Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report the arrest late Monday night of  a Malvern man. 29-year old Bradley Allen Fink was arrested at around 11:20-p.m. near 5th and Main Streets, in Malvern. He was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. Bond was set at $2,000.

A pink fire truck and Kansas City Chiefs SUV or HumVee-type vehicle will be in Atlantic Thursday evening as part of the “Pink Heals Tour,” to raise awareness and offer support to persons or families of persons with serious illnesses. Atlantic Firefighter Shawn Macha says the tour, with it’s bright pink fire truck, is stopping in Atlantic in-part, to recognize a Riley Slauson, a local 4-year old who was diagnosed last September with metastatic colorectal cancer and has been undergoing strong oral doses of chemotherapy.

Macha says the event is open to the public. Anyone who is battling a serious illness or knows of someone with a serious illness, is welcome to sign their names on the fire truck. As part of the event, which runs from 4-until 6-pm Thursday at the Atlantic Fire Station, there’ll be food and beverages. The fire department will grill hot dogs and serve lemonade.

Macha says the “Pink Heals” organization started in 2007 to help people battling cancer with a focus on women and their families. They took the theme of the Public Safety with pink fire trucks and pink police cars to serve communities by putting people first instead of causes. The other purpose of their tour is to make people aware of their organization, and recruit new chapters. There is not a chapter in Iowa at this time. The current tour originated in Phoenix, AZ., When they arrive in Atlantic, they will have a pink fire engine, and a bus equipped with merchandise for sale.

The Pink Heals National Tour is funded 100% by the sale of merchandise and made possible through countless volunteer hours. The sale of our merchandise allows the organization to maintain their vehicles, buy gas and bring their program to communities in hopes a “Pink Heals” program will take-off, locally. Tour drivers volunteer up to 18 days at a time to drive pink fire trucks and police cars across America

The “Pink Heals” movement is founded by former pro athlete Dave Graybill, who is also a retired firefighter, and philanthropist. For more information, go to www.pinkfiretrucks.org.

STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) – A Storm Lake nursing home has been fined more than $31,000 after an incident in which a woman fell on her head while being transferred onto a bed and later died from the injury. The Des Moines Register reports North Lake Manor was cited in June by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals for failing to protect residents from harm and failing to provide adequate care.

Reports said 87-year-old Darlene Carbaugh died a day after she fell from the mechanical lift used to transfer her to bed on May 17.  The home is owned by two companies controlled by Sioux City accountant Joseph P. DeWitt.

(Update 10:42-a.m.)

Members from the Midwest Regional Dive Team have recovered the body of a missing boater. Officials say the victim was recovered this (Tuesday) morning. The team was deployed Monday night to 12 Mile Lake, in Union County. Union County Sheriff Rick Piel said authorities received a report of an empty boat on the lake at around 6:15-p.m., Monday. Evidence at the scene led officials to initiate a search of the lake, including by use of the Dive Team.

Members of the team were unable to locate a victim and the search was called-off last night. The search resumed this morning. The Dive Team typically responds to incidents of missing swimmers and boaters.  The name of victim has not been released, pending notification of relatives.

Coca Cola Days will be held in Atlantic September 26th and 27th. The event is the second biggest collector’s show in the United States and includes a tailgate barbeque dinner and a Show Swap and Sell. More information is available at CocaColaDays.org.  Event Committee Chair Dolly Bergmann says t-shirts for the 2014 Coca-Cola Days Celebration are now available for purchase. The shirts feature the theme, “Thirst knows no season.”

Coca –Cola Days Committee Members Pictured: Kathie Hockenberry, Dolly Bergmann, Jolene Roecker, Mike Papas, Charlene Johnson, Ali Krogman and Margret Sleepsky.

Bergmann said “The theme is created by a volunteer committee each year.”  T-shirts for the event can be purchased at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce or on-line at www.atlanticiowa.com. Prices are $16 for short sleeved and $22 for long sleeve.

Call the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce if you have any questions, at 712-243-3017, or email chamber@atlanticiowa.com.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Police in Red Oak say two people were arrested on drug charges overnight. Authorities say 29-year old Crystal Lynn Hansen, of Red Oak, was arrested today (Tuesday) at around 3-a.m., on a valid Pottawattamie County warrant for Failure to Appear on a possession of controlled substance/marijuana charge. During her arrest in the vicinity of north 3rd and east Washington Streets, Hansen was found to allegedly be in possession of marijuana and  drug paraphernalia, along with an unlawful possession of prescription drugs. She was brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center (LEC) and held on $10,000 cash bond for Pott. County.

And, at around 10:35-p.m. Monday, 16-year old Daniel Lee Vance-Hunt, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 200 block of east Reed Street, on a Possession of Drug Paraphernalia charge. The teen was cited and released to the custody of his parents.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say only minor injuries were reported following an accident Monday night near Anderson Conservation on 190th Street. Authorities say a 2002 Chevy Impala occupied by the driver, Allison N. Aufdenberg and her passenger, Kendra A. Hardy, both of Red Oak, was traveling east on 190th Street at around 10:20-p.m., when Aufdenberg turned to look at her passenger during a conversation. When she looked back, she noticed her car was near the south edge of the road.

Aufdenberg took corrective action, but the car entered the ditch and scraped the side of a utility pole. The car continued east in the ditch until Aufdenberg determined she couldn’t drive out of the ditch. Hardy suffered minor lacerations from broken glass, but declined treatment at the scene.

The car sustained $4,000 damage. No citations were issued.

The state’s water situation has turned around after things got very dry at the end of last year and drought was a big concern. Tim Hall of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources keeps track of the groundwater numbers. “We’d been watching various parts of the state pretty closely, but of course June was a very wet month, and that moisture came in a fairly decent widespread pattern and it’s helped to alleviate just about all of the drought conditions that we had in the state as of last week,” Hall says. July has been cooler than normal and Hall says that also plays a big role in the water situation — especially during the growing season.

“When the weather is cooler there is less demand from all the vegetation — not just corn and soybeans — but from the trees and grasses,” Hall says. “They tend to use less water when it’s not as hot. And that tends to keep that water down in the soil, and that improves and prolongs the benefit of the rainfall we’ve gotten.” He says nearly all of Iowa had some form of drought in October of 2013, but that has all changed. “There’s a very tiny spot in southeast Iowa that’s only rated ‘abnormally dry.’ So, for all intents and purposes, the state is free of drought,” Hall says.

Hall says the conditions are just where they should be at this point in the year. “This is about as normal as we are going to see it here in the state,” Hall says. “We don’t have any major groundwater issues around the state. It looks like the subsoil moistures are pretty health for the most part. So, we are sitting pretty good right now.” Hall reminds us that the water situation was looking good around this time last year until the weather changed. But, he’s not expecting a repeat.

“We were looking really good in the first half of the year and then the rainfall kind of shut off in the second half of the year. But I think my colleagues in the National Weather Service and some of the longer-term predictions are looking at what will be pretty close to normal conditions for the rest of the year,” Hall says. He says rainfall normally starts to slow beginning in July, but he says if it stays around normal in the later summer and fall months this year, the groundwater should be in good shape.

(Radio Iowa)