Sheriff’s officials in Union County say a woman from Adair was arrested last Friday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a warrant for Probation Violation.  41-year old Virginia Jean Keasey, was being held without bond for Union County, in the Ringgold County Jail, until she appears before a magistrate.

Police in Glenwood arrested a woman Sunday for unlawful possession of a prescription drug. 35-year old Crystal McCann, of Glenwood, was being held in the Mills County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Montgomery County Auditor Stephanie Burke says the Montgomery County Courthouse will be closing at 3-p.m. Wednesday, April 27th, for employee training in what to do in the event of an armed intruder. Staff will be experiencing the active shooter response training known as “A.L.I.C.E.” (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate). ALICE teaches individuals to participate in their own survival, while leading others to safety.

Burke notes also, that there is a possibility that there will be a quorum of Board of Supervisors on hand for the event.

Cass County Sheriff Darby McLaren issued a statement this (Monday) morning specifically with regard to law enforcement’s battle with prescription drug abuse. McLaren said “When deputies and/or officers are making contact with people for driving infractions, arrests, or any other incident where law enforcement has a reason to search individuals–especially young people–we are finding prescription pills.

When asked about these drugs, the individuals DO NOT have prescriptions for them. They often claim that they are holding them for a friend or family member. The truth is they are abusing these drugs. These people are being arrested for possession of these prescription drugs and many times for operating a vehicle while impaired by these drugs.”

McLaren goes on to say “Through conversation with the young individuals we have arrested for prescription drug abuse, we have learned of a huge misconception many hold. Many people assume prescription drugs are not as dangerous as the street drugs and that the penalties for abusing them are not as high.

Prescription drug abuse is growing rapidly because of accessibility. Our youth can find these drugs in their own medicine cabinets, and if not there, in the medicine cabinet of a family member. Parents, grandparents, and other family members must be aware of the temptations that exist in their medicine cabinets and be responsible for the prescription itself. That involves taking the drug in its entirety or responsibly ridding of the excess pills.”

The Sheriff says “Our youth know that more often than not, adults will not notice a missing pill or even an old bottle of pills from the cabinet. We have also become aware of the troubling fact that drug dealers are approaching our youth and offering them money to steal a family member’s prescription drugs. Drug dealers and drug seekers are often willing to pay a very large sum of money which is very tempting for young people not to pass up. Drug dealers are aware of people in the community who have recently had surgery, been ill, or take medication for sleeping, anxiety, or attention disorders.”

McLaren says “The drugs we most commonly see abused are painkillers such as Oxycodone or Hydrocodone, stimulants like Adderall or Ritalin, and depressants such as Xanax or Valium.” He added that “The numbers in Cass County reflect the growing problem we are facing. Our officer with specific drug impairment training identified 17 drug-impaired drivers in 2010. That number has consistently increased over the past five years. In 2015, that officer identified 43 drug-impaired drivers. While that number does include drivers impaired by meth and marijuana, since 2010, 204 people have been arrested for drug impaired driving. Forty-four of those drivers were impaired by prescription drugs.”

Sheriff McLaren says “A rural location such as Cass County should not have a deputy with drug impaired OWI statistics higher than large cities such as Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, or other college towns in the state.” He said he issued the statement “To alert parents and grandparents, and to motivate you to take notice. Take inventory and monitor the prescription drugs in your homes. Store the drugs in a place where they are not easily accessed. Dispose of your expired or unused prescriptions. The Atlantic Police Department has a box located in its lobby where you can dispose of your prescriptions safely.”

McLaren says “This is a problem in Cass County. Please do your part to minimize it.”

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

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(Podcast) KJAN Morning News & funeral report, 4/25/2016

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

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KINGSLEY, Iowa (AP) – A northwest Iowa church is selling its old next-door parsonage for $1, but the buyer has to move it. Sioux City television station KTIV reports that parish leaders decided two years ago that a new parsonage would be bought, so the building that’s housed pastors since 1923 will be sold. It cost $11,000 to build.

Parish leaders say they just want the house to go to people who will love it as parish members have. The parish has received a couple of offers, but nothing is set yet.

