(Radio Iowa) – A man convicted of a southeast Iowa murder that happened 45 years ago has died of natural causes in an Iowa prison. Ular Winfun shot Morris Green to death on July 31, 1976, in the back of the Six-Pack Tavern in Keokuk. The two men had worked together on a painting crew for some time. There was “bad blood” between the two according to an Iowa Supreme Court ruling on the case and the court outlined the events that led up to the shooting. Winfun had his girlfriend buy a gun, he did some target shooting that afternoon and that July evening back in 1976 he was at the tavern, drinking both beer and Tequila Sunrise cocktails.

After Green got to the tavern, Winfun shot Green once. After Green fell to the floor, Winfun fired five more shots into Green’s body. Winfun then left the tavern, walked to the Keokuk Police Station and turned himself in. Winfun died yesterday (Monday) the age of 66, according to a news release from the Iowa Department of Corrections. He’s been in prison since February of 1977. The Iowa Supreme Court rejected Winfun’s request for a new trial in 1978 and ruled there was more than ample evidence he was guilty of first degree murder.

(Radio Iowa) – A 15-year-old girl was found dead inside a vehicle at a Cedar Rapids apartment complex early Tuesday morning and police say it appears she had been shot. The vehicle was heavily damaged and police were called the scene on a report of a single-vehicle accident. The girl was found in the driver’s seat of the car and investigators say an autopsy will determine the cause of death.

A news release from Cedar Rapids Police indicates the girl had been wounded by one or more gunshots and it appears to be a targeted shooting, but they have no suspects.

Police in Harlan, Tuesday, issued a report on arrests and accidents.

On July 14th, 28-year-old Jacob Patrick Sweeney, of Audubon, was arrested following a traffic stop, and charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. One day earlier, 47-year-old Kenneth Leroy Fineran, of Council Bluffs, was arrested on an active Pottawattamie County warrant.

On July 12th, 20-year-old Chase Isaiah Ditzler, of Afton, was arrested following a traffic stop. Ditzler was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with theft in the 2nd degree. There were two arrests in Harlan on July 7th: 20-year-old Kathleen Margaret Petersen, and 37-year-old Troy Dakota Weekborg, both of Harlan, were arrested for domestic abuse assault.

There were also two arrests on July 3rd: 24-year-old Justin Andrew Dickinson, of Harlan, was arrested for driving while barred. Dickinson also had an active Carroll County warrant. And, 36-year-old Tiffanie Ann Newcomb, of Kirkman, was arrested for driving while barred.

Harlan Police also reported five accidents, none of which resulted in any injuries. In one incident, a 2006 Chevy 3500 pickup driven by Dalton Henscheid, of Omaha, backed into a mailbox July 5th, at 1002 Broadway Street, in Harlan. The pickup was towing on a 1963 Snow trailer, a 2014 Ford F-Series pickup registered to Justin Folley, of Harlan, when the vehicle came off the trailer. Henscheid left his pickup to go after the runaway vehicle, but did not properly put his pickup into park, first.

The pickup struck a mailbox and stopped. The other pickup rolled down the hill eastward, striking mailboxes, landscaping, an antique bell and stand for the bell, plants, a retaining wall, a parked 2000 Ford Taurus (registered to Dalton Henscheid, of Omaha), and a boat trailer. The boat trailer was knocked into a home, causing damage to the garage door.

Another incident occurred July 8th, when a 2002 Chevy Silverado driven by Ethan Leinen, of Portsmouth, was pulling into a parking spot on the east side of a building at 2111 23rd Street. The vehicle’s brakes failed, causing the pickup to cross the curb and strike the building.

(Radio Iowa) – Officials with Forest City-based outdoor lifestyle product manufacturer Winnebago Industries announced today (Tuesday) they’ve reached an agreement to acquire Barletta Pontoon Boats. Winnebago CEO Michael Happe says Barletta is the industry’s fastest-growing premium boat manufacturer, since it was founded in 2017.  “What is particularly exciting about Barletta Boats is the combination of their youth, their success to date, the talent they’ve acquired and the opportunities in front of them,” Happe says. “We believe there are multiple growth avenues. Product line expansion is one. They have a very solid product line today with the three different series of pontoon boats. We know they have great vision to expand that product line in the future.”

Happe says there’s potential growth in pontoon boat sales.  “We believe the secular popularity of this particular category, including popularity of this category that is increasing in some untraditional places, i.e. the Western U.S. but also some of the inland waters near some saltwater bodies, means that there’s great potential to expand the overall presence of the category as well,” he says. Happe says Barletta has positioned itself to rise in the pontoon boat industry.

“From a market share perspective, while they are #9 today, we believe we have signed a purchase agreement with a company that can be a top three market share performer in the pontoon segment in the future,” he says. “That will take some time and some hard work against some formidable competitors, but we believe the market share potential with this particular brand is material.”

It’s the second marine company that Winnebago has acquired in the last four years as the company purchased Chris-Craft Boats in 2018. The agreement is for an initial consideration of $255 million in cash and newly-issued Winnebago stock shares, plus up to $15 million in Winnebago shares upon the achievement of performance milestones at the end of the calendar year.

(Radio Iowa) – Forecasters say it’ll likely be dry much of this week, but last week’s heavy thunderstorms brought some areas of the state four and even five inches of rainfall. Still, overall precipitation is still well below normal in northwest Iowa. Iowa State University Extension field agronomist Joel DeJong says with corn is getting into the pollination phase and more rain would be a big help.

