Grant Petty with the Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund, recently gave a donation of $200 to Officer Devin Hogue of the Atlantic Police Department, to become a sponsor of this years summer programs. Each child and department chaperone who attends their zoo trip and camp out will receive a t-shirt. Fund spokesperson, and Trevor’s mom, Melanie Petty, said “This is just another great opportunity for the children in the community to experience the great outdoors or a trip to the zoo.” She thanked the A-PD for organizing the events.
Funds are raised at the annual TFred Memorial Golf Tournament. For more information follow them on Facebook or through KJAN. Petty says “We look forward to continuing to give back to our community in Trevor’s name for years to come.”
The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education, Wednesday evening, approved Superintendent Steve Barber’s recommendation to accept the 2018 Master Contract Agreement with the Atlantic Education Association, which represents the District’s Certified Staff (teachers, etc.). The agreement calls for a $480 increase on the base, with no step movement. The total package increase is 1.90%, for a total cost to the District of $139,367. In his report to the Board, Superintendent Barber provided an update on the Construction Trades Pre-Apprentice Program at the Achievement Center on the west side of town. He say the bay area of the Center will be where the shop is located, and some of the unoccupied space is available for use as a classroom.
(He said students in the Associated Building Contractors program will be certified in OSHA training and other, potential certifications.)
The goal he said, is to “Create a high level program…that is what we’re going to work on, beginning with the Fall semester on Aug. 23rd. Barber said in order to free-up time for Middle School/High School Industrial Technology Instructor Mr. Jade Walter to teach the new program, it was necessary to replace his middle school exploratory. The plan, which is part of the STEM Best Grant, is to begin an exploratory gateway to technology project in 8th grade through the Lead the Way Program called “Robotics and Automation.”
(He said they are also exploring additional, similar programs for the 7th grade.)
In other business, the Atlantic School Board approved the 2017-18 Amended Certified Budget, which does not call for an increase in taxes paid in the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2018. Instead, the change in estimates of expenditures will be financed from increased receipts and balances not budgeted or considered in the current budget. The Board accepted the resignations of High School Para-educator Brian Thompson, and Middle School ELA Teacher Jennifer Hartwig. They also approved a bid for Milk from Highland Dairy, a bread bid from Bimbo Bakery, for bread, and a trash collection bid from Hepler Sanitation, as well as a 70/30 Sharing Agreement with the CAM School District for Atlantic’s Business Manager.
The agreement stipulates the CAM School District will receive the services of Atlantic School District Business Manager Sarah Sheeder 30% of the time. In return, CAM will provide 30% of the cost associated with the shared position. Since the business manager position is one that fits under the Operational Sharing legislation, each district will receive additional revenue. Board member Josh McLaren had some concerns about the arrangement, despite the financial gains to both districts, but Sheeder assured him it wouldn’t be placing a burden on her.
ELDORA, Iowa (AP) — A state official says another state worker has been severely beaten by a resident of the Eldora Boys State Training School. The Des Moines Register reports that the unidentified staff member had numerous teeth smashed out and suffered broken bones in his face. Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven told his department’s advisory board at a Des Moines meeting Wednesday that the assault occurred Saturday. The school is for boys whom courts have found to be delinquent because they committed crimes. Officials say that about six weeks ago four residents beat up another staff member during an escape attempt.
In November the group Disability Rights Iowa sued Foxhoven and other administrators, saying school residents were unjustly locked in isolation rooms, strapped down in restraints and denied mental health care.
Dewitt, IA (Radio Iowa) — A 48-year-old who’s running across the country to raise awareness about childhood sexual abuse crossed into Iowa Wednesday. Christian Griffith of Atlanta, Georgia, says his goal is to get people to talk openly about abuse — just like they’d talk about any other disease. “If I was to do just another marathon, nobody would be paying attention,” Griffith says, “but I chose to do something big, something that’s seemingly insurmountable because I wanted a platform to talk about something that people are just simply not talking about.”
