Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County say two Council Bluffs men were arrested Thursday afternoon on 1st degree Theft and Possession of stolen property charges, following an investigation into the theft of vehicles from Pottawattamie, Shelby and Crawford Counties. Sheriff Jeff Danker said in a press release, that at around 1:30-p.m., Thursday, investigators following up on a lead of persons of interest possibly involved in the theft of vehicles from the three counties were checking the suspect’s residence they observed a vehicle in the driveway that matched the description of a pickup truck that was stolen out of Crawford County. The Investigators were able to determine that the vehicle was in fact the stolen vehicle from Crawford County. While at the residence two suspects were taken into custody and booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail.

The suspects were identified as 30-year old Andrew J. Arrick and 18-year old Sean M Arrick, both from Council Bluffs.. Both suspects were booked into the Pott. County Jail. The suspects admitted to investigators that they did take the pick up that was located in the driveway and that they had another stolen vehicle in the garage. They told Deputies that the vehicle in the garage was a Roadster that was taken out of Crawford County.

Deputies were given consent to search the garage and the residence for other possible stolen property. Deputies recovered a 2009 Dodge Ram Pickup and a 1936 Pontiac Coupe (Street Rod) that was taken from Crawford County, a 1997 Chevrolet pickup that was stolen out of Colfax County Nebraska, a Four Wheeler from Pottawattamie County, and other property that was identified as being stolen from Shelby County.

The Investigation is ongoing and further charges are pending.

A large group of patrons in the IKM-Manning School District were on hand Thursday evening to hear a presentation on the next steps for consolidating the district. The presentation was held inside the auditorium at the Manning High School Building. Recently, the IKM-Manning school board hired the Iowa School House Construction and Planning Services to review the options the district has in order to make the best decision on consolidating the district from three buildings to two. The crowd viewed a PowerPoint presentation from the organization’s president Duane Van Hemert and Vice President Sam Hardy.

The reasoning behind getting rid of one building is due to several problems the district is facing including a declining enrollment as the service group showed that the combined district in 1999 had 1,095 students and in 2013 the number was 720. Before unveiling their decision, Van Hemert said the district only has a few options. They include reducing building space from 3 buildings to 1, and reducing staffing costs from the General Fund, which currently takes up 80% of the fund. He said it would be wise for the districts to look at all areas in order to obtain a balanced approach to consolidation.

Planning Services presented three options including moving students in certain grades to different buildings as well as changing the central office, cutting the cost of administrators and closing either the Manilla or Irwin school building. Out of the three options, Van Hemert and Hardy agreed that option 3 was the best one. In that scenario, the IKM-Manning school district would move Kindergarten through 2nd grade from Irwin to Manning, the 5th and 6th graders from Manilla to Manning and the 7th and 8th graders would be in Irwin.

The plan would keep the secondary gym in Manilla open for a practice facility and use the bus parking as a central location for transportation. The central office for the district would be in Manning. The organization said this option would reduce staffing costs by over $400,000 and eliminate maintenance costs for the Manilla School building. Van Hemert said cost to renovate the Manilla School Building alone would be over $900,000 because the heating and cooling system in the whole school needs replaced. The organization mentioned that the Irwin School Building would need remodeling in certain areas. That would cost the district an estimated $280,000. Hardy said option C is beneficial in cost savings and provides the best education for the children.

Van Hemert said no matter what the district decides to do, there may be more consolidating in the future.  He said if enrollment continues to declines, the district may end up with just one building in a dozen years or less. The key dates coming up for the IKM-Manning School District with regard to consolidation are the next two board meetings on Wednesday, February 19th and Thursday March 6th. The School Board said they’ll hold another open forum for residents to ask questions and voice their concerns, on Wednesday, the 19th at the Manning High School Auditorium. Action on the final consolidation plan is expected on March 6th.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

Two men were arrested Thursday in Atlantic, on drug charges. The Atlantic Police Dept. reports 20-year old Andrew Laughlin and 19-year old Dakota Miller, both of Atlantic, were taken into custody on Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of a Controlled Substance, charges. Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

In an update to our report earlier this (Friday) morning, authorities in Pottawattamie County say a Shelby County man was charged with OWI/1st offense following an accident Thursday night on Interstate 80 in Pottawattamie County. Jail officials say bond for 37-year old Ryan Schwery, of Earling, was set at $1,000. The Iowa State Patrol says Schwery was found at the Country Inn in Shelby following a collision between his SUV and a van on I-80 westbound, about a mile west of the Shelby exit at around 8:45-p.m.  He was transported to Myrtue Memorial Hospital in Harlan for treatment of minor injuries before being taken into custody and transported to the Pottawattamie County Jail.

