Authorities in Harrison County say flames from an unattended brush fire whipped by winds of up to 35-miles per hours, destroyed a machine shop Sunday afternoon, in Missouri Valley. More than 30 volunteer firefighters from five towns responded to the blaze, which was reported shortly after 2 p.m.  No one was injured, but the damage amounted to an estimated $38,000.
Missouri Valley Fire Chief Eugene Shaeffer says the shop’s owner had been burning brush in a pit on the property Sunday morning, and the fire was left unattended. The flames eventually  spread to the nearby, one-story, wooden-structure shop.
Shaeffer said there was little Firefighters could do except spray water on adjacent houses to keep them from catching on fire as well.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s scenic and heritage byways are getting new signage marking the designation.

Troy Seifert with the Department of Transportation office in Ames told the Tribune that the Lincoln Highway between Clinton and Council Bluffs is the first to get the news signs. The first of an estimated 1,000 signs have gone up along the highway between Ames and Boone. The rest will be up by the end of the June. Signs will be installed along the state’s nine other byways by mid-November.

The project began in 2006, and Seifert secured a $580,000 grant for the signs.  Seifert says information about Iowa byways will soon be available online at www.iowabyways.org.

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County said Friday, two people were arrested Thursday on separate charges. 34-year-old Billy Ray Hunter, of Council Bluffs was taken into custody Thursday afternoon on charges which include possession of drug paraphernalia, trespassing and violation of a protection order. His bond has been set at $600.

And, a little later that same afternoon, 28-year-old Keith Alan Wilson II, of Glenwood, was arrested by Mills County Sheriff’s deputies, for violation of the state’s sex offender registry. Wilson’s bond was set at $5,000.

The Glenwood Police Department reports a Tabor man was arrested this week. 21-year-old Thomas Cash faces a charge of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Cash was brought to the Mills County Jail and held on $5,000 bond.

Warmer weather brings chirping birds, leaves to the trees, and in Council Bluffs, the scammers come out of hibernation. According to the Omaha World Herald, at least two separate scams have drawn the attention of local law officers over the past week.

Pottawattamie County Treasurer Judy Miller said she has received complaints from citizens about telephone calls demanding more property tax money. Miller said the callers identify themselves as working in the Treasurer’s Office and demand more money. She says at least two complaints have been received about the high pressure tactics.

In one instance, a male caller asks the victim to send the extra payment to a post office box. Miller said there are no male employees in her office, and the employees she has would always properly identify themselves over the telephone. They would also never ask for money to be sent to a post office box.

In a separate incident, a Council Bluffs man reported to police that he received a prize alert that purported to be from Reader’s Digest. Capt. Terry LeMaster said the man, who did not wish to be identified, received a notice claiming he had won $500 in a Reader’s Digest sweepstakes.

The letter also contained a check for $2,900 and asked that the man call a telephone number to receive instructions on getting his $500. LeMaster said the scam likely entailed cashing the check for $2,900, keeping $500 and wiring the remainder back to the “company.”

However, at some point the check would have been found to be a forgery and the victim required to refund the bank’s money that had already been wired. Luckily, the man emailed Reader’s Digest before acting on the letter, and the company told him it was a forgery, therefore, there was no victim.

Even so, LeMaster cautioned the public to be aware of those types of scams.