The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department’s Board of Directors, Monday, approved a bid from APEX, LLC. Environment Consultants out of Urbandale, for work on a Bio-swale water quality project at the Nishna Park. The Atlantic High School and Cass County Extension serve as partners for the project, for which there were two bids, with a third being disqualified be submitted after the bid deadline.

Parks and Rec Director Seth Staashelm said the grant was for up to $41,000 with a 50-50 match. The Parks Department’s share is $3,500. APEX comes highly recommended by officials with IDALS (The Iowa Dept. of Ag and Land Stewardship). The Board agreed to accept the company’s bid contingent upon a review of the contract by City of Atlantic Attorney Mark Bosworth.

In other business, the Parks Board learned the west restroom at the Schildberg Recreation Area should be delivered and set in-place with a crane next week, weather permitting. Later this year, electricity for inside and outside lights will be installed. The west playground equipment is still in storage, waiting for a Spring or early Summer installation with community members who will be supervised by a playground company expert. And, the Schildberg Campground bathhouse designs, specifications and cost estimate from Snyder Engineering should be ready for the Board’s next meeting.

The Board approved a Memorandum of Understanding for Operation Re-Leaf. The Iowa DNR has taken over the program and asked the City serve as a host site for one of their sales points. The City will be paid $1,000 for administration and $7,000 for tree stock. The City will then sell the trees on behalf of the DNR. The goal will be to try and sell 100 trees for a couple of months during the Spring. The trees would be available for pickup April 25th.

The Board approved the services of an American Red Cross Aquatic Examiner for the Sunnyside Pool, who would do a walk through of the facility and make sure the lifeguards are up-to-date on training and other facets of the pool are safe and ready to go this summer. In other news, Seth Staashelm said the Sunnyside Ice Rink is open, by the ice is “very hard” after the recent hard freeze. It may not be the smoothest surface to skate on, so beware. He said also, the Schildberg Campground is closed as are the roads to Sunnyside Park, but the park remains open for winter activities.

The Iowa State Patrol reports a woman from Atlantic was injured during a head-on collision this (Monday) morning, north of Cumberland. 23-year old Megan Magers was driving a 2001 Ford Taurus northbound on County Road N-28 (690th Street) at around 7:30-a.m., when her car crossed the centerline of the road about one-half mile north of Oxford Road, and continued in the south bound lane.

27-year old Samuel Cutler, of Massena, who was driving a 2004 Dodge Ram 2500 was traveling southbound, and tried to avoid the collision but the vehicles collided head-on. Magers, who was wearing her seat belt, suffered severe injuries and was flown by LifeNet to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Cutler was transported by private vehicle to the Cass County Memorial Hospital.

Massena and Cumberland Fire and Rescue, Medivac and the Cass County Sheriff’s Department assisted at the scene.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa National Guard helped seize illegal drugs that were worth tens of millions of dollars in 2018. Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Timothy Orr has the totals:  “More than one pound of fentanyl, which equates to more than 180,000 fatal doses, and nearly 15 pounds of heroin, were seized and taken off the street in Iowa and in 2018, more than $63 million in drugs and $3.5 million in cash and assets were seized from drug dealers in Iowa with the assistance of the Iowa National Guard’s Counterdrug program,” Orr says.

That’s a 20 million dollar increase in drug seizures by Guard soldiers compared to the previous year. The federally-funded “Midwest Counter Drug Training Center” is located at Camp Dodge in Johnston. Orr says local law enforcement can get training at the center at no cost to the agencies where they work. “In 2018, the Counterdrug program trained 824 law enforcement officers across the state to properly administer Narcan, the antidote for opioid overdoses,” Orr says.

Narcan is the brand name for Naloxone. An injection of Naloxone can reverse the effects of an overdose in as quickly as two to five minutes. Training is key, however, as some opioid users require more than one injection of Naloxone to reverse an overdose.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lawyers pursuing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of lottery customers nationwide are seeking to interview the jailed insider who allegedly rigged jackpots for himself and others for years.

The lawyers said in a court filing Friday they want to take the deposition of Eddie Tipton at the prison in Clarinda, Iowa, to gather information for their case against the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Judge Michael Huppert recently granted class-action status to the case, which involves customers who bought losing tickets for roughly 20 drawings between 2005 and 2013 that were allegedly tainted by Tipton’s software.

Tipton worked for the Iowa-based lottery association, where he built and installed random number generators that picked winning combinations. He’s serving a prison sentence after admitting to installing code that allowed him to predict winning numbers on certain days of the year, and working with his brother and others to buy tickets and win jackpots.

