Area Counties are starting the process of gearing up for this fall’s election. Five residents of Shelby County have been nominated for four year terms on the county extension council by the nominating committee. Those nominated include; Ellen Baughman of Kirkman, Renee Hansen of Harlan, Incumbent Jo Kenkel of Defiance, Lorie Knudsen of Harlan, and Ellen Rosman of Harlan.

In addition to Kenkel, those whose terms will expire include; Laura Freund of Earling, Kay Goshorn of Harlan, Travis Lane of Shelby and Jake Schecheinger of Harlan. Those running for election will have their names on the November 4th general election ballot. The extension council is the county governing body for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

Members of the council manage the county extension budget, determine programming and hire county staff. Candidates who agree to run must file nominating papers with Shelby County Auditor by 5pm Aug 27th. Individuals who were nominated may file petitions with the names of 25 registered voters to have their names placed on the ballot. Petition forms are available at the local county extension offices.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors are set to meet Wednesday morning, in Atlantic. During their 8:30-a.m. session, the Board will act on approving an application for Industrial Property Tax Exemption by A.M. Cohron & Son, Inc., for the reconstruction of an existing building, and new construction.

In other business, the Board will review and act on approving applications for Multi-family Construction Program (Round 6) Community Development Block-Grant (CDBG) funding.

The Atlantic Police Dept. reports one person suffered minor injuries during a three vehicle, chain reaction accident in Atlantic, Monday night. Officials say at around 5:45-p.m., vehicles driven by Shandi Christensen, of Atlantic, and Gretchen Beer, of Anita, were both eastbound on 7th Street and stopped at the red light at the intersection with Plum Street. Another eastbound vehicle, driven by Samantha Schroeder, of Atlantic, failed to stop in time.

Her vehicle hit the rear of Beer’s vehicle, which then struck the rear of the Christensen vehicle. Authorities say Beer was transported by private vehicle to the Cass County Memorial Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. A passenger in Christensen’s vehicle hit the window with his head, but was not transported.

Schroeder was cited for Failure to Stop in Assured Clear Distance. Damage from the collisions amounted to $6,800.

The Adair County Board of Supervisors will meet Wednesday morning. Supervisors will hear from County Auditor Mindy Schaefer with her annual financial report. Custodian Rick Wallace will have a resignation of his hourly help and discuss with the supervisors advertising for a replacement. County Engineer Nick Kauffman will have contracts for two bridge replacements in the county one in Harrison Township and the other in Union Township; a Right of Way contract will be approved for a project in Harrison Township, plus a new hire for a bridge crew along with his regular report on maintenance and activities. Adair County Supervisors are also scheduled to receive and act on correspondence from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources regarding two hog confinement permits one from Circle G and the other from Geidel Pork Sites at 9-30. The Adair County Board of Supervisors will meet Wednesday morning at 9 in the board room of the Adair County Courthouse in Greenfield.

w/ Mark Saylor

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A judge in Pottawattamie County late last week granted an extension of time request by the defense, in the case of a teacher from Treynor who’s been charged with two counts of Sexual Exploitation by a School Employee. The request, filed by Attorney Jon Jospeh Narmi, sought more time for the filing of pre-trial motions and notice of defense. Fourth District Court Judge Mark Eveloff, on Friday, approved the motion and ordered a continuance in the jury trial of 44-year-old Michael Douglas Travis. The trial, which was supposed to have begun today (Tuesday, 8/19), is now slated to begin October 14th.

Travis had previously plead not guilty to the charges that were filed following an investigation this spring into complaints from two former students, who accused Travis of inappropriate contact. Court records show the incidents allegedly occurred in May, 2002 and May, 2006.

The makers of a documentary about a prohibition-era whiskey are promising new revelations about how a small Iowa town became a bootlegging empire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MuhrPTOFaEQ

Dan Manatt directed the film Whiskey Cookers: The Amazing Story of the Templeton, Iowa Bootleggers. “The film is really going to rewrite the history of Templeton Rye,” Manatt said. “It introduces so many new characters, so many new plot lines, and so much new back story.” Roughly a decade in the making, Manatt said the documentary draws on never-before-seen files from the National Archives, court documents, and other materials.

Manatt said the secret to Templeton Rye’s success went far beyond the ingredients used to make the whiskey. “In the middle 1920s, Carroll County juries basically started engaging in civil disobedience and refused to convict bootleggers,” Manatt said. An advance screening of the film will be held this Friday at 7 p.m. at the Templeton Community Center in Templeton. The film’s “world premiere” is scheduled for Saturday at 5:45 p.m. at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City as part of the Landlocked Film Festival.

The film will air later this year on Iowa Public Television. Manatt noted that the film is not affiliated with and received no funding or editorial input from Templeton Rye Spirits LLC.

(Radio Iowa)

Twenty-two of Iowa’s 99 county sheriffs are no longer complying with requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold people suspected of being illegal immigrants unless they have a judge’s approval, according to the Iowa A-C-L-U. ICE issues what’s called a “detainer” which asks the counties to hold the individuals for 48 hours while ICE determines if they will pursue immigration proceedings. Iowa A-C-L-U spokesperson, Erica Johnson, says ICE detainer requests are often unconstitutional.

“The ICE detainer requests in and of themselves, if they’re not accompanied by any sort of warrant signed by a judge, don’t necessary give local law enforcement any reason to detain an individual,” Johnson says. Johnson says it’s up to local law enforcement whether they want to corporate with ICE.

“It’s really-like I said, it’s a good showing to the community as saying, ‘Hey, we want to work with you.’ Especially those vulnerable communities, especially immigrants,” Johnson says. The counties which have told the A-C-L-U they won’t comply with the detainer requests are: Allamakee, Benton, Cass, Clinton, Dubuque, Franklin, Fremont, Ida, Iowa, Greene, Jefferson, Johnson, Linn, Marion, Monona, Montgomery, Polk, Pottawattamie, Sioux, Story, Wapello, and Winneshiek.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in special sessions at four locations across the state during its upcoming term. The Des Moines-based court said Monday that justices will travel to hear arguments next month in Iowa City, to Storm Lake in October, to Creston in March and Decorah in April.

The visits build on an outreach campaign that Chief Justice Mark Cady instituted after three justices were ousted by voters following the court’s decision to legalize gay marriage in 2009.

In a statement, Cady says the court has visited 13 communities for oral arguments and public receptions in the last three years. He says the visits give justices “a tremendous, first-hand insight into what Iowans expect from their court system now and into the future.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The commission that oversees water quality regulations in Iowa is considering adoption of rules that align state regulations with those imposed by the federal Clean Water Act. The Environmental Protection Commission’s proposed rules primarily give the Iowa Department of Natural Resources authority to issue permits that regulate manure handling for livestock farms shown to discharge manure into waterways. Permits aren’t required, however, and environmental groups say the rules are too weak and too friendly to livestock farms.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement wants all farms with spills to be required to get a permit. The group also wants five members of the nine-member, governor-appointed commission to abstain from voting because they have financial interests in livestock farming.

A vote on the rules is scheduled for this (Tuesday) morning.