Iowa artists who want to work on a grand scale are urged to apply for the opportunity to paint a large mural highlighting conservation and water quality efforts in Iowa. The mural will be created during the Iowa State Fair in August. Dustin Vande Hoef, a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture, explains the goal of the project:

“We really want to showcase all of the aspects of Iowa agriculture,” Vande Hoef says. “Certainly, the livestock production, the beef and pork and dairy, the turkey production, the eggs as well, but also, the corn and soybeans as well as the specialty crops like grapes.”

The mural should serve as a visual representation of the commitment by Iowa farmers to protecting the land and improving water quality. It will be created on a six-panel, eight-by-24-foot wall in the Agricultural Building during the state fair.

Vande Hoef says, “We see it as an opportunity to highlight Iowa agriculture and the conservation and water quality efforts that are underway on our farms, in our rural small towns and in our cities.” At least a portion of the mural must be painted during the state fair, which runs August 11th through the 21st, including at least two hours each day between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Artists need to apply by July 1st. In addition to being seen by perhaps hundreds of thousands of fairgoers, there’s cash compensation, too.

“The ag groups have provided $1,500 to support the artist and an additional $500 to purchase supplies, so we want to encourage artists to apply,” Vande Hoef says. “We have all of the information on our website at IowaAgriculture.gov under ‘Hot Topics.'” Besides the state ag department, the project is being sponsored by: the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Iowa Turkey Federation, Iowa Egg Council, Iowa Beef Industry Council, Midwest Dairy Association, Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Soybean Association.

(Radio Iowa)

Forbes magazine is out with its list of the richest residents in each state and an agri-businessman from Adel is listed as Iowa’s richest person. Seventy-four-year-old Harry Stine is the founder of Stine Seed. He started experimenting with corn and soybean genetics in the 1960s and got patents on key soybean genetics in the 1990s. Forbes pegs Stine’s net worth at three-point-six billion dollars. The magazine’s website says Stine drives a Ford F-150 pick-up and lives in a small home near the Stine Seed headquarters.

Investment guru Warren Buffet is the richest person in Nebraska. South Dakota’s richest resident is a banker. The part-owner of Cargill is the richest person in Minnesota. Wisconsin’s richest person founded the Menard’s chain of home improvement stores. The richest person in Illinois is a hedge fund manager and Missouri’s richest person owns the St. Louis Rams, but recently struck a deal to move the team to Los Angeles.

(Radio Iowa)

A traffic stop Wednesday afternoon in Fremont County resulted in the arrest of two men on charges of Harboring a Runaway. At around 3:15-p.m., a deputy with the Fremont County K9 Unit stopped a black 1999 Honda Accord for a registration violation near the 15-mile marker of southbound Interstate 29 near the Percival exit.

During the investigation, it was determined that a 15-year old female located in the vehicle was listed as a missing juvenile out of Granite Falls, MN. Deputies arrested 20-year old Tyjuan Brown and 18-year old Caleb Smith, both of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Harboring a Runaway, an aggravated misdemeanor. Smith was also charged with Possession of Marijuana 2nd Offense. Both men were being held at the Fremont County Jail on $2,000 bond.

Caleb Smith

Tyjuan Brown

The Fremont County K9 and the Iowa Department of Transportation assisted the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office.

Police in Council Bluffs Wednesday afternoon released still frame images of an Isuzu Rodeo believed to have been involved in an accident that sent six people to the hospital Tuesday evening, one of them critically.

Possible suspect vehicle involved in the crash

The accident happened in the 3400 block of Veterans Memorial Highway (VMH) at around 6:22-p.m. Authorities say 29-year old Anna Sanchez, of Omaha,  was driving a 2004 Ford Explorer was eastbound on the VMH, approaching 35th Street, when the suspect vehicle, a red Isuzu Rodeo with a spare tire on the back, pulled out in front of her. To avoid striking the SUV, Sanchez tried to swerve around the vehicle. He SUV began rotating clockwise and entered the south ditch before it rolled over and came to rest on its roof.

There were a total of eight accident victims, all of whom are from Omaha. One of the victims, 16-year old Rosa Sanchez, suffered critical injuries. Seven-year old Gendri Ramirez Sanchez suffered a non-life threatening injury. Both were transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

The driver, and three other passengers ages three, 15 and 17, suffered minor injuries ranging from a bumps and bruises to a broken arm.

The Council Bluffs Police Traffic Unit is conducting an investigation into the crash. Anyone with information regarding the Isuzu Rodeo is asked to contact police at 712‐328‐4948 or 712‐328‐STOP.

A Red Oak man was arrested by Red Oak Police on Wednesday afternoon on a valid Red Oak PD warrant for Breach of Peace.  52-year-old Scottie Allen Cetnar of Red Oak was arrested at 1:38pm in the 100 Block of West Washington Street in Red Oak.  Cetnar was taeken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 cash bond.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, agreed to waive their right to appeal the issuance of a construction permit for Southwest Iowa Egg, near Massena. On May 11^th, the Supervisors approved a Master Matrix scoring application for a construction permit. Southwest Iowa Egg plans to remove of two, older buildings and replace them with a larger, modern facilities that gives the chickens more room and is designed to considerably reduce out-gassing of odors from the manure.

