Officials with the Atlantic Fire Department put out a plea on their social media website, asking residents not to do any open burning “Of any type, or discard of any smoking material. This includes burning trash!!”  Recent and continuing high, sustained winds and dry conditions have contributed to many fires across southwest Iowa. The AFVD says they hope that by spreading the word on open burning and being safe in discarding smoking materials, and will voluntary compliance, authorities will not have to issue a Burn Ban.

The Atlantic Police Department reports the arrest on Monday of 47-year old Richard Lewis, Sr., of Atlantic. Lewis, Sr. was taken into custody on a 5th Degree Theft/shoplifting charge, and for Public Intoxication. He was booked into the Cass County Jail and held pending an appearance before the magistrate.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Tyson Fresh Meats will be adding around 140 jobs at a Council Bluffs plant, now that Tyson has won more than $950,000 in Iowa tax credits. As we announced over the weekend on KJAN, the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board approved the credits on Friday.

The company plans to install around $10 million worth of new equipment at the plant in order to serve an unidentified new client. As a condition for the tax credits, Tyson must create at least 139 new jobs, including 22 with a wage of nearly $15 an hour.

Tyson spokesman Dan Fogleman says that the plant packages beef and pork products for retailers. Tyson Fresh Meats also has a pepperoni plant in Council Bluffs. Fogleman says the hiring has begun but declined to say how many people work at each plant.

w/ Ric Hanson

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A pair of attorneys from central Iowa are getting a lot of attention for creating a phone app that gives motorists advice in the event they’re pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving. Bob Rehkemper and Matt Lindholm, both of West Des Moines, are the minds behind the “Oh Crap App!” and Rehkemper says it includes an “emergency button” for the driver to click if they’re stopped by a cop.  “First of all, it activates the phone’s voice recorder, so that any communication with law enforcement is documented and saved,” Rehkemper says. The “Oh Crap!” button also automatically sends an email to a chosen friend or family member, an attorney, and a bail bondsman. Rehkemper estimates that 95-percent of people are unaware of their rights, or what they should or shouldn’t do, when stopped by police.

“A lot of people have misconceptions…and don’t have a very good grasp on those rights,” Rehkemper says. The app has another function, which Rehkemper says is designed to educate people about their basic DUI rights. He says the first thing a motorist should do is “be polite and respectful” with the law officer. “Secondarily, most people don’t know that the field sobriety test — the eye test, the walk and turn, the one leg stand — they don’t have to submit to those,” Rehkemper says. “There is no requirement under the law that they do those. They do have the option of saying, ‘no thank you.'”

As of last week, more than 25-hundred people had downloaded the free app. It also includes a blood-alcohol content (BAC) “calculator” — allowing an individual to determine if they might be over the legal limit to drive. Rehkemper says he and Lindholm do not condone drinking and driving. It gets looked at by some people as, ‘oh, you’re condoning and you’re helping it happen,’ but when you look at the actual app and the information it provides, it’s primarily designed to educate the public on their legal rights, to clear up any ambiguity on what they do have to do and what they don’t have to do. That helps law enforcement and that also helps the individual facing that situation,” Rehkemper says.

The app is available for both iPhones and Android devices. https://www.facebook.com/OhCrapApp

(Radio Iowa)

(Updated 10:45-a.m. with suspected cause)

An old fire may have been what caused a new fire that burned furiously Monday night on the north side Atlantic. Alantic Fire Chief Mark McNees said crews responded to the City of Atlantic’s Yard Waste Site on the west side of the Schildberg Recreation Area, at around 8:50-p.m.  He says there was a tremendous amount of flames and embers being blown about from the large pile of burning sticks, wood, and large tree trunks. Some of the embers were flying over to the east side of the Recreation Area, as far as Buck Creek Road.

McNees said the pile will be smoldering for quite some time, even though they poured 13-to 14-thousand gallons of water on the fire. The fear now is that strong winds today will whip up more embers and cause another, separate blaze. McNees said it’s possible the fire could have been accidental or related to spontaneous combustion, but it’s too early to tell. He said City crews were compacting the pile of debris over the past couple of days, but it’s not clear if that had something to do with it.

Late this (Tuesday) morning, McNees said he thinks ashes from a very old pile west of Monday night’s fire was probably stirred-up by the wind and ignited the nearby pile. He said also that City crews have not lit any of the burn piles in quite some time.

