Police in Atlantic say a man was arrested Monday for Domestic Abuse Assault. Officials say 28-year old Casey Sampson, Jr., of Atlantic, was booked into the Cass County Jail.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a Shannon City man was arrested Monday, on three Union County warrants. 28-year old Jeffery Michael Hoffman was taken into custody on two warrants for probation violation and one for harassment in the 1^st degree.  Hoffman was transported from the Adams County Jail to the Union County Jail, where he was being held on $12,000 bond.

The field and grassland Fire Danger category in Shelby County has been reduced from “High,” to “Moderate“. The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency reports most of the crops in the county have been harvested, reducing the availability of fuel sources. Regardless, if you are planning any large burns, the Emergency Management officials say you should still contact your local fire chief, or call the EMA office at 712-755-2124.

The U-S-D-A is awarding more than four-million dollars in grants to 48 veterinarians serving rural communities in Iowa and elsewhere. The money aims to help them repay some of their veterinary school loans in return for serving in areas lacking veterinary resources. Dr. Phil Reemstma, a veterinarian in DeWitt, says this is an important step in getting young veterinarians out into rural America.

“The debt that these students are coming out of college with now and what we’re able to pay them, there’s a pretty significant amount of debt there,” Reemstma says. “When the U.S. government can help them repay some of their loans and provide incentives for them to go into these rural communities, it’s really a big deal.”

On average, student veterinarians have an average loan debt of more than 135-thousand dollars. Reemtsma, who’s president of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, says he has experience with the U-S-D-A program and says it has worked well in the past. “There was a four-county area here that, three years ago, was designated as needing veterinarians,” he says. “I hired a veterinarian into my practice and he was able to participate in that program. It helped him out quite a bit and it helped eastern Iowa to bring veterinarians to our area.”

The focus for many veterinarians today, he says, is shifting and there’s a demand for those kinds of skills. “The veterinarians’ role has continued to evolve into more disease prevention and focused on preventive type medicine,” Reemtsma says. “Not that we don’t go and work on sick animals, but a lot of what we do every day is production-oriented any more. There’s a real need for those type of people.”

The latest U-S-D-A grant of four-point-three-million dollars aims to help fill the veterinary shortage in Iowa and 26 other states.

(Radio Iowa)

Cass County Assessor Brenda Nelson has announced the Assessor’s Office will be closed next Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 15th and 16th), for continuing education. If you have any business to conduct at the Assessor’s Office next week, you may do so on Monday, Thursday or Friday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Another judge has recused himself from handling the case of a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper who is charged in the drowning of a handcuffed Iowa man. The Kansas City Star reports Morgan County Circuit Judge Stan Moore announced the decision Monday without explanation during a hearing for Anthony Piercy. Moore is the third judge to recuse himself, an action that will delay the case.

Piercy was charged last year with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Brandon Ellingson, an Arizona State University student from suburban Des Moines. The 20-year-old went into the water in 2014 as Piercy was transporting him from the Lake of the Ozarks on suspicion of boating while intoxicated. Witnesses have said that Ellingson was wearing an improperly secured life jacket that slipped off.

PERRY, Iowa (AP) – Court documents show a Perry woman and her teenage daughter died from repeated blows with a machete. The Des Moines Register reports criminal complaints filed against 25-year old Carlos Marlo Hernandez-Ventura, who is suspected in the killings, show his 34-year-old girlfriend, Lourdes Flor De Leake, and her 14-year-old daughter, Melany Elizabeth Barraza, died after suffering numerous cuts with a machete. A 78-year-old man injured in the Oct. 29 attack, Juan Jimenez Tejeda, also suffered machete cuts.

Police charged Hernandez-Ventura with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder after he knocked on the door of the police station in Morrison, Illinois, and sought help for a hand injury. A hearing for Hernandez-Ventura is set for Nov. 10.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office is reporting several, recent arrests. On Monday, 39-year old John James Ring, of Underwood, was arrested on a warrant out of Council Bluffs, for Probation Violation. Sunday night, a Pott. County deputy arrested 32-year old Edwin Caceres, Jr., of Fremont, NE., for OWI/1st offense. Caceres was also cited for failure to dim his headlights.

Sunday afternoon, 22-year old Raistlin Scott Rodenburg, and 23-year old Colton John Hildredth, both of Council Bluffs, were arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, following a traffic stop for speeding. Hildreth was given a citation, and released, while Rodenburg was arrested for Driving While Revoked.

Early Sunday morning, 30-year old Joseph James Ausdemore, of Minden, was arrested following a traffic stop in Underwood. Ausdemore was charged with OWI/2nd offense. 44-year old Patrick C. Endriss, of Missouri Valley, was arrested Nov. 4th following a traffic stop, and charged with OWI/2nd offense. A Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) put his Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) at .241, or three times the legal limit for intoxication. Endriss was also cited for Improper Use of Lanes.

Also arrested Nov. 4th, was 31-year old Lori Ann Morgan, of Council Bluffs. She was taken into custody on a Council Bluffs P-D warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree. And, 66-year old Franklin Dean Jensen, of Neola, was arrested for OWI/2nd Offense, and Driving While Revoked. His arrest followed a traffic stop at Noon on Nov. 4th, along Interstate 80 in Pottawattamie County.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors will act on two funding requests during their regular meeting Wednesday morning, in Atlantic. The Board will hear a request for $500 for the 10th Annual National Crime Victims’ Rights week gala set for April 11th, 2017. The County is one of nine counties in 4th Judicial District expected to participate in the event and related funding. The Board will also hear an annual report from the County Library Association, and request for Fiscal Year 2018 funding. In January, the Board granted the Library Association $600 more per year, per library, beginning with the 2017 Fiscal Year that began in July.

The Board will also discuss amending the Amaizing Energy Urban Renewal Area Ordinance. Their meeting begins at 8:30-a.m. in the boardroom at the Cass County Courthouse.

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

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