The Board forwarded its recommendation of approval to the Iowa DNR, which, in-turn also approved the application. The DNR then created a draft permit for the Supervisors to either deny or approve. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman read a letter received from the DNR’s Senior Environmental Engineer, with regard to the application. The letter said Southwest Iowa Egg Cooperative has met the legal criteria to issue a construction permit for seven new poultry confinement buildings and one new dry manure storage building.

The Board of Supervisors, according to Sunderman, had the right to appeal the DNR’s statement of recommendation to issue the permit, or they could waive their right to appeal the permit, to expedite the permit process. They chose the latter.

In other business, the Board approved a Sheriff’s Deputies,’ Jailors’ and Sheriff’s Office Assistant bargaining unit agreement for Fiscal Year 2017.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A school for the deaf in Council Bluffs has held its 20th memorial service for deceased students and staff buried on its campus. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Shirley Hicks held a memorial service for the former Iowa School for the Deaf members Tuesday as she told stories about each of the 10 people who were buried on campus between 1879 and 1900. Hicks is a former student and teacher at the school, and she now works as a volunteer to preserve the institution’s history.

The graves were moved in the 1950s to accommodate the widening of a nearby highway. Today, the remains have been relocated to a common casket on the school grounds and marked with a monument. Nine of the headstones are preserved in the school’s museum.

Members of the Cass County Board of Review appeared before the Cass County Board of Supervisors this (Wednesday) morning, to address any concerns they may have, and those of the public, with regard to property assessments in the County. Review Board Chair Melissa Ihnen, said they welcome the opportunity to talk with any taxpayer who has issues with their assessments.

She said “There’s a certain time when a protest can be filed, and we want to make sure that the process continues to be open, or that people can do it [protest], because that’s why that process is there. In the past, we’ve lowered peoples’ assessments, we’ve kept them the same, and in some instances if there’s been major changes to a property we go look at, unfortunately sometimes it does have to be raised to make it like everyone else’s. That’s our goal, is keep all the assessments so we’re doing the same thing to everyone who has a similar type of property. And then we look at the sales.”

She says there are misconceptions out there, about what the Board of Review can do, and how they react to complaints. Ihnen says a taxpayer told them they were told by someone on the Board of Supervisors, that the Board of Review would “Run all over them, if they came and talked to us.” Ihnen says that’s not true, that they are more than happy to help people understand the process and take care of their concerns.

She said the current inventory of homes in Cass County is “Extremely low, lower than it’s been for many, many years, so prices are high. They’re going up, even in two years, we’ve seen big increases in sales prices. Ihnen said the State looks at those prices, and the Assessor’s Office is required to be within a certain percentage of those sales.

She asked the Supervisors to direct persons with complaints or concerns to anyone on the Board of Review. She said they won’t be adversarial and raise your taxes just because you come before them to protest your assessments.

A bridge that was closed in northern Cass County early last month, is once again open to traffic. On April 6^th, Cass County Engineer Charles Marker told the Board of Supervisors high truss bridge #440, located a couple of miles south of Interstate 80 in Pymosa Township near the Buck Creek Church was closed, after an inspection revealed a wooden “pile cap” on the northeast corner of the bridge had shattered, making it unsafe. The repairs to that bridge have since been completed.

Marker told the Board of Supervisors during their meeting this (Wednesday) morning, inspections have revealed two other bridges, however, must be closed. One of those is Bridge #17, which is located about 5-miles south of Massena on Highway 148 and three-quarters of a mile west, on Yankton Road. Marker said the wood bridge pilings are continuing to decay. The bridge is posted for vehicles with a maximum gross weight of three-tons, but Marker says he’s heard from residents in the area, semis are crossing the bridge. He said they’re concerned if it continues to be used in that manner, a vehicle may end-up in the creek.

Bridge 17 is one of two bridges in the County scheduled to be repaired, with the bid-letting to take place in August. The other is Bridge #42 near the Cass/Adams/Montgomery County corner. Marker says the pile cap has begun to rotate, or twisted to the point where it is in danger of collapsing. The bridge is located along a Level B road.

He said also, Gus Construction has completed the concrete pour on a culvert for Bridge #20, located about two-miles south of Highway 92 on County Road N-28, south of Cumberland. Weather permitting, the project, including paving, should be completed by mid-July.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports a man found hiding in the basement of his residence was arrested Tuesday night on a Federal warrant. 46-year old Steven William Wells, of College Springs, was taken into custody for Probation Violation.  Wells was transported to the Page County Jail where he is being held without bond while awaiting transportation by the U.S. Marshall’s service for further court proceedings in Federal court.

Steven Wells