(Atlantic, Iowa) [Correction] – Members of the Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education met in-person and by streaming live on YouTube,today (Friday, April 23, 2023) to discuss the process the District could take in selecting a replacement for Superintendent Steve Barber. Mr. Barber announced earlier this month his resignation, effect June 30, 2023. Board President Laura McClean opened the conversation with asking if the position should be interim or long-term?

Board member Josh McLaren…

Board Vice-President Kristy Pellett agreed, an interim position is a good option.

Superintendent Steve Barber said interim positions are desirable by some individuals who may not be ready to take-on a full-time role.

Jenny Williams said…

Laura McLean said she likes the idea of an Interim Superintendent, with the search for a full-time individual to begin early next year.

Jenny Williams said her one concern, though, is there is no SBO (School Business Official) to replace Sarah Sheeder, who has resigned to take a position with the AC/GC School District.

Nick Hunt said the process of hiring an SBO should begin first. Someone with a strong background in finances is preferred. The general consensus of the Board was to search for an Interim Superintendent. Sarah Sheeder provided McLean and the Board with a template for an Interim Superintendent search from the Dallas Center/Grimes Community (DC/GC) School District, that Atlantic could use as a place to start.

The timeline currently includes posting of the Superintendent’s position on Monday, April 17 2023. After two-weeks, the Board will gather to review the applications and narrow the list of finalists before setting-up interviews the first week of May. Ideally, the Superintendent will be offered a contract by no later than the middle of May. McLean said once that’s done, if the Board desires, a professional headhunter (Search firm) can compile the information necessary to hire a full-time Superintendent. That would likely include interviews with stakeholders and gathering potential candidates, along with conducting background checks.

Prior adjourning the meeting, the Board acted to approve disciplinary action against two students, referred to a “Student A” and “Student B.”

(Radio Iowa) – An environmental advocacy group is launching a new river clean-up project with an event in Des Moines this week to introduce the effort and recruit volunteers. Luke Hoffman, is a native of Thurman, in Fremont County. He’s the executive director of Iowa Rivers Revival, and says the Service Squad program is designed to create a comprehensive service learning and action network that will clean up Iowa’s waterways.  “We’re doing that in a way that it’s not just another river cleanup,” Hoffman says. “It’s not just about picking up trash, there’s that component, too, but it’s also a family-friendly festival about building community, educating folks about the importance of water, and building access points so that people can really enjoy those rivers and streams.”

Through a quarter-million dollar grant, the Service Squad will host between eight and ten river clean up projects each year over the next three years. Hoffman says the program will create cleaner rivers, educate Iowans on the importance of clean waterways, and organize for legislative action on issues relating to water trails, water quality, river restoration and more. “The theme is all about building partnerships and collaboration,” Hoffman says. “We didn’t invent river cleanups but what we do want to do is, if your listeners go to our website, they can find any cleanup or submit one if they want to organize one themselves on our website. You can just do that at IowaRivers.org/squad.” A

As a southwest Iowa native, Hoffman says he developed a passion for the water early on. “One of the things that I really cherish about my childhood was following the stream with my dog,” Hoffman says. “I wasn’t thinking about was the river clean or not, I just was enjoying it. That experience of adventure, that sense of being able to appreciate and enjoy, that’s what we want all future generations to be able to have, free from the concern of whether or not that water is going to do you any harm.”

The kickoff event is today (Friday), from 5-7 P-M at Big Grove Brewery in Des Moines. RSVP for the event at: iowarivers.org. The first clean-up event is scheduled for Saturday on North Walnut Creek in Urbandale.

(Creston, Iowa) – A collision between two cars Thursday evening in Creston, caused about $3,500 damage and resulted in one citation. Police in Creston say the accident happened at around 5:45-p.m., at the intersection of Adams and Sumner Streets. A 2013 KIA Optima driven by 19-year-old Laura Jessica Roybal, of Osceola, was coming to a stop at the stop light, as the light turned yellow. A 2018 Chevy Cruz driven by 18-year-old Lucas Michael Lynch, of Creston, was behind the KIA.

Authorities say Lynch thought Roybal was proceeding through the intersection before the light turned red, but the KIA came to a stop. Lynch didn’t have time to stop before his vehicle struck the KIA. He was cited for Failure to Stop in a clear and assured distance.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports the arrest at around 3:34-p.m. Thursday, of 21-year-old Myles James Koontz, of Creston, on a warrant for Driving While Barred. Koontz was also arrested for Driving While Barred. He later posted a $2,000 bond, and was released.

And, a man from Creston reported to Police late Thursday morning, that several items belonging to him, were stolen from his property at 202 S. Sumner Avenue. The items include:

1. A green Kawasaki 4-wheeler
2. A black & red Snowco trailer
3. A custom blue motorcycle, and
4. An orange Harley Davidson XR-750.

The items were valued at $43,000 altogether.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Natural Resources Commission has approved an agreement that moves oversight of the Honey Creek Resort in south-central Iowa from the D-N-R to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS).

D-A-S director Adam Steen told the Commission they started talking about the issue with the D-N-R as his agency sought a contract for a new company to operate the resort.”Essentially, D-N-R delegating its management authority to DAS. D-N-R will still own the property, it’s still obviously a state park, all that good stuff. It’s just from an operations perspective, DAS,” he says. Steen says it the agreement doesn’t make any big changes for the state.

“In my mind this shifts a lot of the workload from D-N-R to DAS. And in my view from DAS’s perspective is if they could just be available for questions along the way, we’ll try to stay out of their road and let them sort of remove themselves from any operation going forward. So the goal is to ease the burden on D-N-R here,” Steen says. He says the transition from Delaware North to the new concessionaire, Achieva Enterprises went well, and they have a multi-year contract.