Griffith is calling his three-thousand mile trek “Run 2 Heal” and he’s trying to raise a million dollars for a group called “Help for Children.” The group gives grants to local child abuse prevention and treatment programs. Griffith first told someone he had been abused as a child in the fall of 2015 — when he was 45 years old. Griffith began getting counseling and treatment in February of 2016 — and Griffith says he’s found talking frankly about the abuse he endured as a child is important. “I know and understand what it feels like to isolate and hide from that and feel like your situation’s different or you’re unique and you can’t talk about it,” Griffith says, “and I want people to feel comfortable with the fact that they absolutely can talk about it and all of the fears that they have and the labels that are going to come at them when they do — none of that’s going to happen.”
Griffith began skateboarding in his teenage years and then pursued more “extreme sports” as an adult because it had a calming effect. “It made it so it didn’t have to think about home,” Griffith says. “…I kept finding greater and greater challenges to numb the pain or kill the demons — whatever you want to call it.” He says talking openly and frankly about abuse is important and Griffith is making stops along the way to talk with groups about the issue. Griffith runs about 30 miles a day. That means it’ll take him about a week-and-a-half to run across the state. His western Iowa trek takes him through Guthrie Center, Kimballton, and Persia, from May 18th through the 21st. (If you’d like to join him, you must pre-register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeXlMROqK6EgiMzD6o9BXzrM_i94wjCkHs4hXM7ywRba6VNw/viewform) For more information check out his Facebook page at Run2Heal, of go to https://run2heal.hfc.org/run-details/
Iowa beef producers are touting their industry throughout the month of May as part of beef month activities. The Iowa Beef Center based at Iowa State University recently conducted an economic impact study on the state’s beef industry. Center director Dan Loy says the industry has been gaining ground here in the last decade. “In the early 1980’s there was a significant loss of cattle feeding numbers in Iowa to the plains states,” Loy says, “but in the last ten years, we’ve seen a gradual steady increase of market share for cattle on feed numbers moving from the Southern Plains to the Upper Midwest.”
He says the a resurgence is due in part to the growing ethanol industry and better competitiveness with the an abundance of ethanol by-products to feed to cattle. “But then in addition to that, I think an increase demand for high quality beef is something we’ve seen nationwide. Iowa certainly backs up its reputation as a state that produces a significant number of high quality beef,” according to Loy. Loy worked with Agricultural Economist Lee Schultz and determined the state’s beef industry is responsible for generating six-point-three billion dollars in revenue for the state. “Its certainly important to the state of Iowa. It ranks among the major commodities, and in northwest Iowa, interestingly — Sioux and Lyon county alone …beef resents approximately a one billion dollars of economic activity there,” Loy says.
He says the industry is responsible for around 32-thousand jobs. “Those are the direct jobs, or direct and indirect for both the cattle and slaughter and processing,” Loy says, “but it doesn’t include the jobs that are created by cattle marketed outside the state of Iowa. About 75 percent of the cattle are marketed outside the state of Iowa. We send a lot of cattle to Nebraska and a lot of cattle to Illinois as well.”
Loy says consumer demand for beef been on the rise again in both the domestic market, and the international export trade. He says check-off dollars spent on the “Beef, its what’s for dinner” campaign has assisted with that increase of demand for beef.
Red Oak Police say two people were arrested on separate charges, Wednesday. At around 11:40-p.m., 18-year old Courtney Ann Hall, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 2300 block of Eastern Avenue, for Domestic Abuse Assault. Hall was being held without bond at the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, pending an appearance before the magistrate. And, at around 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, 24-year old Ozzy Ray Hunter, of Red Oak, was arrested for Driving While Barred. His bond was set at $2,000.
WESLEY KAISER, 63, of Ashland, NE (& formerly of Lewis), died Monday, May 7th, at the Midlands Hospital, in Papillion, NE. Funeral services for WESLEY KAISER will be held 1-p.m. Friday, May 11th, at the Griswold Community Center. Roland Funeral Home in Atlantic, has the arrangements.
