There’s a dire need for volunteers to help out at several Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. Will Ackerman, spokesman for the V-A’s Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, says the vital corps of hundreds of volunteers absolutely help to keep the system running.

“We’re seeing a lot of our volunteers aging and certainly some of them are retiring or even passing away,” Ackerman says. “We’re really trying to encourage people of all ages, but especially some of our younger population, to get involved.” He says volunteers are needed for a number of services throughout the V-A health care system.

“We have about 800 volunteers throughout our Nebraska/Western Iowa Health Care System,” he says. “They do so many things that we just don’t have staff to do, such as doing coffee rounds in the lobby or around the floors, we have a transportation network and just greeters at our front door.” Ackerman says it isn’t just the V-A Hospital in Omaha that needs volunteers, but there are veterans’ clinics, community living centers and other facilities in many cities around the region, including Shenandoah.

“Volunteers do a lot of very important things and certainly there’s an opportunity for them to volunteer at a location that’s even closer to where they might live,” he says. Volunteer orientation classes are being held frequently in various facilities, often twice a month. An orientation class for teens, between 13 and 18, is planned at the Omaha V-A Medical Center for June 1st. Contact your nearest V-A facility for details on volunteering opportunities.

KJAN Radio in Atlantic, Iowa is currently accepting applications for the position of Marketing Consultant.  If you are tired of someone else telling how much you can make,  this opportunity might be for you.  Radio sales professionals are motivated self-starters who enjoy working directly with business owners and managers on their marketing needs.  Duties include selling radio advertising time, developing successful marketing campaigns for local and agency clients, minimal on-air work and production.  This is a full-time, commissioned sales position allowing you to dictate your income potential with an established account list.  Training will be on-going and a full benefits package is included.  If you feel you are the right person to fit our locally-driven radio organization and have the tools to succeed, submit a resume or application to Rod Christensen, Sales Manager, KJAN Radio, PO Box 389, Atlantic, IA 50022 or e-mail it to kjan@metc.net.  Deadline for applications is May 25, 2012.  KJAN is an equal opportunity employer.

The Avoca Police Department reports two A-H-S-T high school students were charged with filing a false police report in connection with the bomb scare at the high school in Avoca on May 1^st. The pair would see jail time if convicted of the class “D” felony. 

Officials say the unnamed high school junior and senior conspired to create the first ever bomb scare at the school district. An eleventh grade male student allegedly wrote the note indicating a bomb would go off at a specific time, and left it in the boy’s bathroom. 

A male senior student phoned 911 reporting the alleged threat from his cell phone. According to A-H-S-T Superintendent Mark Hopkins, the administration is currently reviewing internal procedures and polices for the incident.

KJAN News Director Ric Hanson returned to the scene of this (Friday) morning’s house fire in Atlantic, and took these pictures of the smoldering remains. More on this story can be found on an earlier posting. There were no injuries.

NW corner of the home at 600 Oak St. (Ric Hanson photo)

Southeast side of the home at 600 Oak St. (Ric Hanson photo)

600 Oak St. - view from SW side of the home (Ric Hanson photo)

Two people were injured when a horse and a bicycle collided Thursday night south of Council Bluffs,in Pottawattamie County. Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Dwayne Riche told KJAN News the incident happened just before 9:30-p.m., on the Wabash Trail, about six-to seven-miles south of Council Bluffs. The injured were identified as 25-year old Elizabeth Cleveland, from Kansas, and 46-year old David Duscher, from Nebraska. Riche said there was an event leading up to the incident, which occurred during the ”Thursday Night Taco Ride,” on the trail. He said deputies were patrolling the trail near an area known as “Margaritaville,” when they observed two females consuming alcohol while riding on horses, in the heavily populated cycling area. The women were allegedly acting in a “Careless manner,” by riding their horses among the throngs of bicycle riders.

