Several area communities have enacted their Emergency Snow Ordinances.

A Snow Emergency is currently in effect in the City of Cumberland, until Noon on Friday. In Guthrie Center, the Snow Emergency begins Wednesday night, and will remain in effect until the streets are cleared.  In Red Oak and Griswold, Snow Emergencies affecting parking on City streets goes are in effect at 6-p.m. Wednesday.

The City of Corning’s Snow Emergency Declaration goes into effect at 8-p.m. Thursday (Dec. 20th). No parking will be allowed on marked snow route streets during the first 12 hours of the Snow Emergency. With the exception of the Corning business district, parking during the first 12-hours on all other streets will be on the South and West side only. For the remainder of the Snow Emergency, parking will be allowed on the North and East side of the street if not prohibited by signs. All “No Parking” signs and direction of travel parking will be enforced.

In Exira, the Snow Ordinance will go into effect tonight (Wednesday). All vehicles will be prohibited from parking on even numbered sides of the street from 7-a.m. Thursday until Noon, and on odd numbered sides of the street from 1-p.m. until 4:30-p.m. Thursday. All vehicles in violation of the ordinance WILL BE towed. Also, all vehicles parked on Washington and Jefferson Streets in Exira’s downtown area, must be parked elsewhere Wednesday and Thursday.

And, the City of Clarinda has declared a Snow Emergency effective 7-p.m. Wednesday through 3-p.m. Thursday. Parking restrictions will be in effect during the duration of the Snow Emergency. Earlier, we announced the City of Lenox‘ Snow Ordinance will be in effect beginning at 6-p.m. Wednesday and lasting until snow plowing operations cease.

A man from Minnesota was charged with Failure to Maintain Control and Operating While Intoxicated, following a single-vehicle accident Tuesday night about three-miles north of Brayton, in Audubon County. Sheriff’s officials say 44-year old Gary Allan English, of Kasson, MN, was traveling north on Lark Avenue at around 9-p.m. Tuesday, when his vehicle went out of control before entering the east ditch.

English was brought to the Audubon County Jail and later released after appearing before a magistrate. His preliminary hearing on the charges was set for January 7th.

The Atlantic Police Department reports the arrest on Monday of 50-year old Tamera Hall, of Atlantic. Hall was taken into custody on a shoplifting (5th degree theft) charge. She was booked in to the Cass County Jail and held pending an appearance before the magistrate.

The Harlan City Council, Tuesday, approved the forgiveness of an administrative fee by the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce. In the final Harlan City Council meeting of 2012, the council approved the motion on a vote of 5 to 1, with the nay vote coming from Council member Kate Kohorst. The 20% fee is part of the Hotel/Motel Tax.

The City Council also passed a motion to place all Hotel/Motel new monies on hold until a new ordinance has been created and adopted by the city of Harlan. Both motions were made at the previous Personnel and Finance Committee meeting last Thursday. City Administrator Terry Cox said the ordinance committee will meet on Thursday, December 27th. The deadline for the new ordinance is January 29th. However Cox said it could be brought to the first City Council meeting in January if it is finished.

In other business, the Harlan City Council approved the purchase of a ¾ ton Ford F-150 pickup from Keast Auto Center in Harlan for the city’s parks department. The truck cost the city $26,270 but Cox said they hope to sell 2 of the city’s vehicles to save the city $1,500. The Council also approved Harlan City Clerk Debra Sawyer to the Iowa League of Cities Education Committee and changed the 2nd council meeting in January from the 22nd to the 29th.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Shelby County Supervisors held their final meeting of 2012 Tuesday. The Board of Supervisors began their meeting with the land auction of cash rental property. The landfill ground sold for $395 per acre. Following the sale, the Shelby County Supervisors introduced Chris Nelson of Gronewold & Company to discuss the preliminary results of the county’s annual audit.

Nelson said last year, the Supervisors wanted more documentation attached to or provided with the preparation of expenditures for early childhood Iowa expenditures where the county is the fiscal agent. He said those have been approved. Nelson said there was also a mention of reconciliation of county taxes to the revenue reports of the county.

