A reminder from Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle: A Winter Clothing distribution Drive sponsored by Cass County Democrats, is being held this weekend in Anita, Massena, Lewis and, Griswold. Donated items include adult and children’s winter clothes, as well as blankets and throws. The Clothing Drive is open to residents of Cass County who are in need of assistance to stay warm this Winter. 

Winter clothing will be available …

Saturday (Dec. 14) – from 10-until 11:30-a.m. at the Anita City Hall, and from 1-until 2:30-p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church in Massena.

Sunday (Dec. 15) – from 1-until 3-p.m. at the Lewis Community Building, and from 3:30-until 5-p.m. at the Griswold Community Building.

A final Winter Clothing distribution event will take place Wednesday, Dec. 18th, from 4-until 5-p.m., at the Cumberland United Methodist Church. If you have any questions, call Sherry Toelle at 243-4861.

The City Council in Walnut will gather at 5-p.m. for their regular monthly meeting at City Hall. On their agenda, is continued discussion with regard to the Walnut Community Center, with regard to heating issues, and the Fitness Center. They will also discuss: Switching Insurance Agents; the Budget; and City Employees’ evaluation and salary matters.

In other business, the Walnut City Council will act on setting the date for a Public Hearing on a proposed Fiscal Year City Property Tax Levy, and hear updates on the Walnut Housing Rehabilitation Program, along with a lease agreement for a sign, and property maintenance.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office says an Afton man reported Monday afternoon, that sometime over the past few days, someone entered his property and took a Craftsman riding lawn mower, a snow blower, and a 300-piece Craftsman tool set. Those items were valued at $1,350 altogether.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Public Health’s medical director says there were 49 cases of active tuberculosis in Iowa last year. Dr. Caitlin Pedati says that’s a significant reduction compared to historic trends in Iowa. “As far back as the 1930s and 1940s, we were seeing 500 (to) 700 cases of this and part of what Public Health does is try and get better at identifying those cases quickly to prevent them from moving and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” Pedati says. “We’ve seen those numbers come down over the years.”

Pedati, who is also the state epidemiologist, will not comment directly on the Hampton-Dumont High School student who was diagnosed this week with T-B. Pedati’s agency, though, is coordinating with the school nurse to come up with a list of people who’ve had close contact with the Hampton-Dumont student. All will be offered free T-B tests and free treatment if they’re found to have the illness.  “What we’re trying to do is figure out both an acute disease tuburculosis case which is somebody who’s actively sick, and then we also try and look for people who might have what’s called latent tuberculosis, so they would have been exposed to the germ, but they won’t have symptoms,” Pedati says. “Now those people are not going to be contagious and actually many of those people will never go on to develop disease.”

Dr. Pedati says in a few weeks health officials will follow up with those who test positive for “latent” T-B to see if any symptoms have developed.  “Both for latent tuberculosis and active tuberculosis there are medications that you would take. The exact medicines and the time frames that you would take them are a little bit different depending on which group you’re in and a couple of other factors,” Pedati says. “But, yes, there are good medications available.”

T-B is spread when someone with the disease coughs, laughs, speaks or sings and someone nearby breathes in the bacteria and it settles in their lungs. T-B is NOT spread by shaking hands, sharing food, kissing or touching bed sheets or toilet seats.

The Atlantic School Board met Wednesday evening, in the High School Media Center. During their session, the Board approved previously mentioned resignations, with one addition: Angela Johnson – Paraeducator. The Board also approved Activity Director Andy Mitchell’s recommendations for Fall 2020 Coaching Contracts, and they received an update on the status of the District’s Facilities Projects from Bob Sweeney, Board liaison for the projects.

Atlantic School Board 12-11-19 (Ric Hanson/photo)

Sweeney said the checklist of recent demolition-related activities through Tuesday, Dec. 10th, includes light poles for the baseball/softball fields being taken down. The Home bleachers for the Trojan Bowl have been removed and light poles taken down, but there was an unexpected complication one of the sub-contractors experienced when removing one of the poles. A pole near the entrance to the Trojan Bowl had concrete deep down in the ground, which they said was very unusual. The pole wouldn’t budge.

They ended-up cutting it off. About 3-feet of the pole remains until the remainder can be removed. The bottom-line, Sweeney said, is that even though the weather has cooperated, the project is still a couple of days behind scheduled. He said you can follow the progress of the demolition and construction through pictures found on the district’s website.

The Atlantic School Board also discussed Capital Projects and Long-term planning.Among the Fiscal Year 2020 projects the District is committed to, is: Tuckpointing on the south side of the Auditorium at the Middle School. That work is nearly finished and comes with a price tag of $11,225; A handicap bus is set to be delivered in January, the price of which (after a grant from VW) is $87,844.

Officials say the stadium lights at the High School will also need to be fixed this Spring for an estimated $18,000.

The Creston Police Department reports one arrest. At around 5:35-p.m. Wednesday, officers arrested 36-year old Savannah McVay, of Creston. She was taken into custody on a charge of Driving While Barred.  McVay was later released from the Union County Jail on a $2,000 bond.