The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Board of Directors are scheduled to meet Monday evening, in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. Action or New Business items on their agenda include: Updates on the various Capital Improvement Projects (including Park Maintenance Bldg., Sunnyside Park Improvements & Tennis Court reconstruction…Softball Field fencing and renovation…Swimming pool…entrance signs & the Park Shelter….City Park sidewalk improvements; Holt Park playground equipment; and, Sunnyside Skate Park equipment refurbishment).

There will also be updates on: the Summer Rec program enrollment numbers; the Schildberg Recreation Area Campground, Dog Park, and Eagle Scout bench project and other matters. In his report to the Board, Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring will talk about the Cass County Community Foundation Grant, the Seasonal Personnel report, and Budget matters.

The meeting is slated to begin at 5:15-p.m.

If you were traveling on Interstate 80 in western Iowa this (Sunday) afternoon, you noticed a heavy presence of State Troopers, many of them in unmarked vehicles. That was just a prelude to a national “Click it or Ticket” seat belt enforcement mobilization which officially begins Monday (May 21st). In Iowa, city, county and state law enforcement officers are teaming up with highway safety advocates across the country, to help save more lives by enforcing seat belt laws around the clock.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data shows in 2010, 61-percent of the 10, 647 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes which occurred between 6-p.m. and 6-a.m., were not wearing their seat belts. The daytime, unbelted traffic fatality rate is 42-percent. In 2011, there were 360 motorists killed in crashes on Iowa’s roadways. And, while that was a 66-year low, 115 of those deaths involved vehicle occupants who were not wearing their seat belts.  Iowa’s mandatory seat belt law has been in effect for nearly 26-years.

This year’s “Click it or Ticket” enforcement effort runs May 21st through June 3rd.

BURLINGTON– The bodies of four missing people following a boating collision early Saturday morning near Burlington have been recovered. All four of the victims were in their early twenties and their bodies were recovered within approximately 100 yards of where the collision occurred in about 10 to 12 feet of water. None of the victims were wearing life jackets.  The names of the victims as well as eight others who were injured in the collision are still being withheld pending notification of family members.

The collision occurred between two jon boats, one with a single passenger and the other carrying 11 people, in the O’Connell Slough area of the Mississippi River near Burlington. The call for rescue personnel came in at 1:43 a.m. The Des Moines County Sheriff’s Department, the Burlington Police Department, the Burlington Fire Department and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources responded to the call.

One of the people injured was air-lifted to University Hospitals in Iowa City while the other seven were transported to Great River Medical Center in Burlington.

The Fourth Annual “Tour de Tivoli” bike ride will be held on Sunday, May 27^th.  This year, riders have a choice of either a 26-mile route or a 50-mile route. SAG (Support and Gear) stops will be available along the way to revitalize riders. Registration begins at 8 a.m. at the Danish Windmill. The official start of the ride is at 9 a.m.

Tour de Tivoli Jersey 2012

A Post-Bike Ride Party will be held at the Depot Grounds, north on Main Street Elk Horn. Bikers AND non-bikers are encouraged to attend. For registered bike riders, Frikadeller on a Stick, salads, chips, pop and water will be available at no cost. For non-registered bike riders, the cost of the meal is $5.00. You can also purchase locally brewed beer from the Norsemen Brewing Company. Alumni, Mark Christensen, will be singing between 10:30 a.m. – Noon. Before and after Mark’s performance, other music will keep you entertained.

For more information about the Tour de Tivoli Bike Ride or the Post-Ride Party, please call Debbie Copic at 712-249-7257 or email at debbiecopic@gmail.com.

w/ Brett Johnson

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Governor Terry Branstad says he’s headed to China later this month at the invitation of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (shee jeen ping). Branstad will travel with a group of Iowans from May 29th to June 5th. They’ll participate in a reunion banquet with Xi, who came to Iowa in February as part of his first U.S. trip as the presumed next president of China. February’s trip was a reunion 27 years after Xi first visited Iowa for a diplomatic exchange to Muscatine.
 
AMES, Iowa (AP) – Police say a 46-year-old Ames man had died after he was caught in the hydraulic loading door of a water tanker truck. The Ames Tribune reports that the man died yesterday morning at Manatts Construction in Ames. His name hasn’t been released.
 
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A 61-year-old former high school teacher in Waterloo has pleaded guilty to having inappropriate conduct with a student. Former Waterloo West High School social studies teacher Michael Lyons pleaded guilty yesterday to one felony count of sexual exploitation by a school employee and two misdemeanor counts. Lyons was arrested in November.
 
TAMA, Iowa (AP) – Tama County authorities have arrested a second volunteer firefighter in connection with a string of recent fires they believe were set intentionally. Eighteen-year-old Joshua Weiermann of Chelsea, Iowa, faces charges of aiding and abetting arson and being an accessory after the fact. He was being held yesterday morning in lieu of $20,000 bond.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office received a report on Friday afternoon shortly after 4:00 of stolen property in the 400 block of Broad Ave in Stanton. 

Thirty-eight-year-old Reggie Dean Resh of Stanton reported that sometime earlier in the week between Tuesday and Thursday someone had stolen two I-Pods, two Ford F-250 center caps, one Ford F-250 lock out hub, and one 20 pound propane tank from his vehicle that was parked on Broad Ave.  He estimates his loss at about $1,200.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Stanton man Friday afternoon.  Just before 3:00 Friday, 18-year-old Drew Dale Goodrich of Stanton was arrested for 3rd degree theft.  He was transported to the Montgomery Count Jail where he was being held on $2,000 cash bond.