A brief meeting was held Monday afternoon in the Atlantic Middle School for the purpose of initial proposals for 2019-2020 Bargaining between the District’s Non-Certified Staff and the Administration.

Speaking on behalf of the District’s 131 Non-Certified Staff, Andrea Halterman proposed a four-percent increase in the base (starting) wage, beginning with the first “step” in wages, or a total package of $114,031.

Superintendent Steve Barber, on behalf of the Administration, proposed that each eligible employee move a step on the salary schedule, and that each eligible employee’s hourly wage increase by 31-cents in every category, or 1.98-percent. In addition, the contract would be for one-year.

The next round of discussion will be held Tuesday between Halterman and Barber, to get additional information on costs.

The Cass County Sheriff’s office has released a report on numerous arrests. Today (Monday), 27-year old Kayla Marie Strong, of Walnut, was arrested on a District Court warrant for Failure to Appear. Strong was taken to the Cass County Jail where she remains held on $1,000 bond.

Last Friday, 57-year old Kelly Joe Simonton, of Atlantic, was arrested on two felony charges of Sex Abuse 2nd Degree. Simonton was taken to the Cass County Jail and later released on $50,000 bond. And, 64-year old Daryl Lynn Hansen, of Atlantic, was arrested on a charge of OWI 2nd Offense. Hansen was taken to the Cass County Jail and released the following day on his own recognizance.

On February 28th, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 39-year old Michael Matthew Noe, of Atlantic, on charges of OWI 2nd Offense; Carrying Weapons; and Carrying Weapons While Intoxicated. Noe was taken to the Cass County Jail was released the following day on $5,000 bond.

On February 26th, 43-year old Russell William Craig Lower, of Atlantic, was arrested by Deputies on an Atlantic Police Department warrant for Harassment 2nd Degree. Lower was taken to the Cass County Jail where he remains held on $1,000 bond. On February 22nd, 52-year old Donald Whiting Filkins, of Elliott, was arrested on a charge of OWI 2nd Offense. Filkins was taken to the Cass County Jail and released later that day on $2,000 bond.

And, on February 21st, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office arrested 35-year old Brandon Michael Barringer, of Brayton, on a felony charge of OWI 3rd Offense. Barringer was taken to the Cass County Jail where he was released the following day on $5,000 bond.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports three arrests. On Saturday March 2nd, at approximately 12:16-p.m., 47-year old Jeff Harrison, of rural Clarinda, was arrested at the Page County Sheriff’s Office on a Page County Warrant for theft 5th Degree. Harrison posted the $300 bond and was released pending further court proceedings.

On February 28th at around 4-p.m., 26-year old Cory Daniel Archer, of Shenandoah, was arrested by Page County deputies for violation of a no contact order. His arrest occurred during a traffic stop on Highway 71, south of Clarinda.  Archer was found to be in the vehicle with the protected party from a no contact order. Archer was transported to the Page County Jail where he was booked in on $300 bond.

And, on February 27th at approximately 2:40-a.m., a traffic stop on Highway 2 east of Clarinda, resulted in the arrest of 28-year old Katelyn Ann Rope-Gladman, of Clarinda. She was taken into custody for driving while license is revoked. The woman was transported to the Page County Sheriff’s Office where she was held on bond.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, Monday, released a report on arrests dating back to late February. On Feb. 26th, 30-year old Brian Keith Cunningham, a homeless person from Greenfield, was arrested on warrants for Violation of a No Contact Order, and two counts of Probation Violation, one of which was a felony. He was also cited for Violation of a No Contact Order. Cunningham was being held in the Adair County jail on a $4,000 cash or surety bond.

And, 47-year old David Stanley Kabata, was arrested Feb. 25th, for OWI/2nd offense, after his vehicle was found in a ditch near Stuart. He tested at .351 on the Breath Analyzer. Kabata’s previous OWI charge came in 2018 while he was in Pennsylvania. He was booked into the Adair County Jail and released the following day on a $1,000 cash or surety bond.

Adams County will hold a special election on April 9, 2019 to fill the Supervisor District 5 seat vacated by Karl McCarty. The polls will be open from 7:00 AM until 9:00 PM on Election Day, April 9th. Voting is limited to those voters who reside in District 5-Prescott. Ballots will be printed and tested after the filing deadline of March 15. Absentee Ballots will be available at a future date after March 15 at the Auditor’s Office at the Courthouse at 500 9th Street, Corning, IA 50841. Ballots may be voted there 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday-Friday.

The Adams County Auditor’s Office has begun taking requests for those voters who wish to have an absentee ballot mailed to them. The request form can be found at www.adamscountyia.com or you can call the Auditor’s Office at 641-322-3340 to have a request form mailed to you. The deadline to request to have an absentee ballot mailed to you is Friday, March 29 at 5:00 PM. There will be no ballots mailed for any requests received after 5:00 PM on March 29.

Voters may submit a request for an absentee ballot by email or fax. However, the original signed copy must still be mailed to the Auditor’s Office with a postmark of March 29th or earlier and received by the time the polls close on election day. Overseas voters do not have to send their original requests. All electronic requests must include an image of the voter’s written signature. Pre-paid return postage is provided for all ballots returned by mail to the Election Office. A mailed ballot received after April 9th must be postmarked on or before April 8th, or it WILL NOT be counted. Postmarks are not always affixed by the Post Office, so mail your absentee ballot early enough so that it arrives by Election Day. Even if the ballot is postmarked on time, mailed ballots must also be received in the Auditor’s Office by noon on Monday, April 15th or they will not be counted. Due to the shortened timeline, it is important for voters to mail back their ballots ASAP.

