Officials with Amtrak say service on two routes in the Western U.S. are being affected by flooding, and passengers with travel plans on the Empire Builder & California Zephyr routes are urged to call 800-USA-RAIL, for additional information.

Empire Builder (Trains 7/27 & 8/28)

Amtrak Empire Builder service is temporarily suspended between St. Paul, Minn., and Havre, Mont., with no alternate transportation available between those points, until further notice. For those passengers traveling from Seattle and Portland, a combination of trains and chartered motorcoaches will provide service to Spokane, Wash., with the Empire Builder trains continuing east into Idaho and serving all Montana stops for Glacier National Park (including Whitefish, East and West Glacier and Essex), continuing east to terminate at Havre each afternoon. The trains will originate there to operate back west to Seattle/Portland.

For those passengers traveling west from Chicago, the Empire Builder trains will serve all their Wisconsin stops (including Wisconsin Dells), continuing west to terminate at St. Paul each evening. Each morning, the trains will originate there to operate back east to Chicago.

No other Amtrak service is available for these days in Minnesota (except Winona, Red Wing & St. Paul), in North Dakota and in Eastern Montana.

California Zephyr (Trains 5 & 6)

Amtrak California Zephyr service is temporarily suspended between Denver and Chicago for one day in each direction, affecting only the origination from Emeryville, Calif., (Train 6, eastbound) on June 29 and the scheduled origination from Chicago (Train 5, westbound) on June 30. This is due to railcar and train crew availability following Omaha area flooding.

Limited space is available for passengers via Amtrak Thruway Motorcoaches at Denver, and connections to the Amtrak Southwest Chief at La Junta, Colo. Daily Amtrak service is being maintained by other trains between Chicago and Galesburg, Ill.

One person was injured during a single-vehicle rollover accident early this (Wednesday) morning, about six-miles east/southeast of Hamlin, in Audubon County. The Sheriff’s Department says 16-year old Joanna Camden, of Exira, was transported from the scene to the Audubon County Memorial Hospital by private vehicle.

Camden was a passenger in the 1999 Ford Ranger pickup, driven by 19-year old Benjamin Dale Dressler, of Anita. Officials say the pair were traveling north on Quail Avenue near 250^th Street at around 7-a.m., when the speeding pickup began to fishtail on the gravel road. The vehicle ended-up sliding sideways into a ditch and rolling onto its side.

By the time authorities arrived on the scene, the pickup had been up-righted and driven away. Damage to the pickup was estimated at $1,000.

Dressler was charged with Failure to Maintain Control.

Nearly all of the campsites with electricity at Iowa state parks are now occupied or reserved for the busiest weekend of the summer. Kevin Szcodronski, state parks bureau chief with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says lodges and campgrounds should be in good condition. But, he warns other areas of state parks may be in a bit of disrepair because of state budget cuts. 

“We’re doing the best we can with the time and resources available, but we know we’re going to disappoint some park visitors on the condition of the park they’re visiting. We’re disappointed, but I’ll assure everybody that we’re doing our best to have them ready for the Fourth of July,” Szcodronski said. 

The number of seasonal workers at state parks has been cut by around two-thirds. “We typically have put on, over the years, as many as 300 to 350 summer workers. Those are the ones that keep the facilities clean and mow the grass. Because of budget challenges, we’ve had to cut that back and we now only have around 80 out there,” Szcodronski said. 

The Iowa DNR has also trimmed the number of park rangers in the state from 80 to 59. Szcodronski told legislators earlier this month that “deferred maintenance” at state parks is “nonexistent.” So, park staff  are focused primarily on emergency repairs like fixing leaky pipes – rather than painting, caulking or re-shingling buildings. Several state park campsites are closed right now because of the flooding Missouri River. Szcodronski says the popular Lewis and Clark State Park in Onawa is closed even though floodwaters have yet to reach the park. 

He says the forecast calls for the park to buried under four to five feet of water. “That hasn’t happened yet, but we have the park postured and it would be kind of tough to open it up…we really don’t want to do that, to get it all back opened up to find out a week or so later it’s going to be covered and destroy everything that we did,” Szcodronski said. 

The Lake Manawa and Wilson Island State Park campgrounds are also closed in western Iowa. A couple of state parks are closed for construction: Lake Darling in southeast Iowa’s Washington County and Union Grove State Park near Marshalltown. 

