(Radio Iowa) — A California company plans to reopen a Hamilton County truck stop that closed last month. Anyway Logistics, Incorporated of Fresno purchased the Boondocks U.S.A. Truck Stop near Williams for $500,000 at an auction held on Wednesday. It will be the first truck stop to be owned by Anyway Logistics. The Boondocks truck stop closed October 20th after 45 years of operation by owners Bob and Miriam Welch. The reason for the closing was due to competition from nearby truck stops and finding enough employees. The truck stop hosts a diner and a 30-unit motel located off Interstate 35 near Williams. The truck stop served as a haven for stranded motorists during adverse winter weather. No date has been set for the reopening of the truck stop.

Police in Red Oak, Wednesday afternoon, arrested a man wanted on warrants out of Carroll and Montgomery Counties. 36-year old Jesse Donald Trost, of Red Oak, was taken into custody without incident after the warrants were served. Trost was taken into custody on a Carroll County warrant for Contempt of Court/Failure to pay child support, and an active warrant out of Montgomery County, for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:30 a.m. CST

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese is defending its decision to continue employing a priest who told police he was trying to rape a woman when he was arrested naked in an Iowa mall in 2013. The Diocese of Sioux City acknowledged the 5-year-old arrest of the Rev. Jeremy Wind, describing it as a “mental health episode” from which he recovered. Police reports show Wind was meeting with a parishioner at a Sioux Center bakery in December 2013 when he dropped his pants and chased her to her car.

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — Police in central Iowa are investigating after they say they found homemade pipe bombs following a traffic stop in Marshalltown. Authorities say 48-year-old Timothy Andrew Kluck has been charged with being a felon in possession of an offensive weapon and other counts. Police say Kluck was stopped earlier this week on suspicion of driving with a suspended license when officers discovered a pipe bomb in his vehicle, and a search of his home turned up another bomb.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for the drug overdose deaths of two people in Illinois. Federal prosecutors in Iowa say 50-year-old Larry Lazzez Bolden, of Davenport, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in June to distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death. Investigators say Bolden distributed heroin laced with morphine and fentanyl that led to the deaths of one person in Rock Island, Illinois, and another person in Moline, Illinois.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa man has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for bilking a bank out of more than $850,000. Federal prosecutors for Iowa say 63-year-old David Giannetto, of Marion, was sentenced Wednesday in Cedar Rapids’ federal courthouse to 27 months in prison. Officials say Giannetto had operated a freight business and created more than 600 fake invoices over two years that he used to secure more than $850,000 in loans from the bank.

A Sheriff’s deputy from Greene County was cited Nov. 12th following an investigation, for unlawful possession of Whitetail deer antlers. Officials with the Iowa DNR said Wednesday, that on November 3rd, 2018, a DNR Conservation Officer received a call from a man who came upon a scene of a woman who had hit a deer on N Ave. between 185^th and 190^th streets in Greene County. The man waited for a sheriff’s deputy to arrive. Once the deputy arrived, the man asked the deputy about a salvage tag. Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Kirk Hammer declined to issue him salvage tag.

According to state code, a salvage tag should be first issued to the individuals involved in the accident, and if not interested, then to any bystanders at the scene. A salvage tag was not issued. Later in the day, the same man drove past the scene and observed Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Kirk Hammer in uniform near the deer cutting the antlers off of the deer with a saw.

When DNR Conservation Officer Nathan Haupert questioned Deputy Hammer, Deputy Hammer admitted to taking the antlers. Officer Haupert met Deputy Hammer at his home and seized the antlers. Officer Haupert explained to Deputy Hammer that it is unlawful to keep the antlers without a deer tag or salvage permit and with a salvage permit the whole deer would need to be removed from the ditch, not just the antlers.

(Radio Iowa) — Yesterday (Tuesday) was “Giving Tuesday” but some non-profits in the region are still struggling. Kelly Ptacek, with the Food Bank for the Heartland, says they’re still in dire need of donations of canned and packaged food as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. “We work with our partners in the community to try to help provide produce in particular, but lots of food to those that need it,” Ptacek says. “When you make your family meals, things like apples, potatoes, onions, carrots, those kinds of basic pieces of your meal.”

