Sheriff’s deputies in Page County conducted a traffic stop Monday, during which 36-year old Lyle Francis Stogdill,  of Shenandoah,  was arrested for Driving while license is suspended / revoked. Stogdill was transported to the Page County Jail and held on $566.25 bond. Today (Tuesday), arrest warrants were served on Stogdill while he was incarcerated in the Page County Jail. Additional charges of Theft 5th Degree, Burglary in the 3rd degree and Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree were added. Bond on those charges was set at $6,000 cash only. Stogdill pled guilty to Driving while license is suspended / revoked. He was sentenced to four days in the Page County Jail.

On May 24th, Page County Sheriff’s deputies conducted a traffic stop on the east side of Clarinda. During the stop, 28-year old Justin Leo Powers, of rural Yorktown, was arrested for Driving while license suspended / revoked. Powers was transported to the Page County Jail and held on $566.25 bond.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports numerous arrests took place over the past week. At around 6:45-p.m. Monday, 40-year old Jacqueline Nicole Vacek was arrested following an investigation into a missing juvenile in Minden. When the deputy made contact with the mother of the juvenile (Vacek) at the Casey’s Store in Minden, the woman was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Sunday afternoon, 37-year old Shawn Gonzalez, of Avoca, was arrested at the truck stop in Avoca, for Child Endangerment resulting in injury, and Obstruction of Emergency Communications.

Early Saturday morning, 26-year old Michael Joseph Dargy, Jr., was arrested for OWI/1st offense following a report of a possible drunk driver in Avoca. Dargy. Jr. was later stoppedon I-80 westbound at the 40-mile marker, for swerving in between the lanes and for license plates not matching the vehicle. In addition to the OWI charge, Dargy, Jr. was cited for Open Container.  Saturday evening, 18-year old Wynne Kent Keller was arrested following a traffic stop at Highway 92 and 270th St. in Pott. County. After a deputy detected the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, Keller was placed under arrest for Possession of Marijuana. He was released with a citation at the scene.

Late Friday morning, 45-year old Jerry Lee Dawson, of Red Oak, was arrested at the Pott. County Jail for Possession of Contraband, after he was transported from Mills County to Pott. County Corrections. Among his property was a white powdery substance in a small baggie located inside Dawson’s wallet. His bond was set at $10,000 on the contraband charge. At around 3-a.m., Friday, 29-year old Maricruz Degante was arrested following an accident investigation on I-29 at mile marker 52. The disabled vehicle sustained extensive damage after it apparently struck the bridge and other objects, causing all four tires to be flat. Degante was arrested for OWI/1st offense.

Thursday morning, 21-year old Michael Robert Cahill was arrested following a report of shots fired and a suspicious vehicle near 28191 296th Street, in Pott. County. When deputies arrived, they found three people with a shotgun. Cahill and a 17-year old female were arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/marijuana – 1st offense. Cahill was additionally charged with Shooting a firearm over water, a highway or railroad, and carrying a weapon while intoxicated. The juvenile was also charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Unlawful Possession of a Prescription Drug. 21-year old Bernardo R. Genchi, was arrested at the scene for Possession of paraphernalia, Shooting a firearm over water, a highway or railroad, and carrying a weapon while intoxicated, and OWI/1st offense.

And, on May 23rd, 53-year old Todd Michael Walker was arrested in Hancock on charges that include Domestic Abuse Assault causing bodily injury/1st offense, and Obstruction of Emergency communications. His arrest followed the alleged assault of a 45-year old woman and a 13-year old male.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The Waterloo Fire Department reports it rescued two people marooned on an island in the Cedar River at Waterloo. The department says the two were boating on the Cedar River on Sunday when their boat became stuck on Blackwood Island, just across from Sans Souci Island. Firefighters were notified around 6 p.m. and used a department rescue boat to retrieve the people and their dog. Battalion Chief Ben Petersen says one person suffered a minor injury, but that it didn’t require treatment.

The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports four people from Cass County were cited May 19th for Criminal Mischief and Trespass, following an incident that was reported May 18th at 2953 Delta Avenue in rural Bridgewater: 18-year old Matthew Scott Graham, Jr., of Massena, 18-year old Coady Michael Jones Cambage, and 19-year old Christopher Morgan Schwing, both of Anita, and 19-year old Michael James Ervin, of Cumberland, were all cited for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree. Each was also cited for Trespass. They were cited following an investigation into a report a property owner saw young people walking down her driveway with flashlights. A vehicle was found across the road on property owned by the same person.

As the vehicle was being towed, two young men showed up. The subjects said there were three more males with them. A phone call was made and the other subjects arrived on the scene. When the subjects were asked what they were doing, they indicated they thought it was an abandoned property, and unaware it was private property. They had allegedly cut down the No Trespassing signs and removed them. All five subjects said they were involved in the incident. They were cited and have since made appearances in court.