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Gavins Point Dam

Record water flows of about one-point-one million gallons per second are still jetting from Gavins Point Dam into the swollen Missouri River, with no sign of a break ahead for many weeks. Dave Becker, operations manager for the U-S Army Corps of Engineers at Gavins Point, says they are monitoring the structure closely and see no problems.

“We are getting a few less logs and a little less debris which is really a good thing because the first couple of weeks, our crews were pulling in a tremendous amount of wood from the dam,” Becker says. “With our spillway gates open 10 and a half feet, if a tree comes to the spillway, it just goes right through.”

Those logs are a concern as they become projectiles in the swift current that threaten weakened levees downriver. He says heavy equipment is being used in key areas to prevent erosion from the massive water flow.

“Our crews have put a lot of rock on the shorelines below the dam to try and protect our roads and our access points,” Becker says. “I think we might be at a point where we can reduce the amount of work we have to put in to the rip-rap below the dam.”

The gigantic water fall from the spillway has attracted overflow crowds to viewing areas just below the dam and Becker says they are going to close off part of that area. “We are going to rope off part of that fishing wall area,” he says. “It’s just getting to be a splash zone to keep people a safer distance away from that. That’s something we’re going to do this week.”

Becker says they’ve had to devote as many as six Corps of Engineers staff people for directing traffic during busy times on the weekends.

 (Radio Iowa)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors are set to hold their regular weekly meeting Thursday, in Atlantic. During the session, which begins at 9-a.m., the Board will act on: appointing a member to the County Veteran’s Affairs Commission for a 3-year term; a Resolution calling for the reimbursement of a loan to the local option fund for the Northwest sewer/water extension project, the money for which will come from the sale of General Obligation Bonds; and, an extension of tax credits for Fiscal Year 2011-2012, if the State has sent notification in advance of the meeting.

The Board of Supervisor’s meeting takes place in their Board Room at the Cass County Courthouse.

And, the Adair County Board of Supervisors will hold a Special Session Thursday, beginning at 9-a.m., in Greenfield. At 9:05, the Supervisors will hear from Tom McGovern, Assistant to Cass/Adair County Engineer Charles Marker, with regard to the awarding of a contract to Murphy Heavy Contracting Corporation of Anita, for a Washington Township bridge project.

The Board will also hear a recap and update on the Adair County Jail/Public Safety Project, and handle several administrative matters.

Among the items on their agenda is discussion and/or action on: Fiscal year 2012 wages; election worker rate of pay; Sheriff’s Office FY 2012 salaries; Sheriff’s Reserve hourly rate; FY 2012 Appropriations and Transfer Resolutions; appointments to the Compensation Board and Veterans Affairs Commission, and, an EMS training grant draw down.

w/ News Director Ric Hanson

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Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County are investigating the theft of a dirt bike from Elliott. The theft of a 2007 Yamaha PW-50 from the front porch of a residence at 101 1^st Street in Elliott, happened sometime between Tuesday evening and early this (Wednesday) morning.

The cycle is described as being blue and white with a chrome exhaust, and the number 22 on the side and front plates. It’s valued at about $1,500.

If you have information with regard to the theft, call the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers.

Police in Atlantic say a man from Grant was arrested early this (Wednesday) morning, on charges of Disorderly conduct and simple assault. 20-year old Timothy Alan Brown was being held in the Cass County Jail.

Sgt. Brent Maher

The name of a western Iowa National Guardsman killed this past Spring in Afghanistan will be unveiled on a memorial granite wall in Council Bluffs on July 4^th. Sgt. Brent Maher, of Council Bluffs died April 11^th while on a patrol mission in Afghanistan. City and county officials will join Maher’s family for the ceremony, slated to begin at 9-a.m. in the Veterans Plaza at Bayliss Park.

A minister who performed the service for Maher at his funeral on April 22^nd, will provide the invocation. Keynote speaker for the unveiling of his name on the wall will be conducted by Major Bill Backus, Commander of the 168^th Regiment of the Iowa National Guard.

Maher’s name joins the names of more than 500 service members dating back to the Civil War, who are inscribed on the Veterans Plaza wall on the east side of Bayliss Park, in downtown Council Bluffs.

w/ News Director Ric Hanson

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