(Radio Iowa) – A West Des Moines man is now in his third day of hiking across Iowa as a way to raise money and awareness about Alzheimer’s disease, which claimed the life of his sister. Sixty-four-year-old Jeff Miller started his cross-state trek on Saturday in Akron and he plans to follow Highway 3 all the way to Dubuque, about 325 miles to the east. “I’m thinking I’m going to have to average 20 miles a day to get this accomplished, and if I need to take a rest day, I’ll take a rest day,” Miller says. “Right now, it’s three miles per hour. If I didn’t take any breaks, I’d make it a bit faster but, hey, this is a walk, a journey.”

Miller’s sister, Linda, was the victim of early onset Alzheimer’s. She was diagnosed at age 64 in 2012 and died five years later. Miller says his sister’s condition deteriorated rather quickly after she was placed in a long-term care facility. “It was a safe place for her to be,” Miller says. “My niece said when she was at home, she didn’t know how to turn the microwave on, the stove, and they were afraid for her. One day, she was wandering around the neighborhood and she was lost. At that point, they put her in the nursing home.”

Miller hopes his walk will raise funds to be directed towards additional research for finding a cure to the debilitating disease. He’s registered on the Walk To End Alzheimer’s website and has already raised four-thousand dollars, though his goal was 25-hundred. Miller explains why he chose to walk across the state. “I like to walk, I like to hike, I like to backpack,” Miller says. “Last year, I was going to walk across Spain to do the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Of course, that didn’t happen with COVID so I thought this year, let’s stay in the country and walk across Iowa and what better way to honor my sister.”

Although Miller is a four-time RAGBRAI veteran, this is his first time to visit northwest Iowa. He says he’s amazed by the geography and terrain, including the Loess Hills.

https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2021/IA-Iowa?px=19050708&pg=personal&fr_id=14423

The Board of Education of the Griswold Community School District will meet in special session Wednesday, April 28 at 5:30 p.m., for the purpose of conducting interviews for the position of MS/HS Principal, and, reviewing the district’s current masking mandate. Their agenda includes public input, discussion with regard to the interview process, and consideration for a closed session/sessions, for interviewing any potential candidate/candidates (in separate closed sessions).

The search for a Middle/High School Principal began once Billy Hiatt announced his resignation.

Atlantic Rescue, Cass EMS and Atlantic Police were called to the scene of a personal injury accident this (Monday) morning. The collision occurred near the intersection of 22nd and Olive Streets at around 7:30-a.m.  Reports from the scene indicated one female was suffering from neck pain. Additional information was not immediately available.

The Creston Police Department reports seven arrests, with two people taken into custody on drug charges. On April 24th, at around 9:34-p.m., 45-year-old John Neely, of Creston, was arrested following a traffic stop. He was charged with Driving while Barred, Possession of Paraphernalia, and Possession with the Intent to Manufacture. His cash bond was set at $27,000. And, at around 11:22-p.m. Saturday, 32-year-old Kyle Anderson, of Creston, was arrested for Domestic Assault, Possession of Paraphernalia, Possession with the intent to sell or manufacture, Possession of a controlled substance, Possession of a weapon while intoxicated, Failure to affix Drug Tax Stamp. He was being held at the Union County jail on a $25,000 Cash bond.

Also arrested Saturday, was 45-year old Carla Millard, of Creston. She was arrested at around 1:27-a.m. in the 200 block of Montgomery, on the charges of Driving while under the influence 2nd offense. Millard was later released on a $2,000 cash bond. And, 23-year-old James Riddle, of Creston, was arrested at his home for Domestic Abuse Assault. Riddle was released from the Union County Jail on a $5,000 cash bond.

Two people were arrested Sunday morning in Creston, for Violation of their respective No Contact/Protection Orders. 36-year-old Samantha Meek and 35-year-old Skylar Rufenacht, both of Creston, were taken into custody at 710 New York Avenue in Creston. Meek was being held without bond in the Adams County Jail, while Rufenacht was later released from the Union County Jail on a $500 cash bond.

Friday afternoon, 33-year-old Tiffany Hudson, of Arispie, was arrested in Creston on a Union County Warrant for driving while license is denied/revoked. Hudson was released on a $100 cash bond.

(Radio Iowa)- While reports of child abuse in Iowa fell dramatically a year ago, advocates fear the number of incidents where children were harmed actually spiked while the number of reports lagged. Alli Moerman, spokeswoman for Prevent Child Abuse Iowa, explains how that can happen. “Early in the pandemic, we saw reports of child abuse drop pretty significantly,” Moerman says. “We speculate that this is primarily due to students not being in school and out of the eyesight of many mandatory reporters who would specifically be making a lot of those reports.”

As Iowa students started to go back to school, she says there was another shift. “What we saw as the year went on last year was that as children and students resumed their normal activities and we went into summer and fall, those child abuse reports returned closer to a normal rate,” Moerman says. “From what we know about how COVID has impacted families is that it has definitely increased the risk factors for child abuse.”

Those factors include housing instability, food insecurity and simply more everyday stress. Prevent Child Abuse Iowa is in the midst of a statewide awareness campaign. “There’s a lot of things going on throughout the state,” Moerman says. “There are child abuse prevention councils in nearly every Iowa county that are coordinating events to support families in the local area, everything from fairs to fundraising events to gardens that are planted around the community that help raise awareness of child abuse prevention.”

The organization is inviting those who work with child abuse prevention to a virtual conference, scheduled for May 3rd through the 5th.

Learn more at www.pcaiowa.org.