Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker is pleased to announce that this Saturday, December 12, the Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with Target at Metro Crossing, will hold the 17th annual “Shop with the Sheriff.” The event begins at 6:30-a.m.

17 years ago, Lt. Larry Brown had the idea to start helping residents of Pottawattamie County that are in need during the Christmas season. With Lt. Brown’s idea in mind, Sheriff Jeff Danker began the ‘Shop with the Sheriff’ campaign. Over the last 17 years, the Sheriff’s Office has had the privilege of bringing joy to over 400 children living in Pottawattamie County. Last year employees both sworn and civilian from the various Sheriff’s Office Divisions shopped with 36 children.

Shop with the Sheriff (Pott. Co. S/O photo)

This year, 45 children will be shopping for outerwear, clothing and toys with employees and family members from the Sheriff’s Office. Each family of the participating children will also receive a food basket for the holiday season. The  Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office “Shop with the Sheriff” event is made possible by the generous donations from citizens, organizations and businesses throughout the area.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office said today (Thursday), a Creston man was arrested Wednesday evening on a Union County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault. 30-year old John David Foster was arrested at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, where he was being held without bond until his appearance before the Magistrate.

And, authorities say three people, including two infants, suffered minor/possible injuries Wednesday morning, after a van went out of control, and swerved back and forth, before entering a ditch and rolling over several times before coming to rest on its side.

The accident happened at around 8-a.m. Wednesday, as 21-year old Brittanee Short, of Osceola, was traveling east on 130th Street in a 2000 Toyota Sienna van.  Short, and her passengers, one-year old’s Mayclynn McKinney and Aydon Parrigo, both of Osceola, complained of pain or possible injury, but were not transported to the hospital. The children were secured in their child safety seats.

The vehicle sustained $4,500 damage. No citations were issued.

The Atlantic School Board, Wednesday evening, passed an Early Retirement Plan and a policy pertaining to the use of unmanned aircraft (or, drones) over school property. Superintendent Mike Amstein said the opportunity to take early retirement won’t be offered again for another three-years, and the Board capped the number of retirees who would be eligible, at 10. He says the offer includes a $25,000 insurance payment over a period of three-years to lessen the tax liability for any participant in the program. The District pays that money to a Third-party vendor, who handles the funds for insurance.

The Administration will meet with any eligible persons next week, with regard to filling out the necessary paperwork. And, the Board passed a policy on the flying of drones or other, unmanned aircraft over school property. Amstein said “School Districts across the country have been experiencing more situations with them and incidents with them. We actually had an incident this fall, where we had an unauthorized drone fly over the football field while we had a game in process.”

The drone was operated by a former student. Amstein said the District’s insurance representative explained the liability risks of allowing drones to fly overhead. That was all it took for the School Board to pass on the first reading and waive the second reading of the policy, which is now in effect. The policy basically states the use of unmanned aircraft over school property is not allowed without express, written permission from the Superintendent.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board discussed but didn’t take action on, the use of online course for high school students. And, the Board approved an exclusive vendor contract with the Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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Police in Creston have received numerous reports of vandalism perpetrated on vehicles and homes. On Monday, a resident in the 100 block of W. Irving Street reported someone shot out the front, driver’s side window of two vehicles parked near his home during the previous night. And, a woman who resides in the 600 block of N. Maple Street reported two windows on her vehicle were broken out during the same time frame.

On Tuesday, four residents reported damage to their homes or vehicles. The incidents took place in the 500 block of N. Pine Street, the 600 block of N. Walnut Street, and in the 300 block of W. Fremont Street, in Creston.

Altogether, the damage amounted to $1,400.

The 7:06-a.m. report from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The Atlantic City Council held a work session Wednesday evening to discuss housing needs and a vision for the City’s 5-year Capital Improvements Plan (CIP). City Administrator John Lund said the City has more than 10.27-million dollars in proposed Capital Improvements, but the resources available (including incoming revenue) to cover about 8.68-million dollars worth, without raising taxes. That leaves a deficit of 1.596-million dollars the City will need to trim from its project wish list.

