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“Elect A Scrooge” Annual Contest to Begin Today

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Area Chamber’s Annual Scrooge Contest is now underway, through the month of November. Eleanor Hoover, who passed away in 2019, organized the contest beginning in 2002 just one year after the inaugural Lighted Parade. Her daughters, Jackie Sampson and Billie Hoover, took the reins in 2019. The Scrooge contestants raise money and collect non-perishable food items for the Atlantic Food Pantry. The 2022 candidates include: Dr. Matt Weresh, Cass Health; Dave Frederiksen, Atlantic Hy-Vee; Jeff Gude, First Whitney Bank & Trust and Joyce Wieser & Lori Blum, Brown’s Shoe Fit.

Photo Left to Right: Dr. Matt Weresh, Lori Blum, Joyce Wieser, Jeff Gude and Dave Frederiksen

The contest will run from November 1st to November 22nd at noon. The contestant with the most points will be named Scrooge and all proceeds will benefit the Atlantic Food Pantry. Winner of the Scrooge Contest serves as the Grand Marshal in the Lighted Parade on December 3rd at 6 PM in Downtown Atlantic. Cash donations are worth 5 points on the dollar and one non-perishable item earns the contestants one point. Donations to a contestant can be made by delivering food or funds to their drop off locations. For more information, please call the Chamber at 712.243.3017 or email chamber@atlanticiowa.com. The contest will run November 1st – November 22nd.

Bailey Smith, Executive Director at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce says “I’m so thankful Jackie and Billie agreed to carry on the tradition and help us organize the contest. Each year, more goods are donated and more money is raised, which continues to benefit a growing number of individuals and families in our community.”

The Atlantic Food Pantry is asking for a specific list of food items, with a focus on monetary donations to help purchase other food items that are needed including meat and refrigerated items. The list of needed food items includes:

  • Cream of Chicken/Mushroom Soup; Tomato/Chicken Noodle Soup; Ramen Noodles
  • Hamburger Helper; Boxed Noodles
  • Canned Beef Ravioli/Spaghetti O’s; Canned Manwich or Sloppy Joe
  • Instant Sides (Packages) – Pasta, Sauce or Potato
  • Boxed Cereal
  • Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
  • Saltine Crackers
  • Canned Fruit
  • Bar Soap
  • Canned Tuna/Chicken
  • Macaroni & Cheese
  • Canned Vegetables; Chili Beans; Diced Tomatoes
  • Toilet Paper
  • 18 oz. Creamy Peanut Butter
    Quick Oats (no milk needed)
  • Pancake/Waffle Mix (no milk needed); Pancake/Waffle Syrup
  • Pasta Sauce“Our food pantry continues to see an increase of individuals and families in need of food assistance. We have such a great group of candidates this year. They’re all very determined people who already do a lot for our community. I have no doubt this will be another successful year for the pantry and our community,” mentioned Smith.Past Scrooge titles have been awarded to: Mary Ann Moorman 2007, Dana Halder 2008, Tammy Wise & Janet Huey 2009, Ritchie Anderson 2010, Janet Cappel 2011, Melanie Petty 2012, David Miller 2013, Mark McNees 2014, Ted Robinson 2015, Jon Johnson 2016, Rob Stamp 2017, Rob & Sonya Clausen 2018, Billie Hoover, Jackie Sampson & Lori Christianson 2019, Brain Ruge 2020 and Ray Paulin 2021.

2 arrested, 1 cited, in Creston

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

The Creston Police Department reports two people were arrested on separate charges, Monday, while another was cited. At around 11-p.m., 39-year-old Bithia Erin Whitfield, of Creston, was arrested at the Creston/Union County Law Enforcement Center. Whitfield was charged with Assault – Intent to cause pain/injury and subsequently released on a Promise to Appear in court. And, 37-year-old Colan Kelly Hanner, of Creston, was arrested for Disorderly Conduct-Abuse Epithets/Threatening Gesture. He was being held on a $300 bond.

21-year-old Andrew George Mills, of Lenox, was cited by Creston Police, for allowing an Animal to run At-Large. He was released at the scene with the citation. Creston Police said also, a man residing in the 400 block of New York Avenue, in Creston, reported that his various yard decorations were stolen from his residence. The loss was estimated at $220.

UI experts are meeting with school nurses about overdose reversal drug

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa public schools are now allowed to stock Narcan, also known as Naloxone, the drug that when administered may be able to reverse an overdose. Ben Miskle, a professor in the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, is hosting educational sessions with district nurses in both the Iowa City and Clear Creek Amana school districts to discuss the potentially life-saving medication. He notes, opioid overdose deaths are increasing nationally, locally, and in adolescents. “There’s a big push right now to understand that we don’t always plan for a fire, but most people have a fire extinguisher. We hope it never gets used, but if it does, we’re prepared,” Miskle says. “That’s kind of the way that we’re approaching Narcan in schools. We hopefully never have to use it, but in case we do need it, we hope that it’s there.”

Iowa school boards need to create a policy, then go through the Iowa Department of Public Health to obtain their Narcan kits. “Kind of the problem with that is that not everybody is necessarily great at writing policy or is an expert at writing policy,” Miskle says. “So sometimes they need a little bit of help in getting that done, or maybe they’re not as comfortable with how to actually administer the medication, so then filling in some of those gaps with education can be really helpful.” Miskle is holding the educational sessions as a community service initiative along with a colleague, Heidi Wood, a clinical pharmacy specialist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He says they’re also meeting with individual school nurses, teachers, staff and anyone else to familiarize themselves with the drug — and their options.

