KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — The trial has begun for a former boarding school director who is accused of sexually and physically abusing several children who attended the now-defunct school in southeast Iowa. The Hawk Eye reports that testimonies began Wednesday at South Lee County District Court in the trial of Benjamin Trane, who owned and operated Midwest Academy in Keokuk. Trane has pleaded not guilty to sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and child endangerment charges.

A state prosecutor told the jury that while Trane didn’t directly abuse all the children, he set policies in which students were given prolonged detention in small isolation chambers, denied healthy food and forced to sleep on the floor. Trane’s attorney will begin presenting the defense’s case Tuesday. Trane faces a sentence of 17 years if convicted of all charges.

Walnut, the Antique City, is planning to preserve part of the past by converting the former school building located at 415 Antique City Dr. into a new community center. Mayor Gene Larson says they had some options on what to do with the 77-thousand square-foot building once it no longer served as a school. The consensus was to make it useful. After an Ad Hoc Committee was formed, they made a deal with the School Board in Avoca  to have them spend some money on the building before the City would accept it.

With the addition to the old school building having been removed, a new HVAC system is being installed in the middle part of the school. Larsen says that part of the project is nearly complete. The idea is those newly air conditioned areas could be used for many purposes.The High School will also, eventually be air conditioned and improvements made, with the hopes of offering the space to businesses looking toward locating in Walnut. To assist with fundraising efforts and sustain the community center well into the future, the City of Walnut recently established an endowment fund with the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation (PCCF).

Funds from the endowment, named the Walnut Community Center Fund, will be used to preserve, renovate, improve and operate the new Walnut Community Center. All donations will be met with a 10-percent contribution from PCCF . Donating is easy:

1. Visit www.ourpccf.org
2. Select “Donate to a Charitable Fund”

3. Print and complete the Walnut Community Center Fund donation form

4. Mail the form along with payment to the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation

Officials say Walnut has the opportunity to show its children that even when a door closes, another one opens.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A residential counselor at a Davenport juvenile group home faces charges after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old resident and giving the boy drugs and money. The Quad-City Times reports that police say 25-year-old Danielle Puls, of Rock Island, Illinois, gave the boy marijuana, as well as money to buy a handgun. Police say she had inappropriate contact with the teen and had a sexual relationship with another resident at Family Resources’ Annie Wittenmyer juvenile facility.

She is charged with drug distribution to a person under 18, possession of a firearm, sexual misconduct with an offender and lascivious conduct with a minor. Puls was arrested Wednesday and remained in the Scott County Jail on $33,000 bond.