Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer, today (Friday), advises it’s that time of the year where residents find door to door out-of-the-area sales / contractors knocking on their doors. Palmer says also, “This is a reminder that you should ALWAYS check with the better business bureau or similar agencies PRIOR to agreeing to or signing any contracts with these people.”

He adds, “Make sure the work is EXACTLY what you believe it will be. Every year residents have work done by these traveling persons / companies and don’t get the work, or quality of work that they think they will get. Once these people / companies have completed the work and are gone,” he says “it is almost impossible to recoup any losses for services performed or not performed. In the past false identifications / company names have been used.”

The Sheriff stresses once again, to “ask for references and check them out. Do not fall for pressure sales because they are usually too good to be true.”

(Radio Iowa) — An eastern Iowa state trooper is glad he’s kept a little used piece of equipment ready to go after it was needed to save the life of a rider on RAGBRAI, Wednesday. Trooper Bob Conrad told K-C-R-G- T-V he was doing traffic control when riders told him they saw someone who was struggling. “Myself and another trooper responded to that area. As I was just climbing into the car I heard someone saying ‘they are doing C-P-R,” Conrad says. Conrad pulled out his portable defibrillator (AED) that he always carries with him. “Started doing the shock with the A-E-D. Gave him one shock, continued on with C-P-R and then it advised for another shock,” according to Conrad.

Trooper Bob Conrad (Photo courtesy KCRG via Radio IA)

The man’s heart started beating again after the second shock and trooper Conrad says he was taken to the hospital. Conrad told K-C-R-G T-V that he ordered a special batter for the device last month. He says he wanted it to be fresh and ready to go. “I have that in my car for years and not had a need for it,” Conrad says.

Conrad said it’s great to be able to save a life rather than tell a family member someone has lost theirs. The rider has been identified as 62-year-old Greg Abbey from Washington state. He is currently hospitalized in serious condition.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) — An Iowa man police say came to Rhode Island with a backpack full of burglary tools to visit singer Taylor Swift has been held without bail pending a competency hearing. 32-year-old David Page Liddle was held at a court hearing Thursday, after authorities said there were concerns he was a flight risk and had previously been accused of stalking Swift. He had been held on $10,000 bail after his arrest July 19 not far from Swift’s beachfront mansion.

The Des Moines man is charged with possession of burglary tools and possession of a weapon other than a firearm. Police Chief Shawn Lacey says Liddle told officers he was looking to “catch up” with Swift and knew her personally. Liddle’s public defender had no comment.

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man suspected in two 2007 Chicago slayings has been found near Des Moines. The U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release Friday that members of the Southern Iowa Fugitive Task Force spotted 33-year-old Conny Miles Jr. driving Thursday afternoon near what was believed to be his residence in West Des Moines. Officers followed him to a convenience store in Clive, where he was taken into custody without incident. Chicago police had obtained an arrest warrant for him in June.

Miles is being held at the Polk County Jail in Des Moines while awaiting extradition to Chicago.

A operator of a Moped was injured Thursday evening, when he was hit by a pickup truck, in Creston. Police in Creston say 31-year old Jesse Daniel Meggison, of Creston, was transported by EMS ambulance to the Greater Regional Medical Center, for treatment of suspected serious and/or incapacitating injuries. The accident happened at around 6:15-p.m. at the intersection of W. Union and S. Elm Streets.

Authorities say the Moped was stopped at the stop sign on Union Street, while a 2013 Ford F-150 pickup driven by 62-year old Rebecca Joanne Barrans, of Lenox, was traveling north on Elm.  Barrans noticed there was a line of cars that were stopped and waiting for the railroad crossing arms to raise, ahead of her. Meggison wanted to turn west onto Union Street. He proceeded to travel north on the opposite side of the road and attempted to turn left, onto Union Street.

Barrans said she did not see the Moped, and hit the left side of the machine with the left side of her pickup. Meggison told authorities he was thrown off his Moped, which sustained about $300 damage. The pickup sustained minor damage (amounting to about $50). No citations were issued.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office today (Friday), reports 36-year old Amanda Marie Vacanti, of Omaha, was served with a warrant Thursday afternoon, for being a Fugitive From Justice. Vacanti is an inmate at the Pott. County Jail. After being served with the Douglas County, NE. warrant, Vacanti was turned back over to Corrections Staff. A prisoner at the Douglas County, NE., jail. 36-year old Christina Dawn Short, of Carter Lake, was transported to the Pott. County Jail, Thursday, to address a warrant for Violation of Probation.

A man being held in the Washington County, NE., jail, was transported to the Pott. County Jail, Thursday afternoon. 22-year old Tyler James Moss, of Council Bluffs, was wanted on State of Iowa warrants for Escape from Custody and Violation of Parole. His bond on the escape warrant was set at $1,000. And, 32-year old Jeremy Shane Kuhl, of Wahoo, NE., was transported from the Lincoln, NE., Diagnostic & Evaluation Center to the Pottawattamie County Jail, Thursday morning. Kuhl was wanted on a Pott. County warrant for Violation of Probation.