Visitation with his family is from 11:30-a.m. Friday, until the time of service.
Burial will be in the Oakwood Cemetery, in Lewis.
WESLEY KAISER is survived by:
His wife – Bonnie.
His daughter – Jamie Kaiser, of Omaha.
His son – Jesse (Heather) Kaiser, of Bellevue, NE.
His sisters – Susan (Warren “Butch”) Kaiser, of Springdale, AR; Sherry (Shawn) Askeland, of Griswold.
His brother – Danny Kaiser, of Lewis.
5 grandchildren, and his brother-in-law, Doug Radford, of Griswold.
Tomorrow: P/Cldy to Cldy w/morning showers. High 76. SE @ 10-20.
Saturday: P/Cldy to Cldy w/scatt. shwrs & tstrms. High 76.
Sunday: Mo. cldy w/showers. High 73.
Yesterday’s High in Atlantic was 81. Our Low this morning ( as of 5:30-a.m) was 49. Last year on this date our High was 71 and the Low was 52. The record High in Atlantic on this date was 97 in 2011. The Record Low was 26, in 1966.
The leader the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says some good things came out of a White House meeting on ethanol Tuesday– but there are still some things that remain unsettled. I-R-F-A executive director Monte Shaw says the reports he got on the meeting from Iowa’s two U-S Senators was positive in one area. “There was some very good news,” Shaw says, “the president did agree to authorize the sale of E-15 year-round. That was talked about before, that was stated very clearly in the meeting and even (Texas Senator) Ted Cruz tweeted about that part of the meeting accurately. So, that’s something that we can take away from this.”
Shaw says there now needs to be action on the E-15 issue. “We need to see ’em do it, they need to get that process going,” Shaw says. One of the issues that Shaw says was left unresolved is handling the credits given to refineries for blending ethanol with gasoline that are commonly known as RINS. Shaw says Senator Cruz brought up a plan to let refineries get the credits for ethanol that is exported to count toward the gallons required under the Renewable Fuels Standard.
“It’s awfully hard for me to imagine how a program like that could even function number one — let alone be good for us,” Shaw says. “If you start allowing exported gallons of renewable fuels to count toward the R-F-S, it’s just gallon-for-gallon demand destruction. Every gallon we export is a gallon they don’t have to blend here in the United States.” Shaw says the reports he’s gotten indicate things should be moving the right way for ethanol.
“From what we’ve been told, everybody in that room from the president all the way down to Ted Cruz was on the same page that the president was going to move forward on E-15 year round sales. That is excellent news,”according to Shaw. “They all agreed — despite Cruz promoting this — that there was not going to be any type of RIN cap or R-F-S waiver scheme of the type that he was promoting. That is good news,” Shaw says.
He says another issue is the ethanol exemptions that were intended to help small refineries deal with the ethanol blend mandate that were given to large refineries. Shaw says Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue and E-P-A Administrator Scott Pruit are exploring that situation and will report back. “That was I would say an outstanding discussion that was not finalized and we have to now see what E-P-A Administrator Pruit and U-S-D-A Secretary Perdue come back with . They were charged with coming up with a plan that would deal with small refinery exemptions,” Shaw says.
He says the outcome could go either way. “They could come up with a plan that we could support and that’d be great. Or they might come up with a plan that says ‘hey we’re just going to do these export RINS’ — and that would be horrible and we would oppose that. So, we’ll just have to wait and see and the story continues,” Shaw explains.
Iowa is the nation’s leader in renewable fuels production with 43 ethanol refineries capable of producing nearly four-point-four (4.4) billion gallons annually.
Sheriff’s officials in Taylor County report the arrest on Tuesday, of 25-year old Rebecca Holbrook, from Lenox. She was arrested in the 600 block of E. Ohio Street in Lenox, and charged with Domestic Abuse Assault. Holbrook was being held in the Taylor County Jail without bond, until making an appearance before the magistrate.
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