“Four or five inches below normal right now, yet, even after some pretty good rain since the first of July,” DeJong says. “Our timing was about perfect for the rainfall because we’re not quite at 50% silked at this stage but we’re starting to see a lot more silks on those corn plants and it is that critical time period.” DeJong says Iowa’s soybean fields will soon be entering a critical phase, too.

“August is much more critical for beans,” DeJong says. “It’s really nice to have some moisture now so we can really try to accelerate some of that growth and development, get those rows closed as fast as we can.” DeJong says they haven’t seen any real disease issues with the crops but bugs -are- becoming a problem for some growers.

“We’ve had some insect issues, gall midges along the edges of soybean fields,” he says, “and I’m getting several calls about corn kind of lodged, particularly on continuous corn acres that have some rootworm injury. We’re seeing beetle numbers get high in those fields so we need to watch those silks to make sure they’re not getting clipped by beetles and so we can pollinate that corn crop.”

DeJong encourages producers to scout their fields and make sure those kernels get pollinated as this is the critical time for corn.

The Glenwood Police Department reports nine people were arrested from July 4th through the 18th:

• 38-year-old Julian Brown, of Omaha, was arrested on the 18th for Possession of a Controlled Substance (PCS), with bond set at $2,000, and for being a Fugitive from Justice, for which there is no bond.
• 25-year-old Blake Holland, of Glenwood, was arrested July 16th, for PCS. Bond was set at $1,000.
• On July 15th, 38-year-old Jared Newman, of Glenwood, was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Probation Violation, with bond set at $2,000.
• 39-year-old Jeffrey Morrical, of Los Angeles, CA was arrested July 11th, for OWI/1st offense. Bond $1,000
• On the 10th, 37-year-old Heath Holmes, of Glenwood, was arrested by Glenwood Police, for OWI/1st offense and Child Endangerment. Bond $3,000. And, 53-year-old Brenda Lang, of Glenwood, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. (Bond $1,000)
• On July 7th, 29-year-old Kaylena Pavelka, of Glenwood, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault. (Bond $300)
• On the 6th, officers arrested 32-year-old Heather Beaman, of Glenwood on a Mills County warrant for Criminal Mischief. (Bond $300)
• and, on July 4th, 19-year-old Dominick Maddocks-Mills, of Glenwood, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. (Bond $1,000)

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday morning, approved the final schedule for County employees who wish to take paid time off during FY2022. Board Chair Steve Baier.

The Board had previously discussed doing away with President’s Day, but only officially did so during their meeting Tuesday. Board member Steve Green made the motion…

The following holidays were officially approved as paid time-off:

Independence Day
Labor Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving, and the day after Thanksgiving
Christmas (which is observed December 24th)
New Year’s day (observed on Friday, December 31)
and Memorial Day.
And as Green mentioned, employees will also get two personal days per year, in lieu of President’s Day. In other business, during his report to the Board, Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken updated the status of three bridge projects.

He said crews closed bridge #208 on Indian Creek, Monday, one-half mile north of Highway 6. It will be replaced with a concrete box culvert.

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report four recent arrests. Monday night, 47-year-old Jerry Lee Dawson, of Silver City, was arrested on a warrant for Failure to Appear (FTA) on a Driving While Barred, charge. His bond was set at $2,000. Monday afternoon, 29-year-old Jamilla Marier Havrum, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the jail in Shelby County, on a warrant for FTA on a Possession of a Controlled Substance charge. Her bond was also set at $2,000.

And, there were two arrests July 14th in Mills County: 32-year-old Tera Lee McAtee, of Glenwood, was arrested at the Pottawattamie County Jail,on a warrant for FTA, with bond set at $2,000. 36-year-old Has Ger Htoo, of Omaha, was arrested at the Mills County Jail for being a Fugitive from Justice. He was being held without bond.

Members of the Audubon School Board, Monday evening, voted to appoint a familiar face to fill a vacated Board position. Superintendent Eric Trager says they appointed and swore-in Anne Miller to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of Joni Madsen, who retired from the Board to accept a teaching position within the district. With regard to Miller…

A Special Election will be held in Sept. to ask the voters if Miller should serve the remainder of the term, or if it should be on the ballot in November, as well. In other business, the Audubon School Board approved the Plans, Specifications and Form of Contract for the District’s Renovation Projects.

The Board also approved Ahlers Cooney as Board and District Legal Counsel; Courtney Walter & Paul Lynch as Equity Coordinators; Cass Muzney as Asbestos Manager; Level I & Level II Investigators (Level 1 – Eric Trager; Quentin Stanerson; Sam Graeve & Jill Hermansen; Level II – Coby Gust).

They also passed a Resolution approving the Revenue Purpose Statement (RPS); Ordering an Election on an RPS to authorize expenditures from revenue received from the State Secure and Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) Fund.

(Radio Iowa) – A man has been sentenced to nearly 29 years in prison for importing meth from Mexico and distributing it in the Waterloo area. Thirty-four-year-old Travis Charles Werkmeister of Waterloo — who goes by the nickname “Cheese” — pleaded guilty in February to a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Undercover agents bought meth at Werkmeister’s house in Waterloo in 2018. In 2019, investigators tapped Wekmeister’s phone and, according to a news release from the U-S attorney’s office, they were able to intercept thousands of calls and messages between Werkmeister and others in a drug-distribution organization, including the head of the group who’s based in Mexico.

Werkmeister is one of 13 people arrested a year ago after a dozen locations in Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Roland and Marshalltown were searched.