The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports several recent arrests.

On Friday, September 14, three people were arrested.  At about 11:30 PM, 20-year-old Dori Ann Foster of Bellevue, NE was arrested for possession of Controlled Substance and possession Drug Paraphernalia.  Foster was held on $1,300 bond.  Also at about 11:30 PM, 20-year-old Amanda Kay Kircher of Bellevue, NE was arrested for possession of Controlled Substance and possession Drug Paraphernalia.  She was held on $1,300 bond.  At about 9 PM, 41-year-old Jeffery Paul Winget of Oakland was arrested for driving while revoked.  He was held on $5,000 bond.

On Saturday, September 15, 36-year-old Angela Hope Thurman of Pacific Junction was arrested at the Bluffs View Motel in Pacific Junction for OWI 1^st, possession of Controlled Substance and possession Drug Paraphernalia.  He was held on $6,000 bond.

On Sunday, September 16, 25-year-old Shawn Patrick Nosekabel Jr. was arrested or OWI 1st.  He was held on $1,000 bond.

On Monday, September 17, three people were arrested.  At about 1 PM, 20-year-old Cody Dean Johnson of Corning was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle and 3rd degree burglary.  He was held on $10,000 bond.  At about 12:10 PM, 22-year-old Patrick Neil Jack of Emerson was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle and 3rd degree burglary.  He was held on $10,000 bond.  At about 1 PM, 18-year-old Megan Elizabeth Jack was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle.  She was held on $5,000 bond.
On Tuesday, September 18 shortly after midnight, 20-year-old Derek Keith Fox of Glenwood was arrested for OWI 1st, possession of Controlled Substance, possession Drug Paraphernalia, and failure to maintain control.  He was held on $2,300 bond.

On Wednesday, September 19 at about 3 PM, 19-year-old Dustin Wayne Giffin of Pacific Junction was arrested for violation of his probation.  He was held on $25,000 bond.

On Thursday, September 20, two people were arrested.  At about 4 PM, 27-year-old Brenton Charles Gordon of Omaha was arrested for burglary and interference with official acts.  He was held on $5,300 bond.  At about 9 PM, 31-year-old Dawn Marie Utley of Sioux City was arrested for 5th degree theft.  Utley was held on $350 bond.

On Friday, September 21, two people were arrested.  At about 4:30 PM, 410-year-old Don Mathew Stipe was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.  He was held on $1,000 bond.  Also at about 4:30 PM, 32-year-old Jessica Jo Hogueison was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and disorderly conduct.  She was held on $600 bond.

BRANSON, Mo. (AP) – Emmy-winning TV host and “Moon River” crooner and Wall Lake, IA Iowa native Andy Williams has died at the age of 84.

Williams’ publicist, Paul Shefrin, said Wednesday that the silky-voiced singer died Tuesday night at his home in Branson, Mo., following a year-long battle with bladder cancer.

Williams said in November 2011 that he was diagnosed with bladder cancer but planned to continue performing at the namesake theater he built in Branson in 1992.

The clean-cut Iowa native began singing with his brothers as a child, and his easy style and mellow voice led President Ronald Reagan to call Williams “a national treasure.” Though his version of “Moon River” made him world famous, it was among his many hits, including “Butterfly” and “Can’t Get Used to Losing You.”

w/ Brett Johnson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

w/ Brett Johnson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – An 18-year-old Nebraskan has been given two years of probation after pleading guilty to vandalizing Sioux City’s Flight 232 crash memorial.

Felipe Sebastian, of South Sioux City, was convicted of criminal mischief. Judge Jeffrey Poulson deferred judgment, so if Sebastian successfully completes probation, the case will be cleared from his record.

Sebastian also was ordered to pay a $3,000 civil penalty, more than $1,500 in restitution and write an apology to the city of Sioux City.

Sebastian’s co-defendant, Scott Coleson, of Lehigh, Iowa, is scheduled for a plea hearing on Oct. 9.

Sebastian admitted damaging one of the pink quartzite boulders leading to the memorial on June 20. The memorial honors the 112 people who died in the July 1989 crash of United Airlines Flight 232 at Sioux Gateway Airport.

