hemken died in 2005 while Ann Hemken died last year.

(Radio Iowa) – A Garner man is jailed in Hamilton County after a chase through three counties early Monday. Thirty-four-year-old Braden Alan Johnson was calling the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department requesting help then refused to stop when he was approached by deputies. Authorities reported the chase on Interstate 35 through Hamilton, Story and Polk counties reached speeds up to 100 mile an hour at times. Johnson was then pulled over when he made his stop in Polk County.

Johnson had a three-year-old child inside his vehicle while being pursued. Several charges including eluding and reckless driving face Johnson as a result of the incident.

(Radio Iowa) – The Mason City School Board last (Monday) night unanimously approved a policy that mandates mask usage inside a school building when the illness rate inside that building reaches seven percent or more, with the requirement being lifted once the illness rate drops below five percent. That would include all illnesses, not just COVID-19. Superintendent Dave Versteeg says nurses would report the information daily with parents being immediately notified if a building went over seven percent.  Versteeg says, “We do that at the end of every day and that nurse can report to us, and we can send out a notice to those parents that evening, saying ‘Building X’ hit the threshold, so tomorrow people will wear a mask.”

Board member Jodi Draper says the compromise tries to address the best policies for staff and students while at the same time hearing from people who don’t want to see any mandate put in place.  “Our job is to represent people and look at both of those views, and though can we meet them and greet them together into a middle of the road, and I think we can,” Draper says. “I think we can keep our teachers safe, our students safe, our children safe that come in and out of the buildings with special needs. How do we do that? That’s what people elected us to find out, and to research, and to do.”

Board member Alan Steckman went along with the compromise after wanting to see a full-time mask mandate in the schools, saying that masks worked well in the schools last year.  “I’ve had somebody send me a post and said ‘Masks do not prevent COVID, it says so on the box.’ What the hell box was that? What the hell box?” Steckman says. “My thinking on it is that seat belts do not prevent death. You can die with a seat belt. You can die with a mask, but generally they prevent death, generally masks prevent death. So I’m voting masks.”

Currently, a school district is required to report to the county department of public health when a building reaches a 10% absentee or illness rate so that local public health officials can determine if any further action needs to be taken. The board voted to start the seven-percent policy next Monday to allow Versteeg to draw up further guidelines for students and staff to follow when a mandate is in place.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports four arrests took place over the past week:

• 63-year-old Michael Allen Bloom, of Greenfield, was arrested Sept. 14th in Bridgewater, on a Taylor County warrant. He was transported directly to meet with Taylor County Deputies.
• 55-year-old Michelle Renee Evans, of Bridgewater, was arrested in Greenfield Sept. 15th, on an Adair County warrant for six counts of Animal Neglect with serious injury or death. She remains in the Adair County Jail on a $12,000 cash or surety bond.
• 36-year-old Derik Wayne Bud Pickrell, of West Des Moines, was arrested Sept. 16th, on two separate Adair County warrants for Violation of Probation. He was being held on a $2,000 cash or surety bond.
• And, 45-year-old Scott William Richard Funke, of Grimes, was arrested Sept. 16th in Greenfield, on a Polk County felony warrant for Dominion/Control of a firearm by a domestic abuse offender, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense. His cash/surety bond was set at $4,500.

(8-a.m. News) (Griswold, Iowa) – While other school districts in Iowa (predominantly the larger cities) are enacting mask mandates as a means to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Griswold School District Superintendent Dave Henrichs says that’s not the case in his District.

(There will be no mask mandate, but the school will implement its COVID Tracker again this year on the District’s website, indicating how many students and staff have tested positive. To date, he says, there have been 8 students [2 elementary &, 6 MS/HS students] that have tested positive. No teachers have tested positive. All have recovered with the exception of one HS student.)

Last year at this same time, there were 10 positive cases. With regard to District Enrollment, Mr. Henrichs said there were 79 students who open enrolled-out, and 22 who open enrolled-in. The out numbers sustained, meaning they actually gained three overall-in students. Henrichs said also, a group working on a daycare facility spoke with the Board Monday evening.

The Board Monday, approved district personnel changes/hires and resignations.

And, the Griswold School Board approved Lifetime Activity passes, with certain criteria in mind, for former Griswold educators, staff and certain volunteers.