“So it’s structured right now for six years, with then three, three-year potential extension. So it could go up to 15 years. But right now, the first portion of the contract would go for six years,” he says.

The resort along Rathbun Lake has had financial issues since it opened in 2008 and the D-N-R had sought a buyer before making the announcement it was hiring a new company to run the facility. Steen says the long-term goal is to sell. “The goal is not to hold on to the property for six or even 15 years. The goal is to work with the Army Corps to get the lease changed, privatized, if you will, so that ultimately we could we could sell the property,” Steen says. “We’re not there yet, we’ve got a ways to go on that.” Steen says the new operator will address something that has been an issue.

“The main difference is that the resort will be open year round. I know that was a point of contention, certainly down in Appanoose County that it was shut down. You know, obviously you had the anomaly with COVID, but then over the winter months it was never reopened,” he says. Steen says the new operator gives them a chance to rethink the promotion of the resort. “I think this provides us an opportunity to do marketing and a little different way than Delaware North. And that’s not a knock on Delaware North. It’s just we can do things a little differently,” Steen says.

He says things are ramping up for this year and the courtesy dock and camping will be available along with the hotel. Steen says the inflatable water park on the lake had about 20-thousand dollars in damage and they assessing whether they can get that fixed and have the park back open.

(Omaha, NE/KETV) – Firefighters in Nebraska and Iowa battled wildfires on multiple front, Thursday. KETV in Omaha reports Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen declared a state of emergency Thursday to get more help fighting the fires. High winds and dry conditions pushed the Crescent Fire north of I-680 in Iowa across state lines. Fire crews in Nebraska were trying to keep the flames from reaching homes.

Fire officials told KETV the forward progress of this fire had been stopped, but it would take an overnight effort to make sure it didn’t spread to anywhere else. The Crescent Fire started on Tuesday after fire officials say a vehicle caught fire. Crews had to leave the fire fight overnight for safety reasons, but Thursday, it all flared up again.

Crews were using brush trucks and water tenders to stop the spread. No structures or houses have been burned.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson says she’s concerned after a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman was arrested at his home for allegedly disclosing classified military documents about the Ukraine war and other top national security issues. “I think it’s incredibly scary that someone had access to this information in a way that they could so easily disseminate it. There will no doubt be some questions about the process here in the Department of Defense. The Department of Justice is going to do its investigation, but someone needs to be held accountable here,” she says.

Hinson says the person knew there were consequences with his alleged actions, but questions need to be raised about national security and it’s concerning that the system failed and the documents were leaked.  “Obviously we have systems in place to make sure that people who have access to classified materials pass background checks,” Hinson says. “I have that access, and of course I take that very, very seriously about protecting what I learn in a classified setting.”

Hinson, a Republican from Marion, recently met with the president of Taiwan. She says the U-S has to take steps to keep China from invading the country. “Really what it comes down to is deterrence — how can we make sure that China does not see that as a good investment in its people and its technology and of its military. We need to fulfill our arms deal commitments to Taiwan and we have not been able to do that in a timely fashion,” Hinson says. She says keeping up trade ties with Taiwan will also help. “Making sure that we are helping them to show economic strength and expanding those opportunities that will help strengthen things in the Indo-Pacific for Taiwan, as well as for us,” she says. “And then I think it sends again a very clear message that we are willing to have these meetings and stand up, to dictators and bullies around the world. Bullies respond to strength.”

Hinson made her comments during a stop in Mason City and on a conference call with reporters.

(Marshall County, Iowa) – WHO-TV in Des Moines reports one person was seriously burned during a large farm building fire that quickly spread to surrounding fields, in Haverhill. The incident occurred at around 3:30-p.m., Thursday. Firefighters from multiple area department arriving on the scene, found several farm buildings on fire, and that high winds and low humidity had  allowed the flames to spread to the surrounding grass,  and field, according to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office.

Several tanker trucks relayed water to the scene because there were no hydrants nearby. Local farmers helped battle the blaze by using tractors and tillage equipment to create a fire break to slow down the spread of the flames. The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office said farmers’ efforts helped fire crews get the fire under control. The owner of the property suffered serious, but non life-threatening burns and was transported via air ambulance to a hospital.

An investigation into the cause of the fire was on-going.

(Rural Bagley, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Guthrie County report the operator of a tractor east of Bagley suffered burns over 50% of his body, Thursday morning, when a field fire the machine and operator were trying to contain, spread to tractor. Guthrie & Greene County Sheriff’s Deputies, and firefighters from the  Yale, Jamaica, Bagley and Bayard Fire Departments, as well as Panora EMS responded to the fire in the 2800 block of 110th Street. The blaze began in a field of corn stalk residue.

The Bagley Fire Chief said the tractor operator was apparently attempting a controlled burn of the field, which had flooded last year, but the current dry conditions and winds caused the fire to get out of control, engulfing the tractor and operator. The tractor is a total loss. Fire crews were able to control the blaze.

The tractor operator was flown to a hospital in Des Moines and subsequently transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Burn Unit.  The incident remains under investigation by the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office.

A burn ban remains in effect for Guthrie and Adair counties until further notice.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man Thursday evening, on a warrant for Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree. 40-year-ol Michael Duwayne Cobb, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 5:40-p.m. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.

Red Oak Police said also, 41-year-old Russel Albert McCullough, of Red Oak was arrested at around 3:30-a.m. today (Friday), in the 1700 block of N. Broadway Streetr. McCullough was arrested for Public Intoxication and was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.