The Atlantic Rotary Club will hold its 36^th annual Auction November 17th, at the Cass County Community Center.  Proceeds from the auction have been used to fund local projects, scholarships and a number of other community needs.

Over the history of the Auction Club officials said the funds raised were put back into the community in many different ways. Investments in the past have included restoration of Santa’s Cabin in City Park,  in the construction of the Cass County Community Center, Iowa Western and Atlantic School District scholarships, to name a few. Requests for funds are reviewed and awarded by the Rotary Board.

This year’s Auction will follow the traditional format according to Rotary President, Ted Robinson. A formal dinner with wine will kick off the evening and bidding opened on several “silent auction” items. This will be followed by an open-bidding auction of several packages of items put together by the Committee headed by Dolly Bergmann. “Such items include hosted dinners, trips, hunting adventures, mountain condominium use, just to name a few,” said Robinson. “Dolly and her crew do a great job of putting together some unique and fun items to bid on. It’s always a fun evening.”

Rotary members will also be selling raffle tickets for prizes of $500, $1000 and $1500, with drawings for those prizes held throughout the evening. This year’s net raffle proceeds will fund the Cass County Fairgrounds Food Stand – Kitchen Air Conditioning project. Rotarians and the Cass County Extension have raffle tickets for sale for $20 per chance, six for $100.

The Auction is open to the public. Tickets ($30 per person) may be purchased from any Rotarian.  Those tables can be reserved by contacting Robinson at First Whitney Bank and Trust.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Public Health reports preliminary data shows the number of deaths involving opioids fell from 137 to 89 in the first eight months of this year compared to the same time period last year. The director of the department’s Opioid Initiatives, Kevin Gabbert, says several factors are involved in the drop. “Expanded access to Naloxone — which is the opioid reversal drug — and it’s also been things like expansion of medication assisted treatment. We’ve had great legislative support in creating new legislation to address the issue. We’ve had expanded use of the Prescription Monitoring Program,” Gabbert says.

While the opioid-related deaths have dropped, Gabbert says it is only a start on addressing the problem. “It’s difficult for us to hang our hat on that fact that we are down to 89 — because 89 is still too many. One is too many,” according to Gabbert. “And when you think about the family member of friends who have been affected by an opioid overdose — to tell them that things are better, I really don’t think provides enough support.”

The second National Drug Take Back day was Saturday, as Iowans turned in thousands of unneeded prescription drugs. Gabbert says that is another effort that can help cut opioid deaths. “Where we’re seeing the most significant increase in the number of overdoses is among the elicit substances. So things like fentanyl,carfentanil,” Gabbert explains. “What we know is that four out of five individuals who first used heroin started with a prescription painkiller. The problem is, the majority of those individuals that prescription painkiller wasn’t one that was prescribed to them. That means it was a surplus of somebody else’s supply that was made available to them.”

The number of opioid-related deaths started climbing in 2000 when there were 23, and rose steadily to a high of 206 in 2017. Gabbert says state, local and federal officials have worked together on the various programs to address the rise. He says those efforts are still continuing. Gabbert says last week President Trump signed the Support for Patients and Communities act, which he says further expands efforts for treatment, recovery and prevention and fighting fentanyl.

He says this is preliminary data and all the numbers aren’t finalized until four to six months after the year ends. That means the effort is far from done. Gabbert says there’s lots of help available Get help at Your-Life-Iowa-dot org (YourLifeIowa.org). There’s a variety of resources available there in addition to live individuals that they can talk with about their issues and also receive referral information for treatment services.”

(Radio Iowa) — A book about the struggles and rewards of family farming is the pick for the 2019 All Iowa Reads program. It’s called “This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm.” Helen Dagley, a research librarian at the State Library of Iowa who oversees All Iowa Reads, says the author Ted Genoways is a fourth-generation Nebraskan, but he used to live in Iowa City and got one of his degrees from the University of Iowa. “Our current choice for 2019 is about the land and good use of the land and water and resources and things like that,” Dagley says. “All of those things and more are of common interest to both states.”

