(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday morning, heard a request from Dave Highfill, with the Atlantic Hawks Remote Control (R/C) Club, with regard to ARPA Funding.

(He explained they need the funds to purchase a mower to mow about three-acres south of Atlantic, where they meet weekly and also teach people how to fly r/c aircraft.)

Dave Highfill (2nd row of pews& on the left) makes ARPA request for the Atlantic Hawks R/C Club

It was thought the funds could come from the General Fund for “Outdoor recreation,” but the Board was of the consensus that the request did not fall under the AARP criteria Supervisor Steve Green…

Supervisor Mark O’Brien also pointed out the current round of ARPA Funds the County received, are already spoken for.

The request was tabled for the time being. In other news, the Supervisors approved by a vote of 3-to 2, a contract for the upcoming Fiscal Year, with Wellness Coordinator Brigham Hoege. The vote included a $1,000 increase in the County’s share, for a total of $7,000. The position is a 28E between four organizations; Cass County, ISU Extension, Cass Health and the YMCA. This will be the third year for the Wellness Coordinator’s position.

The Board also passed a Resolution allowing $29,500 in ARPA funds to be used for the Cass County Drone Team, for the purposes previously mentioned. And, they passed a Resolution distributing ARPA funds to the Cass County Fire Departments, with the exception of Anita, which has already received a share of funds. The remaining Fire Departments in the County will receive $25,000 per year for the next three-years, effective July 1st, as requested by the respective Fire Chiefs.

They passed a Resolution setting a Standard Agreement for the disbursement of ARPA Funds, to ensure uniformity and fulfillment of requests follows government rules, especially with regard to fire departments and other such entities. The Supervisors approved continuing with the Zoom meetings, and included the possibility of a phone attendance system like Adair County has. Regardless, the Board agreed they want a way to identify persons who use the dial-in and Zoom system, instead of just being identified as a “guest.”

The Board officially approved the hiring of two people for the Treasurer’s Office, but denied a request to suspend the abatement of taxes (amounting to $495) through a petition Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall had received. Their contention was the petition should have come directly to the Board first, according to Iowa Code. The Board had discussed having General Relief Coordinator Deb Schuler provide the necessary funds to get the petitioner caught-up, but she informed them the law does not allow her to use General Relief funds for the purposes of taxes and the like.

(Radio Iowa) – Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s waiting for details before saying whether he’ll support or oppose a bipartisan group’s response to recent mass shootings. Grassley says he’s “encouraged” by the progress on the subject so far in Washington. Grassley says, “What I’ve seen going on here in the last couple of weeks in the Congress, with the work of a bipartisan group that the leaders have put together in an effort to make schools safer, make it more easy to keep guns away from people that shouldn’t have them.” Rallies in six Iowa cities last weekend called on Grassley and Iowa’s other Republican Senator, Joni Ernst, to back gun restrictions.

Ten Republicans and ten Democrats announced Sunday they’d agreed on a package that includes making criminal records of juveniles available for background checks when a prospective gun buyer is under the age of 21. “I’m going to have to wait for the statutory language before I would take a position on it, but I’m encouraged by what they’re trying to put together,” Grassley says, “and I think that that’s a good thing and I’m glad to hear from Iowans who want to do it.” Grassley says he’s looking for two basic principles which he says are musts in the legislation. “One, to protect the constitutional rights that come from the Second Amendment,” Grassley says, “and make sure that anybody that’s deprived of those constitutional rights, that there’s a due process in place to protect their constitutional rights.”

Senator Joni Ernst is also withholding judgment on the package until she reads the text of the legislation. “The devil will be in the details…and making sure that they’re getting to the root causes of the issue of gun violence…and not infringing on the rights of law-abiding citizens,” Ernst says. The Des Moines City Council is urging both Grassley and Ernst to support the bill when it comes up for a vote in the Senate. Iowa’s capital city has the state’s highest murder rate. Nine people have been victim of homicide in Des Moines so far this year. Seven of those cases were fatal shootings.

A Spencer man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison on a gun charge. 41-year-old Demetrius Wright was not allowed to have a gun after a conviction on a domestic abuse charge in 2017 and judges in Iowa and Florida had issued protective orders against him. According to the U-S Attorney’s Office, Wright had someone else buy him a pistol last year and he displayed the gun in a video, to send a threat to someone. Then, last August, authorities say Wright took a semi-automatic handgun that someone else had used in a shooting, to try to keep police from finding the weapon.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Police in Glenwood report a man from Omaha, 47-year-old Charles Mitchell, was arrested this (Tuesday) morning, for OWI/1st offense, and Possession of a Controlled Substance. Mitchell’s cash or surety bond was set at $2,000.

(Mt. Ayr, Iowa) – The Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office reports a call about a sex offender being inside the pool area at the Judge Lewis Aquatic Center, in Mount Ayr, resulted in an arrest. Authorities say when a Deputy entered the pool area, he was able to identify the suspect as 27-year-old Spencer Andrew Fisk, of Mount Ayr. Fisk was escorted out the park and after further questioning, was placed under arrested for non-compliance with Sex Offender Registry requirements.

