The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Thursday, passed a Resolution setting the gross load weight limits for certain secondary road bridges in the County. Cass County Engineer Charles Marker explained that as part of the County’s bridge inspection process, a consultant recommends any changes to posted weight limits based on the inspection results. Marker says there are currently 46 bridges which are below what is termed “Legal limit.” Even if the weight restrictions didn’t change on those particular bridges, the signs must still be put in place.

Marker said they inspect more than 230 bridges in the County. He says 46 out of 230 may seem like a large number, but percentage-wise, they are “Trying to hold our own” and keep up with repairs and replacements. Supervisor Charles Reiken said setting lower limits would create problems for some crop produces because they would have to haul smaller loads more frequently. The solution he said, would be to replace those structures with new bridges. He asked Marker if the issue was going to be more closely explored.

Marker says with the money that’s coming in from the State and/or Federal government for bridge replacement, it takes about three-years to accumulate enough money to replace a bridge of any substantial size. He says the money is not coming in fast enough to replace them, and while they’re replacing as many bridges – usually smaller length structures, 20-to-40 feet — as they can using County crews, they can still only handle about 3 or 4 per year.

In other business, the Supervisors passed a motion awarding a contract for the replacement of a 30-foot bridge over the Nishnabotna River on Lansing Road, to Murphy Heavy Contracting Corporation, of Anita, which had the low bid of $963,826.   The bid amounted to 75-percent of the engineer’s construction estimate. Work is expected to begin no later than May 6^th.

w/ Ric Hanson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

A judge in Douglas County, NE, sentenced a former Council Bluffs pastor to 30-years in prison Thursday, for sexually assaulting an 11-year old girl who had turned to him for help in dealing with a family situation. The Omaha World-Herald says 57-year old Efrain Umaña had been charged with first-degree sexual assault. In 2011, Umana was sentenced in Iowa to 35 years in prison for sexually assaulting the same girl as well as at least two women in Council Bluffs. The paper says he pleaded no contest to his assaults of the girl in Omaha in exchange for the prosecution’s recommendation that any sentence in Nebraska be served at the same time as his prison time in Iowa.

All of the assaults occurred in 2004 while Umaña served as pastor of Templo Monte Horeb, a congregation that he eventually left amid accusations of impropriety.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

An official with the State Fire Marshal’s Office says it appears arson was the cause of a fire the severely damaged a home in Carter Lake early Tuesday morning.  John Ticer told the NonPareil that the fire at 802 Redick Boulevard was set on purpose, but he declined to elaborate. Firefighters from Carter Lake and Crescent were dispatched to the blaze around 1-a.m., Tuesday.  The fire reportedly caused about $35,000 damage to the unoccupied home.  The structure had been vacant for only about a week, while the owners were in the process of moving.  An investigation into the cause of the fire continues. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the State Fire Marshall’s Office at (712) 308-3977.

Authorities in Pottawattamie County report an 18-year-old from Crescent suffered a serious injury when he accidentally shot himself in the leg, Thursday. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker told the Daily NonPareil that the teen, whose identity was not released, shot himself in the thigh at around 6:30-p.m. The accident apparently happened as he  was trying to clear a cartridge from an SKS rifle. Danker said the wound was “severe” enough that the teen was required to be transported from a Council Bluffs hospital by air ambulance to Alegent Creighton Health Creighton University Medical Center.

A proposal that would let doctors prescribe marijuana to ease the pain of their patients is going nowhere in the Iowa House. A three-member House subcommittee held a 40-minute public hearing on the concept Thursday, then two of the legislators involved killed the legislation. Representative Clel Baudler, a Republican from Greenfield, says it’s an “asinine” idea.  “I’ve watched state government function since 1962 and doing any bill, let alone this one, that would legalize marijuana would be at the top one or two of three stupidest bills that have been passed by this organization, in my opinion,” Baudler says.

Ray Lakers of Des Moines says he needs marijuana as treatment for his multiple sclerosis. “A growing number of people across the United States and the world with multiple sclerosis have shown great benefit of using cannabis rather than FDA drugs,” Lakers says. Representative Deborah Berry, a Democrat from Waterloo, says as her brother was dying several years ago, he smoked marijuana to relieve the pain of his cancer. “Alcohol and tobacco — I think those are much more addictive, much more dangerous in my opinion,” Berry said. “I think that we should at least just open it up and investigate the use of medical marijuana.”

Peter Komendowski, president of the Partnership for a Drug Free Iowa, disagrees. “In your opinion marijuana may not be as dangerous as cigarettes or alcohol,” Komendowski said. “I still think it represents a clear and present danger and one we need to work to the fullest extent of the law to protect our children from.” Mike Niday, of Des Moines, a Marine Corps veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress, urged legislators to allow prescriptions for marijuana.  “I just hope that you listen to Iowans’ voices and you vote for what we want,” he said, “because you’re representing us.”

Erin Kennedy of Nevada works with kids with substance abuse problems. She predicted medical marijuana would wind up in the hands of those who do NOT have a prescription for it.  “I’m sure we’ve put every precautionary method that we can think of in place for tobacco and alcohol,” she says, “and yet our youth continue to get access to that.” Marijuana is illegal in the United States but 18 states have laws which permit marijuana to be prescribed as a treatment for the symptoms of pain and nausea, often associated with chronic and fatal illnesses.

(Radio Iowa)

The Page County Sheriff’s Office says a Shenandoah man was arrested  Thursday on a warrant out of Cass County. 36-year old Daniel Elmer Bright was arrested on a warrant charging him with 2nd degree theft. Bright was unable to post a $5,000 bond. He was transferred to the custody of Cass County Deputy shortly after his arrest.

Cass County Naturalist Lora Kanning announced Thursday, that Cass County Conservation was awarded a Resource Enhancement and Protection Program- Conservation Education Program (REAP-CEP) Perpetuate a Good Idea Grant for Outdoor Educational Classroom Nature Trunks. This Resources Ehancement mini-grant provided funding to Cass County Conservation to complete two Nature Trunks that will be housed at the Outdoor Educational Classroom in Massena, IA. The project has 6 trunks total; the two funded are the Orienteering and the Birds’ trunks. Each trunk will contain multi-grade activities on the topic for teachers to use at the Outdoor Educational Classroom.

Iowa’s  REAP-CEP provides funding to public and private partners for natural and cultural resource projects, including water quality, wildlife habitat, soil conservation, parks, trails, historic preservation, and more. Conservation Education Program is grants for programs that teach people of all ages about their environment and how to make intelligent, informed decisions about its well-being.

For more information about the environmental education opportunities in Cass County, contact Lora Kanning at 712-769-2372 or lkanning@casscoia.us .

The Cass County Board of Supervisors have set February 13^th and 20^th as the dates for public hearings over a proposed amendment to the County’s zoning ordinance, which would allow for the creation of businesses that allow gun sales and service, along with an indoor shooting range. Under the current zoning ordinance, such businesses are not allowed.

The County’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved the proposed amendment during its meeting Jan. 24^th, and have forwarded their recommendation on to the Board of Supervisors, who will decide on the amendment’s fate after the two public hearings are held. A local man has proposed establishing a gun sales/repair and indoor shooting range business, near Massena.