Fire fighters were on the scene for a couple of hours. He said if the winds had kept up, the fire could have spread east toward Olive Street.

MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Department of Public Safety says a police officer has been wounded during a traffic stop in eastern Iowa.  The department says the Maquoketa officer was shot after making a traffic stop around 2:50 a.m. Tuesday. The shooter fled the scene. No arrest has been reported.

The department says the officer was taken to Jackson County Regional Health Center in Maquoketa for treatment of a wound described as non-life-threatening.

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Members of the CAM School District’s Board of Education Monday evening, discussed the sharing of a Superintendent with the Coon Rapids-Bayard Community School District. Last week it was announced CR-B Superintendent Rich Stoffers would be resigning in an effort to save his district money. Stoffers said he’s taken an early retirement package in order to save thousands of dollars for the district next year.

During Monday night’s CAM School Board meeting, Superintendent Steve Pelzer said he’d received a call March 24^th, asking if he would be interested in sharing his position at CAM, with the CR-B District. He said he didn’t answer the question, and has deferred until he had a chance to discuss the matter with CAM Board President Gary Dinkla and the rest of the Board in Monday’s Special Meeting.

School Districts sharing a Superintendent is nothing new. Several area districts share a Superintendent in an effort to save costs during times of declining enrollment and mounting expenses. Pelzer says Governor Branstad, Monday, signed into law a bill pertaining to Operational Sharing, which provides incentive monies to districts for just such purposes. CAM Board President Gary Dinkla said he and Pelzer spoke with CR-B School Board President Joel Davis about the possibility of sharing.

He said Davis had been in contact with other districts about a 60-40 split in the Superintendent’s time – meaning the home district would use that person 60-percent of the time. Dinkla said Davis’ Board didn’t want to jeopardize talks with other possible districts by asking for a 50-percent share. Dinkla said Davis was going to talk more with other districts and come up a timeline. Pelzer said the CR-B Board is having a meeting Wednesday night to discuss progress on those talks and the process for sharing.

As for Pelzer, he told the CAM Board he has no interest in sharing his job with another district…which is something he’s done before.. but it’s something CAM could consider in the future. That’s because there are significant financial incentives and possible saving for the district. He said he would consider stepping down and having the Board pursue other options, he wants to sit down with them and discuss a severance package, because he hadn’t planned on early retirement.

Gary Dinkla said there are no plans to pursue options such as sharing a superintendent, but talks will continue with CR-B to see if there is a mutual, beneficial interest in doing so.  

Officials with the U-S Department of Justice (DOJ) report an eastern Iowa man pleaded guilty Monday in Massachusetts, to federal child exploitation charges. The plea by 32-year old Joshua Dunfee, of Oxford Junction, came just moments before his jury trial was scheduled to begin Monday morning. Dunfee plead guilty to the coercion and enticement of a child to engage in illicit sexual activity and the sexual exploitation of a child to produce child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for June 27th, 2014.

Officials say Dunfee posed as man by the name of “John” from “Hunt Photography” on Facebook, and communicated with a Massachusetts mother who was seeking employment as a model and believed Hunt Photography to be a legitimate business.   In October 2011, Dunfee contacted the mother and told her that Hunt Photography had a client willing to pay $20,000 for a mother-daughter bikini modeling contract.   Dunfee told the mother that in order to apply she would need to audition her daughter for him immediately and persuaded the mother to take her minor daughter out of school.

At Dunfee’s further direction, the mother placed her daughter on webcam for him to view for a 48-minute video call.   During this time, Dunfee was able to see and hear the mother and her minor daughter, but they were unable to see or hear him.During the “audition,” Dunfee directed via instant messenger that the minor be posed for him—first in a bra and underwear and then completely naked. Dunfee knew that the girl was a minor.

On Nov. 3, 2011, federal agents executed a search warrant at Dunfee’s residence, where law enforcement had traced the illicit conduct via IP address records.   A forensic examination of Dunfee’s computers (obtained during the execution of the search warrant) revealed various activities consistent with the use of certain platforms to communicate while posing as Hunt Photography, including Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger Chat.

 
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, which is a nationwide initiative created by the Department of Justice in 2006 that is designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.