A chain-reaction accident Saturday afternoon in Council Bluffs caused a total of $26,500 damage to five vehicles, but no one was seriously injured. According to Bluffs Police, four of the cars were lined up at a stop light on Highway 92, at the Interstate 29 intersection on South Omaha Bridge Road, when a fifth car hit the last car in line. The initial collision resulted in a chain reaction which forced each car into the next vehicle.

The driver of car which started the incident, 43-year old Maura Ann Bonnett, of Council Bluffs, told officers she had also been stopped at the light, but Bonnett was ticketed for failure to maintain an assured clear distance, and for having no insurance. The driver of one of the vehicles involved in the collision, 50-year old Debra Larson, of Honey Creek, complained of chest pain following the incident, but she refused medical treatment. 

The other drivers were identified as 27-year old Jeffrey Hough, of Minnesota; 64-year old Lillian Irvin, of Shenandoah; and, 61-year old Charles Matthews, of Council Bluffs.

A fire that began with a car Friday evening in Red Oak spread to a nearby structure, damaging the building and destroying the car. Red Oak Police were notified about a car fire in the 500 block of East Washington Avenue. When they arrived they found a 1993 Chevy Corsica fully engulfed in flames. The fire quickly spread to a tree, stack of tires, and a shed. Red Oak Fire Fighters made quick work of putting out the car’s flames, but it was considered a total loss. The amount of damage to the shed had not been determined. Both the car and the shed are owned by Michael Shane Evans, of Red Oak.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact the Red Oak Police Department at 712-623-6500, or, Montgomery County Crimestoppers at 1-800-432-1001.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office investigated two non-injury accidents and arrested one person over the past couple of weeks. In a report issued today (Monday), 18-year old Taylor Jackson Anderson, of Sidney, was arrested October 19^th, on a charge of 2^nd degree theft.

In the accident report, officials said Ryan Casey, from Riverton, was driving a 1996 Ford Ranger pickup and had stopped at the intersection with 330^th and Highway 2, before proceeding into the intersection, where his vehicle hit a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am, driven by Amy Blake, of Farragut. The accident happened on October 12^th.

The other accident in Fremont County happened on October 14^th, when an SUV driven by Karen Haigwood, of Shenandoah, pulled out from the intersection of Sheridan Avenue and Highway 59, and hit a car driven by Amanda Jones, of Council Bluffs.

No injuries were reported in either accident. The Sheriff’s report didn’t indicate if any citations were issued.

Sheriff’s officials in Cass County report four men were arrested over the past couple of weeks on OWI charges. On Sunday, 29-year old Jeffrey Joseph Rickert, of Wheatfield, IN, was taken into custody on a charge of OWI/1st offense. Last Saturday, 35-year old Richard Edwin Swain, of Griswold, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, and on a Magistrate’s warrant for Failure to Appear on a charge of Careless Driving.  On October 15th, 41-year old Charles Ray Balius, of Diagonal, was arrested for OWI/1st Offense. And, on October 11th, 26-year old Robert Sutton Krisinger, of Atlantic was arrested for OWI/1st Offense. Swain, Balius, and Krisinger were later released on their  own recognizance, while Rickert was later released on $1,000 bond.

The Sheriff’s Department reports also, 26-year old Jesse James Daniel, of Atlantic, was arrested October 12th, on a charge of Driving Under Suspension. He was brought to the Cass County Jail, and later released on his own recognizance. And, 33-year old Robert Anthony Ross, of Omaha, was arrested October 19th on a District Court warrant for Probation Violation. Ross was being held in the Cass County Jail on $5,000 bond.

w/Ric Hanson

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Amtrak ridership dropped nearly 16 percent over the past 12 months in Iowa, and officials blame most of the decline on Missouri River flooding. Officials say nearly 58,000 passengers got on and off Amtrak trains at six Iowa stations for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That’s 10,000 fewer passengers than the previous fiscal year. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says that more than 90 Iowa-bound Amtrak trains were canceled this year, primarily because of flooding in western Iowa.

