(Cass County, Iowa) – Atlantic and Massena are hosting mobile food pantries this week, on Wednesday afternoon April 12. A mobile pantry is a traveling food pantry that delivers food directly to families in need for a one-day distribution. People from surrounding towns and communities are welcome. Mobile food pantries are available free of charge. Anyone in need is welcome, and no documentation is required. Each car can take food for up to two households at a time. It is important to note that Massena pantries require pre-registration. See below for details.

April 12 Mobile Food Pantries:

• Atlantic, at the Cass County Community Center on the Fairgrounds, from 4-6 PM. Enter from 10th Street on Fair Avenue. Questions call 712-243-1132.
• Massena at Southwest Iowa Egg, 74877 Clark Avenue, Massena, Iowa – Enter from west end and drive across the scale for the pick up.  Time:  4:30 – 5:00. NOTE: You MUST sign up by Mon. April 10 to get food from this pantry. Boxes are limited, so early signup is appreciated. To sign up, call 712-779-3447.

Upcoming Atlantic 2023 Mobile Food Pantries

Please note: Atlantic 2023 Mobile Food Pantries are being held at different locations during the school year (Cass County Community Center) and summer months (Atlantic High School).

• Time: 4:00-6:00 PM
  • Cass County Community Center (805 W. 10th St., Atlantic, IA 50022): October 11
  • Atlantic High School (1201 E. 14th St. Atlantic, IA 50022): June 14, July 12, August 9

Upcoming Massena 2023 Mobile Food Pantries

Please note: Massena pantries require registration. Boxes are limited. Registration ends the Monday prior to the pantry date. To register for pantries in Massena, call (712) 779-3447.

Where: Southwest Iowa Egg Coop (74877 Clarke Ave. Massena, IA 50853)

2023 Dates: June 14 (register by June 12), July 12 (register by July 10), August 9 (register by Aug. 7), October 11 (register by Oct. 9)

Box pick-up time: 4:45-5:15 PM

Mobile pantry dates, times, and locations are subject to change. For the latest information on mobile pantries in Anita and Atlantic, visit https://foodbankheartland.org/food-resources/find-food/. For the latest information on Massena pantries, call (712) 779-3447. For information on local food, farmers markets, and food access, follow the Cass County Local Food Policy Council’s Facebook page @CassCountyLocalFood.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors visited with owners and staff of Eleven O Three Clothing Company on Friday, April 7th, 2023, to view the recent additions from Bonnesen’s Five & Dime store. Eleven O Three is a clothing boutique that was started in Villa Dance Company to give dance parents and students something to shop around for while waiting for classes to begin and end. It began with a few racks of options and kept growing to the point where a party room was converted into a full-time boutique.

After Bonnesen’s announced they would be closing their doors at the end of 2022, Rachel Johnson, Villa Dance Company owner, couldn’t see the old school candy and coffee options go away. They have spent the past few months installing the Bonnesen’s candy counter and working through state inspections to ensure everything was done by the books. Today, you will find the same fun, “old school” candy you would find at Bonnesen’s with a few new fun twists and options.

Eleven O Three Clothing Company carries a variety of clothing ranging in sizes XS-3XL. The business also carries jewelry, bags, soaps, salts, a limited supply of baby clothes and now candy and coffee. The boutique is open Monday-Wednesday, 11:03AM-7PM, and Friday, 11:03AM-5PM. The boutique is open on select Saturday’s for special events.

Photo submitted

Eleven O Three Clothing Company is located at 1103 SW 7th Street, Atlantic. To learn more, visit them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/elevenothreeclothingcompany

(Greenfield, Iowa) – Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports two recent arrests.

• 46-year-old Joseph Eric Funke, of Fontanelle, was arrested April 2nd, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Funke was a passenger in a vehicle that was at a convenience store in Adair. As a Deputy approached to speak with Funke, he could smell the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. Funke admitted to smoking a joint earlier. A Probable cause search of the vehicle turned up a small amount of marijuana joints inside of a cigarette box, and a glass pipe with methamphetamine residue. An additional glass pipe with residue consistent with the smoking of meth, was found in the vehicle’s center console. Funke was cited for Possession and released at the scene with a summons to appear in court.
• 40-year-old Dustin Brian Benge, of Greenfield, was arrested April 6th on an Adair County warrant for Tampering with a witness or juror. Benge was also taken into custody for Violation of Probation. He was being held on a combined $8,000 cash-only bond.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports four-people were injured, with one person suffering serious injuries, during a collision Sunday afternoon northeast of Orient. In an update to our earlier report, Sheriff Jeff Vandewater said a 2016 Dodge RAM pickup driven by 70-year-old Judy Ann Sammons, of Orient, was facing west at the intersection of Henry A. Wallace Road and 300th Street, at a posted stop sign. A semi-truck same out of the south on Henry A. Wallace Road, and turned west onto 300th Street.

Sammons failed to see a 2016 Honda Odyssey van coming from the south and headed northbound, behind the semi. Sammons proceeded to continue traveling west, and in doing so, was struc by the van, driven by 55-year-old Laura Michelle Baker, of West Des Moines. Sammons suffered suspected serious/incapacitating injuries, and was transported by Adair County Ambulance to the Greater Regional Hospital, in Creston. She complained of neck pain, and has also suffered cuts and bruises.

