The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest this (Tuesday) morning, of an Underwood man on alcohol-related charges. 29-year old Luke Michael Larson was arrested following a traffic stop on Interstate 29 near mile marker 37, at around 6:15-a.m. Larson was charged with OWI/2nd offense. His bond was set at $2,000.

Monday evening, Mills County deputies arrested 28-year old Brett Allen Coyle, of Glenwood, for allegedly violating  a protective order, and on a warrant out of Pottawattamie County for Failure to Appear. His bond was set at $5,200.

The Audubon City Council, Monday evening, tentatively set September 9th at 7-p.m. as the date and time for a public hearing on the sale of a City owned vacant lot, and decided to add more properties to the sale. City Clerk Lora Hansen told KJAN news the lots are located at 202 Washington Street, one at the corner of Broadway and Pacific, another lot on Pacific, and one on south Golden Street.

The Council also approved a request from the Audubon High School Student Senate for the September 27th Homecoming Parade route, which is the same as it was last year. And, they heard from resident Paul Walther, with regard to the trimming of trees by volunteers. Hansen says during a previous  meeting, the Council decided against have volunteers trim trees because of liability issues.

Walther is one of the persons who has traditionally volunteered to trim trees. Walther asked if he could get rid of volunteer trees which have emerged in the prairie area of Bluegrass Park, but that falls under the control of the Parks and Recreation Board. Hansen said Walther will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the Board, where the matter will come up for further discussion.

The Council also discussed, but took no action on a request for the installation of a sidewalk. Hansen said recent outside remodeling efforts at the grade school included removing the old playground and installing a new one, as well as new fencing. On the west side of the fence, a sidewalk was installed that reaches a dead-end.

The City was asked to finish the sidewalk, but because it would be placed on private property, is not the City’s responsibility. And, since a side walk is already located on the other side of the street, Hansen says the City cannot require the property owners on the dead-end side to install a walkway.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports 7 arrests over the past week. Last Thursday, 53-year old Daniel Joseph Camerlinck, of Thurman, was arrested on a charge of Criminal Mischief in the 5th degree. On Wednesday, 27-year old Benjamin Wayne McQueen, of Farragut, was arrested for 2nd degree Theft.

On Tuesday (8/20), 23-year old Sierra Lucinda Dragoo, of Tabor, was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant after she failed to appear for her arraignment hearing on an original Possession of a Controlled Substance charge. She has plead not guilty and posted a $5,000 bond. Trial is set to begin on September 4th. Also arrested August 20th, was 46-year old Deborah Anne Dovel, of Northboro. She was charged with Driving Under Suspension.

51-year old Timothy Allen Cook, of Hamburg, was arrested Aug. 19th, for Driving Under Suspension. That same day, 22-year old Matthew John Mabe, of Malvern, was arrested for Possession of drug paraphernalia and having no insurance, and, 41-year old Darren Barclay Young, of Tabor, was arrested on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Driving While license denied or revoked. He later posted a $2,000 bond

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The state is offering a one-time deal to people who have been dodging Iowa taxes on motor homes.  The Des Moines Register says the offer includes paying the initial registration fee of 5 percent of the purchase price and a penalty of 10 percent of the fee.  If the tax evaders don’t do that by Oct. 23, they could face fraud charges and fines equal to 75 percent of the fee that was evaded.

A law passes this past spring is aimed at keeping Iowans from registering luxury motor homes in Montana, where out-of-state residents legally can set up a shell company and register a motor home there. Montana doesn’t charge general sales taxes.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Officials with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas  and Southwest Iowa is warning area residents about another sweepstakes scam.  A senior consumer from Wausa, NE.,  reported receiving a phone call informing him that he had won $450,000 through the American Family Network. But before funds are made available, the caller told him he would have to pay $4,500 in advance “due to the government’s ‘Patriot Act’ that requires recipients of large amounts of money to pay 1%.”  When the consumer said he did not have the money, another person called later to tell him they got a $3,000 loan for him and he would only have to send a cashier’s check for $1,500 to receive the $450,000 prize.

When the consumer did not send the requested funds, he received several calls from an “attorney” from Las Vegas and his “secretary” claiming that they represented American Family Network and tried to convince him to pay the $1,500. The man told the “attorney” that that he had contacted the Better Business Bureau and was informed that he should not have to pay anything to collect a sweepstakes prize. When asked, the consumer gave him the phone number of the BBB in Omaha. The “attorney” assured him that he would have someone from the BBB call him.

Shortly after, the man received a call from “Linda Brown” at the BBB. Brown spoke with a Jamaican accent, but the caller ID indicated that the call came from 402-391-7612, the BBB’s main phone number. When questioned, Brown stated that she was located at the address of the BBB in Omaha and continued to try to get him to agree to send the $1,500. Instead, he called the BBB and spoke with a real BBB staff person who confirmed that there was no Linda Brown employed at the BBB.