The City of Atlantic’s Personnel & Finance Committee will meet 5:15-p.m. Wednesday, in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. On their agenda is discussion with regard to a proposal to sell the Atlantic Senior Center. During last week’s City Council meeting, City Administrator John Lund said there is a buyer interesting in purchasing the Senior Center. The facility, he said is in need of approximately $36,000 repairs, due to a leak in the roof that occurred last summer.

The Personnel and Finance Committee will pass along their recommendation to the Council during their next regular meeting. The P&F Committee will also discuss and make recommendations with regard to the fee the City charges on Long-Term Delinquencies requiring property assessment and Extending Employee Benefits that are granted to Union members, to Non-Union employees.

STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man and child died after the vehicle there were in broke through lake ice in northwest Iowa. The Buena Vista County Sheriff’s Office says deputies and other first responders were sent to Storm Lake a little before 6 p.m. Sunday after receiving a report about the vehicle. The emergency workers went onto the ice, found the man and three small children and took them to shore.

The sheriff’s office says the man and one of the children were pronounced dead later at a hospital. The two other children were flown to a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hospital. The names of those involved and details about their being on the ice have not been released.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha is planning a pilot project for electric scooters that would be available for rental. The city is seeking proposals from companies interested in participating in the test, which will run from late March until mid-November. The scooters would be dockless — no permanent home — so they could be left anywhere. The scooters would have GPS devices so users can see where they are and the companies that own them can find them and retrieve them to be charged for more use.

The scooters likely would be barred from sidewalks and major thoroughfares with far higher speed limits than the scooters can scoot: about 15 mph. A company app lets people access the scooters. The rental cost can vary from city to city, but generally $1 to start the scooter and 15 cents per minute of use.

Sheriff’s deputies in Page County, Sunday, arrested 30-year old Nathan Andrew Wilcoxson, of Clarinda. He was taken into custody at his home, following the execution of a search warrant by the Clarinda Police Department that Sheriff’s deputies assisted with. Wilcoxson was charged with two counts of Theft in the 2nd degree, Conspiracy to commit burglary, and Trespass. Clarinda Police Department also has several charges on Wilcoxson.

Nathan Wilcoxson

During the search warrant, numerous items were recovered that had allegedly been stolen from a structure in rural Page County. The Items had previously been reported stolen by the owner on January 5, 2019. The Sheriff’s Office has been actively investigating the case since it was reported. The owner was contacted and identified the items that were seized. Wilcoxson remains in the Page County Jail on $5000.00 cash only bond as set by a Magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) — Some Iowa credit unions and banks are offering special loans and payments plans to help those affected by the partial federal government shutdown. About 27-hundred Iowans work for departments that have lost their funding. First Federal Credit Union C-E-O Tom Chalstrom says the program is aimed at them. “Anybody impacted by the furlough can obtain up to a five-thousand dollar ($5,000) unsecured loan, that’s interest free, no interest, during the course of the furlough. And no one knows how long that is,” Chalstrom says.

He says the loan provisions are linked to the shutdown. “We won’t start applying interest to the loan until the day they get paid,” he explains.  First Federal operates in the Cedar Rapids area and Chalstrom says they will also work with farmers on an individual basis, if they’re missing out on farm loan or tariff relief payments. “We’ll work with anybody that’s impacted by the furlough on an individual basis,” according toe Chalstrom. “It is targeted towards government employees per se, but somebody that would come to us in that situation, absolutely we would look at it.”

The University of Iowa Community Credit Union and Veridian are also offering special loans or grace periods. Bank Iowa, the People’s Bank and First Citizens Bank also say they’ll work out individualized plans for federal employees.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s office reports three arrests took place from Jan. 13th through the 17th. Last Thursday, Deputies arrested at a residence in Elk Horn, 53-year-old Rosemary Ann Yoder, of Omaha, on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in Shelby County District Court. Yoder was also charged with violation of no contact order and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was transported to Shelby County Jail and after initial appearance, was being held in the jail under a $1,200 cash/surety bond.

On Jan. 15th, authorities with the Department of Public Safety Commercial Motor Vehicle Division arrested 38-year-old Anthony Lee Nielsen, of Council Bluffs, as a result of a traffic stop. Nielsen was arrested for a driving a commercial vehicle under a suspended license in the State of Iowa. He was transported to the Shelby County Jail without incident and was released shortly thereafter by posting a cash bond. He was subsequently given a future court date.

And, on Jan. 13th, Harlan Police and Shelby County Deputies arrested 38-year-old Joshua Lynn Mauseth, of Omaha, on an outstanding warrant out of Kansas. Mauseth was transported to Shelby County Jail without local charges and held pending an extradition waiver hearing. He was then transferred into custody of the Cloud County Kansas Sheriff’s Department.