The lead character in the new movie “The Monuments Men” is based on a Winterset native who went to the University of Iowa. U-I president, Sally Mason, told the Board of Regents Thursday that George Stout got his beginning in the art world in Iowa City. “Stout served in World War One in a military hospital and then he attended the University of Iowa. So, we are proud obviously that he is an alum of the University of Iowa,” Mason says. “While he was at the University of Iowa he studied drawing — which during his time at Iowa was a required course — and he fell in love with art.”

Mason says Stout traveled around Europe visiting art museums after he graduated, and then he went on to Harvard for his graduate studies. It was at the Harvard Art Museum where Mason says Stout developed the modern science of art conservation. “He was really the first person that believed that rather than having artists repaint great masterpieces when they needed restoration, that there were ways that you could conserve art,” according to Mason. Mason says many of the techniques that Stout developed are still in practice today. Stout interrupted his career in the art world and took the unusual step of re-enlisting in the military in World War Two at the age of 45.

“Because he wanted to save world culture from being destroyed by the Nazis. And he was absolutely convinced that that was what was happening,” Mason says. “He led a group of art experts and museum professionals that were popularly know as monuments men.” Mason says the movie is based on a book about Stout and the work his team did during the war. “His Army team saved over 40 tons of artwork, including Davinci’s Mona Lisa and the Bayeux Tapestry. And they also worked to save priceless manuscripts and monuments — including a lot of Europe’s great churches and cathedrals,” Mason says.

When Japan surrendered, Stout went there and oversaw restoration projects. The movie is based on the 2009 book “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.” George Clooney plays Stout in the movie. Stout went on to become the director of the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts and then the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. He died at the age of 80 in 1978.

(Radio Iowa)

Over six hundred youth including students from Atlantic, will be competing in the archery competition of the 2014 Winter Iowa Games powered by the Iowa Food & Family Project. Partnering with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the event will take place Saturday, Feb. 8th, at Johnston High School. Archers will begin their first flight at 9:00 a.m. and continue shooting throughout the day. Students will compete both on the individual and team level. Teams from Atlantic, Central Decatur, Mount Ayr, Spencer and central Iowa will be participating.

The National Archery in the Schools Program in Iowa is coordinated through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Currently there are nearly 200 Iowa schools participating in the program. The Iowa Games added the archery competition to the docket of sports in 2011 and the event continues to grow. In 2011, the event was held in Central City and had 67 participants. This year with a total of 617 archers from 21 schools, the event will break the previous record set in 2013 by more than 150 participants.

Among the schools competing at the event is the Atlantic High School/Middle School, Diagonal, Fremont Elementary, and Mount Ayr Community School.  The 2014 Games will look to set a new participation record with over 4,300 athletes to compete in the annual winter sports festival. The 2014 Games kicked off in late January and will continue through February. Over the course of four weekends, the Winter Iowa Games will hold competitions for 23 sports in 15 different communities.

Alliant Energy is warning its customers in Iowa about a new scam. Utility spokesman Justin Foss says a couple of customers in Mason City say they’ve been approached by someone claiming to be with Alliant and saying they had to pay their bill on the spot.  Somebody came to the door and demanded they be paid in cash or that the person go buy a pre-paid debit card and hand that over right away or their electricity would be disconnected. Foss says they do -not- go door-to-door demanding payment. Foss says if you get someone at your door or on the phone demanding immediate payment and it sounds suspicious, it’s likely bogus.

If there’s any time that something doesn’t seem right, just hang up or shut the door and call Alliant. They’ll be able to tell you if the request is legitimate. Foss says if you’ve been conned by a scam like this or you’ve been approached by a con artist, contact law enforcement. He says always call your local police department right away. He says one person reporting it might help police realize if it’s a trend that someone is trying to pull the scam in multiple neighborhoods or communities. Foss says the two Mason City clients who were approached this week didn’t fall for the scam and contacted Alliant to let them know what was taking place.

(Radio Iowa)

A light pole owned by the State of Iowa sustained $1,000 damage, but no one was injured, when a motorgrader grazed it Thursday morning. The Page County Sheriff’s Office says the 2011 Caterpillar road grader operated by 40-year old Troy Sands, of New Market, was clearing snow from the intersection of Highway 71 and 210th Street just east of Clarinda at around 11:50-a.m., Thursday, when the machine hit the pole, causing it to topple over. The grader was not damaged. No citations were issued.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest today (Friday), of a Glenwood man. 41-year old Donald Dale Elliott was taken into custody on a charge of OWI/2nd offense, following a traffic stop at around 12:35-a.m.  His bond was set at $2,000.

Late this morning (Friday) a legislative panel will review Iowa D-O-T rules that would restrict the use of traffic enforcement cameras on state-maintained highways. The rules could spell the end for traffic cameras on Interstate 380 in Cedar Rapids, on Interstate 29 in Sioux City and Interstate 235 in Des Moines if local officials cannot convince the D-O-T the cameras improve safety. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal is from Council Bluffs, where traffic enforcement cameras are installed along a busy city street.

“In my community traffic accidents in the past decade because of automated traffic enforcement have gone from 3800 to 700. They’re now back up maybe to 1100, but that’s still a two-thirds reduction in the number of crashes in Council Bluffs,” Gronstal says. Gronstal is hoping the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee votes later today (Friday) to reject the D-O-T’s proposal.

“I think the Department of Transportation has done an over-reach in terms of their rules,” Gronstal says. “I think they go too far.” Gronstal argues legislators should make this decision, although he says in the past few years advocated who wanted to limit the fines from traffic enforcement cameras clashed with those seeking an out-right ban on the cameras. Senate President Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, serves on the committee that will review the D-O-T rules. She favors “home rule” rather than the D-O-T’s approach to traffic cameras.

“I understand the need to have some kind of consistency from county-to-county and city-to-city, but it still is a decision up to cities to decide whether or not they believe that is a public safety issue,” Jochum says. D-O-T officials are scheduled to go before the Legislature’s Rules Review Committee at 11: 15 this morning (Friday) to brief the panel on the rules. Legislators will then vote to either approve the rules or they could vote to delay them. That would give the legislature time to pass a bill that would overrule the D-O-T’s approach.

(Radio Iowa)

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A Pottawattamie County man has reached a deal with prosecutors that could result in him being sentenced to 25-years in prison for the death of his wife. The Omaha World-Herald reports 55-year old Darwin Cox, of Council Bluffs, plead guilty Thursday in district court, to charges of voluntary manslaughter, intimidation with a dangerous weapon with intent, and going armed with intent. His case had been set to go to trial Feb. 18th.

Darwin Cox was initially charged with first-degree murder following an investigation into the Oct. 15, 2013 shooting of his wife, Millisa, as the woman ran out of their home at 3441 Avenue B. The shooting occurred after an argument that began the night before. Authorities said Darwin Cox fired a handgun from inside the home through a window, striking his wife. He attempted suicide shortly thereafter, shooting himself in the head, and spent time in the hospital before being transferred to the Pottawattamie County Jail.

The first two charges against him each carry a 10-year maximum sentence. The third charge carries a five-year sentence. The intimidation charge includes a weapons enhancement that requires Cox to serve at least five years of the sentence.The prison sentences will be served consecutively as part of the plea deal. As part of the plea agreement, Darwin Cox was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the family.