BBB President Jim Hegarty stated, “The Better Business Bureau has absolutely no affiliation with this fraudulent operation. I advise consumers to be extremely leery of letters, faxes, emails or phone calls telling them they’ve won prizes, lotteries or sweepstakes. Remember, phone numbers can deceive.” He says “Many of these calls come from boiler rooms in Jamaica, and anyone playing along with them guarantees the only real winners will be the scammers.”

If you get a call telling you that you are a winner, BBB recommends that you look for these red flags:  Lottery tickets must be purchased. Sweepstakes usually involve application paperwork that you have completed; Don’t pay any money to collect supposed sweepstakes winnings. If you have to pay to collect your winnings, you’re not winning – you’re buying. Legitimate sweepstakes don’t require you to pay “insurance,” “taxes” or “shipping and handling charges” to collect your prize; Hold on to your money!  Scammers pressure people to wire money through commercial money transfer companies because wiring money is the same as sending cash. When the money’s gone, there’s very little chance of recovery. Likewise, resist any push from the caller to send a check or money order by overnight delivery or courier. Con artists recommend these services so they can get their hands on your money before you realize you’ve been cheated; A lottery application or win announcement comes via telephone or mail from outside the country; The letter, fax or email is full of grammatical and spelling errors; or, the caller is pressuring you for personal information.

w/ Ric Hanson

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A Red Oak man was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond after he was tased and arrested following a traffic stop at around 10:20-p.m., Monday. 28-year old Devon Michael Wheat faces charges of Eluding a pursuing law enforcement vehicle and Interference with Official Acts, both of which are Serious Misdemeanors.

Red Oak Police report when an officer attempted to stop a 2001 Chevy 1500 pickup at the intersection of south Broadway and Park Avenue, the vehicle turned eastbound and failed to stop. When it finally pulled over at the intersection of south 4th and Park Avenue, the driver, identified as Wheat, got out and allegedly became very agitated with and hostile toward, the officers.

Police say they advised Wheat to return to his pickup and sit down, but he allegedly continued to be aggressive and non-compliant. Officers deployed an X-26 Taser in an effort to get the man under control. The result was Wheat being taken into custody. Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputies assisted Red Oak Police during the incident.

Deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office along with officers with the Red Oak Police Department, worked to arrest a woman Monday night on alcohol and other charges. 52-year old Rlena Dee Crouse, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at around 9:10-p.m. following a traffic stop near the intersection of Forest and Eastern Avenues, in Red Oak.

Crouse was charged with OWI/1st offense, Criminial Mischief in the 3rd degree (for destruction of County property), Interference with Official Acts, and Possession of an Open Container. She was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on $2,000 bond.

Two of the five Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate have signed a pledge supporting “full repeal” of the president’s Affordable Care Act and they promise to vote against any bill that “provides funding to implement or enforce any part of it.” Matt Whitaker says if elected, he’ll join the “new movement” two rookie Republican senators have launched to “defund” ObamaCare. “We have forces in this country that very clearly want us to be a social democracy like we have seen in Europe where if we just spend a little more money on a problem or come up with an omnibus solution for all our problems, then all of our problems will be taken care of,” Whitaker says. “It doesn’t work. History shows us it doesn’t work.”

Whitaker, a former U.S. Attorney, was the Republican Party’s 2002 nominee for Treasurer. Sam Clovis is the other 2014 G-O-P candidate for the U.S. Senate who has signed the pledge to “defund” ObamaCare.  “You must have courage to go to the floor of the senate and stand there and look (Senate Democratic Leader) Harry Reid and (Senate GOP Leader) Mitch McConnell in the eye and say, ‘No more,'” Clovis says, “‘If this is not in the interest of the people of the United States, it shall not happen on my watch.'” Clovis has taken a sabbatical from his post at Morningside College and quit his job as a talk show host on a Sioux City radio station to run for the senate.

None of the three other Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate have signed the pledge to defund ObamaCare. David Young, former chief of staff to Senator Chuck Grassley, says he has not heard of it. Joni Ernst, a state senator from Red Oak, says the group of Republicans in congress threatening a government shutdown over ObamaCare this fall need to be sure they have the votes or failure could put all Republican candidates at “risk” in 2014. “I’m really tired of the back and forth and Republicans going after Republicans,” Ernst says. “We need to work out our differences and then be unified, so if it’s going to happen, it needs to be a unified voice and they need to explain what the end game is.”

Scott Schaben, a former soldier and car salesman from Ames, joined the race last week. Mark Jacobs, a retired utility company executive, has formed an exploratory committee, but is not actively campaigning with the five other Republicans who are “officially” in the race. Iowa Congressman Steve King is among a group of 80 House Republicans who have signaled support for the effort to threaten a government shutdown this fall in order to stop implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Tom Latham, Iowa’s other Republican congressman, did not sign the letter.

(Radio Iowa)