Officials with the Cass County Memorial Hospital Foundation say they are offering $10,000 in scholarships to students who are enrolled and have been accepted into a nursing or medical doctor training program.  The scholarships were established by a bequest from Louis and Elsie Hansen.  John Molgaard, CCMH Foundation board member, says “The Hansens believed strongly in the importance of education, and the need for well-trained healthcare professionals,” explained .  We are very proud to provide this scholarship in their memory.”

The Louis and Elsie Hansen Memorial Scholarship was established to benefit Cass County high school graduates who are enrolled in a college of nursing or medicine, leading to an LPN, RN or MD degree.  Two $5000 awards will be presented.

Consideration will be given to applicants’ scholarship, citizenship and leadership abilities.  Applications are available at area high school guidance offices and the Foundation office at Cass County Memorial Hospital.  Applications are also available to download through a link on the hospital website, www.casshealth.org.

2013 recipients of the Elsie and Louie Hansen Scholarship were Ben Kopp of Anita who is attending the University of Iowa College of Medicine and Alisha Ponsar who is attending Creighton University for a Registered Nurse with Bachelor of Science degree.

Applications for the scholarship are due April 1, 2014.  For further information, contact Dawn Marnin, CCMH Foundation Director, at 712-243-7409 or mardd@casshealth.org.

The Harlan Community School District’s Board of Education has approved the final plans for the Merrill Field Project. In a meeting held Monday, the board made their comments and gathered the final information from Superintendent Justin Wagner before making the motion. Wagner said there are five pieces to take away with the project. “There are really five major parts of this: field turf, resurfacing of the track, the bleachers, lighting and the entrance. If you look at that the cyclone logo will be in the middle, new bleachers on the visitor side and the home side.”

Wagner told the board the figures for bleachers came in slightly lower then originally thought so the plans now include all new bleachers including the elementary bleachers on the north end which was not in the previous plans. The district will be receiving a donation from FMCTC to provide all the boring and trenching for the electrical contractor too which is said to be a huge savings in the project.

With the board’s approval, the next step is  FEH Associates to solicit bids for the project. The Harlan School Board also set the date of February 10^th at 4:30-pm for a public hearing on the gym air conditioning system for the high school gymnasium.

Board president Bruce Goeser said the system has been discussed for nearly 7 years and is on its last legs. Wagner said the money is there and the energy audit recently done showed the school could save over $20,000 on energy savings with a new system. He said a new system will cost approximately $370,000 and the school district has set $384,000 aside for the project. Once the public hearing is held and bids are approved, the school expects the system to be installed after graduation with a completion date of August 1^st.

The board also discussed at length about the drugs and alcohol issue at the school district. In light of recent news, the Harlan Community School District is discussing ways to make a tougher stand on drugs and alcohol use in the district. One topic discussed was the potential to perform random drug testing in the junior high and high school. High School Principal John Connell said it would certainly help. “It is not a thing where we are looking to catch people especially if the first positive is confidential and maybe it let’s the kids get counseling. But the other thing it does is give the kids a chance to say no. If they know they could be tested and they are in that situation, it is easier for them to say no because I could be tested. Where someone is not in extra curricular activities or any other activities, they are not going to get tested and they don’t have a reason to say no.”

The State of Iowa does not allow drug testing on high school students but Wagner said there are some gray areas. No motion was made by the school district and the topic will be discussed further.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

w/ Ric Hanson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (11.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office has released additional details about a high-speed chase that began Monday night in Griswold and ended early this (Tuesday) morning, in Page County. As we reported earlier today (Tuesday) a Cass County deputy attempted a traffic stop on a 2002 Chevy pickup on 550th Street in Griswold. A pursuit began when the driver of the vehicle refused to stop. The chase continued through Montgomery County into Page County where the vehicle wrecked and two subjects were apprehended at around 1:24-a.m.  The suspects were identified as 21-year old Johnathan Tyler McAlpin, of Red Oak, and 22-year old Alexandra Marie Sindt, of Griswold. The pair were found after a nearly 2-hour search. The State Patrol said they were suffering from hypothermia and were transported to a hospital for treatment before being taken to the Page County Jail.