For the first time, the same book will also be read next year in the state next door as part of “One Book One Nebraska,” which operates much like All Iowa Reads. Dagley says, “The two states have so many things in common, including the author who loves both states and writes words that will resonate with both sets of readers.”

The goal of All Iowa Reads is to create a sense of unity through reading by encouraging Iowans to come together in their communities to read and talk about a single book title in the same year. Libraries, book clubs, schools and other local organizations are encouraged to sponsor discussions of the title.

“It will give rise to discussions within the people who are reading it whether they are farmers themselves or city dwellers,” Dagley says. “The issues from the farms really resonate with people who are living in the city when it comes to crop production and clean water and different things we see in the headlines almost daily.”

The two programs picked a joint selection for the upcoming year as the combined Iowa and Nebraska Library Associations Conference will be held in Omaha in the fall of 2019. Genoways lives outside Lincoln and his book tells the story of a farm family from harvest to harvest, facing challenges from rising corporate ownership, encroaching pipelines, groundwater depletion, climate change and shifting trade policies.

On the web at https://www.iowacenterforthebook.org/

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese in Iowa has hidden for decades a priest’s admission that he sexually abused dozens of boys, a silence that may have put other children in danger. The Associated Press has learned that the Rev. Jerome Coyle, now 85, was stripped of his parish assignments in the 1980s but has never been defrocked or publicly identified by the church as a pedophile, even though the Diocese of Sioux City has been aware of his conduct for 32 years.
He recently moved into a retirement home in Fort Dodge, Iowa, across the street from a parochial school. He refuses to comment. A diocese letter obtained by the AP shows that Coyle told the bishop in 1986 that he had victimized 50 youngsters over a 20-year period. The diocese says it will respond later in the day Wednesday.

(Radio Iowa) — An historic landmark in Elk Horn is getting a major facelift this week. A Danish Windmill, originally built in 1848, is being outfitted with a new cap, sails, and other components so the mill will be turning in the wind again for the first time in two years. Lisa Steen Riggs, general manager of the Danish Windmill, says big problems were discovered in 2016 when the mill’s sails stopped turning.  “We found wood rot where the two 66-foot sails cross,” Riggs said. “We knew we had to get them to the ground before they fell to the ground.”

Work on the installation of the windmill sails

A massive crane arrived on Monday to place a 15,000-pound mill turret with the cap frame, wind shaft, brake wheel, and fantail on the top of the windmill. The sails that are being replaced today (Wednesday) were installed as new when the windmill arrived in Elk Horn 42 years ago. You can follow their progress in videos posted on the Danish Windmill page on Facebook, or millcam.metc.net.

The entire project carries a price tag of roughly $200,000. Volunteers are doing most of the work and donors are paying for the parts and specialized labor. “It’s been quite a project, we’re still about $80,000 short in our fundraising, but it’s been a labor of love for the community,” Riggs said.

The installation of all the new components for the Danish Windmill will be completed just in time for a 9th annual dinner and auction happening this Saturday to support the project. “We hope to raise around $15,000,” Riggs said. “We’ve raised as much as $17,000 at our annual event. It’s just a constant asking for donations, which we don’t like, but it’s something to restore this nonprofit museum so it’s back in working condition.”

Elk Horn and the neighboring town of Kimballton are the two largest rural Danish settlements in the United States. Combined, around 1,000 people live in the two communities. According to Riggs, last year, over 57,000 people visited the Danish Windmill in Elk Horn – which is located six miles north of Interstate 80 in Shelby County.

The Atlantic Police Department reports two arrests took place earlier this week. On Tuesday, 19-year old Spenser Denison, of Atlantic, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault. And, on Monday, 52-year old Mark Winston, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication, as well as Theft in the 4th Degree. Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail.