Members of the Griswold School District’s Board of Education will hold a special meeting 5:30-p.m. this Thursday, May 11th in the Central Office at the Middle School/High School Building. First off, they’ll receive an update from the Facilities Committee and hold related discussion.

Superintendent Dave Henrichs told KJAN News, after the update and discussion, the Board will discuss and act upon receiving a Citizen’s Petition calling for a Special Election. Henrichs says the Facilities Committee currently has in its possession, a petition calling for the District to pass a bond.

Once the Board receives the petition with the required number of signatures, the Board will decide whether or not to proceed with the bond vote. If yes, the bond vote will take place June 27^th and is in the amount of $9.9-million for the construction of a new Elementary Building and the remodeling of Middle School/High School.

A Community meeting was held in Griswold last Friday evening to discuss the latest information and recommendation from the Facilities Committee. Henrichs says there were roughly 70 people in attendance. Those in attendance were asked to fill out a survey pertaining to the project. 42 surveys were returned, with 38 responding favorably to the project and related costs, two were against and two were undecided. Henrichs considers that a “Very positive response.”

He says based on “…the assumption that the Board will proceed with the vote…a week prior to the bond vote, we’ll have some more community meetings to help inform people. We want to make sure they have the information they need to make the decision they feels what’s best for them to meet our needs.”

The Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund is continuing their banner status this year by donating $1000 to the Annual Partnership with Youth Campaign at the Nishna Valley YMCA. Fund spokesperson Melanie Petty says by “Answering the Call” [they] are able to continue supporting not only our youth but other individuals and families in need.” Petty says “We are very lucky to have such an amazing facility in our community.”

Funds raised at our annual golf tournament are all returned back to the community in Trevor’s memory. This year’s tournament will be held on August 12th at Nishna Hills Golf Club.

Follow the Trevor Frederickson Fund on Facebook for more information, or listen for updates here on KJAN.

Photo: Trevor’s siblings, Laena Sonntag and Grant Petty

(9-a.m News)

A report from the U-S Army Corps of Engineers finds runoff into the Missouri River reservoir system is increasing, but it’s still well within the flood capacity. Nicole Shorney, a hydraulic engineer with the Corps’ Omaha office, says parts of the region are seeing some flooding, but nothing too severe.

“The 2017 calendar year runoff forecast is 29.7-million acre feet or 117% of average,” Shorney says. “Based on this runoff forecast, the May 1 system storage, the tributary project storage and Plate 6/1 in the Master Manual, the service level adjustment of 5,000 CFS that was made in April will continue through May.”

Corps engineer Joel Knofczynski says they have adequate space for all the predicted runoff. Knofczynski says releases from Gavins Point Dam are being adjusted due to downstream flooding. “Gavins Point releases averaged 28,500 cubic feet per second in April,” Knofczynski says. “In early May, releases were reduced to 21,000 CFS for several days to lessen downstream flooding. As downstream flows recede, releases will be increased to about 34,000 CFS by around mid-May.”

The Corps’ monthly report shows mountain snowpack runoff into the basin is now peaking.

(Radio Iowa)

The remains of a Kossuth County sailor who died at the start of World War Two are finally coming home. Fireman 1st Class William H. Kennedy was killed aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 but his remains were not properly identified until earlier this year.

Kennedy’s remains will now be brought back to Iowa this week for proper burial as planeside honors will be conducted on the tarmac of the Des Moines International Airport Thursday with funeral services in his hometown of Titonka on Friday.

Kennedy was identified by Department of Defense program started in 2015 to use DNA analysis to identify remains from the Oklahoma.

(Radio Iowa)

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

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Officials with the Creston Police Department report three Creston residents were arrested Saturday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. 34-year old Erin Wallace was arrested for Domestic Assault. She was later released on $300 bond.

30-year old Ian Adamson and 37-year old Ronnee Abel, both of Creston, were arrested Saturday for Trespass. Their bonds were set at $1,000 each.

And, an Ankeny man reported to Creston Police Saturday evening, that sometime last month, someone vandalized his truck while it was parked at 901 N. Birch Street. Parts were also removed from the vehicle. The loss was estimated at $2,000 altogether.

The area’s top news at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) – An apartment building fire has displaced 14 residents in Marshalltown. The fire was reported around 11:20 p.m. Friday at The Villager apartments. It took firefighters 4 1/2 hours to control the blaze in the three-story building, which dates back to the 1870s.

No injuries to residents or firefighters have been reported. The fire cause is being investigated. In April 2013 an accidental fire that started on the third floor caused an estimated $75,000 in damage.

The annual Police Officer Memorial Ceremony held Friday was one of mixed emotions for one the families who saw their son honored. Urbandale officer Justin Martin’s name was added to the memorial with three other officers who were killed in the line of duty. Martin was ambushed and shot to death on November 2nd while on patrol. His mother Jayne Martin says the ceremony honoring her son and the other officers was heartwarming, but she also felt sadness as she continues to deal with his death.

“The second (of May) was the six-month mark and that was kind of hard. I celebrated a birthday without him. I try to go on walks in the walk park where he loved to play and just be alone and thank God for taking care of him,” Martin says.

Justin’s father Randy says the ceremony brings a lot of emotions back up as they work through the grieving process.  “Some of the friends that we have up north who have lost their children have told us that we are not living in a whole different norm,” Martin says. “And you take sometimes one minute at a time — sometimes one hour at a time — it is very difficult. We miss him, but we can’t change the facts though.”

The Martins are from Rockwell City and he says the community support all around has been a big help in dealing with the loss. “It’s unbelievable what Urbandale’s done, even the Des Moines metro, and then when we go back up home to Rockwell City the surrounding communities, schools, everybody is around us — and that really helps,” he says. “Our students, they’re doing an honor challenge on May 10th. It’s a workout from Crossfit that Justin loved to do. All the students in our school k-through12 are going to be doing that. It is a great honor that we have that kind of support as well as the support of Urbandale as well. We couldn’t ask for more.”

The City of Urbandale named a reading room at the public library after Justin. “I looked on Facebook the other day, and there were two chairs in Justin’s room in the library for us, you know they were there for us,” Jayne Martin says. “It was just so heartwarming to feel, the emotions went through, but it was like oh my goodness.”

Mrs. Martin says the memorial ceremony brought some of those same feelings. The ceremony features honor guards of officers from around the state in full dress uniforms, and she says it is something her son would have loved. “Yes, whether it was Boy Scouts or being a policeman or whatever he did, he did it for,” she paused and her husband said “Something bigger than himself,” and she said “Yes.”

Justin Martin was just 24 years old when he died. Des Moines officer Anthony Bemino was shot to death a short time later by the same man accused of killing Martin.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak, Sunday afternoon, arrested a man on an assault charge. 55-year old David Lawrence Howe, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 3:45-p.m. in the 400 block of Highland Avenue on a charge of Simple Assault. Howe was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.