(Fairfield, Iowa) – One of the Fairfield teens charges with killing their teacher, is appealing his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court. Willard Miller plead guilty in April, to a charge of first-degree murder, in the death of Fairfield Spanish Teacher Nohema Graber. Miller admitted he and Jeremy Goodale, who were 16-years of age at the time, beat the teacher to death in a Fairfield park in November 2021, because they were mad about their grade in class.

The judge in the case sentenced Miller to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 35 years. Miller’s attorneys filed an appeal to the sentencing on Monday, July 17th.

The other teenager charged, Jeremy Goodale, dropped his appeal to resist his August sentencing date. His attorneys and the State Council now have until the end of the month to set a new sentencing date.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, passed a Resolution that creates the position of Parks and Recreation Coordinator, including the job description and compensation for 2024, The Parks Director’s position will be divided between Public Works Director Kirk Knudsen and the new Parks Coordinator position, with the stipulation the Coordinator reports directly to the Public Works Director.

During the Public Forum portion of the meeting, Atlantic resident Frank Saddlemire, who was instrumental in establishing the highly successful Disc Golf course at Sunnyside Park, and has been involved with activities at the park since 2007, said he was opposed to eliminating the Parks Director’s position, as recommended by the City’s Personnel and Finance Committee earlier this month.

He said he doesn’t see where all the ideas for building the parks system in town will come from, if there’s no parks director to drive the ideas and focus on building the parks and rec system, not delegating it to seeing it through. Councilperson Linda Hartkopf was also opposed to the elimination of the position and dissolution of the Parks Board.

The Parks and Rec Board is the only such entity among the nine boards serving the City of Atlantic, that is elected. Councilman Pat McCurdy suggested an Advisory Board be established, but there is no need for an elected board, which the Parks Board is. Councilman H. Lee Sisco said those he’s spoken with are in favor of getting a new Parks Director, and not eliminating the position and Board. He also spoke with Public Works Director Kirk Knudsen, who said adding the position to his current duties would not overload those duties.

Councilman Dana Halder said an Advisory Board would likely come up with more ideas to improve the parks system, than just having a parks director. Councilperson Hartkopf responded.

The Council set their meeting on August 2nd as the date for a Public Hearing to discontinue to Parks and Recreation Board.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Nebraska was arrested late Wednesday evening in Montgomery County. Red Oak Police say 66-year-old Kyle Mark Smith, of North Platte, NE, was arrested at around 9:15-p.m., for OWI/2nd offense. Smith was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Newton, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports inmate Jermichael Jim Wells, currently assigned to the Correctional Release Center in Newton, has absconded from his worksite in Victor, IA and has been placed on escape status. Wells’ sentence is for the following crimes: Theft 2nd Degree, Burglary 2nd Degree, Burglary 3rd Degree-Motor Vehicle, Dominion/Control of Firearm/Offensive Weapon by Felon, and Forgery.

Wells was last seen at his assigned workplace, Quantum Plastics, in Victor, IA (Iowa County) at approximately 5:00 p.m. Wednesday (July 19, 2023). 

Wells is a 25-year-old black male, height 5’11”, and weighs 157 pounds. He has tattoos on his back, chest, and right shoulder, as well as “Keashia” on the left arm,  “Polo” on his chest, “Keasai” on his face and “Loyalty” on his neck.  He was placed in the Correctional Release Center on September 9, 2022.

Jermichael Jim Wells

Law enforcement agencies across the state have been notified through Department of Public Safety and are working to locate and apprehend Wells.  Department of Corrections Fugitive Teams are also working to locate and apprehend Wells.

Persons with information on Wells’ whereabouts should contact local police. If citizens believe they have encountered the escapee, they should not try to apprehend him. They should leave the area and call police immediately.

(Radio Iowa) – Next week’s RAGBRAI — the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa — will be the 26th outing for the Dream Team organization. This year’s group of central Iowa teenagers, referred to the program by a school counselor, started doing indoor spin classes the first week of March. They moved to bicycling outdoors in April. This is the third year Scott Matter has been one of the Dream Team’s adult mentors.

“We had many rides in April when it was very cold and windy — those are very challenging,” Matter said, with a laugh. “…For our youth and our mentors, you really have to dedicated to doing this and to accomplishing your goal.” The 35 teens on this year’s Dream Team will ride every mile of RAGBRAI alongside their 30 or so mentors. Matter has had a front row seat, so to speak, to watch the grit of these kids — and their five month transformation.