A list of priorities was included in the draft, FY 2017-2021 plan. The list was created through a survey of Council members and Mayor. Lund said those surveyed didn’t want to let equipment and vehicles for the fire, police and street department fall into disrepair, especially in a tight budget situation, so those items were high in the priority list.

The storm sewer system also rated high on the list, especially with regard to Bull Creek. Mayor Dave Jones said there are some safety issues pertaining to the creek, especially in the area of 17th to 9th Streets, where children are at play. He said steep drop-offs in the creek are dangerous and in the downtown area, enclosing the creek to prevent kids playing in it is being studied.

Lund said they are waiting on estimates from Snyder and Associates Engineers on the cost of the clean-up project. The Storm Water Fund, which is supported by user fees, will help to deal with the project and future housing developments will benefit from the Fund as the City deals with storm water mitigation prior to property completion.

The main area of discussion Wednesday night focused on the streets and roads, the improvements for which would cost more than $6.375-million under the draft CIP. Councilman Bob Cord said the list created is a start for the Council to make decisions, but the City shouldn’t be “micromanaging” the list of priorities, because Street Department Superintendent Derald Anderson and his crew are more aware of what streets need to be taken care of first.

Synder’s Dave Sturm and Anderson, said they’ve made a great deal of progress on maintaining and repairing City streets over the past few years. That being the case, Mayor Dave Jones and the Council suggested the Department should focus next on the downtown alleys resurfaced or repaired. Anderson said a few of the City’s Streets will need major work in the next five-years, including Plum Street, from 10th to 14th, which handles a great deal of high school traffic.

In other business, the Council approved the appointment of Jennifer Miller to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Miller replaces Denise Masker on the Commission.

Police in Red Oak responding to a domestic situation Wednesday night arrested one person on an assault charge, 38-year old Ronald Gordon Bingham, Jr., of Red Oak, was arrested at around 9:55-p.m., for Simple Domestic Assault. Bingham, Jr. was brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was being held without bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

A survey by an insurance company finds uses other than talking are becoming bigger issues for the distraction of drivers on cellphones. State Farm Insurance spokesperson, Ann Avery, says the have data from seven years of driver surveys. “Talking on a hand-held cellphone has decreased while driving from 65 percent in 0-9 to 51 percent in 2015,” Avery says. “Texting while driving has stayed about the same — a slight increase — but accessing the internet while driving has more than doubled, from 13 percent in 2009 to 29 percent in 2015.”

There are some other numbers in the survey that raise concern. “Some significant increases in drivers who report they’re using G-P-S, or reading and responding to emails, or reading and updating social media networks,” according to Avery. The survey found 88 percent of drivers now have a smartphone. People in the 40 to 49 year old category saw the biggest jump from a regular phone to a smartphone, moving from 47 to 92 percent. Ninety-nine percent of the drivers aged 18 to 29 have smartphones.

Avery says as the number of smartphones has increased, so have the things you can do with them.”The number and types of distractions that are available on cellphones have grown over the years and that’s worth noting and could be something that is reflected in the numbers,” Avery says. “But regardless of what the distraction is — we want to remind people — that despite what the demands on your attention are, please stay focused all the time on your driving.”

Drivers were asked in the survey what it would take to get them to put their phones down while on the road. “And their answers were: causing a crash while reading or responding to a text message, financial and/or legal consequences that might result, and thirdly, getting caught by police. So, these responses do highlight that there are some things that will deter people. It encourages us to consider a multi-pronged approach to curbing distracted driving.”

Talking on the cellphone while driving is legal in Iowa. Texting while driving is a secondary offense, which means police can’t pull you over just for texting. Police must stop you for something else before they can ticket you for texting while driving.

(Radio Iowa)