Two men were recently arrested in Creston, on Harassment charges. According to Creston Police, 36-year-old Jaime Naan Torres, of Creston, was arrested at his home at around 5:15-p.m. Wednesday. He faces a charge of Harassment in the 1st Degree. At around 12:15-a.m. Thursday (Today), 32-year old Bryant Edward Adkins, also from Creston, was arrested for OWI/3rd offense and Harassment in the 1st Degree. The cash/surety bond for Torres was set at $2,000, while Adkins’ bond was set at $7,000.

The Pottawattamie County Attorney’s Office reports a Council Bluffs Police Officer involved in a shooting incident on Sept. 18th, has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.  No charges will be filed against Officer John Kuebler, after an investigation into the incident in the Council Bluffs Walmart parking lot. Authorities say he fired a shot from his handgun while being dragged several feet by an SUV driven by 29-year-old Ian James Lybarger, of Omaha.

Prior to the shooting, Kuebler and another officer had approached Lybarger, who had been identified as an alleged drug dealer. The suspect ignored Kuebler’s orders to stop and entered his SUV. The officer smashed through the vehicle’s window with his club in an attempt to stop Lybarger from speeding away, but to no avail. Kuebler then fired a round from his gun. The bullet struck the vehicle, but not the Lybarger. Kuebler was later treated for injuries.

The Atlantic School Board discussed once again the possibility of introducing a mandatory face mask/shield policy. Prior to the beginning of the school year, the Board had an in-depth conversation about the matter, and developed a mask policy that stated anyone in grades 6-thru-12 are expected to wear masks, when social distancing was not possible.

Superintendent Steve Barber said given the square footage of both the Middle School and High School, each Principal was able to create social distancing in the classrooms and lunch area.

Barber said also, “The standard for our PK-5 building was [to encourage the use of masks] when social distancing cannot occur.” He said “Given the self-contained nature of these grades and the space available, creating social distancing is more of a challenge. “Although space has been created,” he said, “The six-feet rule is hard to achieve. These groups are in bubbles.) He added both Principals observed the number of students wearing masks [in grades PK-5] was around 10-percent.

About three weeks ago Governor Kim Reynolds issued a new directive on the use of quarantines for persons who may have been in close contact with an individual who tested positive. The director stated that when both the positive case and the close contacts to a positive case were wearing masks, the close contact doesn’t have to quarantine. The basis of the change was to keep students who are not actually infected, in school. As a result, some schools have since required or mandated masks be used on campus and/or at events.

During the discussion Wednesday night, Board members Nicholas Hunt and Laura McLean said they were still in favor of a mask mandate. Hunt said he interprets the State’s policy change as giving the District more emphasis to use a mandated mask policy and avoid quarantines. He says health and saftey is the goal, keep kids in school, and reduce absenteeism.

Hunt says he spoke with District Registered Nurse Laura Freund, who told him “Our numbers are going to get worse.” He says District staff are worried about the positive numbers possibly going up and a possible hybrid situation. Hunt said he’s spoken with other district which have a mandated mask policy if they are not social distancing, about how things are going.

Hunt said the Griswold and Denison Schools haven’t had a problem with enforcement, mostly because peer pressure reinforces the need to wear a mask. Laura McLean said there are already some significant learning gaps between those who are in classrooms and who are being educated online. She said if masks are not or cannot be used, face shields are an option.

Other board members were not keen on a mandate. No action was taken during the meeting Wednesday. It’s expected more continued, in-depth discussion will take place at the Board’s next Work Session. T

(10/16 – Updated w/revised upward certified enrollment number) There was mixed news Wednesday evening with regard to the Atlantic Community School District’s Certified Open Enrollment numbers. Superintendent Steve Barber reported during the regular monthly school board meeting, that while all corrections for the Certified Annual Open Enrollment Report (CAR) are due by the end of today (Thursday), the official Certified Enrollment is 1333.32. The district is currently serving 17.05 fewer resident students.

On the other hand, he says there was an increase of 17.80 students, creating a net gain of 86.2 students.

The Superintendent says he’s hopeful that once the pandemic is over, those students who chose to receive their education virtually or in another district, will return to the classrooms in the Atlantic District. Barber reminds parents and the Board that Parent-Teacher Conferences will be virtual this semester, except for IEP meeting at the High School. “In-person mitigation strategies will be followed,” he said.

Red Oak Police say 34-year-old Michael Raymond Lakers, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 9:35-p.m. Wednesday, in connection with an assault that took place earlier in the evening. Lakers was located in the 2300 block of Eastern Avenue and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $300 on a charge of Simple Assault.

Anita Rescue, Wiota 1st Responders and Cass EMS were dispatched to the scene of a semi tractor-trailer rollover accident this (Thursday) morning. The crash happened at around 3:20-a.m. off Interstate 80 westbound between mile markers 65-66. The vehicle was in the median.

Two people were said to have been trapped, one with an arm injury.  A Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy was able to extricate the accident victims from the vehicle within about 10-minutes, prior to the arrival of rescue units. The driver was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, for treatment of what were described as minor injuries.

Additional details were not immediately available.