The women were repeatedly told to move the horses or ride in a less populated area, for safety reasons, or as the deputy advised “Somebody was going to get hurt.” The women left, but then returned. At 9:25-p.m. deputies were dispatched to the vicinity of Wabash Trail and Dumphries Road, where an overpass and trestle are located. Riche says it was reported that woman had fallen from her horse and suffered a broken leg. When officials arrived on the scene a few minutes later, they found a woman laying on the south side of the trail with an injury to her leg. A medical student on a bike was passing by and rendered aide to the female. 

The woman was identified as Elizabeth Cleveland. Her riding partner, 25-year old Lauren Heightman, from Iowa, told deputies they had been thrown from the horses. Heightman was not injured. She told deputies a bicyclist had hit her, causing the horses to buck and throw the women off. A bicyclist, later identified as Duscher, told authorities he was he and a friend were riding west on the trail. Both had lights on their bikes front and rear. They saw the women and their horses on the north side of the trail, and as they were passing them, one horse was spooked, and jumped into the path of the riders, causing the collision. Cleveland was transported by Lewis Township Fire and Rescue to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, for treatment. No charges have been filed in connection with the incident, at this time. 

Duscher suffered minor injuries but refused treatment at the scene.  He said the horses didn’t have any lights or reflectors on their saddlebags, and were very difficult to see. No charges have been filed at this time.

w/ Jim Field

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Click on the link below to view a :30 clip of the fire.

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600 Oak Street. May 18th, 2012 at 3:30-a.m. (Ric Hanson video)

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A bill awaiting Governor Branstad’s review would establish new requirements in hopes of cracking down on so-called “storm chasers.” Consumer complaints about contractors who ride into town after a tornado or other disaster, but provide substandard or no repairs at all prompted legislators to draft the bill. Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, says if the bill becomes law, contractors will have to provide a written document to the home owner, spelling out how the deal may be canceled. “It requires contractors to provide notice to the person that is receiving the repair, the residential homeowner, prior to them entering into a contract,” McCoy says. The lettering on that document is to be “at least 10 points” high and in “bold” which means it can’t be tiny, unreadable type at the bottom of the page. Contractors could also get into trouble for misleading marketing to home owners. McCoy says there are some common tricks. 

“Misrepresenting themselves as a negotiator or an adjuster on a claim,” McCoy says. If the bill becomes law, it would be illegal for a contractor to offer a rebate or reduction on the cost of repairs that’s equal to the homeowner’s insurance deductible. The bill also stipulates a homeowner who receives notice from their insurance company that the repairs are NOT covered by their home owner’s policy have three days to notify the contractor they want to cancel the work. In some cases alleged “storm chasers” who quickly arrive on the scene after a calamity have convinced home owners their insurance will pay to replace their entire roof, only have the claim denied by their insurance company.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

The National Weather Service is predicting Iowa’s early summer temperatures and rainfall will be near normal, but two Iowa-based climatologists say they’re somewhat concerned about the weather impact on Iowa’s crop-growing season. The N-W-S forecast predicts warmer than normal temperatures south of Iowa and Illinois in the extreme southern cornbelt. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says he doesn’t want to see the warm temperatures seep into Iowa.  “A little bit of concern though, you know the last week oh about a week and a half now has been quite dry across Iowa, and very dry to the southwest of us. Kansas, Oklahoma has turned very dry in the last few weeks. Don’t like to see that area so close by you know to see drought expanding this time of the year because very often it keeps on expanding as time goes on,” according to Hillaker. And Iowa’s May temperatures are already running about six-degrees above normal.

“Which is quite a large departure for this time of the year, historically you look back at years that brought us unusually warm Mays — pretty large percentage of the time its also brought us above normal temperatures for June and July,” Hillaker says.  Iowa State University climatologist, Elwyn Taylor, is also worried about the long-range forecasted above normal temperatures in the southern corn belt. “That’s slightly discouraging.I don’t like to see July and August on the warm side of usual. The plants use more water, they mature faster and so they don’t get as many days in the sun to put on the weight that we harvest and sell.” The long-range forecast is for normal precipitation through June. Hillaker says the La Nina and El Nino influences are subsiding and shouldn’t affect Iowa’s summer weather.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)