Two people were arrested on separate charges Monday, in Atlantic. The A-PD reports 28-year old Jacky Walter, of Atlantic, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault causing bodily injury. Walter was booked into the Cass County Jail. And, 17-year old Damian Sibbits, of Greene, was arrested on a charge of Harassment in the 1st Degree. Sibbits was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center, in Council Bluffs.

A man from Creston was arrested Saturday morning on a harassment charge. Creston Police report 52-year old Kirby Jay Konkler was arrested just before 5-a.m. Satureday at the Super 8 Motel on Highway 34 in Creston. Konkler was taken into custody on a Union County warrant for Harassment in the 1st Degree. He was later released on $2,000 bond.

More area news w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The 7:07-a.m. report w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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The Buck Creek Dog Park at the Schildberg Recreation Area in Atlantic is closer to becoming a reality. Over the past month, Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring and Assistant Director Seth Staashelm have been working with Snyder and Associates Engineers to come up with a site plan for the park, and devised a conceptual layout.

Atlantic Parks & Rec Director Roger Herring talks about the Schildberg Rec Area Dog Park site plan. (Ric Hanson/photo)

Herring told the Parks Board Monday night, that the next step is to contact local vendors of fencing materials to determine the cost and availability of the material. Thanks to $10,000 grant from the Cass County Community Foundation, Herring said the off-leash dog park will be enclosed in a chain-link fence, which the grant will take care of nearly two-thirds of the cost for. The rest will be paid for through the department’s Capital Projects funds.

The nearly three-acre park will be divided into areas for large and small dogs, providing ample space for them to run and play. Herring said the plan is to have the dog park open sometime around Memorial Day.

Buck Creek Dog Park site plan at the Schildberg Rec Area. (Click on image to enlarge)

Herring said also, a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant in the amount of $103,000 has been approved from the Iowa Department of Transportation, with regard to the Lake #2 Trail at the Schildberg Recreation Area. The project is expected to cost $134,000. The Atlantic City Council, in February, had agreed to sponsor the grant application with a $26,800 commitment for the project.

In other news, construction on the replacement Kiddie Korral Shelter at Sunnyside Park is expected to be completed by around Sept. 15th, and the Camblin Shelter refurbishment project at Sunnyside Park,should be wrapped-up by around May 15th. Staashelm reported to the Parks Board, Monday, that pieces for the recycled plastic, cedar colored park benches to be located in the Senior Activity Area at Sunnyside have arrived, and are in the process of being assembled. He said also and ADA compliant drinking fountain has been installed near the tennis courts, and is being used a lot. The stylish foundation is equipped with a jug filling outlet, in addition to bubblers for water dispensing.

Employees of five businesses in Council Bluffs were cited for selling alcohol to minors, during a check conducted last Friday. Members of the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force conducted an undercover operation into the illegal sale of booze to minors at nine businesses. The sting was conducted with the assistance of two females, ages 18 and 19.

The businesses cited for selling alcohol to minors and their employees include: Driftwood Inn/35-year old Michelle Hamilton, of Omaha; Oskies for Sports/24-year old Hannah Dolson, of Council Bluffs; Victory Sports Bar/39-year old Rueben Serenil, of Omaha; Hounds Lounge/23-year old Makayla May, of Carter Lake; and T’z Bar/38-year old Timothy Evans, of Council Bluffs.

The four bars found to be in compliance with the law include: BadonkaRonks, Big Al’s, J&B’s Lounge, and the O’Face Bar, all in Council Bluffs.

A Red Oak man was arrested at around 9:30-p.m. Monday. Police say 45-year old Mark Douglas Berggren was taken into custody in the 1900 block of Sunnyslope Drive, in Red Oak, for Violation of a No Contact Order. Berggren was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County report the arrest of a woman on a drug charge. Authorities say 26-year old Vanessa Rae Jones, of Nodaway, was at residence in Corning on April 13th, when a search warrant was executed at the home just before 11-a.m. on that date. Jones told deputies she had used meth, and consented to a urine sample at the Sheriff’s Office. The results of the test showed positive for the use of methamphetamine. Jones was charged with Possession of Meth and held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

And, on April 11th, Adams County Sheriff’s deputies took a report of an under age party. Found at the home located on Orange Avenue in Corning, were open containers of alcohol and several, under age individuals. A small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia was also located. Officials say 18-year old’s Jacob Benjamin Wilson and Christian Leroy Bohn, of Corning, face Possession of Marijuana and Drug Paraphernalia, charges. Their bonds were set at $1,300.

Some farmers were able to get the planters rolling last week. The U-S-D-A’s weekly crop report shows farmers used some warmer weather to get into the fields and seven percent of the corn crop is now planted. The report says the planting is four days ahead of normal compared to last year — but right at what the state has seen in the five-year average.

Nearly one-third of the State’s expected oat crop was planted during the week, third highest percentage seeded for the third week of April in 20 years. Seventy-four percent of the oat crop has been planted, over two weeks ahead of last year, and one week ahead of the average. Some areas are seeing faster planting of corn than others. Iowa State University extension agronomist, Angie Reik-Hinz, monitors nine counties from Hamilton to Cerro Gordo.

“Right around Webster City, Fort Dodge, Stanhope, Stratford area, we’re seeing a lot of corn in the ground. Maybe upwards of thirty to forty percent,” Reik-Hinz says. The temperature has kept some parts of the state from keeping up early on. “As we move a little further east, it’s a little bit less corn in the ground, and as we go north it significantly tapers off. It’s been a lot colder and wetter up north.”

Another I-S-U agronomist, Mark Licht, in Ames, has also heard a lot of different results when it comes to planting progress. “Reports of farmers who are either 100-percent done, 50-percent done or maybe, three-four-five percent,” Licht says. He also has found central Iowa saw the most progress. “From where I’m getting my reports, it seems like really the area west of Ames — kind of between Ames and Carroll — was where a lot of the progress was made before the rains finally came on Saturday,” according to Licht”

The U-S-D-A crop report says north-central and west-central Iowa have the highest soil moisture reserves, with ninety-to-one-hundred-percent adequate to surplus moisture.

(Radio Iowa)