He said last Thursday, they tested past revenues and reviewed the daily reconciliations.  He said the tax receipts are reconciled on a daily and month basis. And, the Treasurer’s proportionate reports are being proportioned and those do balance. Nelson said they took the monthly summaries and compared those to the county revenue reports that are actual reports which come from the Treasurer’s office, and determined there was a small discrepancy less than $500 for the year, but he but didn’t go into further details. He recommended taking a step further to make sure everything balances out, including reconciling the account, and making sure the information is posted properly in county revenue reports.

The Shelby County Board of Supervisors will see the final audit report in February. Supervisor Roger Schmitz reported to the Board that he had recently attended the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting, along with officials from the city of Harlan. The Supervisors approved the forgiveness of a 20% administrative fee by the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce from the Hotel/Motel Tax, per legal advice. The motion was made at the Committee meeting but needed to be approved by the Supervisors and Harlan City Council.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

w/ Ric Hanson

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SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Eight of 69 cats taken in October from a Sioux City house are ready for adoption. The Sioux City Journal reports that the cats, all males, are being made available after they tested negative for feline leukemia. Cindy Rarrat with Sioux City Animal Control says another of the cats was adopted last week.

Rarrat says the nine cats were the lone survivors of 69 caught and trapped at a Sioux City house in October. Most were euthanized because they were too ill or unsocial for adoption. Officials say the house was covered with feces and extremely unsanitary. About 20 dead cats were removed from the property.

Homeowner Mark Lanning has been charged with 14 counts of animal neglect, all misdemeanors. His case is still pending.

NELIGH, Neb. (AP) – A northeast Nebraska man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend from western Iowa, and her new husband, has waived his preliminary hearing.  Sioux City, Iowa television station KTIV reports 33-year-old Matthew Hinrichsen was in Antelope County, NE., Court on Tuesday, where he waived the hearing and faced the families of those killed. Hinrichsen has been charged with arson and two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 25-year old Victoria Lee and her husband, 30-year-old Alex Vargas, of Missouri Valley.

Investigators found the bodies of the newlywed couple in a burned-out mobile home, near Ewing. Authorities say the couple were shot before the mobile home was set on fire.  Hinrichsen’s arraignment has been set for Jan. 30.  Court documents say Hinrichsen had been having problems recently with Lee, who was his ex-girlfriend.

Many cell phone users in Iowa received a rude awakening early this (Wednesday) morning. The first official Wireless Emergency Alert was issued in our area, warning residents about a Blizzard Warning….that goes into effect at 6-p.m.  Customers of Verizon Wireless may have heard three short blasts at around 4-a.m., representing the Emergency Alert System. Some customers of U-S Cellular in the area report they received neither the alert tones nor text message informing them about the alert.

You may recall we told you back in June, that officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced the agency was providing additional tools for federal, state, local officials and others, to alert and warn the public about severe weather.

The Commercial Mobile Alert System, or CMAS, is being used to deliver Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to wireless carriers for distribution to the public. That means your cell phone will receive messages on its screen, similar to a text message, showing the type and time of the alert, along with what type of action will be taken. The alerts will NOT take the place of locations where CODE RED alert systems are in-place, as those systems also handle a wide variety of local emergency situations.

The message will be no more than 90 characters, and will have a unique tone and vibration, indicating a WEA has been received. If an alert is received by your cell phone, you are advised to follow the instructions and seek additional information from local radio, television, NOAA Weather Radio and other official sources for emergency information.

The alerts will be broadcast by cell towers. Any cell phone within range of those specific towers will immediately pick up the signal, provided they are capable of receiving the alerts. The availability of WEA alerts is dependent on the network status of the wireless carriers and handset availability, since not all cell phones receive WEA’s. Check with your cellular carrier to see if WEA alerts are available in your area.

FEMA says as with all new cellular services, it will take time for upgrades in infrastructure, coverage and handset technology, to allow WEA alerts to reach all cellular customers.