“A lot of the youth that come to us maybe haven’t been dealt the best situation in life. For several of them, this might be the first time they’ve had a parental figure that’s actually helped them set a goal and accomplish a big thing in life,” Matter said. “Some of our youth go from not knowing how to ride a bike to being some of the safest cyclists on RAGBRAI. It is a pretty amazing thing.” The age range for Dream Team members is between the ages of 12 and 18. Teenagers who complete the ride can return the next year for the training and for RAGBRAI — until they reach adulthood.

“The return rate from our youth is about 85%, which I think is one of the best endorsements of our program,” Matter says. About 700 teenagers have been Dream Team members over the past quarter century and a few of the mentors have been around for most of that 25 year run. Bike World in Des Moines provides brand new bikes for the teenagers. “And then every member gets to keep their bike after they complete RAGBRAI at the end of July,” Matter says. Meals and lodging for the teenagers on the Dream Team will be provided at no cost during RAGBRAI, as a group of five to 10 adults work as support staff for the bicyclists during RAGBRAI’s seven day run.

Matter gets emotional talking about some of the accomplishments of kids who’ve completed the program. “It’s an incredible organization that allows our kids, our youth to dream big, to be successful and develop kind of a roadmap for setting and accomplishing big goals in their life,” Matter says. Matter cites the experience of one young man who Matter thought might drop out of the program three years ago, but has just graduated from high school and is going to Iowa State University this fall to major in chemistry.

(Radio Iowa) – The panel of lawmakers that reviews state regulations is asking questions about the problems Marion County faces due to a large sinkhole and the committee may propose new rules for mineral mines. The sinkhole opened up in mid-April, south of Knoxville, partly in the ditch of a county road. In May, officials determined the cause. An abandoned part of a limestone mine 200 feet below ground had collapsed. Kelly Meyers, a lobbyist for Marion County, testified at a recent meeting of the legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee.

“We have this huge sinkhole and the county road is closed because it’s adjacent to the sinkhole,” Meyers says, “and it’s basically not getting addressed sufficiently or quickly enough.” The operator of the limestone quarry has accepted responsibility, but Meyers says there are no state standards for how it should be fixed. “What we would like to see is you all having that regulatory authority to make sure that whatever reclamation is done — and I would expect it would be done at the expense of the quarry — that it be done appropriately,” Meyers says.

Senator Mike Klimish of Spillville says the state’s Mines and Minerals Bureau has no oversight. “Ultimately, if they backed up and started just pouring dirt into the sink hole, you’d have no way to stop them from doing that,” Klimesh said, “to fix the sink hole.” Klimesh and other legislators may sponsor a bill to establish sinkhole remediation standards AND address deficiencies in the underground mapping of mineral mines in Iowa.

It took weeks to confirm what caused the sinkhole because maps of the mine weren’t readily available. Vince Sitzmann is chief of the State of Iowa’s Mines and Minerals Bureau. “Right away when this happened, had we had that map in hand, we could have gone and said: ‘Yeah, you absolutely have mined this area,’ because the quarry themselves didn’t think they’d mined that area and the map indicated that yes, they did mine it,” he said. “Now, should the quarry have had that map? Absolutely, but it just wasn’t available. They’ve gone under some new ownership.”

Sitzmann says the Iowa Geological Survey is responsible for collecting maps for underground mining. “They had previously been part of the Department of Natural Resources,” Sitzmann says. “That was in 2014 and they moved over the University of Iowa and I think they were understanding the mine maps were no longer under their purview and were part of the DNR, which turns out was not the case, and so there was a little bit of misunderstanding and, I think, misfortune on this particular site.”

Senator Nate Boulton of Des Moines says this is a stunning case and, luckily, no one was injured or killed.  “But you can clearly see where a tragedy could happen and we really have to get serious about this,” Boulton said. The state Mines and Minerals Bureau got the initial call in April about the sinkhole, did some drilling in the area and quickly concluded the sinkhole was not connected to a coal mine.

“Essentially, that kind of ends our responsibility there,” Sitzmann said. “We paid for the borings, but we do not have the authority to go in there and reclaim a subsidence like that unless it’s coal related.” When an underground mine can no longer support the material above it and collapses, it’s called a subsidence. There is FEDERAL money available for remediation of sinkholes connected to collapsed coal mines, but NOT when an underground limestone mine is involved.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett, Wednesday, informed the public that the City’s Code Enforcement personnel are out and about, checking for property violations (such as overgrown grass, trash accumulation, snow removal, etc.). “So just be aware, if you have a business or a home, please comply with the ordinances that are on the books,” she said, because they are out in force, and they are working on Code Enforcement, and we will be enforcing codes.”