Laura Baker was transported to the Adair County Memorial Hospital in Greenfield, also by an Adair County Ambulance. She complained of head, neck and abdominal pain. Two passengers in the van, 17-year-old Braden Baker and 19-year-old Brielle Baker, both from West Des Moines, also complained of pain and were transported to the hospital. Both vehicles sustained a total of $25,000 and were towed away. Sammons was cited for Failure to Yield.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has chosen an attorney who represented the Trump campaign in a high profile case to be a state gambling regulator. The governor is appointing Alan Ostergren to replace a former state legislator on the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission next month. Ostergren is president and C-E-O of The Kirkwood Institute, which is described on its website as a conservative public interest law firm. Ostergren was elected to three terms as Muscatine County Attorney, but resigned in May of 2020 to enter private practice.

Ostergren successfully represented the Trump campaign’s challenge of voter registration forms mailed by county auditors from Linn, Johnson and Woodbury Counties for the 2020 General Election. He also represented Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks campaign during the recount in her 2020 race for the U.S. House. In 2022, Ostergren was the attorney who handled challenges to the nomination petitions Democrat Abby Finkenauer submitted for the U-S Senate Primary.

Ostergren’s nomination to the Racing and Gaming must be confirmed by at least 34 senators. Republicans now hold 34 seats in the 50-member Iowa Senate.

(Menlo, Iowa) – The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office says no injuries were reported following what was described as a “slow-speed” collision Sunday afternoon between two Harley Davidson motorcycles, near Menlo. Authorities say a 2014 Harley being operated by 45-year-old Andrea Lee Goins, of DeSoto, and a 2021 Harley operated by 52-year-old Jeffrey Lane Ockerman, of Adel, were traveling west on White Pole Road and coming into Menlo at around 3:20-p.m.

Goins said when she saw Ockerman’s cycle, it appeared that it was going to turn north onto McPherson Street, and that it then looked like Ockerman changed his mind. Goins pulled-up behind the other motorcycle because she thought it was going straight, but then the other Harley proceeded to turn north onto McPherson. The right front side of the cycle struck the left rear side of Goins’ cycle.

Ockerman’s motorcycle then tipped over onto its right side and slid on the road. When a Guthrie County Deputy arrived on the scene, he observed both cycles were off on the shoulder of the road. Both machines had sustained damage amounting to $3,500 altogether.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – This week, April 9-15, 2023 is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. It’s a time to pay recognition to the men and women who staff not only the Cass County Communications Center, but those who are the First “First Responders”. April is 911 Education Month, in Iowa. When you call 9-1-1, dispatchers guide you through the steps to take to ensure your safety before help arrives. They also provide lifesaving instructions over the phone in instances of cardiac arrest and other critical EMS calls.

Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon spoke about the dispatchers at the Comm Center.

Combined, the dispatchers have over 100-years of experience. Kennon said there’s always someone on-duty to take calls.

Not everyone is qualified to handle the stress when you’re dealing with multiple calls or events.

Kennon says it can also be rewarding, when the dispatcher is able to assist in saving lives, such as in the case of someone having a heart attack, by providing the caller with instructions on how to conduct CPR, etc. In addition to handling 9-1-1 calls, operators in most counties are capable of receiving 911 Text messages.

He says if there’s a situation where you question if you should call 9-1-1 instead of an Administration or Non-Emergency line, call 9-1-1. They can determine if help should be sent. Just don’t abuse the service.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s lone prairie chicken population appears to be struggling to sustain itself. The Iowa D-N-R and Missouri officials brought in about 500 birds from Nebraska between 2011 and 2015 to bolster a small, existing flock. The chickens were released in the Kellerton Grasslands Conservation Area in Ringgold County and a nearby natural area in Missouri. Iowa D-N-R biologist Chad Paup says there are now fewer than 50 birds in the area. “We cannot really put our finger on it,” Paup says. “Do we still not quite have the habitat they need? Do we not have the size that they need? Do we not have the large enough expanse of grasslands that they really need?”

Kellerton is a roughly four-thousand acre grassland area, and Paup says the birds might need a larger, contiguous area to sustain a bigger flock. Paup says the species’ future in Iowa doesn’t look bright. “There’s not going to be a lot of support, quite frankly, for going out and spending tens of thousands of dollars to transport more chickens back here,” Paup says.

When European settlers first arrived in Iowa, the prairie chicken was everywhere, and unlike almost every other wild creature, its numbers increased during the early years of the settlement movement. After a few decades though, they were overharvested by the millions for meat and nearly wiped out. Paup made his comments on IPR’s Talk of Iowa program.

(reporting by Michael Leland, Iowa Public Radio)

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports two recent arrests. Saturday afternoon, 23-year-old Garrett Breann Abel, of Creston, was arrested at her home on an Animal At Large charge. Abel was cited and released at the scene. And, at around 5:47-p.m. Friday, 28-year-old Patrick Riley Iiams, of Creston, was arrested at the intersection of Commerce and Adams. Iiams was charged with Driving while Suspended and OWI 1st Offense.He was transported to the Union County Jail and later released on bond.

Creston Police said also, a man residing at 1501 W. Townline reported late Thursday morning, that someone damaged his clothes and electronic equipment in his dorm room. The loss was estimated at $1,500.