Area and State news with KJAN News Director Ric Hanson…

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Authorities in Fremont County are investigating a home invasion and robbery that occurred Friday night, in Thurman. The Sheriff’s Department says deputies were dispatched to 1423 Western Avenue in Thurman just before 9-p.m., Friday.  During their investigation, deputies determined two black males had broken into the residence and displayed a semi-automatic pistol. The occupants of the home were tied-up and numerous items were taken before the suspects took-off on foot.

One of the black male robbers wore a dark coat, dark pants and was called “Pete.” He reportedly carried a semi-automatic pistol. The second suspect, also a black male, wore a tan coat with a fur-lined collar and blue jeans. The vehicle they drove off in — a red Peterbilt semi pulling a white trailer — was caught on a surveillance camera.

If you have any information about the location of the semi or the suspects, call the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office at 712-374-2424 or call 9-1-1. Do not attempt to approach the suspects, as they are considered to be armed and dangerous.

The latest area news (Podcast) with KJAN News Director, Ric Hanson….

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Republican House Speaker John Boehner was forced to pull his so-called “Plan B” bill that sought to reach a compromise on the tax cut issue because of a lack of votes. Iowa Congressman, Steve King, a Republican from Kiron, says he doesn’t think fellow Republicans are rebelling against Boehner, but instead are not happy with the proposal. “I’m not hearing a lot of carping like that, it’s really more about the policy and it’s a cumulative affect though of some, I think, of some strategic decisions and bad policy decisions of the past that set the stage for this,” King says. King says the lack of spending cuts led many Republicans to pull their support of “Plan B.”

“They’re saying ‘we’ve got to cut spending some time’, and if we don’t cut spending in this vote, then we’ve just again kicked the can down the road and made ourselves a promise that probably we are going to have a hard time keeping at the next critical juncture, which is the debt ceiling that will come up in the next couple of months,” King says. He says while there is no obvious challenger to Boehner for House Speaker, there is pressure on him from the disagreement among G-O-P House members.

“And I think how this comes out will have a lot to say about that,” King says. “As we will get something back from the Senate I expect. I think we will get something back that’ll be a pretty bitter pill to swallow if we can swallow it. And then the results of that might shake something loose so that someone emerges to be a challenger. There’s pressure on the speakership, no doubt.” Congressmen left for home Friday without reaching any plan to hold off the tax cuts that will take place in January.

(Radio Iowa)

Road conditions across the state are slowly beginning to improve.  As the roads become more easily accessible to emergency responders, the severity and extent of storm damage can be examined. Preliminary numbers from the Department of Public Safety’s six State Communications Centers indicate that beginning at 5:00 PM on December 19, 2012 and continuing through 3:00 PM, December 21, 2012 the Iowa State Patrol managed:

• 384 emergency calls received for assistance (wireless 911 and HELP line calls)
• 195 covered crashes (including three fatality crashes in Hamilton, Pottawattamie, and Sioux Counties)
• 563 calls for motorist assists
• 92 calls for wrecker services (many calls were for more than one motor vehicle, and only account for services to tow vehicles obstructing traffic flow)

Emergency calls received are likely higher as numerous calls on a single event may not have been logged due to the extremely high call volume and radio traffic occurring in the six centers over the past 48 hours.  Additionally, these figures do not include crashes that may have occurred, but have yet to be responded to by Troopers due to the large volume of reports.

The Iowa State Patrol continues to prohibit towing of abandoned or wrecked vehicles on much of Iowa’s interstate and highway systems.  However, please contact your local law enforcement to verify if towing is allowed on county roadways, or roads and streets within your community.

(IA DPS Press Release)

The president of the National Rifle Association on Friday, called on congress to spend the money so every American school has an armed cop on school grounds. Iowa Association of School Boards executive director Tom Downs says many Iowa schools have a school “resource officer” already. “In the district I just recently left not only did we have an officer in uniform, armed — we had his squad car in front of the building every day that we had kids there,” Downs says. “We wanted people to know: ‘There’s an officer in the building at this time.'” Downs was superintendent of Southeast Polk schools before he retired and became the leader of the school board association.