“Both of our spouses actually work for school districts across Iowa,” Miskle says. “Knowing that we just need Naloxone out there, Narcan out there to help prevent overdoses, it’s definitely something that we just want everybody to be safe and all of our communities to be safe and working in health care, I think we both see that need.” The U-I aims to expand the project throughout the state and is asking U-I College of Pharmacy alumni to provide needed education to school nurses.

OWI arrest in Red Oak Monday afternoon

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

Police in Red Oak, Monday afternoon, arrested a woman for OWI/1st offense. Authorities say 32-year-old Amanda Jo Cacek was arrested in the 100 block of W. Coolbaugh Street, a little before 3-p.m., Monday. She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

California pedestrian dies after being struck by a tractor-trailer on I-80 near Altoona

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Polk County, Iowa) – A man from California was struck and killed by a semi tractor-trailer late Monday night, in Polk County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a semi driven by a man from Sacramento, CA, was westbound on Interstate 80 near Altoona at around 10:30-p.m., when 18-year-old Davis Cooper, of Pasadena, CA, entered the roadway and was hit. Cooper died at the scene. It’s not known why he was walking along the Interstate. The Patrol said Cooper was parked at a convenience store nearby, before entering the interstate on foot.

Red Oak man arrested late Monday night during a traffic stop

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

A traffic stop at around 11:30-p.m. Monday, in Red Oak, resulted in the arrest of the driver, for having a suspended license through the State of Iowa. 47-year-old Terry J. Aherns, of Red Oak, was also cited for failure to show proof of insurance. High bond was set at $491.25.

Shenandoah K9 assists in drug search & arrest at the Clarinda Correctional Facility (CCF)

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Clarinda, Iowa) – Police in Shenandoah arrested a man from Essex, Monday morning, following an investigation into drugs found in a vehicle at the Clarinda Correction Facility (CCF). Authorities say 49-year-old Jeffrey Scott Shane was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of methamphetamine, possession of contraband in a correctional facility and possession of a firearm in a correctional facility. Shane was transported to the Page County Jail and held on on $16,300 bond.

His arrest occurred after the Shenandoah Police Department K9 “Remmi” was called in to assist the Iowa Department of Corrections in an investigation around 9:30 a.m. Monday. Remmi was deployed on a vehicle and alerted to the odor of narcotics. A subsequent search revealed methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.

CCF officials have an ongoing investigation in connection with the incident.

Update: Man in custody for Saturday shooting in Sioux City is related to one of victims

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The 19-year-old man in custody for two shooting deaths in Sioux City is related to one of the victims. Court records indicate 19-year-old Joseph Cruz of Sioux City was fighting with a friend over a gun early Saturday morning and fired several shots inside a Sioux City home. Cruz shot himself in the leg.

Police dispatched to the house where the shooting happened found Carlos Aquirre, Cruz’s 21-year-old friend, and Anthony Williams, Cruz’s 19-year-old cousin, lying on the floor in the kitchen. Cruz is charged with two counts of second degree murder.

200,000 Iowans have already voted in 2022 General Election

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Two-hundred thousand Iowans have already cast votes in this year’s General Election. The latest information on the Iowa Secretary of State’s website indicates county auditors have issued 273-thousand absentee ballots and 73 percent of those ballots have been returned. Here’s the party breakdown so far: about 55 percent of the early votes are from Democrats, 31 percent are from Republicans and most of the rest are from independents who list “no party” on their voter registration.

Fifty-two percent of the “early votes” so far were either cast in person at a county auditor’s office or satellite voting site — or voters used a designated drop box for their absentee ballot.  A little less than half of the early votes already cast in Iowa’s 2022 General Election were delivered to county auditors’ offices through the U.S. Mail. Iowa law now requires absentee ballots to be inside your county auditor’s office by 8 p.m. next Tuesday. Election officials say the window for mailing ballots is closing. Jennifer Garms is president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors.

“Once again, I would just recommend that if you have the opportunity to bring it into the office, to do that route,” she says. Postmarks and postal bar codes showing you mailed a ballot before election day NO LONGER APPLY. Voters can check online at www.voterready.iowa.gov, to see if their ballot has been received.

In-person early voting at county auditors’ offices and some satellite voting locations continues through November 7th.

Former Southeast Valley choir director pleads guilty to sexual exploitation of student

News

November 1st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – A former Webster County teacher is pleading guilty to a charge of sexual exploitation by a school employee, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. Brandon Louis was the choir director at Southeast Valley High School in Gowrie. Louis admits in a plea agreement that he had exchanged text messages with a student that were sexual in nature. Haley Studyvin, a graduate of Southeast Valley, says the messages Louis sent her began arriving later and later at night.

“The texts started as endearing like, ‘You’re one of my favorites, you know. You’re going to do great things,'” she says. “He’d always throw in a lot of, ‘I’m not supposed to be doing this. I could get fired for doing this,’ and then it progressed into where, by the end of my senior year, he was trying to get me to leave my house in the middle of the night and come over to his apartment and sleep with him.” Studyvin says her eyes have been opened to how often this sort of abuse happens, but she says it took a while before she understood what was happening to her.

“I needed to realize that what he was doing was not because he cared about me,” Studyvin says. “What he was doing was manipulating me and hurting me and putting me in a position that nobody should ever have to be in because it’s not healthy and it’s not safe and you’ll never come out of it feeling good about yourself.” Studyvin says her message to others going through similar situations is that they will be able to heal.

Two years ago, Studyvin told the Southeast Valley school board she and more than 20 other students who had been victimized by the choir director. Louis resigned in October of 2020 and he was arrested in November of last year after a year-long investigation. He’s scheduled to be sentenced December 19th.