The price you pay for your kids to participate in some of the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Summer Recreation Programs will be going up, and be prepared for some changes in how some of the programs operate. Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring said at Monday night’s Board meeting, one of the changes affects the Playground Program. He says instead of two sites, there will be just one site: Washington Elementary School. The hours will be from 9:30-until 11:30-a.m., instead of from 1-3pm. Herring says the idea is to incorporate the YMCA lunch program into the Playground Program.

Herring says each day’s activities will be published as the time frame grows closer, but they will involve crafts and exercise. Each session would conclude with lunch at the YMCA. The students will be escorted from the Washington School to the YMCA, where their parents can pick them up after lunch. Herring recommended, and the Park and Rec Board Monday approved, charging parents a fee to enroll their kids in the Playground Program. He says the fee would amount to $1 per day of the 20-session program, which runs from May 29th to June 29th, or $20 altogether. The Board and Herring agreed that no student will be turned down for the program because of an inability to pay. Service clubs may be asked to help defray the costs.

Roger Herring says also, the swimming program would be held once a week, on Tuesday’s, at the Sunnyside swimming pool. No lunch will be served.    The Swim Team, which is held May 29th through July 15th, will practice daily at noon at the Sunnyside Pool, with practice during inclement weather, inside, at the Nishna Valley YMCA. Participants purchase their own team swimsuits, t-shirts and goggles. The price for the t-shirts, according to Herring, will be going up just a bit. He recommended, and the board approved, an increase of $5 in the fee to participate on the swim team, which will now cost $25.

Board Chair Stuart Dusenberry pointed out that’s still much lower than it was years ago, when the Parks Department was still paying to bus students to the various swim meets. Since the policy was changed, parents have been handling that responsibility. The increase in fee also helps to cover the cost of paying a Swim Team Coach, Assistant Coach and Manager, which had previously been a volunteer position. Herring said there were 60 participants in the program last year. He says if there are a similar number this year, it will be a “break even” proposition for the Parks and Rec Department cost-wise.

The adult softball fee is also expected to be “restructured,” but the details have not yet been worked out.

A man wanted in Shelby County for revocation of his probation, held authorities in Pottawattamie County at bay for more than 4-hours, Friday. Sgt. Dwayne Riche, with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department, told KJAN News 34-year old Aaron David Hockin, of rural Avoca, barricaded himself in a home at 30575 Highway 59,about four-miles north of Avoca, at around 5-p.m., Friday, after deputies attempted to serve the warrant. Riche said the deputies backed up and maintained a perimeter, while issuing a call to the Pott County Emergency Response Team (ERT). The team and a command vehicle arrived on the scene, along with a Council Bluffs Police Department Crisis Negotiator. The father of Aaron Hockin arrived on the scene as well.

Sgt. Riche says during the next couple of hours, auxiliary lighting was set-up to illuminate the residence and any potential routes of escape Hockin might have. In addition, the propane and electricity service to the home was shut-off.  A pole camera was deployed by four-members of ERT and Council Bluffs Police. As they were advancing toward the residence, the negotiator advised he’d made contact with Hockin, and was attempting to get him to surrender. The negotiator was able to convince Hockin to leave the home, and a within a few minutes, he surrendered without incident in an attached garage, and was taken into custody. The scene was secured by about 9:30-p.m.

Hockin, who never displayed a weapon during the incident, was transported to the Shelby County Jail, where he was being held on $50,000 bond.

w/ Ric Hanson

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w/ Ric Hanson

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An Atlantic Eagle Scout has embarked on a scouting project to outfit the Schildberg Quarry Recreational Area with park benches. The project is being undertaken by Casey Ihnen, who presented a pine wood prototype of the bench before the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Board during their meeting Monday evening.

Atlantic Eagle Scout Casey Ihnen w/a prototype park bench

Ihnen plans to place at least a dozen benches around both lakes, at locations to be determined, but several are expected to be placed along the walking trail.  The handmade wooden benches will be sunk into pea gravel so they can’t be easily be pulled out. They’ll cost $120 each, or $1,200 altogether. Ihnen will be looking for local sponsors for the benches. He’s already received donations from local businesses, groups and individuals. For more information, you can contact Roger Herring at the Parks and Rec Department in Atlantic.

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) – Residents in Illinois and three other states have reported feeling a magnitude 4.0 earthquake that was centered in southeast Missouri.  WSIU Radio in Carbondale reports that the ground shook just before 4 a.m. Tuesday. The quake was centered about 5 miles from East Prairie, Mo. That’s about 16 miles from Cairo, Ill., close to where Interstates 55 and 57 converge.  The U.S. Geological Survey says residents in Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky have reported feeling the quake. 
     There are no reports of significant damage.

Another federal agency is predicting a lesser chance of flooding this spring in the Missouri River valley. A forecast from the National Weather Service last week said the odds of flooding were average-to-below-average. Now, the U-S Army Corps of Engineers says the flood outlook in the river basin is low-to-very-low. Jody Farhat, director of the Corps’ Water Control Center in Omaha, says water storage is right on the expected mark. “Total water currently in storage is 56.4-million acre feet, which is 0.4-million acre feet below the base of the annual flood control pool,” Farhat says. “This is a slight increase from the beginning of the month, primarily due to the warm temperatures that have freed up some of the water that was stored in river ice. In a typical winter, we would see this return flow coming in March, so we’re simply getting it a little early this year.” Farhat says there is not much snow on the ground in the region.

“Currently, there’s very little plains snowpack in the Missouri River basin,” Farhat says. “Most locations are reporting less than an inch of water equivalent and the heaviest amounts are all downstream of the main stem system,” which is about half of what they’d normally have at this time. Farhat says they have moved out all the water that was left over from last year’s record flooding on the waterway. “All of our 2011 floodwater has been evacuated from the system and as of today, we have 400-thousand acre feet of additional flood control storage available,” Farhat says. “Both the plains and mountain snowpack are below average and are significantly lower than last year at this time.” Farhat says despite the good numbers, conditions can change quickly and localized flooding could still occur almost anywhere in the basin. She says there has been high water in some part of the basin in each of the last 25 years.

(by Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say a Red Oak man was arrested Monday night, on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd Offense. Troy W. Schneckloth was taken into custody at his residence, following an investigation into a reported domestic disturbance. Officials say there were no reported victims during the incident. Schneckloth was arrested without incident, and was held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond.

Three men were arrested over the weekend, in Atlantic….one of them twice. According to the Atlantic Police Department, 52-year old Brian Boken, of Lewis, was arrested Sunday on a charge of Serious Assault. That same day, 25-year old David Tyler Andersen, of Atlantic, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. Andersen was also arrested Saturday on the same charge, in addition to a Possession of a Controlled Substance charge. 

On Saturday, 37-year old Gregory Storjohann, of Walnut, was arrested for Driving While Barred. All three men were booked into the Cass County Jail

An Audubon man was arrested late Monday morning for Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated. The Audubon County Sheriff’s Department says 64-year old James Mason Edwards faces a charge of OWI/2nd offense, following an incident in the 1800 block of Jay Avenue. He was taken into custody at around 11-a.m. Monday, and brought to the Audubon Jail. Edwards later posted a $2,000 cash bond, and was released.