A western Iowa lawman spoke late Wednesday afternoon at the Democratic National Convention, accusing Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan of proposing cuts in federal spending for “first responders.” Carroll County Deputy Sheriff Ken Myers got a burst of applause from convention delegates when he stated his support of President Obama. “Governor Romney has said it’s time for us to cut back on public employees like teachers, fire fighters and cops and that’s exactly what his plan would do. When the Republican governor of Ohio attacked the collective bargaining rights of police officers, Romney supported him,” Myers said, and some in the crowd booed.

Myers, who spoke for about three-and-a-half minutes, spent part of his speech talking about an incident last spring when he and other law enforcement officers were involved in an armed stand-off with a man inside a house. “First responders like me put our lives on the line,” he said, and the crowd applauded. “We’re proud to do it. It’s just the job we signed up for, to protect and serve, but we need a leader who’ll do the same for us and that leader is President Barack Obama.”

The Romney campaign shot back at Myers, saying neither Romney nor Ryan have proposed cutting federal spending on public safety by “nearly 20 percent” as Myers claimed in his speech. Romney’s campaign website makes no mention of local law enforcement, nor does it mention public sector unions for police and fire fighters. The Obama campaign has been arguing federal spending for things like grants to local law enforcement agencies would have to be reduced to meet Romney running mate Paul Ryan’s overall plan for reducing the federal budget.

(Radio Iowa)

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers says emergency 911 telephone service was restored to the Clarinda Public Safety Answering Point 911 Dispatch Center at approximately 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, after repairs were made to the fiber optics cable that had been severed disabling 911 service to the Clarinda Center. The service was disrupted for about 5 1/2 hours.  Brothers wants like to thank everyone for their patience and cooperation as officials worked through this outage. Citizens may immediately begin resuming dialing 911 for police, fire and medical emergency needs.

The Cass County Democratic Party has announced the opening of their Election Headquarters at 511 Chestnut in Atlantic. The Headquarters will be open Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM, Saturday & Sunday from noon to 4 PM, and other times by appointment, through Election Day, November 6th. Democratic candidate buttons, yard signs, and bumper stickers are available as is voter information. The office also has voter registration and absentee ballot request forms for the voter’s use. The public is welcome to stop by and have a cup of coffee or just enjoy some political discussion. The date for a grand opening will be released at a later date.

The Walnut City Council, Thursday, will consider and possible act on the adoption of a Resolution of Support for the Continuation of Education in Walnut. City Clerk Terry Abell told KJAN News not much is known about the resolution, except to say the City has been approached by a committee asking for the matter to be approved.

Abell said also, the Council will hear a presentation from Eagle Scout members Shea and Taylor Campbell, with regard to some sprucing-up projects in the City Park. The brothers are expecting to talk about painting fire hydrants and other such items in the park.

The Council will also discuss a possible streetscape enhancement project. The discussion involves Snyder and Associates Engineers, and the next, possible steps for downtown renovations, which have previously included the installation of old fashioned street lights, benches, and other amenities.

In other business, the Walnut City Council may act on a contract agreement for the hauling of residential solid waste, and, possibly approve the second and third readings of an Ordinance pertaining to the operation of golf carts on City streets. Abel said last month, that authorities in Pottawattamie County had been stopping people who were driving golf carts on the streets. She said there’s a “glitch” in the law that requires communities to have an ordinance that allows the machines to operate on the streets. The Council is considering the adoption of a law that would allow that to happen.

The Walnut City Council meeting begins at 5-p.m., Thursday.

2:51-p.m.CDT 9/5/12

The 911 telephone system at the Clarinda 911 Public Safety Answering Point Dispatch Center is not working at the present time due to a cut in the Iowa Communications Network fiber optics system. There is not currently an estimated time as to when the system will be restored. During the outage, citizens who need to access the 911 system can use the following telephone number to reach the Clarinda 911 Center. The telephone number is 712-542-2194. Media notification will be made when the system is restored.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has signed a proclamation to allow the transportation of oversized and overweight loads  of soybeans, corn, hay, straw, silage and stover. The proclamation took effect Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 and expires after 60 days.

