Discarded smoking materials are believed to have been the cause of a fire in Atlantic Tuesday afternoon that caused extensive damage to a home on Front Street. Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees said the call from the residence owned by Bev Carroll and Shane Davis, at 511 Front Street, came in at around 3:30-p.m.

The Chief says Shane received a call from his children who were in the home along with a young friend, about smoke coming from a bedroom closet. The children, ages 12, eight and five, attempted to fight the fire but couldn’t. They escaped the home safely. Davis arrived at the house and attempted to gain access to the home, but couldn’t. McNees said the man eventually broke out a window and tried to use a garden hose to reach the flames.

Atlantic Firefighters arrived and were able to get the fire knocked down and the house ventilated within about 30-to 45-minutes. McNees said he doesn’t know if the kids had been smoking in the house, and they denied doing so, but there was evidence of discarded smoking materials in the closet.

The bedroom and closet sustained extensive fire damage, while the rest of the residence had extensive smoke damage. No injuries were reported, in association with the fire or the attempts to fight it.

w/ Ric Hanson

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The ongoing drought – combined with the global economic turmoil – is hurting business in nine Midwest and Plains states and increasing worries about the possibility of another recession.  A report released today (Wednesday) says July’s Mid-America Business Conditions Index plunged below growth neutral for the first time since 2008. The index hit 48.7, compared with 57.2 in June. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the drought will hurt farm income and the strengthening dollar hurts exports.
 
The survey of business leaders and supply managers uses a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Any score above 50 suggests growth while a score below 50 suggests decline for that factor. The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Police in Red Oak report an Elliott teen has been arrested on forgery and possession of stolen property charges, following an investigation into stolen checks. 17-year-old Cheryl Ann Hallcock was taken into custody Tuesday on  two felony counts of Forgery, and two simple misdemeanor charges of Possession of Stolen Property. The teen was arrested in connection with an investigation to a report by a male victim of the crime that some of his checks had been taken and used without his consent. Hallcock was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs. Officials believe others were involved in the crime, and additional arrests are expected, as their investigation continues.

Officials say the shift away from round-the-clock institutional care for people with disabilities has led to layoffs at the largest employer in the Dallas County town of Woodward. Twenty-seven jobs at the Woodward Resource Center were eliminated Tuesday. Roger Munns, a spokesman for the state agency that manages the facility, says that adjusts staffing levels to the reduced number of disabled residents.”Both of our facilities, at Woodward and Glenwood, have worked very hard, vigorously, to try to find community or home-based placements for people with disabilities and we’ve been very successful, averaging about a dozen new placements from both places,” Munns says. “As a result of this, budgets and staff have been reduced.”

In the past five years, there’s been a 25 percent reduction in the number of full-time residents in the Woodward facility. “There are fewer people to care for,” Munns says, “and, obviously, you need fewer staff.” On Monday, nearly 700 people were employed to care for 181 disabled residents. A total of 27 staff positions were eliminated Tuesday, but some union workers who got layoff notices will be able to take the position of an employee in a similar job who has less seniority. As the number of Woodward residents declined in recent years, layoffs had been avoided through staff turnover.

“Normal attrition — people leaving for other positions — but there wasn’t very much turnover at Woodward,” Munns says. “There were very few people who left for the incentive for early retirement a couple of years ago. As a result, there are more people (on staff) than the budget can support.” The Glenwood Resource Center in western Iowa is the permanent home for 263 disabled residents. Managers of that facility say they’ll be able to manage reduced budgets without layoffs this year.

(Radio Iowa)

The Atlantic City Council will act Wednesday evening on a Resolution awarding a bid for the reconstruction of the Sunnyside Tennis Courts. The move will follow a public hearing on the plans and specification for the project, and approval of those matters. Bids for the project were due in to the City Clerk’s Office by the close of business on Tuesday.

Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring has been working on the project, and is set to present the plans and specs as prepared by Snyder and Associates Engineers. The plans and specs reflect the design requirements of the U-S Tennis Association, so that the project can receive a $50,000 grant. The project is expected to cost about $241,000. City Administrator Doug Harris has said the project will be paid for with $88,000 in 2012 Bond proceeds, $65,000 in grants from the USDA and Iowa Western Community College, along with two, separate payments of $44,000 each from the Atlantic Community School District.

In other business, the Council will hold the first reading of an Ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances, by adding a new chapter entitled “Illegal Dumping.” Cass County Landfill Director Wendy Wittrock has asked the county and cities to adopt the ordinance, so there could be consistent rules and enforcement, county-wide. The Council will also hold the first reading of an Ordinance amending the City Code, by adopting a section entitled “Private Wells,” as recommended by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the City’s consulting engineers. The ordinance would prohibit private water wells (except closed-loop systems), within 1,000-feet of “High risk sites.” It would still permit the use of closed-loop geothermal and heat pump wells, however, because those systems prevent human exposure to the water.

And, the Council will act on appointments to various Boards and Commissions, as suggested by Mayor Dave Jones. They include: Mary Ward and Katrina Sonntag, to the Board of Adjustment; James Behrens, to the Planning & Zoning Commission; Rollie Landsness to the Community Promotion Commission; Michelle Saluk and Steve Teague, to the Cable TV Commission; and, Linn Headlee, Sid Winchell, and Carolyn Hanson, to the Library Board.

The Atlantic City Council meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., Wednesday.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on Saturday of 29-year old David Allan Minard, of Griswold. Sheriff’s officials said late Tuesday afternoon that Minard was taken into custody on a Mills County warrant for Burglary 3^rd Degree and Theft 2^nd Degree. The man was taken to the Cass County Jail, where he was awaiting transport to Mills County.

On Monday, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office charged Minard with Burglary 3^rd Degree in conjunction with an investigation into a reported break-in at the concession stand at the Griswold High School that occurred on July 25th. Three juveniles also involved were cited into juvenile court for charges of Burglary 3^rd Degree, Criminal Mischief 4^th Degree, Theft 5^th Degree, and Minor in Possession of Alcohol.

Minard was also charged with three counts of Providing Alcohol to Minors. He remained in the Cass County Jail Tuesday on $6000 bond for Cass County, and $10,000 bond for Mills County.

A Pottawattamie County teenager was injured during a single-vehicle rollover accident Tuesday afternoon, about six-miles south of Atlantic and one-half mile east on Oxford Road (G-43), in Cass County. The Iowa State Patrol says 17-year old Jacqueline Wright, of Oakland, suffered from head and other, unknown injuries. She was flown by LifeNet Helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha following the crash, which occurred at around 3:18-p.m.

The patrol says Wright was traveling west on Oxford Road when the 2005 VW Jetta she was driving went out of control. The teen overcorrected, sending the vehicle across the center line and into the south ditch before it rolled several times and came to rest in a mowed wheat field on the south side of the road. Wright was ejected from the VW during the crash. Sheriff Darby McLaren said the teen was not wearing a seat belt.

After the car came to rest on its wheels, it burst into flames. The first persons on the scene prior to rescuers, pulled Wright away from the vehicle, because the fire was spreading to the surrounding field. The accident remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol.

LifeNet lands at the accident scene

One person was seriously injured during a tractor rollover accident this (Tuesday) morning, in Page County. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says they received a 9-1-1 call about the accident at around 9:30-a.m.  Emergency personnel responded to the scene in the 3200 block of 250^th street, southeast of Clarinda. During an investigation, it was determined that 18-year old Nathan Keith Harvey, of Yorktown, was operating an International 856 wide front tractor with loader, when he attempted to drive the tractor on a bank over a tube in the road ditch from the field side.

The tractor, which did not have a cab or rollover protection, rolled once before coming to rest right side up in the bottom of the ditch, among the bank rip rap.  Harvey was transported to Clarinda Regional Health Center where he was being treated for his injuries.