Separately, 37-year old Zeke Alan Chafa, of Greenfield, was arrested May 21st for OWI/1st offense, after authorities received reports at around 11-p.m. of an SUV having trouble maintaining its lane as the vehicle was traveling west on Highway 92 and entering the Greenfield City limits. A few minutes later, the same caller said the SUV nearly struck a mailbox in Greenfield. The citizen flagged down a deputy and said that the SUV was all over the road, and that it had just pulled into a driveway in the 100 block of SW Oak Street. When Deputy Mike Algreen made contact with Chafa, who was identified as the driver, Chafa was unsteady on his feet and had bloodshot/watery eyes, according to the report.

Chafa denied consuming any alcohol, and refused to take a standardized Field Sobriety Test. He was arrested for Suspicion of OWI and transported to the Adair County Jail, where he again refused the FST. Under implied consent, Chafa blew a .252 BAC on the breathalyzer (more than 3 times the legal limit). He was later released on a citation. 31-year old Johathan Sean Hancock, of Omaha, was arrested on an outside agency warrant May 19th, by the Iowa State Patrol. He was transferred to another agency. And, 43-year old Scott William Richard Funke, of Greenfield, was arrested May 22nd for Violation of a No Contact Order and Driving While License Suspended. He was released the following day on bond.

The National Weather Service in Des Moines reports a significant severe weather threat exists this afternoon, with all severe hazards possible including tornadoes, large hail, damaging and flash flooding. Remain weather aware today and be ready to take action!

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports his deputies Page County Sheriff’s Office tried to stop a motorcycle last Thursday, in the city limits of Shenandoah. After a short pursuit the motorcycle pulled into a residence. 18-year old Cooper Michael Stanley, of Stanton, received numerous traffic citations and was arrested for driving while license suspended or revoked. Stanley was transported to the Page County Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Page County Jail on $1,000 bond. The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene of the arrest by the Shenandoah Police Department

OMAHA, Neb. —A severe thunderstorm early Tuesday dumped prolific amounts of hail across Douglas, Sarpy and Pottawattamie County. KETV in Omaha says the first reports of hail came from near 198th and Harrison. Viewers started reporting piles of hail stretching all the way to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs.

A driver near 144th & Industrial Road had to be rescued with a tow truck from hail more than one-foot deep in the road. Other images showed hail that damaged siding in the area, filled yards, and stripped the leaves off trees and plants. Hail also covered the streets in Adair this morning.

Hail in Adair (Photos courtesy David W. Passehl)

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Update 8:25-a.m.) A portion of I-80 West between Adair and Casey has been shut down Tuesday morning because of several crashes. According to Iowa State Patrol, I-80 West between the 77 and 83 mile marker is shut down. There are currently four crashes. A couple of them are personal injuries. At least four semis are on their sides. A detour is in-place at Highway 25.

I-29 southbound in Council Bluffs is closed between N. 15th and N. 25th Streets (Exits 55-56) due to water over the road. A detour is in-place.

Highway 169 between Highways 6 and 44 (Adel) is closed due to flooding. A detour is in-place.

(Radio Iowa) — The state is proposing a change in rules to require that all new school buses must have seatbelts. The Des Moines School System has been purchasing new buses with the lap/shoulder belts for a couple of years now. The district’s transportation safety specialist, Robin Witt, says reaction is mixed when the issue is brought up to bus drivers. “They’re good and bad, I will tell you that. And it’s basically all what your beliefs have been,” Witt says. “I’ve been in busing since 2005 — and of course I originally thought when I heard seatbelts was ‘oh my goodness, how are we going to get them out in case of a fire’?”

She learned that fear was not an issue. “Kids can still get out of the seatbelts, and we do have seatbelt cutters just in case there is a problem with one or two. And I believe with the safety issue of kids sitting down, seatbelts are great, because they are belted into their seats,” Witt says. She says the designed of the seats on buses makes it important that the kids are sitting to avoid injuries. “Because they’re not sitting they can end up wrenching their back on the seat if they are standing or walking around. With the seatbelts, yeah, they do stay in the seat. It is so much better that way,” Witt says.

Witt drives a bus and says there are different adjustment periods for kids to adapt to the belts based on their age and experience. “The little kids that have never been on a bus before, yes, it’s like second nature. However, even our elementary kids who have been riding buses for a couple of years and all of a sudden you bring a seatbelt bus to them, they are like ‘no, no.’ They don’t just get in the seat and buckle up, you have to tell them,” according to Witt.

Witt says the bus she drives does not have seatbelts on it and her kids complained when she was gone and the fill-in driver used a bus with seatbelts on it. Buses can have 60 or more kids on them, and Witt says drivers are concerned about getting all the kids to wear seatbelts and whether the driver will get in trouble if the kids don’t . But she believes the kids can adapt. “If you had to go seat to seat to make sure somebody is belted — we would never be able to get them home on time or get them to school on time,” Witt says. “It’s going to be a learning curve. And the kids are going to have to learn when they get in to put their seatbelts on, and then we can go.”

Witt says the drivers do like the idea of having fewer discipline problems during bus trips because the students are buckled in. The State Board of Education has given approval to a plan that would require schools to belts in the new buses they order.