A meeting for previous, prospective or interested members of the Atlantic Farmer’s Market will be held this (Wednesday) evening, in the breakfast room at the Super 8 Motel, in Atlantic. Organizers of the Farmer’s Market will go over the rules, dates and other pertinent information pertaining to the selling of your locally grown produce. The meeting begins at 6-p.m.

If you have any questions, please call Kathee at 712-249-2758.

The Iowa Department of Transportation reports an online land auction is currently underway in which nine Iowa DOT-owned parcels are being offered for sale in Jefferson, Shelby, Wapello and Warren counties. Officials say the land offers something for everyone, from building sites, potential recreational property and high-quality farmland. In Shelby County, the parcel is a .13-acre lot, in Harlan.

Bids are currently being accepted until 5-p.m. Friday, April 5th. Details on the parcels can be found on the Iowa DOT’s website at http://www.iowadot.gov/propmanage/index.html. Click the online auction link at the top of the page.

Police in Atlantic report the arrest Tuesday of 19-year old Mathew Watts, of Atlantic.

Mathew Watts (Cass Co. Sheriff’s Office photo)

Watts was taken into custody on a charge of Sexual Abuse in the 3rd degree. He was being held in the Cass County Jail.

Richard Randall Eatwell (Polk County Sheriff’s office photo)

The A-PD reports also, 38-year old Richard Randall Eatwell, of Des Moines, was arrested today (Wednesday), on a nationwide warrant issued on February 1st out of Polk County, for a Parole Violation associated with Work Release. Eatwell was booked into the Cass County Jail.

Sheriff’s officials in Adams County report the arrest Tuesday of two people on drug charges. 20-year old Janelle Blaisure and 18-year old Mikel Hilton, both of Corning, were separately arrested on Adams County felony warrants for Conspiracy to Manufacture a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine.

The pair were being held in the Adams County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond only.

w/ Ric Hanson

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FREMONT, Neb. (AP) – A 42-year-old man already given four to 12 years in prison for stealing copper wire in Dodge County, NE, has been given another term for stealing copper wire in Saunders County, NE.  Saunders County Attorney Scott Tingelhoff says Scott Mohr was given four to 12 years for the wire theft from center pivot irrigation systems last year. The sentences will be served at the same time.

Mohr and another Omaha man, 39-year-old Clifford Krings, are suspected of stealing copper wire from a field north of Council Bluffs in Iowa’s Pottawattamie County. The two were arrested last May.  Mohr waits prosecution on the Iowa theft, criminal mischief and trespass charges. Kings pleaded guilty and was given two years of probation. Kings wasn’t charged in Nebraska.

The beginning of Spring last week marked the start of severe weather season in the Midwest. The season typically brings strong storms that produce heavy rain, hail, destructive winds and tornadoes. As part of Severe Weather Awareness week, the National Weather Service (NWS), in coordination with the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman, Oklahoma, will conduct a Statewide Tornado Drill in Iowa and other Midwestern states.

The drill begins at 10-a.m., when the SPC issues a Test Tornado Watch for Iowa and Nebraska. The National Weather Service offices in both states will issue the Test Watch tones on all NOAA Weather Radios and the Emergency Alert System (EAS), as a Test Message.

At 10:10-a.m., the NWS offices in Sioux Falls and Omaha will issue test tornado warnings for their Iowa counties, and at 10:15-a.m., the NWS offices in Des Moines and the Quad Cities will issue a Test Tornado Warning for their Iowa counties.

From 10:30 until about 10:35, all Iowa NWS offices will issue a Severe Weather Statement to terminate the test warnings. The Test Tornado Watch will officially expire at 11-a.m. During the test, residents, businesses, local governments and schools are urged to carry out their Tornado safety plans and procedures, as though a real weather event was about to occur and is occurring.

The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department’s Board of Directors will hold a special meeting Thursday evening, at City Hall. During the 5:15-p.m. session, the Board will act on approving the bids, contract and plans for the Parks and Recreation Dept. office and Maintenance building, as presented by Snyder and Associates.

The total estimated project cost is $311,000, but during a Parks and Rec Board meeting in February, Director Roger Herring said the Building Committee had hoped to find a way to cut $80,000 from that price tag, by having a skeletal electrical system in the shop area, insulation modifications, plumbing and heating changes, through the use of temporary light fixtures, and gravel in the driveway. Engineering costs were also reduced, due to the changes in the latest design.

A contract for the project is expected to be awarded during the Atlantic City Council meeting on April 3rd.

WINTERSET, Iowa (AP) – A former Madison County prosecutor has pleaded guilty to an assault charge and been sentenced.  The Des Moines Register reports that 55-year-old Anthony Blessum had made a deal with prosecutors, who lowered or dropped charges related to the beating of Blessum’s former girlfriend. The incident occurred on June 11 last year at Blessum’s home in Waukee.

At his sentencing on Tuesday, Blessum was given seven days in jail, a suspended sentence of a year, probation, and he was ordered to pay the woman nearly $7,000 in restitution.   Blessum was Madison County attorney from 1987 through 1997.

Three men from Nebraska were hurt after they were ejected from a stolen vehicle that was involved in a high-speed crash Monday afternoon, in Council Bluffs. According the Daily NonPareil, police were pursuing the 2006 Pontiac G6 a little after One-p.m., when it left the road near the Interstate 29 southbound split to I-80 westbound. Officers arriving on the scene found the men laying to the vehicle, which had been reported stolen from an Omaha car dealer.

Officials say 30-year old Jesse Byers, 41-year old Willie Gonzales and 25-year old Anthony Biggart, all of Omaha, were transported by Council Bluffs Fire and Rescue to Creighton University Medical Center, for treatment of possible/unknown injuries.

Criminal Investigation Division Sgt. David Dawson confirmed the vehicle was stolen, but charges had not yet been filed in connection with the theft.