“I think there’s strong indication of support of school resource officers,” Downs says. “I think that heightened security; that command presence, if you will; that show-of-force can’t be underestimated in providing a safe environment.” Jon Thompson, the superintendent of Aplington-Parkersburg schools, was the school’s leader when A-P football coach Ed Thomas was shot to death on school grounds by a former student. Three and a half years later, some students are still traumatized. “We had a young man this year who was having reflections and bad times and that’s the importance of the guidance counselor, the at-risk staff to identify that and to meet with them,” Thompson says. “It’s recurring. We never know when. We still have college students who are calling back (to Aplington-Parkersburg High School) who are still having emotions and reactions to that — and it’s a long term event.”

He says schools need some flexibility to use general state taxpayer support to pay the salaries of a variety of professionals, from cops in the school to people who can counsel students dealing with emotional problems. In the wake of the mass murders at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, some have suggested teachers and administrations should start carrying guns. Aplington-Parkersburg’s superintendent says he’s never even gone hunting.  “I’m totally against that,” Thompson says. “I just think it would lead to more problems than it would solve.” The executive director of the Iowa Association of School Boards is “hugely opposed” to any effort to arm educators.

“I would see two outcomes of that,” Downs says. “Number one, there would be more school shootings and number two, there would be more dead teachers. Teachers focus on instruction. They’re trained as educators. They’re not trained as law enforcement people. To have more guns in a school, whether they’re in purses or on the waists’ of adults, I don’t believe is in the best interest of securing schools.” Downs and Thompson made their comments today (Friday) during taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program. At the close of the program, the Aplington-Parkersburg superintendent offered this advice to the people of Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

“You do recover. As hard as that is to see at the time, it is going to happen and things will turn bright again — maybe not for those 20 families, but for the larger community for sure and it is a time-consuming process. There’s no hasty about a recovery and that’s being aware of trauma that can develop later,” Thompson said. “Stay the course, stay together and you can actually be stronger afterwards.” The “Iowa Press” program airs Friday at 7:30-p.m. and again on Sunday at noon, on Iowa Public Television.

(Radio Iowa)

Debates about gun control continue after the elementary school shootings one week ago, but an Iowa psychiatrist says the debate also needs to include mental health. Dr. Walter Duffy is the founder and CEO of Premier Psychiatric in Shenandoah. Dr. Duffy says we first need to overcome the stigma about those needing mental health care. There’s another challenge, too. “Access is a difficult issue in various places because there’s not enough mental health providers to go around,” Duffy says. “Especially in the Midwest, psychiatry is very depleted, especially if you talk about child and adolescent psychiatry services.”

Duffy says even where service is available, there can be another obstacle — the willingness of a person to get the help they need. “If you do not have people onboard with wanting to obtain services, it’s very difficult in this country to make somebody take services,” Duffy says. “If you look at, like emergency protective custody where the courts take over and say you have to receive services. That’s only for people nowadays who are acutely suicidal or acutely homicidal.”

Duffy says one of the goals of his practice is to provide service to rural areas where services may not be readily available. “We also do tele-health where we go out to rural communities,” Duffy says. “I don’t like it that people have to drive two hours to see us here. I grew up in a farming community. People need the services where they are and there’s a lot of things like tele-health and other technologies going forward where we can make some big in-roads in that area.” Premier Psychiatric offers tele-health services in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. He says they hope to expand in 2013 to reach additional rural areas.

(Radio Iowa)

A Wall Lake couple has admitted to four bank robberies. Court information shows that 48-year-old Jeffrey Alan Schoon and 40-year-old Roxena Lee Schoon pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank robberies, and Jeffrey pled guilty to four counts of bank robbery and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a conspiracy. The information shows the Schoons robbed the Iowa State Bank in Odebolt on December 29 2011, on January 11, 2012, they robbed the Citizens First National Bank in Early, on January 28, 2012, they robbed the Westside State Bank in Vail. And finally, on March 23, 2012, they robbed the Heritage Bank in Lytton. All the banks were within 20 miles of their home in Wall Lake. Jefferey Schoon admitted to carrying guns and a Molotov Cocktail during the robberies. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

(Radio Iowa)

The Lenox Police Department reports the arrest Thursday evening of 18-year old Brandon Brown. Brown, who’s from Lenox, was taken into custody on a Taylor County warrant for Criminal Mischief and Animal Cruelty. He was transported to the Taylor County Jail and left in their custody. No other details with regard to the charges were released Friday evening.

Brandon Brown (Booking photo courtesy Lenox P-D)