A Warren County legislator says he’ll try again next year to give students new privileges who switch schools in order to get away from a bully. Representative Scott Ourth started championing the idea after hearing about a 15-year-old wrestler whose older teammates verbally and physically abused him. Under Iowa’s open enrollment law, students can transfer to a neighboring school district, but they can’t play sports right away.  “He either has to quit the sport he likes to avoid being bullied in the wrestling room or he has to change school districts and be punished once again by not being able to pursue this sport,” Ourth says.

Ourth, who is a Democrat from Ackworth, is not identifying the school district or the name of the student. “All he’s trying to do is protect himself from this egregious behavior and every single time we say no to a person like that, we’re handing a victory to the bullies,” Ourth says. Ourth spoke about the issue this week before the legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee.

Some members of the committee said they support the open enrollment law as written, to prevent kids from cherry-picking schools just to play sports.

(Radio Iowa)

Two women from Nebraska were arrested this (Friday) morning on drug charges, in Crawford County. The Sheriff’s Office reports 21-year old Laterra Patterson and 20-year old Raven Loftus, both of Omaha were taken into custody following a traffic stop on Highway 30 in Dow City.  After Crawford County K-9 “Bayou” alerted to the odor of narcotics coming from the vehicle, the vehicle was searched and drugs along with related paraphernalia were allegedly found. The women were subsequently taken into custody.

Patterson was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (a Simple misdemeanor). Her bond was set at $300. Loftus was arrested for Possession of Marijuana (a Serious misdemeanor). Her bond was set at $1,000.

The Director of the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce has resigned from the position after less than two-months on the job. Rhonda Larsen’s resignation is effective immediately.

According to reports, Larsen said she was asked to resign. She began her job as Chamber Director May 19th, taking over the post from Megan Roberts, who resigned to accept a position with a local insurance agency.

Deputies in Page County arrested a Clarinda man Thursday night for allegedly violating the terms of his probation. 25-year old Robert Andrew Hall was arrested on warrants for Sex Offender Violation/2nd offense, and Violation of his probation. Hall was unable to post a $10,000 bond and was being held at the jail in Clarinda, where he is awaiting trial.

Online court records show Hall was found guilty on April 28th, of violating the State’s Sex Offender Registry. Judge Richard H. Davidson sentenced Hall to two-years in prison but suspended the sentence and placed Hall on probation, in addition to assessing a $625 fine. A complaint filed June 26th alleges Hall violated the terms of his probation by not paying the fine, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld water quality regulations that business and farm groups say are costly and burdensome. The rules require anyone with new or expanded wastewater discharges into waterways to seek permits and certification from the state. The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and others sued the Environmental Protection Commission which voted in December 2009 to adopt the new rules. The lawsuit attempted to disqualify two of the commissioners’ votes and get the regulations thrown out.

Carrie La Seur moved to Montana in July 2009 but remained on the commission. The lawsuit says her vote shouldn’t be counted. The lawsuit claims Commissioner Susan Heathcote, who worked for a nonprofit environmental group, had a conflict of interest.

A majority of the court found the votes were proper under Iowa law.

w/ Ric Hanson

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A family tradition was honored at the Shelby County Fair Thursday night. The family of Harriet and AnnaJean Ahrenholtz were surprised when Shelby County Fair President Kent Ganzer recognized them for the dedication and donation to the Shelby County Fair. This year, the Ahrenholtz family donated $60,000 to the board for the all new show ring. Clark Ahrenholtz, son of Harry and AnnaJean said the family wanted to honor their parents.

“Well my parents were always big promoters of the fair. My dad was president of the fair board and my brother and nephew carry on the tradition and we are happy about that. The show ring was something that was needed for a long time here. When it was put up originally, it was actually put up with used materials and we were happy with that at the time but we wanted to do something that mom and dad weren’t able to do when they were alive. We decided this would be a project that if we could kick into it and get the ball rolling. We would like to thank the Shelby County Fair Board because without them this wouldn’t be possible for us to recognize our parents”

Ahrenholtz said almost all of the family was able to come and be a part of the festivities. “I can start at the bottom that’s me. I am the last surviving child of my parents. I wasn’t raised to last but I am the last one. My sister Jane from Tuscan and her husband Rich were up. Then Annette and her husband were unable to attend due to health concerns. And then my brother Roger, who really took over from my dad as Mister Fair to make everything happen and we are getting Justin broke in on that. And then my oldest brother Harry was down from Jefferson.”

Clark said the family is fifth generation in showing cattle at the Shelby County Fair. He said the family is proud to call Shelby County home. “It takes a whole community effort. Like I said we want to remain humble about this because that’s the way our parents were. They kind of make you toot your own horn a little bit when it happens like this here. But we are just proud and very happy to be apart of this community and support the community this way.”

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

It was a night of royalty and recognition at the 2014 Shelby County Fair Thursday evening. The queen ceremony was held inside the all new show ring at the fairgrounds with twelve young ladies competing for the crown. Every contestant was asked two questions from the MC Lynn Brinker before the crown was handed out to Emily Pattee. She said the award was a complete surprise. “I was completely shocked. When I didn’t hear my name for princess, I thought oh there is no way I will get it. And then when I heard my name I was completely shocked.” Pattee was nominated by her group Portsmouth Super Production.

As the queen, Pattee will be involved in handing out ribbons and other activities at the Shelby County Fair and will represent Shelby County at the 2014 Iowa State Fair Queen contest. Pattee has lofty goals as she will be enrolling at the University of Iowa in the fall for bio-medical engineering. In other awards, Chelsea Assman received runner-up in the queen competition and Teresa Arkfeld won the 2014 Brownfield Ag Youth Award sponsored by our sister station KNOD in Harlan. Arkfeld said it meant a lot to her as she is heavily involved in Agriculture.

In addition to the queen ceremony, the Shelby County Fair Board inducted two couples into the Shelby County Fair Hall of Fame. Ed and Vickie Anderson and Kevin and Deb Rutherford were welcomed into the Hall of Fame. The other couple, Kevin and Deb Rutherford couldn’t remember how many years they have been running the 4-H food booth but they have enjoyed it. The Rutherfords said they weren’t expecting the award as they thought their daughter was going to receive an award instead. They called it a humbling experience and were well appreciative for the nomination.

The final recognition went to Linda Heflin who will be inducted into the Iowa State Fair Hall of Fame on August 18th, 2014. Heflin has worked the dog show at the Shelby County Fair for over 25 years.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Moisture returns to the region Friday and into the weekend with a series of disturbances combined with a stationary boundary expected to stall across central Iowa tonight (Friday) through Sunday. The National Weather Service says that combination will provide periods of thunderstorms late tonight through Sunday. The greatest chance for thunderstorms with heavy rain and severe weather will be Scattered thunderstorms central and north today will become numerous across the state tonight.

Thunderstorms are expected again Saturday in to Saturday evening. Some of the storms may be severe, producing heavy rain, high winds, and hail this afternoon in the west, and over the state Saturday afternoon and evening. Isolated thunderstorms are possible Sunday into Monday, followed by sharply cooler temperatures more typical of mid May on Tuesday.