Spencer Andrew Fisk

*Disclaimer: Any potential criminal charges identified above are merely allegations, and any defendant [is] presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.*

(Bedford, Iowa) – Officials with the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office today (Tuesday), said on June 8, 2022, Deputies with the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation into the theft of a stop sign in rural Taylor County. On June 9, 2022, a search warrant was executed on a residence in the 100 block of 2nd Street in Clearfield, in an attempt to recover stolen property. During the search, Deputies located a large amount of controlled substance along with other instruments used in the possession and or delivery of controlled substances. No one was home at the time of the warrant.

On Monday, June 13, 2022, 21-year-old James O’Connor, of Clearfield, turned himself into the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office on his outstanding warrants. O’Connor was charged with theft in the 5th degree and possession with intent to deliver. O’Connor posted bond and was released.

**All persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on drug charges at around 1:52-a.m. Monday, of 52-year-old Kristen Marie Hughes, from Red Oak. Hughes was arrested on two-counts Possession of Controlled Substance, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Her bond was set at $2,300. And, at around 3:20-p.m., Monday, 44-year-old Shawn Lyle McKenzie, of Essex,  was arrested at the Fremont County Jail, on a warrant for Contempt – Resist Order or Process of District Court. Bond was set at $1,000.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic will meet in a regularly scheduled session, beginning at 5:30-p.m. Wednesday (June 15, 2022). On their agenda, is the swearing-in of Atlantic Police Officer Jimmy James, who was promoted to Sergeant. Officer James joined the force in February (2022), and has served with the Perry Police Department, as well as the Louisa and Polk County Sheriff’s Offices. He has 16-years of law enforcement experience. The Council will also recognize Mike Henningsen and Dr. Carol Trewet, for their 20-years of service on the Atlantic Airport Commission, which is tasked with approving critical documents related to the FAA, and that provides major funding to the airport.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council is expected to approve a day long street closure for 4th Street, between Walnut and Chestnut, for SHIFT ATL’s Summer Soiree Summer fundraising event/dinner, set to take place July 16th. They will also likely approve a Wastewater Management Services Agreement with the City of Anita. Atlantic already has similar agreements in-place with Massena and Fontanelle. And, they will hold a Public Hearing on a second amendment to the FY 2022 City of Atlantic Budget. City Administrator John Lund has previously mentioned that neither her nor City Clerk Barb Barrick are happy about the amendment, and that there will be a full accounting on revenues and expenditures with the City’s Department Heads this Summer and Fall.

Other Council action includes the expected passing of a Resolution approving the Final Plat for the Redwood Subdivision in the City of Atlantic, and the dates for Fireworks, which are unchanged from last year. Fireworks are permitted in Atlantic on July 2nd, 3rd and 4th, from Noon until 11-p.m., under the current Ordinance.

(Radio Iowa) – The report on vehicle travel from the D-O-T is showing some impact on the state roadways. Stuart Anderson told the Transportation Commission Monday that municipal traffic in recent months has lagged behind pre-pandemic levels — reflecting long-term trends now of more teleworking.  “We did see in April an across the board and drop of about two percent in traffic counts statewide. And that was was really across the board and between rural and municipal,” Anderson says. Anderson says the higher cost of driving is likely behind the drop.

“That correlates really well with when we started seeing the big bump in fuel prices. That’s not inconsistent with what we saw the last time we saw a big increase in fuel prices back in the 2008-2009 time frame when I think traffic dropped to about five percent,” he says. He says the work-from-home trend is probably why the gas impact isn’t a big this time. “We may see a little more moderate of a drop since we already have a lot of people teleworking. So maybe that will temper this a little bit,” Anderson says. May traffic counts didn’t drop as much as April, and Anderson speculates that’s due to Memorial Day travel.

“Kin of the desire to travel over the Memorial Day weekend overrode the fuel price concerns. So maybe that’s a little bit of what we’re seeing in May, June data will be more perhaps meaningful about if there’s some more significant trends in travel based on fuel prices,” he says. Anderson says that’s very likely as gas prices have continued moving up after the holiday and into June.

(Radio Iowa) – A delegation of Iowa Department of Corrections staff have just returned from a trip to Poland for an international conference on prisons. Tennie Carlson, of Stratford, is a corrections officer with the Second Judicial District Department of Correctional Services. Carlson first went to Poland in 2019 as part of the Polish-American Development Council, which deals with the mental health of inmates. Carlson says, “It was my first opportunity to travel to Poland and educate them on the risk assessment that the Department of Corrections uses in assessing our clientele to determine their risk factors, their return to the community, if they’re likely to reoffend and that type of thing.” Carlson says Poland wants to bring its prison system up to modern standards, and doing a risk assessment is a big part of that.

“Poland does not have the luxury of those assessments so they really crave that information,” Carlson says. “They want to know more. They want to educate themselves on identifying those risks and then treating those offenders or clients according to their risk.” Offering an inmate too much help upon their release can backfire, she says.  “Statistics show that if you offer low-risk clients a lot of services, they’re more likely to become more criminal,” Carlson says. “So you want to make sure that your dosage of treatment matches their area of risk and their need of risk. Iowa does a great job of identifying that and providing the correct dosage of treatment to our offenders.”

Carlson says a delegation of Polish prison officials will be visiting Iowa in the fall to take tours and exchange more ideas.