Police in Clarinda are issuing a reminder to residents about special parking restrictions that will be in effect this Saturday, Oct. 5 for the 2013 annual Southwest Iowa Band Day Jamboree parade. No parking is allowed on the following streets in Clarinda, from 7:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 5th, 2013:

The 100 through 800 block of W. Main Street; The 100 block of E. Main Street; The100 block of N. 15th St.; The 100 block of E. Washington Street; The 100 block through 300 block of W. Washington Street; 24th Street (Cardinal Drive) from Garfield Street to State Street

Police Chief Keith Brothers says his department appreciates the cooperation of all citizens in removing their vehicles from the parade route. Vehicles that are not removed from the parade route by 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 5, 2013 will be towed at the expense of the vehicle’s registered owner(s).

Anyone having a question about the parking restrictions can contact the Clarinda Police Department at 712-542-2194.

Police in Lenox report the Adams County Sheriff’s Office received a report last Friday about a person allegedly making threatening phone calls and text messages. Following an investigation, deputies issued an arrest warrant for 27-year-old Ruth Leason Graham, of Lenox, after finding she allegedly sent the messages which stemmed from a family dispute.

Adams County Deputies and Lenox Police took Graham into custody at 601 South Walnut Street in Lenox at around 9:30-p.m. Friday, and charged her with Harassment. Graham was taken to the Adams County Jail and held on $300 bond.

Police in Atlantic report two arrests on Saturday. 25-year old Damion Selders, of Carson, was arrested for Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree, and 22-year old Sean Chamberlin, of Atlantic, was arrested for  Burglary in the 3rd Degree.  Both men were taken to Cass County Jail where they were booked in and held.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Three people were arrested Sunday night, in Montgomery County. Sheriff’s officials say 43-year old Shelby Joann Olivares was arrested at around 11:40-p.m. on a charge of aggravated Domestic Abuse Assault. Olivares was taken into custody in the 100 block of East Maple Street in Red Oak, by Red Oak Police. She was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

Red Oak Police also arrested 33-year old Dontar Ternall Lewis, of Red Oak, Sunday. He was taken into custody at around 10:07-p.m. on an active warrant out of Page County for Harassment by Communication. Lewis was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and later turned over to deputies with the Page County Sheriff’s Department.

35-year old Jamie Ryan Straw, of Villisca, was arrested at around 9:35-p.m. Sunday, on charges of Domestic Assault, Interference with Official Acts (Resisting arrest), and Criminal Mischief in the 3rd degree (as the result of damage to a patrol car that amounted to $750).  Straw was arrested following a domestic altercation in Villisca, and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held on $3,300 bond.

The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) found 93-percent of retailers who sold tobacco refused to sell to an underage customer during checks by the division in the last fiscal year. Meghan O’Brien, the deputy director of administration for A-B-D, says most of the 34-hundred tobacco retailers are checked for compliance each year. “This is only the second time that the compliance rate has been this high, and I think the success of all our education programs and our partnerships are the reason whey we’ve been able to achieve this level of compliance,” O’Brien says.

The compliance rate hit 93-percent for the first time in 2010 and has been at 92-percent in three of the last five years. She says the division works with 193 local law enforcement partners and the Iowa State Patrol to conduct the random compliance checks. “They typically use youth in communities and the youth develop relationships with law enforcement — and that is how the compliance check is done,” O’Brien says. Records show tobacco retailers in the mid 1990’s were selling tobacco to minors during 50-percent of checks.

A-B-D took over the tobacco enforcement in 2000 and created the Iowa Pledge program to educate retailers on how to stop sales to minors. “We work really hard to create partnerships and do education rather than immediately go to the punitive side. We want to have a trust relationship with these retailers and we want to help them be successful and reduce the number of youth getting access to tobacco products,” according to O’Brien Smoking is no longer allowed in many public places after the passage of the Smoke Free Air Act in 2008. O’Brien says it’s a change that has also helped in preventing young people from smoking.

“Youth growing up right now can’t remember a time when an ashtray was ever inside a restaurant,” O’Brien says. She says that’s one piece of the issue and they complement that with restricting the sale of tobacco and that helps reinforces that tobacco usage is not appropriate for youth. “So, I think the State of Iowa has done a tremendous job in overall tobacco control.”

Twenty-seven of the 99 counties had a 100-percent compliance rate. Included among them are Adams, Fremont, Guthrie, Page, Sac and Taylor Counties.

(Radio Iowa)

At midnight tonight the temporary extension of the Farm Bill expires. Iowa Farm Bureau president Craig Hill is among the many residents of farm country who’re finding it difficult to read the signals of congress. “I can’t tell you whether they will try another extension — we can’t support another extension — or whether they’ll have a stop-gap measure and continue to kick the can down the road,” Hill says. The most immediate impact of the Farm Bill’s demise will come with the October shut down of programs that promote the sale of U.S. farm commodities overseas.

In addition, Hill says the U.S. will be accused of trade violations when it comes to the cotton market and country-of-origin labeling. “Both of those could be resolved with the new reform bill,” Hill says. “Avoid having that, we kind of disrupt our ability to be a good partner in trade, as well as many of our export enhancement programs — our Market Access Program and other programs — that will lack funding and so long-term we will adversely impact our ability to trade.” There’s uncertainty for farmers hoping to do conservation projects this fall, like build terraces in fields once the harvesting is done. This comes just as the Iowa Farm Bureau and other groups have begun to urge farmers to take such steps to avoid soil erosion and farm chemical run-off into Iowa waterways.

“Without conservation funding and authorization the CSP program, the CRP program, a number of the things that we use as stewards won’t be available to us and we won’t be able to plan for those tools,” Hill says, “also disrupting our ability to help retain soil and have a safer water supply.” It’s hard to put a dollar value on the overall financial impact of the impasse in congress, but there is one certainty: if congress doesn’t act by January 1st, the price of a gallon of milk is going to more than double. That’s because the price supports for milk will revert to 1949 levels.

“On the farm, that means $39 a hundredweight (of milk) as opposed to $18 a hundredweight today,” Hill says. “That will be unacceptable by consumers and I think politicians will again take notice to that.” If congress fails to fix the problem, milk prices will rise above six dollars a gallon. It was that prospect which helped lead congress to pass an eight-month extension of the Farm Bill last December. By the way, there are about 12 gallons in a hundredweight of milk, which is the measurement dairy farms use when milk is sold.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press…

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating a stabbing in Waterloo that resulted in the death of a 29-year-old man. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports officers found John Ladell Bass of Waterloo with a single stab wound to his chest shortly after 4 a.m. yesterday. Bass was taken to the hospital where he died.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The city of Des Moines wants its residents to move around. Several blocks of a major street in Des Moines were shut down yesterday afternoon for Open Streets, an event promoting neighborhoods, local businesses and physical activity. Organizers said the event on University Avenue between 23rd and 41st streets would feature yoga, soccer and dance.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — One year after Southwest Airlines began flying out of Des Moines, airfares at the airport are cheaper. The Des Moines Register reports Airport Director Don Smithey credits Southwest for the lower fares because other airlines adjusted prices to compete. Southwest began offering twice-a-day flights from Des Moines to Chicago last September. The discount airline added a daily flight to Las Vegas yesterday.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — The criminal case against an eastern Iowa man for growing marijuana highlights the arguments for the medical use of marijuana. Scott County prosecutors say 47-year-old Benton Mackenzie is a drug dealer who had 71 marijuana plants in his house. But the Quad City Times reports Mackenzie suffers from terminal cancer. Mackenzie says marijuana treats the pain and nausea of his illness.