Absentee ballots MAY NOT be turned in at a polling place except to be surrendered and voided, in which case the voter would vote in person at the polling place. Hand-delivered ballots need to be taken to the Auditor’s Office by 9:00 PM on Election Day, April 9. Voter Pre-Registration Deadline: The last day to pre-register at the Auditor’s Office for this election is Friday, March 29 before 5:00 PM. Voter registration forms may also be found at www.sos.iowa.gov. Following the deadline and on Election Day, any new voter and any voter who has moved from outside the county will be processed using the requirements of Election Day Registration and must provide proof of residence and identity.

Election Day Registration: A person who is eligible to register to vote may do so on Election Day at the polling place for the precinct in which the person lives. The person must complete a voter registration form, sign an oath, and provide acceptable proof of both identity and residence. The most common example of an acceptable form of identity and residence is an Iowa driver’s license that is not expired and shows the person’s address on Election Day. Other acceptable forms of identity may be found at www.sos.iowa.gov.

Voting at the Polls: All voters are required to provide an approved form of identification at the polling place before they may receive and cast a ballot. Voters who are not pre-registered or voters changing precincts must also provide proof of residence. Any voter who cannot show ID may have their identity attested to by another registered voter in the precinct who has proper ID. For more information about voter ID, visit http://sos.iowa.gov/voterid or call 641-322-3340.

Questions may be directed to the Adams County Auditor’s Office; the telephone number is 641-322-3340. Their email address is: acelect@adamscountyia.com . They’re located at 500 9th Street, in Corning.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports 28-year old Alex Richard Cunningham, of Creston, was arrested Saturday afternoon at 1850 150th Street. Cunningham faces charges that include assault on a police officer without injury, interference with official acts, and two counts of criminal mischief 4th degree. He was being held in the Union County Jail on $3,300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — All the snow has been good for those who remove snow from driveways of homes across the state, but it’s not as good for those trying to sell homes. Iowa Association of Realtors president John Goede (GO-dee) says you can definitely tell the difference when the weather is cold and snowy. “I am looking at the five-year listings and it’s like clockwork — you can see the first quarter there’s not as many listings, not as many closings, etcetera. There is a seasonality to the business,” Goede says.

He says there are some parallels to Iowa’s ag industry. “In terms of July and August, it’s equivalent of harvest time. December, January and February, not as much,” according to Goede. “All we do is consistent prospecting actually. We’re doing really fine, but we’re doing consistent prospecting at an office level,” he says. That prospecting in the winter months means home sales don’t stop completely. Goede says there’s one key to being successful in showing a home and getting the sale in this weather. “Get good overshoes,” he says.

Goede runs a real estate business in Spencer. He says realtors are optimistic about the year ahead after a couple of consistent years in 2017 and 2018.

(Radio Iowa) — State Climatologist Justin Glisan says there’s a “moderate to major” risk of flooding as the snow that’s piled up in Iowa begins to melt. “If you look at the snow-water equivalent of the snow pack that we have right now there’s anywhere from two-to-four inches of water available once it all melts, so we don’t want it melting at one time,” Glisan says.  A rain storm would be most worrisome, according to Glisan, as the snow would melt and be swept into rivers and streams. The best scenario — in more ways than one — is warmer temperatures. “The short term outlooks are temperatures getting into the upper 30s and mid-40s during the daytime and then going back into below freezing at night,” Glisan says. “So that’s good for melting during the day and refreezing at night.”

And those 30- and 40-degree days are in the forecast for late this week. Iowa temperature and rainfall records date back to 1873. Snowfall measurements in Iowa data back to 1887. Glisan says like many meteorologists, he’s conflicted about this winter’s weather. As a scientist, he’s fascinated by the snowfall records, but personally the impact isn’t all that exciting. “As a kid, I loved snow. Snow days are fun. Playing in the snow is fun. As an adult, shoveling snow is not fun,” Glisan says. “As the state climatologist, looking at all the problems that snowfall portends for agriculture or livestock, since we’re in calving right now, I don’t enjoy those types of problems, but it is very interesting to see how the trends are shaking out and various records are being broken across the state.”

The forecast indicates there’s a chance for snow again on Thursday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A utility is demanding that a Des Moines zoo start paying its water and sewer bill but the foundation that runs the zoo says that could jeopardize programs such as free tickets for children. The Des Moines Register reports that the Des Moines Water Works board is willing to forgive most of the $5 million in water and sewer services that Blank Park Zoo hasn’t paid since 2003. The utility wants $74,000 for water used last year.

Zoo president Mark Vukovich says the Blank Park Zoo Foundation was told it wouldn’t have to pay utilities when it took over operations from the city in 2003. The utility says the free water deal should have ended then. City, utility and the zoo officials will meet this month to discuss the issue.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A Dubuque man and wife are awaiting sentencings for the robbery of the Dubuque restaurant where she worked. The Telegraph Herald reports that 41-year-old William Brown used a gun to rob the Hardee’s restaurant where his wife, 38-year-old Mary Brown, was working the morning of Oct. 11.

Court records say William Brown has pleaded guilty to robbery and child endangerment and is scheduled to be sentenced March 11. His wife pleaded guilty to child endangerment and theft. Her sentencing is set for April 8. Authorities say both were charged with child endangerment because their 7-year-old child was left home alone during the robbery.