Those fresh items are always in high demand at the Omaha-based food bank. She says cash donations are also extremely useful. “We can buy produce in particular but food in bulk so we get a better rate when we have the cash to be able to buy that food,” Ptacek says. “We also do can drives and we take food at the food bank as well. We’ll sort that and then send it back out to our partner agencies so they’ll have both shelf-stable food as well as the fresh produce.”

With the early arrival of cold winter-like weather, she says hungry people across the region are relying even more on the agency for their daily meals. “We are seeing still a significant need,” Ptacek says. “We serve 16 counties in western Iowa and 77 counties in Nebraska. There are 80,000 children in the area who are food insecure. That is a large number of children that we want to make sure we can get food into their homes.”

Learn more about the organization or make a donation at: foodbankheartland.org.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) Wednesday, approved four-point-five million dollars in Community Development Block Grant funds for 11 Iowa communities, including Emerson, Sidney and Wiota. I-E-D-A spokesperson, Brooke Miller, says the funds are targeted at specific areas.
She says the funds enable the communities to make needed improvements to water and sewer systems, improve housing conditions for homeowners, provide facilities for disabled and at-risk individuals, along with transforming downtown spaces.

Miller says these grants are only available to non-metropolitan areas. “The funds are awarded based on benefit to low and moderate income people, financial need, project impact and readiness, and commitment of local resources to the project as well,” according to Miller.  She says the communities will receive the funding once the final contracts are signed. She says it’s a federally funded program through the U-S Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the state administers the funds.

Here’s the list of awards and matching amounts for each community in our area:
Emerson Sanitary Sewer Improvements $300,000 award/match $95,581.
Sidney Water System Improvements $382,041 award/match $486,234.
Wiota Water System Improvements $116,000 award/match $767,320.

A Shelby County man has won a $100,000 lottery prize. Dustin Delgado of Harlan claimed the second of six top prizes available in the Iowa Lottery’s “$100,000 Holiday Mega Crossword” scratch game. He purchased his winning ticket at Taylor Quik Pik, 2102 23rd St. in Harlan, and claimed his prize Monday at the lottery’s regional office in Council Bluffs.

The $100,000 Holiday Mega Crossword is a $10 scratch game. For more information about this game, and the number of prizes still available, visit www.ialottery.com. Non-winning holiday scratch tickets can be entered into the lottery’s Fa la la Loot Play it Again® promotion from now through Jan. 8 at 8:59 a.m. The promotion includes $125,000 in cash prizes, including a $20,000 grand prize.

Tickets can be entered online or through the LotteryPlus mobile app. For rules and complete details, visit www.ialottery.com.

Police in Harlan report three recent arrests. Last Friday, 24-year old Khadijah Meeks, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop in the 700 block of Elm St.  Meeks was transported to the Shelby County Jail where she was charged with operating while intoxicated and disorderly conduct.

On November 20th, 29-year old Ty Ross Dean Hatcher, of Avoca, was arrested following a traffic stop in the 1100 block of Chatburn Ave. Hatcher was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with driving while suspended, speed, and violation of financial liability. That same day, 36-year old Christopher Daniel Ivey, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop in the 600 block of Market St.  Ivey was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with operating while intoxicated, no valid driver’s license and speed.

The Harlan Police Department has also issued a reminder to dog owners: The 2019 dog licenses are now available at the police department.  This year the cost of the tag is $10 per animal, and you MUST bring proof of rabies with you when you register.  Failure to register by January 31, 2019 may result in additional fines.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese on Wednesday defended its decision to continue employing a priest who told police he was trying to rape a woman when he was arrested naked in an Iowa mall in 2013. The Diocese of Sioux City issued a statement for the first time acknowledging the 5-year-old incident involving 39-year old Rev. Jeremy Wind, calling it a “mental health episode” from which he recovered with the help of medication and treatment. The diocese gave no details about what occurred and told parishioners the scrutiny was unfortunate and unnecessary because “there is nothing newsworthy to report.”
The statement came in response to inquiries from The Associated Press, which used the state’s open records law to shed light on a criminal case that was recently erased from public court files. It marks the latest diocese personnel matter that has come under scrutiny since its acknowledgment in October to having kept quiet a priest’s 1986 admission to sexually abusing roughly 50 boys.