Officials say the 1991 Chevy Blazer Schwery was driving, was experiencing engine problems and was traveling below the posted minimum speed (40-mph), when a 2008 Dodge Sprinter van driven by 24-year old Tyler Mark of Lincoln, NE, approached from behind. Mark swerved to avoid hitting the SUV but was unable to prevent the collision. The impact spun the Blazer off the road to the right before it rolled over into the north ditch and came to rest upright. The van spun out and came to rest in the north ditch.

w/ Ric Hanson

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A 23-year-old Sioux City man has been given 10 years in prison for slamming his two young daughters’ heads against a floor.  On Wednesday Christopher Schmidt pleaded guilty to two counts of child endangerment resulting in serious injury. Prosecutors dismissed another child endangerment count and three counts of willful injury in return for Schmidt’s pleas.
Court documents say Schmidt’s daughters were 2 years old and 7 months old when they were injured last October. Police say Schmidt acknowledged grabbing the girls by their faces and slamming their heads into the floor, fracturing their skulls.

Officials with Harlan Municipal Utilities discussed at length Thursday, the next step to find a new Chief Executive Officer. The HMU Board of Trustees talked about several options. Chairman David Tyrell says one search option is to use an executive recruiting organization or firm. “This has been brought to my attention by a lot of people so I contacted Mycoff Fry and Prouse group and they sent us two proposals. The idea is they are a professional search team that practices in the utilities area. They have a large group of contacts. The positives they can move quickly. They have a lot of prescreened. They have expertise in this field. The negative is they are expensive and there is some cost involved.”

Tyrell says the second option would be to use the employees at HMU for an internal process. “The second suggestion is to create an internal search team and use ads on numerous websites including the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities and the American Public Power Association and various state organizations similar to IAMU and surrounding states.”

Board member Terry Arentson said he was for hiring an external search group because they would ask the right questions and hire the right person. Board member Michael Jones, however, disagreed. “My personal take is the second option would be the better option for our rate payer’s money. I do not mean this in a derogatory way to you Darrell, but this is the same firm that contacted Darrell and paid by Waverly to contact Darrell. And then we are going to turn around and give them several thousands of dollars to replace an employee that they took from HMU. I have a hard time not at least putting faith in the department heads that Tom (former CEO Tom Gaffigan) put in place when he was gone for health issues. I think he put the right people in place to do things here. I would like two board members to meet with the department heads. I have a hard time writing a check to the people that put us in this position in the first place.”

In his rebuttal, Tyrell said that it was in fact current CEO Darrell Wenzel who is leaving that put HMU in the position to look for a new CEO not the hiring firm. In the end it was Arentson who made a motion. “So I will make a motion to make a committee consisting of two board members and the management team to investigate the options. Jones seconded.”

The board approved the motion and will discuss the issue at their next board meeting on Thursday, February 27^th.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

w/ Ric Hanson

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Federal Reserve says the value of agricultural land dropped a percentage point in the last quarter of 2013 and a total of 2 percent for the year. The drop suggests the surge in farmland prices over the past few years may be coming to an end, depressed by lower commodity prices that have reduced farmer income.

Iowa State economics professor Chad Hart told The Des Moines Register that “we’ll likely see lower farm values tied to those lower farm incomes that we’re going to experience in the next year to year and a half.”  An Iowa State University survey suggested that land values might have peaked in some parts of the state last year, with prices dropping in northwestern Iowa.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says it has taken enforcement action on a Crawford County business. The DNR ordered Farmland Foods to pay a $10,000 penalty for past wastewater violations. The administrative consent order reports Farmland Foods has consistently violated the terms of the industrial treatment agreement since September 2010. The violation was primarily exceeding the nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids.

Denison Municipal Utilities is also mentioned in the order as they issued notices of noncompliance and assessed surcharges against Farmland for the violations of the treatment agreement. To date, Farmland Foods told the DNR they have spent more than $3.7 million on corrective action projects and maintenance since 2010. The processing plant continues to give DMU progress reports bimonthly according to the order.