Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report the arrest early this (Tuesday) morning of an Arizona man on alcohol and drug charges. 37-year old Charles L. Harding III, of Yuma, AZ,  was arrested at around 2-a.m. on a charge of OWI/1st offense, and Possession of Controlled Substance/Marijuana. Harding was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 cash bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad says the rules governing school start dates in Iowa are “too lax.” Branstad told reporters yesterday that the existing policy hurts summer tourism in the state.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Police in central Iowa say a 13-year-old boy led officers on a weekend car chase through a residential area. Ankeny police say the boy drove the car with a flat tire early Sunday morning over curbs and around 50 miles per hour in a residential area. The chase ended after the boy crashed the car into a tree. He was taken to a hospital for a minor injury to his face.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A long-closed dog racing track in Waterloo would become the headquarters for a trucking company under plans released by the business. Waterloo-based Warren Transport president Dick Donnelly says the company hopes to close on the purchase of the former Waterloo Greyhound Park by August. The company then would build its headquarters at the 64-acre site near the intersections of U.S. highways 20 and 63.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A 50-year-old Dubuque man has pleaded guilty to selling heroin to someone who died from the drug. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said yesterday that Alvin Briggs, Junior was convicted after admitting Thursday that he sold $100 worth of heroin in July 2012 to an individual identified in court filings only as S.R., who died as a result of the drug.

Police in Council Bluffs say a man stabbed with a garden trowel Monday evening suffered non-life threatening injuries, and is expected to make a full recovery. Officials say someone allegedly stabbed 21-year old James Augustine, of Council Bluffs, in the back and slashed his upper lip with the tool. The incident happened just before 6-p.m. inside a home at 18 North 34th Street.  Augustine was taken to Jennie Edmundson Hospital by Council Bluffs Rescue for treatment of his injuries.

Police say the person responsible fled the scene.  The victim’s uncle, 42-year old Kenneth Augustine, is a person of interest in the case. The incident remains under investigation.

One person was hospitalized following an accident involving a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle Monday afternoon, southeast of Stanton. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office, a call from the scene near 240th Street east of O Avenue came in at around 3:50 p.m. Officials say 18-year-old Cody Johnson, of rural Stanton, was eastbound on 240th Street when his ATV’s brakes locked. The machine was nearing a ditch when Johnson jumped off and injured his leg when he landed. He was taken by ambulance to Montgomery County Memorial Hospital in Red Oak.  The four-wheeler was not damaged during the incident. The Sheriff’s office was assisted at the scene by the Stanton and Red Oak Fire and Rescue Departments.

The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Board has set the date of their next meeting as the time for a public hearing and input on making Sunnyside Park a smoke-free area. Their decision came on the heels of a request by Karla Akers and a group of young people who are associated with the Kiwanis’-sponsored, Middle School Builders Club. Akers said originally, the tobacco-free zone request focused on the skate park area at Sunnyside Park. She said the hope is to eventually make all parks in Cass County being tobacco free, to make them “A family friendly, safe, positive environment for healthy activity.”

To that end, Akers presented the Parks and Rec Board with a signed petition requesting Sunnyside Park be designated as Tobacco Free. She also presented the Board with a proclamation, which if approved, specifies how violators would be dealt with. It says the person will be instructed to stop using tobacco products on Park property, or leave the property. If they fail to do so, a trespassing complaint may be filed with law enforcement. The Kiwanis Club also signed a letter of support for the proposal, and verbally expressed their willingness to enforce the movement. The Kiwanis Club said they would be willing to help enforce the policy in a friendly, non-confrontational way.

Before a Tobacco-Free designation for Sunnyside Park is made however, the proposal must be approved by the Parks and Rec Board and full City Council. As part of the process, the Board will take public input during their meeting on July 15th in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

People who apparently have nothing better to do with their time have damaged property meant for the enjoyment and relaxation of others, in Atlantic. During Monday evening’s meeting of the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department’s Board of Directors, Director Roger Herring said it’s believed persons from out of town destroyed a park bench at the Schildberg Recreation Area. The incident involving the very first new bench to be installed by a local Eagle Scout wasn’t discovered, until a week ago, when Herring went out to mow.

He says the bench was gone, and next to a picnic table was a round burn mark. Herring learned someone had pitched a tent and camped there the previous weekend. It didn’t take long for him to realize the campers tore apart the bench as used it as kindling for a campfire. Evidence of the fact included the discovery of the bench’s nuts and bolts in the campfire site. Herring says they have received leads in the case, and they don’t point to anyone local.

In another incident, Herring says someone took trash from a can at the City Park in downtown Atlantic last weekend, and dumped it in the men’s restroom. With the heat and humidity allowing the refuse to “Ferment” over the weekend, when the incident was discovered by Park workers, the stench nearly overwhelmed their senses. The culprits didn’t do any other damage, and even returned the trash can to its proper place.

City Councilman Chris Jimerson, who represents the Council on the Parks and Rec Board, mentioned also, that sometime over the weekend, persons on motorcycles tore up the Soccer Field by the Little League Park.  Herring says he believes that young people who are bored, are responsible for “That kind of Mickey Mouse stuff.”

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of two women on unrelated charges. On Saturday, 35-year old Maria T. Gudenrath-Hurst of Omaha, was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. She was taken into custody at around 12:40-a.m., during a traffic stop on Interstate 29. Her bond was set at $1,300. And, 22-year old Heather Jean Vorthmann, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 12:30-a.m. Friday on I-29, for Driving While Revoked. Her bond was set at $1,000.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The latest crop report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows Iowa’s cornfields have been hit hard by the wet spring. Twelve percent of the crop is in poor condition, worse among the 18 leading corn growing states. Monday’s report says 4 percent is very poor while 34 percent is fair and 50 percent is good or excellent. Eleven percent of corn plants haven’t emerged from the ground yet and 6 percent of the crop hasn’t been planted. Normally the crop is all in by now and 99 percent emerged.

The USDA already assumes the average amount of corn expected to be harvested per acre in the U.S. to be reduced to 156.5 bushels per acre down from 158 bushels estimated a month ago.

A Shelby County company that produces honey, is planning an expansion of their facilities. Smitty Bee in Defiance is prepping to add close to 20,000 square feet to their plant. The expansion is set to increase capacity by close to 50 percent. The company says the new space is for bottling room, offices, and additional warehouse space and research and development labs. 

Smitty Bee sales have soared to the highest ever in the 80 years of production in part because of the increasing finds of health benefits in honey. The fourth generation family owned operated honey packer and producer says they remain committed to the quality of honey customers have consumed over the years and the expansion will continue to help maintain the high standards along with building the business. 

Smitty Bee in Defiance provides a wide variety of honey products to both industrial and retail customers and can be found at many local grocery stores.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Atlantic Police Department reports a local woman was arrested Sunday. 23-year old Wendy Daughenbaugh, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Simple Assault charge. She was booked into the Cass County Jail and held, pending an appearance before a magistrate.