(Red Oak, Iowa) – A call from a residence in the 1200 block of Senate Avenue at around 9:45-p.m. Saturday, resulted in three arrests. According to Red Oak Police, upon further investigation, Officers arrested 37-year-old Russell E. McGee, 29-year-old Tyler Clark Kuhlmann, and 19-year-old Jayden Eugene Roberts, all of Danville, IL. The three were charged with Public Intoxication, with Roberts additional charged with Harassment in the 3rd Degree.

All three subjects were transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond, each.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – Officials with SWIPCO (Southwest Iowa Planning Council) report 50 stakeholders from diverse backgrounds gathered at the Lied Public Library in Clarinda on Thursday, September 22nd for the organization’s 47th annual meeting and luncheon. A welcome from Clarinda Mayor Craig Hill, and lunch, the SWIPCO meeting kicked off with Todd Valline, SWIPCO Board Chair doing introductions. SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy and Transit Director Mark Lander presented seven partnership awards for entities that had a strong partnership with SWIPCO over the 2022 fiscal year. (Click on an image to enlarge) The awardees were:

• Gilbert Thomas, Bank Iowa for his dogged promotion of Clarinda and the surrounding region in economic and housing development.
  

  Partnership award being presented: SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy (left); Gilbert Thomas, Bank Iowa (right)

• Bear Creek Archeology for their skill and efficiency in supporting Southwest Iowa grant applications under enormous time pressures due to Covid related and other funding sources with archeological services and vitally needed evaluations.
  

  Partnership award being presented: Curtis Architecture & Design P.C. Rod Curtis (left); SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy; Curtis Architecture & Design P.C. Jacob Gockel (right)

  

  Partnership award being presented: Transit Director Mark Lander (left); Clarinda Area Volunteers Patricia Bogdanski; Clarinda Area Volunteers Gretchen Sump; SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy (right)

  

  Partnership award being presented: Tom Shipley, Iowa Senate (left); SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy (right)

• Curtis Architecture & Design for their skill and efficiency in supporting Southwest Iowa grant applications under enormous time pressures due to Covid related and other funding sources with architectural design services and historic preservation recommendations.
• Clarinda Area Volunteers for providing over 4,000 rides a year to the residents of Clarinda for much needed transportation, including medical, shopping, and other vital trips near and far.
• Iowa Economic Development Authority for steadfast partnership with SWIPCO to provide flood recovery, Covid recovery, and other economic development funds to Southwest Iowa.
  

  Partnership award being presented: Jim Olmsted (left); SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy; Steve Perry (right)

• Tom Shipley, Iowa Senate for being a constant advocate at the Statehouse for our region and in particular for always putting the needs of his constituents first.
• Olmsted & Perry Consulting Engineers for decades of service to the region by providing invaluable expertise, often to some of the smallest communities, on community infrastructure projects and in congratulations for the gradual retirement of the owners, Jim Olmsted and Steve Perry.
  

  Staff recognized for years of service milestones: Tammy DeBord (left); Rhonda Oliphant; Ann Anstey; SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy (right)

SWIPCO staff were also recognized for years of service milestones: Ann Anstey (5 years) Rhonda Oliphant (5 years), Tammy DeBord (15 years) Sandy Hansen (15 years), and Christy Pederson (15 years). Richard Stehly was recognized as SWITA Driver of the Year. Also, former SWITA Fleet Manager Kelly Davis was posthumously recognized. Kelly passed away this year after retiring from 28 ½ years of service to the region.

SWIPCO and SWITA staff presented the annual report with highlights from the year from public transit, community development, revolving loan fund, and administrative services. SWITA Transit Director Mark Lander reported that SWITA

Driver of the Year recognized: Transit Director Mark Lander (left); Richard Stehly; SWIPCO Executive Director John McCurdy (right)

provided 480,229 rides over the past year which is up from 377,547 rides provided in fiscal year 2021. This is the most rides by a rural public transit system in Iowa ever. “We are seeing a lot of growth in our work routes like Monogram and OSI, and I think we are on target to provide 500,000 rides by the end of fiscal year 2023,” Lander said. SWIPCO also routinely provides grant writing and administration services to its member communities in Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, and Shelby Counties and brought over $120 million in grants to the region in fiscal year 2022 alone.

Since its founding in 1975, Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO), which also operates Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA) and the Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund (SWIHTF), has earned a reputation for being an outstanding community partner and transit provider in the region. SWIPCO was recognized as the 2022 Organization of Character by the Robert D. and Billie Ray Center at Drake University, which annually recognizes Iowans who show the Six Pillars of Character Counts: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and good citizenship. SWIPCO was also named a Des Moines Register Iowa Top Workplace for 2022.

SWIPCO is a council of governments serving the eight counties of southwest Iowa with public transportation, community development, and housing. SWIPCO is an equal opportunity employer, provider, and lender.

The ‘Tour de Parks’ free, community bike ride has been scheduled for Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 2:00 PM. ‘Tour de Parks’ is a play on the name of the famous bike race, the Tour de France, but unlike the famous event, this bike ride is not a race. Instead, it’s a leisurely 10-mile group ride around Atlantic that will stop at multiple parks where various community groups and organizations will greet riders with music, snacks, and information on community happenings.