The Mayor said “Last year we increased the fees because we were using City equipment [and] City personnel, to abate properties, and that takes a lot of time and money and wear of our equipment, as a city. So the rates were increased.” She encourages everyone, from land-lords or a property owner or business owner, “to make sure that you’re complying and keeping up your properties, or we will be coming in to abate it, and you will be receiving a bill in the mail.”

City Clerk Barb Barrick said “Once you get the bill, if you don’t pay it within 30 days, it will be assessed to your taxes.” The Mayor said it is less expensive to do the work yourself, than to have the City clean-up your property.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Grace Garrett, the Mayor of Atlantic, announced during this (Wednesday) evening’s City Council meeting, that she and Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon, and Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg, met last week to discuss a grant the County has received from the Iowa United First Aid Pilot Project.

The Mayor said “The project is a first aid response within our community. We will be recruit volunteers soon, so if you are retired or currently active as a medical personnel, retired veteran or active medic, or would like to be trained as a first aid responder, we would love to hear from you.”

The project is a combined effort between the City of Atlantic and Cass County to provide first aid to the entire 565 square miles of Cass County. Garrett said the project and program has its roots in Israel. “It will be a technology-based response.” The two entities chose a tech company once the grant was received, that will work with the Cass County 911 Communications Center.

The alerts will be telephone-based, with the volunteer trained first responders closest to the scene of the emergency, receiving notification of the alert. They will attend to the emergency until EMS or Fire Department personnel arrive on the scene. The volunteers will be trained by the local Public Health Department, and they will receive all the necessary equipment, such as an AED (automatic external defibrillator).

“The volunteer will actually have a vest, backpack and an AED. They will be trained [in the use of] and all the supplies will be given to them as a volunteer, so that there will be no expense incurred by the volunteer for their needed supplies,” the Mayor said. She asked if anyone is interested, to please contact Mike Kennon at 243-1500, or Mayor Garrett at 243-4810.

The hope is to roll out the program this September once all the volunteers are trained.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Central Community College broke ground this week on what will become its new Biofuels Testing Laboratory on the west side of Fort Dodge. Iowa Central President Jesse Ulrich says it will be a welcome addition to the campus and it’ll be the only independent biofuels testing lab in the country.

“This was something that was started at Iowa Central back in the mid 2000s,” Ulrich says. “We worked with a local trucking company, Decker Truck Lines, to really test out the difference between regular fuel and biofuel within the trucking industry.” He says the planned state-of-the-art lab will be the end result of very humble beginnings.

“It’s something that really started kind of out of a closet, a very small operation, and moved into the Biohealth Science Building. We’ve just continued to grow and expand,” Ulrich says. “As a part of our 2018 public bond referendum, that our community supported, there was some money set aside to build a new testing lab.” The land on which the lab will be built didn’t cost Iowa Central anything, as it had been occupied by a Casey’s convenience store.

“When Casey’s did strategic planning and eliminated that store for use, we contacted Casey’s and heard our vision about what we wanted to do with the property in regards to the biofuel lab, and they thought it was a win-win for everyone,” he says. “We’re very fortunate that Casey’s donated that property to us.” The lab should be ready for move-in within a year.

(Radio Iowa) – As the movie “Oppenheimer” opens Thursday, the story of the physicist who developed the first nuclear weapons, a documentary screening tonight (Wednesday) will focus on a role Iowa played in the Manhattan Project.

Ames native and filmmaker Brittany Prater’s documentary, “Uranium Derby,” centers on top-secret experiments that were conducted in her hometown during the 1940s. One source is heard during the movie trailer saying, “On the campus at Iowa State during the war, they were making materials for atomic bombs.”

Prater details how the Ames Laboratory, run by the Department of Energy, at one point flushed high-level radioactive waste down the city’s sanitary-sewer drains. She visits an Ames neighborhood that suffered from what she calls a “cancer epidemic” in the 1990s, where toxic waste was buried, under what eventually became a youth sports complex. Once it went public, she says, the site was hastily cleaned up.

Prater will be at The Varsity Theater in Des Moines for tonight’s 7 P-M showing of the 88-minute documentary and she’ll take questions afterward.