Authorities in Montgomery County have charged McAlpin, who was driving the pickup, with felony Criminal Mischief 2nd Degree and Assault with a Deadly Weapon upon a Peace Officer, as the result of the alleged ramming of a police cruiser with the pursued vehicle.

Two cruisers were also rammed in Page County. Page County is charging McAlpin with several felonies, including two counts of Assault with Intent to Cause Serious Injury, Eluding, Criminal Mischief 1st Degree, Criminal Mischief 2nd Degree, and a serious misdemeanor charge of OWI 1st Offense. Sindt, who was a passenger in the vehicle,  is charged in Page County with Interference with Official Acts (Simple Misdemeanor). Traffic violations are forthcoming in Cass County in connection with the incident.

With KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The 2014 Iowa political calendar effectively begins tonight (Tuesday) at the precinct caucuses for both parties. These organizing meetings kick off a series of party events, culminating with the state conventions in June. They tend to mostly attract loyalists in non-presidential election years.

The caucuses begin a process of building a volunteer base. That party faithful sets the tone for the elections in 2014 and starts organizing in advance of the 2016 presidential election in the early-voting state of Iowa.

Attendance is expected to be much lower than in presidential years. Republicans had more than 120,000 attend the 2012 caucuses, when there was an open primary. More than 200,000 Democrats participated in the 2008 caucuses, the last time there was an open Democratic presidential primary.

A traffic stop that began at around 9:30-p.m. Monday in Griswold ended in Page County nearly 4-hours later following a high-speed chase and search. According to the State Patrol Communications Center near Lewis, the incident began when a Cass County deputy attempted to stop a Chevy pickup in Griswold. The vehicle and two persons inside took off and led authorities on a chase into Mongtomery County and the City’s of Elliott and Clarinda before ending near Clarinda, in Page County. The suspects bailed out of their disabled vehicle and tried to hide from authorities, who apprehended them at around 1:24-a.m. in a cornfield west of Clarinda.

Numerous law enforcement vehicles were damaged during the chase when the suspects’ pickup “rammed” or came into contact with those vehicles. Other patrol vehicles sustained blown tires during the chase. At times, speeds during the chase were in excess of 100-miles per hour. Cass County Deputies Ben Bartholomew, Josh McLaren and Kyle Quist were all involved in the pursuit.

The suspects were brought to the Clarinda Regional Medical Center for treatment of hypothermia before being transported to the jail. Their names and additional details are currently not available. No law enforcement officers were injured during the pursuit, but their lives were in danger many times, according to law enforcement sources.

Police in Red Oak arrested a Council Bluffs man Monday afternoon. 19-year old Eric Michael Chapin was taken into custody a little after 2-p.m., on an active Montgomery County warrant for a Probation Violation. Chapin was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha Police have identified one of the two men killed in Monday’s explosion and fire at an animal feed processing plant. Police said 53-year-old Keith Everett was the victim rescuers recovered Monday evening. The other victim’s body remains inside the unstable plant. Rescuers plan to renew their efforts to reach that victim this (Tuesday) morning.

Besides the two people who were killed, 10 other workers at the International Nutrition plant were hospitalized. Interim Omaha Fire Chief Bernie Kanger says it could be weeks before investigators are able to determine what caused the industrial accident.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Iowa man has been killed and an Iowa woman has been injured in an accident along Interstate 80 in eastern Omaha. Omaha police say the accident occurred a little after 6 a.m. Monday where I-80 merges with Interstate 480 and U.S. Highway 75.

Police say 28-year-old Brian Pete, of Des Moines, Iowa, had stopped and parked his car on the painted median of I-80. Police say It was hit by a westbound sport utility vehicle driven by 26-year-old Sara Barker, of Council Bluffs.

Pete was pronounced dead at the scene. Barker was taken to an Omaha hospital. The accident is being investigated.