Police reports show Wind was meeting with a female parishioner at a bakery in December 2013 when he began behaving erratically. He had just celebrated Mass at Christ the King church in Sioux Center, a town of 7,000 people in northwest Iowa. Wind told the woman he was going to masturbate and took off his pants, prompting her to run away, she later told police. Wind chased her to her car, where she locked the door as he yelled about raping her and pounded on the vehicle’s window. “I was so horrified, I thought what am I going to do?” the woman told police, in a statement obtained by AP. “I sat for awhile because I didn’t want to hurt him. When he started banging so hard that I thought he was going to break the window, I drove away.”

A Sioux Center police officer found Wind at the nearby Centre Mall, where he said he had no pants on because he “wanted to rape her” and instructed the officer to write that statement down, a report shows. He later said that he also wanted to rape the officer. Wind ripped off the officer’s name tag and punched the officer, a report shows. He was handcuffed on the ground as a deputy pointed a Taser at him. Wind was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct in a criminal complaint that didn’t mention the woman or his statements about rape. Under a September 2014 plea bargain, he received a deferred judgment, paid a $200 fine and was put on “informal probation” for one year. The agreement said Wind was “experiencing mania along with psychosis which prevented him from understanding his conduct at that time” of the incident.

All records related to the case disappeared from the Iowa courts online database this year, after Wind was transferred to the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City. Sioux County Attorney Tom Kunstle said the AP would have to seek a court order to get him to answer any questions about the case. He summarily rejected an open records request for his correspondence related to the matter. Wind received counseling and medical treatment for mental illness and “has since provided exemplary spiritual and priestly care to his parishioners,” the diocese said. Wind is on medication and follows “a lifestyle regimen that enables him to function without problems,” the statement said.

(Radio Iowa) — A change of command is taking place at Sioux City’s 185th Air Refueling National Guard Unit. The Iowa National Guard says Sioux City native Colonel Mark Muckey has been selected as the next Wing Commander of the unit. Colonel Muckey says it’s a great opportunity to come home 30 years after he joined the 185th when he was in high school: Muckey joined the Iowa Guard at 17 while he was till going to Sioux City East High School and later was selected to go to pilot training. He went to college at Morningside and Iowa State and says “It is an absolutely amazing opportunity.”

Colonel Mark Muckey

Muckey flew the A-7 Corsair, and eventually ended up in Oklahoma. He is a command pilot with more than four-thousand flying hours, primarily in the U-S Air Force C-130 Hercules and K-C-135 Strato-Tanker. Colonel Muckey is currently the Air National Guard Advisor to the Air Mobility Command Inspector General in St. Louis where he helps oversee several units. “All the wings that fall under the air mobility command, active guard and reserve. And I give them checkups and provide them feedback on their performance,” Muckey says.

Colonel Muckey will overlap command duties in Sioux City with the current commander, Colonel Larry Christensen for a few months beginning in January, 2019. Christensen is being promoted to brigadier general and has been selected as the Chief of Staff for the Iowa Air National Guard at Camp Dodge in Des Moines. That will mean some new duties for Christensen. “Probably one of the major things is to represent our adjutant general, Major General Tim Orr, in different aspects of the Iowa National Guard, whether that be air or army,” Christensen says. “To manage the staff down there at joint force headquarters. Working with not only the 185th, but also the 132nd, the wing down in Des Moines…but also the 133rd in Fort Dodge.”

He will assume his new position following a formal handoff of the Wing leadership to Colonel Muckey. A formal change of command ceremony will be planned for a later date.