The ride will start and end at the Sunnyside Park Kiddie Korral (1300 Sunnyside Lane, Atlantic, IA 50022, at the shelter by the bandstand with lots of playground equipment). The Atlantic Kiwanis will be providing a free meal at Kiddie Korral for riders when they finish the ride, and participating organizations and supporters will be giving away free prizes. Tour de Parks participants can expect to ride on both trails and streets, as the ride is designed in part to highlight area trails and the bike-ability of Atlantic.

Atlantic Parks and Recreation lends out bikes and helmets free of charge anytime, and these can be checked out for the ride. For questions or to borrow a bike or helmet for the ride, contact Atlantic Parks & Recreation at 712-243-3542. Participating organizations planning to host stops at parks along the route include Atlantic Parks & Rec, Nishna Valley Trails, the Nishna Valley Family YMCA, Bike Farm, Cass County Extension, Cass County Grow Another Row, Zion Integrated Behavioral Health Services, Produce in the Park, SHIFT ATL, Atlantic Public Library, Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, Cass County Tourism, and Atlantic Kiwanis.

The Red Oak Police Department reports three arrests overnight Friday into early Saturday.

On Friday at approximately 9:51 p.m. Officers arrested two men in the 300 block of East Valley Street in Red Oak. 40-year-old Sean Alan Kinsley and 29-year-old Joshua Michael Lowe, both of Red Oak were arrested on a charge each of Simple Assault. Both men were taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond each.

Early Saturday at 2:23 a.m. Red Oak Police arrested 54-year-old Richard James Linfor of Red Oak in the 500 block of East Market Street on a charge of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Linfor was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond.

The Red Oak Police Department reports an arrest on Friday evening at 6:35 p.m. Officers arrested 32-year-old Chloe Margeurite Coburn of Red Oak on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault. Coburn was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on no bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The hospital in Keokuk closed permanently at 7 a.m. today (Friday). Blessing Health System bought the hospital in Keokuk last year from UnityPoint. The facility needs millions of dollars in repairs and patient traffic has dwindled, so Blessing Health executives announced earlier this month that it would close. The hospital’s 147 employees will stay on the payroll through November 4th. Some are going to work in other Blessing Health facilities and others are on paid leave.

Keokuk has had a hospital for well over a century. The city’s first hospital opened in 1892. During the Civil War, a military hospital in Keokuk treated soldiers from both sides of the conflict. 

The original announcement from Blessing Health indicated the current hospital in Keokuk would close at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, but the hospital’s website says it already has been closed and anyone with a medical emergency should call 911.

(Radio Iowa) – Books about Vietnam were the focus of an event Thursday at the Siouxland Freedom Park Interpretive Center.

A long-time Sioux City college professor turned over his extensive collection of books on Vietnam during the event. Ralph Swain’s collection includes more than 100 books. “I actually started accumulating the books just before I went to Vietnam because I wanted to learn about the place I was going to, especially since I’m half Asian, and I’m going to an Asian country on the pretext of engaging violently against other Asians that I encounter that are trying to get me,” he says. 

Swain served in the Army in Vietnam and later taught at Briar Cliff and Western Iowa Tech In Sioux City. University of South Dakota professor emeritus Steve Feimer was also on hand. He wrote a book, profiling the stories of 31 Vietnam veterans.
“One story led to the other and I thought well I’m gonna do six guys and have it take me six months — but as you can see it took me nine years and we ended up with 31,” he says. “I just couldn’t say no, and every time I’d interview one vet they’d say you got to talk to this guy get this guy’s stories.”

You can find the book online at TheVietnamVets.com.

(Radio Iowa) – A new group is proposing that businesses that use the most energy in Iowa be able to buy electricity from other sources. Under current rules, customers must use the utility assigned to both maintain the power grid in their area AND provide the electricity for it. R.G. Schwarm is executive director of the new Iowa Economic Alliance.

The concept called electric choice is up and running in some other states, like Illinois and Ohio, and customers can compare electricity prices from different providers — but still are required to pay fees to the company that maintains the electric lines in their area. Schwarm says electric rates are a factor businesses evaluate when deciding where to locate or expand.

Schwarm is not revealing the names of the businesses that are part of the Iowa Economic Alliance, but he says the coalition’s members have seen electric rates sharply increase over the past couple of years.

The group recently commissioned a statewide survey to gauge public sentiment about the concept of electric choice. The poll found about 70 percent of Iowans prefer the idea of choosing from among electric providers rather than being restricted to the one company state regulators have designated to serve their area.

(Radio Iowa) -Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says a significant percentage of land owners should agree to let carbon pipelines run through their property before any developer is granted eminent domain authority to acquire land from unwilling property owners.

John Norwood, a small business owner and Polk County Soil and Water Commissioner, is the Democrat who’s running against Naig. Norwood says all pipeline land deals should be voluntary and the pipeline owners should make yearly payments to landowners and to counties.

Norwood says the pipelines aren’t the right answer for the long term success of the ethanol industry.

Naig, a Republican who is seeking a second full term as ag secretary, says an over reliance on electric vehicles is dangerous and ethanol use should expand.

The candidates made their comments during taping of Iowa Press which aired tonight (Friday) on Iowa P-B-S.