This proclamation applies to loads transported on all highways within Iowa, excluding the interstate system, and which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code section 321.463 paragraph “5.b”, by more than twelve and one-half percent (12.5%), do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds, and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.

The action is intended to allow vehicles transporting soybeans, corn, hay, straw, and stover to be oversize and overweight, not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight, without a permit, but only for the duration of this proclamation. The Iowa Department of Transportation is directed to monitor the operation of this proclamation to assure the public’s safety and facilitate the movement of the trucks involved.

The Atlantic Police Department reports two people were arrested Tuesday. Officials say 23-year old Andrew Gaston Nickum, of Atlantic, turned himself in at the Cass County Sheriff’s Office on Sheriff’s Office charges of Assault with Injury, Simple Assault, and Disorderly Conduct. Nickum was booked into the Cass County Jail, and then released. And, 18-year old Sunnie Jo Marie Peck, of Walnut, turned herself in at the Cass County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday, on Sheriff’s Office on two charges of Possession with Intent to Deliver. Peck was booked and also released.

Atlantic native Randy Burk, front man for the band “Randy Burk and the Prisoners” ranks second in a national contest music contest, but needs your web votes within a couple of days, to win a $25,000 cash prize to help jumpstart his career. The contest is sponsored by Artistsignal.com, which is an online platform developed to allow emerging musical artists to sell music and connect with fans directly.

To peak interest in the new site, which was launched earlier this year, Artist Signal began a 90-day vote driven contest with a $25,000 cash prize for its winner to jumpstart their career.  Artist Signal’s second and final 90-day contest is about to conclude, and the band in the number two position, less than 20 votes from the #1 spot is from Atlantic.  While in the number 2 position in the contest (with a more than 77,000 voting lead over the number three slot), Randy Burk and the Prisoners is holding strong, but needs Iowa support to make it to number one.

“Randy Burk and the Prisoners” band

Burk said in a press release that “$25,000 would be life changing for our band.” He says they will use the money to record, and tour a new album. Burk says it’s been eight-years since their last album released, and “It’s hard to get the capital together to get the next one done.” The songs, he says “Come easy, the money’s hard.”

The 39-year old Burk has been touring for over 11 years with the Prisoners, delivering music in the rich tradition of artists like Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, and Dave Alvin.  The next Randy Burk and the Prisoners album is written and ready to go, and Iowa recording studio, The Sonic Factory is already on board to record it, awaiting the result of the contest.

Artistsignal.com makes it easy to vote by logging in through your Facebook account.  You can vote every hour, and it takes just the click of a “vote” button.  https://artistsignal.com/rbprisoners

A new report shows the leaders of Iowa’s largest businesses are expecting a slowdown in sales, capital spending and employment in the coming six months. The Iowa Business Council (IBC) third quarter Outlook Survey Index fell to 61 – which is down from 68 three months ago. IBC executive director Elliott Smith says a score above 50 means business sentiment is positive, but the state’s top CEOs are slightly more reserved than they were in the last survey.

“There are some unknowns out there with elections coming up, some tax issues that have not been settled in Washington and the unstable government budget issues in Europe,” Smith noted. “Between all of those things, we’ve maybe seen a slight pullback and a reevaluation of how the coming six months business activity will play out.” The index is based on surveys completed by 21 CEOs of Iowa’s largest employers. Ninety-percent of the CEOs expect steady or increased sales over the next six months, while 86-percent expect hiring levels to remain steady or grow.

“Most of our business council members do expect continued good activity in sales, which really drives everything else in terms of further investment in buildings, machinery, equipment, as well as employment,” Smith said. “If sales remain strong, I think there is still good prospect here for the end of the year and the beginning of 2013.” While the IBC Outlook Survey Index fell to 61 in the third quarter, it’s still four points better than this time last year (57).

(Radio Iowa)