The holidays are a time of fun with family and friends across Iowa, but all too often those festivities turn tragic when a driver gets behind the wheel after drinking. Among those who have had their lives turned upside down by drunk driving is Arlene Victor, whose son and daughter-in-law were killed in a crash in 1984.

“A drunk driver drove five feet over center and literally ran over their car with his jacked-up pickup,” says Victor. “Their baby survived the crash. She was injured and orphaned and we’ve raised her and we’ve lived it now for 30 years.”

Victor is now a victims’ advocate for the Dubuque/Jackson County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. On average, there are around 2,000 people arrested in Iowa for operating while intoxicated each year, along with nearly 100 alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

Another concern for Victor are those driving under the influence of drugs, especially as prescription medication abuse is growing and with the rising number of states allowing medicinal and/or recreational marijuana.

“It’s an increasing problem,” says Victor. “I have a real hard time with these states legalizing marijuana because, from what I understand it’s much more difficult for the officer to detect a drugged driver as compared to the drunk driver.”

(Iowa News Service)

With Ric Hanson.

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Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Corrections said Tuesday, that a man who began serving a life sentence for a 1976 murder in Pottawattamie County, has died in prison. 65-year old Kenneth Boyd died Monday at the hospice care unit at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. Boyd’s death was due to complications from renal failure.

Boyd was serving a life sentence for the 1976 Pott. County slaying of Omaha resident Charles Sallis. Boyd was convicted along with Charles Reese and Sallis’ wife, Katherine. Another man, Isaiah Jerry Jones, initially was charged with murder, too, but the charge was dropped when he agreed to testify for the prosecution. Boyd and Reese were from Gary, Indiana. Jones was from Omaha.

Travel with caution this morning. Roads in western Iowa are partially to mostly covered with snow and/or slush. The far western part of the state has the best road conditions (“Normal”), according to 511ia.org  For the latest road condition reports, call 5-1-1 or surf to the Iowa DOT’s website (511ia.org).

As the harvest is nearly complete across Iowa, many food banks in the state are reaping the benefits of what farmers have grown. With commodity prices so low, Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey says he’s encouraged so many farmers are choosing to donate some of their bounty to those in need. “They’re able to donate that to qualified food receiving agencies, food banks, and be able to get a tax credit of 15% of the value of that food they produced,” Northey says. “It’s a great way to encourage that connection, certainly to encourage the use of that locally-produced food.” It translates to a double benefit, Northey says, as farmers get a credit on their state taxes while local food banks get home-grown food.

“You do need to find one of these qualified food banks to be able to do that,” he says. “There’s an evaluation worksheet at the state of Iowa tax website.” That address is tax-dot-iowa-dot-gov and then click on the link for “Farm To Food Donation Tax Credit.” Northey notes, farmers get a credit equal to 15 percent of the value of the commodities donated or five-thousand dollars, whichever is less. Producers will get a receipt from the registered food bank or emergency feeding organization. All receipts need to be sent to the Iowa Department of Revenue by January 15th.

(Radio Iowa)

A Red Oak man was arrested early this (Wednesday) morning. According to the Red Oak P-D, 26-year old Jason Rolfe Aherns was taken into custody at around 2:45-a.m. in the 1700 block of Crestline Drive. Aherns was picked up on a valid warrant for Theft in the 5th degree. He was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 cash bond.

The drop in temperatures makes it tougher on the people ringing the bells at the Salvation Army red kettles, and it also puts a bit of a chill on donations. Lia Pontarelli, is the spokesperson for the Salvation Army in Cedar Rapids. “Having such a cold start to our kettle season is not very exciting to us, ” Pontarelli says. “Last year it got very cold, but it got cold a little later in our kettle season.” Cold weather makes people want to get in and out of stores quickly and keeps them from stopping to drop a donation into the kettles.

“We’re hoping that as the holidays come a little bit closer — with Thanksgiving this week, Christmas is a month away now– hopefully people will start getting in that spirit and despite the cold weather they will still give.” Modern economics have also hurt the kettle campaigns across Iowa and across the country as Pontarelli says people don’t carry as much money with them. She says they are trying to use technology and social media to help out with the donations.

“Encouraging people to be an on-line bell ringer. You can set up a kettle yourself and you can send an e-blast out, you can post it on your social media and you can help be a bell ringer in your pajamas, on your couch or in front of your fireplace,” Pontarelli explains. She says they’ve looked at many options to make it easier for people to chip in.

“Different locations have tried text to give at the red kettle, where you can text in your donation. Some locations tried having a credit card machine right at the kettle, but again you’re walking into as store and you really don’t want to fumble through to try to find your wallet and pull out your credit card,” Pontarelli says. “And then also with the cold weather you really have your hands bundled up with your head down and heading into the store, and that’s never going to change that. So, going to the on-line method I think is a good change for us.” Pontarelli says you can use the on-line system anywhere in the state.

“If you do a Google search for Salvation Army in your town, you should be able to find the Army that is closet to you,” Pontarelli says. “And also the same goes with the online red kettle. If you go to on-line red kettle dot o-r-g (www.redkettle.org), you should be able to find the red kettle nearest your location.” She says the red kettle campaign raises important funds for the organization. “During the Christmas campaign we raise about 40-percent of our annual operating budget, so it really helps set the pace for what we are going to be able to do throughout the entire year in the community.” according to Pontarelli. “It helps us pay people’s rent in June or provide meals in September for kids. So the money that we raise now is imperative to the help that we can provide our community year round.”

The Red Kettle Campaign runs through Christmas Eve.

(Radio Iowa)