Amtrak’s California Zephyr stops in Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa, Osceola and Creston. The Southwest Chief stops in Fort Madison. The trains run between Chicago and the West Coast. Amtrak reported a record 30.2 million passengers nationally for the past 12 months.

Leaders of Iowa’s rural telecommunication companies are sounding off about a plan that would shift money away from a federal fund that benefits broadband service. The Federal Communications Commission wants to move more than 15-billion dollars away from the Universal Service Fund, a small surcharge that helps subsidize phone service to high-cost rural areas. Chuck Deisbeck, CEO of Western Iowa Networks — based in Breda, says the plan would deal a blow to rural economic development.

Deisbeck says, “The FCC needs to understand that if they don’t move forward with some of the rules that we have asked for, they’re going to fail to advance broadband in rural America, they’re going to fail to promote jobs, and that’s going to have a huge economic impact on the entire country.” If the FCC votes this week to move the money from the Universal Service Fund, or USF, Deisbeck says phone and internet rates in Iowa will continue to rise.

He says studies show the benchmark rates will significantly jump $30-50 per month. Diesbeck says doing away with the money from the USF will mean the rural phone companies will have trouble maintaining and upgrading their current networks. Deisbeck says many people in the rural U-S depend on broadband services and shifting money away from the fund would have a great impact.

“What’s really scary is when the FCC thinks of Des Moines and Ames and Iowa City as rural,” he says. “That’s not what we consider rural. If they think those areas are rural, then what do they think about the real rural areas in Iowa?” He says farming operations and telecommuters are two of the biggest users of broadband in rural America, and the FCC doesn’t understand what rural Iowa is like. Tom Conry is the general manager of the Farmers Mutual Cooperative Telephone Company of Harlan. Conry says a national wireless broadband plan, like the FCC is proposing, would heavily rely on infrastructure serviced by rural telephone companies.

Conry says the FCC believes wireless broadband is the end-all solution, but cell towers and wireless connection points wouldn’t have a broadband connection if it wasn’t for the fiber provided and serviced by the rural companies. Deisbeck and Conry are encouraging people to go to the website “thegreatdisconnect.org” and contact their local legislator by clicking on the “Take Action” button.

(Radio Iowa)

A Russian immigrant to the U-S who lives in Washington State and works as a truck driver, is grateful to be alive after he was pulled from the cab of the burning semi he’d been driving, which crashed on the west side of Council Bluffs, Sunday morning. Pavel Plevako somehow lost control of the semi on Interstate 29 at around 9:15-a.m., between Avenue G and the 35th Street exit.

Bob and Pat Tallant, of Omaha, told the Omaha World-Herald the couple was traveling to a friend’s house when they saw the semi pull onto the interstate, miss the traffic lane and run into a bridge. The impact tore the cab away from the trailer, causing the cab to land on the driver’s side. The couple said they pulled over to help, along with another driver who was behind them.

As Plevako was trapped in the rig, the trailer caught fire, and the flames began to spread to the cab.  Using a large crowbar, Tallant, and the other, unidentified motorist pried open the passenger side door of the cab,while a third, unidentified person reached-in to pull the driver out. Two young women, one of whom was reportedly a medical student, also stopped to help and treat Plevako, who suffered only minor injuries.

The tractor and trailer were soon fully engulfed in flames, which erupted due to ruptured fuel tanks and were spread by burning crates of produce being hauled in the trailer.  The burning diesal fuel created large, black clouds of smoke, according to witnesses. The accident remains under investigation.

Plevako told reporters in broken English, that he was very grateful to those who stopped and helped him.

Sheriff’s officials in Fremont County and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are looking into the discovery of a body found Sunday afternoon in the Missouri River.  Authorities were notified shortly after 1:45-p.m., that a fisherman found a body floating in the river west of Percival.  Sheriff’s deputies recovered the body of an unidentified white male near the shoreline, on the Iowa side of the river. An autopsy was ordered to determine the man’s identity, and cause of death.