A traffic stop early this (Monday) morning, in Council Bluffs, resulted in a chase, brief foot pursuit, and arrest. Authorities say just before 12:30-a.m., a Council Bluffs Police Officer observed a gray Hyundai Tiburon run a red light at a high rate of speed with its headlights off at S. 24th St and I-80. The officer initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle, but the driver refused to yield. The car continued east on Interstate 80 to Madison Ave.

Andre Shupe

Officers were advised the same vehicle had eluded the Nebraska State Patrol a short time prior to being spotted in Council Bluffs. Police were able to deploy stop sticks at S. 1st St and Pierce St causing the driver’s side tires to deflate. The vehicle then turned west onto Kanesville Blvd and continued west to 17th St and W. Broadway where it tried to turn south and became high centered on the curb.

The suspect driver, later identified as 28-year old Andre Shupe, of Council Bluffs, then ran south before being caught by officers. Shupe was transported to Pottawattamie County Jail where he was charged with Reckless Driving, Operating While Intoxicated, Possession of a Controlled Substance and numerous other traffic offenses.

Three people were arrested Sunday night in Montgomery County, on Theft-related charges. Red Oak Police arrested 24-year old Kristopher James Koon, of Red Oak, at around 10:05-p.m. on a Montgomery County warrant for Contempt of Court, on an original charge of Theft in the 5th Degree. Koon was being held at the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center on $300 bond.

And, Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County arrested 37-year old Joanie Lynn Mohn, of Red Oak, and 31-year old Tyanna Karee Monrreal Robles, of Bellevue, NE., at around 8:30-p.m. Sunday, for Theft in the 4th Degree. Their arrests were the result of an investigation into alleged shoplifting at the Red Oak K-Mart Store. Red Oak Police assisted in making the arrests.

The Iowa House and Senate are starting what is likely to be the final week of the 2016 legislative session today (Monday). Final decisions must be made on the next state budget, while advocates continue to lobby for expanded state investment in water quality measures and an expanded medical marijuana law.

House Republicans and Senate Democrats must resolve their dispute over the G-O-P aim to “defund” Planned Parenthood. Republican Representative Dave Heaton of Mount Pleasant says this has been a fight in the legislature in each of the past five years. “I am not going to predict the outcome,” Heaton says. “I can’t.” Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake sees a clear path to resolving the final “sticking points” in the budget.

“We’ll continue to work our way through that and get those issues resolved, but we will resolve them,” Upmeyer says. “We always do.” Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey says farmers need “significantly” more state grant money to install conservation measures in their fields, but Northey doesn’t expect major action from this year’s legislature. “It will be a lost opportunity,” Northey says. According to Northey, the threat of federal regulation and a Des Moines Water Works lawsuit challenging the way three northwest Iowa counties manage farm chemical run-off has “gotten people’s attention.”

“We’ve seen so much engagement by farmers and groups and cities and other organizations out there that are engaging in water quality,” Northey says, “sense there’s a momentum to make these kinds of improvements that the legislature is sensing that some dollars could do some good.” More than 20-million dollars is already set aside in the legislature’s current budget plan for water quality measures. House Republicans voted last week to redirect currently-collected state taxes on water usage and casinos to water improvement projects. Northey, who is a Republican, favors that plan because it doesn’t raise new taxes. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs says the House G-O-P plan “isn’t much of a solution.”

“The House plan pits water quality against every other priority in state government because it produces no new revenue and, in fact, steals existing revenue that comes to the state,” Gronstal says, “which makes it hard to fund education.” There are a handful of other issues that may be resolved before lawmakers adjourn for the year. Gronstal says that includes legislation to establish new state oversight of private boarding schools.

“I think it would be horrible to leave a situation where people can establish facilities to allegedly take care of kinds and where really bad things go on,” Gronstal says. The Midwest Academy in Keokuk and Montrose was closed in January after allegations of sex abuse surfaced. A group of advocates continue to press lawmakers to set up a state-sanctioned production and distribution network for medical marijuana. They want Iowans with a variety of illnesses and conditions to be able to use it.

Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake says there are “many ideas” but no consensus on the issue. “There are people with interests in that and there have been discussions, so we’ll see how it goes,” Upmeyer says. Upmeyer believes the state should wait for the federal government to act and set a uniform national policy for medical marijuana.

(Radio Iowa)