Some residents in Mills County are unhappy about a vote by the Mills County Zoning Board of Adjustments that allows a resident to extract one million cubic tons of dirt from his property.

The Daily Nonpareil reports the board voted 4-1 to allow Cory Leick to remove dirt from his farm near Glenwood.  Leick had asked the board for a special use permit that would allow him to extract dirt which would make part of his property open to farming.  The extraction would create an estimated 60,000-70,000 semi-truck loads of dirt over 1-3 years.

The Daily Nonpareil reports about 50 people attended the public meeting and voiced concerns about noise, the effect on property values, and increased traffic.  The contractor for the project will create a separate road to alleviate traffic and be responsible for the cleaning of roads in the construction area.

Iowa motorists can expect to see more deer darting across roadways in the coming weeks. Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Tom Litchfield says the early harvest this year has deer on the move. They tend to be especially active around sunrise and sunset near creeks and wooded areas.

“I always tell motorists to be especially vigilant as they’re nearing low spots in the landscape,” Litchfield said. The DNR has taken steps to reduce Iowa’s deer population over the last decade after a peak road kill total of 15,361 was recorded in 2004. Last year, the road kill total dropped to 10,626 deer.

“The last four years, the (road kill) rates compare well to the mid 1980s through the early 90s. There’s been quite a difference from what we had between 2002 and 2006,” Litchfield said. The potential for deer/vehicle collisions in Iowa could decline more in the years to come. Litchfield notes hunters killed just over 121,000 deer in Iowa in 2011.

“I expect this year our reported harvest should drop six-to-seven percent just due to the decline in the deer herd,” Litchfield said. Deer population goals set by the DNR have been reached in roughly two-thirds of Iowa’s counties, according to Litchfield. The chances for deer/vehicle collisions will rise a bit more in late October and early November as the “rut” or breeding season begins.

A teenage girl was injured in a one vehicle accident that occurred Monday afternoon near Shenandoah.

At about 5:30 PM, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and Shenandoah Rescue were dispatched to a scene of a one vehicle accident at the intersection of 170th St and 390th Ave in Fremont County near Shenandoah.  Upon arrival officials found a 1995 Chevy Pickup owned by Kevin Wilson but driven by a teenage girl in the ditch where it had struck a power poll.

The girl had possible injuries to her hand.  Two other teenage boys who were passengers in the pickup did not sustain injuries.  All the teens were released to their parents.

The Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Agency is offering a FEMA course called Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) on Saturday from 9 AM to 1 PM at the Fire Training Center in Council Bluffs at 3405 South 11^th St.  CERT was started in 2003 by the Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Agency.  Pottawattamie Emergency Management Office Specialist Eva Fisher says they have a class every 1-2 years that teach disaster preparedness for individuals.  She says they keep a database with volunteers and train 15-20 people each 20 hour class.  Last year they helped in the EOC with phones because of the flood.

Iowa Farm Service Agency State Executive Director John R. Whitaker announced that preparations are being made to issue Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Direct and Counter Cyclical Program (DCP) payments.   The annual rental payments for CRP and the direct payments for DCP, are generally made in October and will begin after FSA receives the authorization to issue payments.

“Payments are considered timely when they are issued within 30 days of the authorized date,” said Whitaker. “Many people are not aware of the amount of work that goes into ensuring the payment process goes smoothly.  Our offices know in years such as this, these funds support the agricultural economy and responsible stewardship of America’s production acreage.”

Many variables will go into this year’s payment process.  “Producers who were part of the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) review may need to file these and others forms before payments can be issued,” added Whitaker.   While the AGI review is one example of how payments are affected, producers who signed up for emergency haying and grazing will see their annual payment reduced by the acreage that was hayed or grazed, if this was not prepaid.

Whitaker added that, producers who are affected by office consolidations should not see payments delayed due to this reason alone. “Our agency has taken steps to ensure that these payments will be generated at the same time that the rest of the state’s payments are issued.”

Iowa producers hold over 106,000 CRP contracts and approximately 154,000 DCP contacts in the state.

For more information on CRP, DCP, or other programs administered by FSA, contact your local FSA office or visit FSA’s Website at www.fsa.usda.gov/ia

–FSA Press Release