Creston Police report a woman from Polk County was arrested Friday afternoon at the Union County Law Enforcement Center on four Union County warrants for Violation of Probation on original charges of: 2nd degree Attempted Burglary; Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense; Possession of a Controlled Substance 3rd/subsequent offense, for Driving While Denied or Revoked, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense. 38-year old Sara Weis, of West Des Moines, was being held in the Ringgold County Jail on $17,000 bond.

Also on Friday, 10-year old Katrina Gogel, of Creston, was referred to Juvenile Authorities from the Creston Middle School on the charges of Assault with Injury and Criminal Mischief 5th. She was released to the custody of Juvenile Authorities.

Early Sunday morning, Creston Police arrested 26-year old T’Lee Jones, of Creston, on a Union County felony Warrant for the charge of Controlled Substance Violation. She was later released from the Union County Jail on $5000 bond. That same morning 42-year old William Pettit, of Creston, was arrested on an OWI 1st offense charge. He was later released from the Union County Jail on  $1000 bond. And, 25-year old Nathan Vicker, of Creston, was arrested Sunday morning on a charge of Disorderly Conduct. Additional charges of Possession of a Controlled Substance, Interference with Offical Acts and Possession of Contraband in Correctional Institution were added at the Law Enforcement Center/Union County Jail. Vicker was being held in the Union County Jail on $5000 bond.

Authorities said also, a resident of the 300 block of Livingston Avenue, reported Saturday, that on May 10th, someone attempted to break into his home. The incident happened between the hours of 2:30-pm May 10th and 2-am on May 11th. A similar attempt was made May 13th.  Both attempts caused damage to the homes doors that was estimated at $300.

Police in Red Oak say no injuries were reported following a collision between a semi and a car, Sunday afternoon. Officials say the accident happened at around 4:30-p.m. at the intersection of Highway 34 and 4th Street, when a semi driven by 34-year old Gurmeet Singh, of Burbank, CA, collided with a 2008 Ford Focus, driven by 63-year old Christine Seeley, of Red Oak.

Seeley stopped at the intersection and then pulled out to turn south onto 4th Street when her car was hit in the rear quarter panel. The impact ripped the rear bumper off the car. The damage was estimated at $6,000. The semi tractor sustained minor damage to its bumper. No citations were issued.

The City of Albia nearly doubled in size Sunday for a rally to show support for the “Welcome Home Soldier” Memorial. A Washington, D.C.-based group has threatened to sue, arguing the memorial’s 21 crosses violate the separation of church and state since the display sits on public land. Jim Keller, founder and president of the “Welcome Home Soldier” board, says the families of veterans paid for each the crosses.

“I always told everybody when you come here, I want to tear your heart out and hand it right back to you,” Keller said. “I think that’s how much I appreciate everybody that fought for our country.” Officials estimated a crowd of two-thousand turned out in Albia for the event. Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds told rally-goers the threatened lawsuit is an attack on religious liberty.

“It is up to us to stand up and say: ‘We will not tolerate this infringement on our rights. We will not allow this memorial to be taken down,'” Reynolds said, to cheers. Reynolds says the “elitists” are counting on Iowans to lose their resolve.  “We must stand together in this fight like each and every one of you are doing here today and, collectively, we must say: ‘Enough is enough,'” Reynolds said. Reynolds says if it’s O-K for crosses to mark the graves of soldiers at cemeteries in Normandy and Arlington, it should be O-K in Monroe County, Iowa.

State Senator Ken Rozenboom, of Oskaloosa, represents the area and he says this is a battle between “political correctness” and the free speech rights of Albia families who had the names of loved ones carved in the crosses. Last year, Americans United for Separation of Church and State raised concerns about a veterans memorial in a Knoxville city park that depicted a soldier kneeling next to a cross. Two members of the Knoxville City Council who voted to move that memorial to private land lost their bids for reelection.

(Radio Iowa)

The four Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in Iowa are raising serious concerns about the Obama Administration’s use of drones to target terrorists overseas. The candidates appeared Sunday afternoon at a forum sponsored by the “Stop The Arms Race” PAC. Patty Judge says it’s important to take out “high value” targets, but she says the Pentagon, not the C-I-A, should be running the U.S. drone program.

It’s a military tool and it needs to be treated as a military tool,” Judge says. Rob Hogg  says he has “deep concerns” because our enemies may use drones to strike us. “If we can do things that keep the men and women in our services out of danger by using them for informational purposes, that’s probably a good thing,” Hogg says, “…but we’ve got to be really, really careful.” Tom Fiegen says there are too many civilian casualties with drone strikes.

“You wonder why there are more terrorists? It’s because we use
drones to kill people who are innocent victims,” Fiegen said, to applause. Bob Krause says there is a “joystick mentality” that goes with the operation, but he’s not calling for abandoning the use of drones. “I don’t know that I’m willing yet to say that we need to stop targeting and pinpointing the leadership of ISIS,” Krause says.

The Democratic candidates also agreed the U.S. should NOT use torture when interrogating terror suspects. Regarding two of President Obama’s foreign policy achievements, all four expressed opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, but they were united in their support of the president’s nuclear agreement with Iran. Patty Judge says it will help maintain peace in the Middle East.

“However, we must also understand and realize that we have got to be very vigilant,” Judge says. “There needs to be careful monitoring.” Rob Hogg says people overlook that the deal had international support from U.S. allies. “Even Ronald Reagan used nuclear arms negotiations with the ‘Evil Empire’ to bring moderation to the Soviet Union,” Hogg said, “so why shouldn’t President Obama be able to do that with Iran?” Bob Krause says it was “nearly criminal” for Senator Chuck Grassley to sign onto a letter Senate Republicans sent the “Supreme Leader” in Iran.

“It will probably never be prosecuted, but it was clearly wrong,” Krause said, “and it played into the hands of the far right wing in Iran.” Tom Fiegen describes himself as a peace activist who supports the deal with Iran. “I believe it represents a triumph of diplomacy over war,” Fiegen says. Donald Trump was a frequent target during the two-hour-long forum, as was Senator Grassley.

The four candidates are competing to win the June 7th Democratic Primary and the chance to face Grassley in the General Election.

(Radio Iowa)