The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Thursday, approved a Resolution for voluntary annexation by the City of Atlantic, of property located just past the east City Limits. Cass County Attorney David Wiederstein said the property located at 56988 635th Street, is owned by a screen-printing company (A-Plus Designs/Outfitters Plus Retail). A trust for the owners had requested on their behalf, that the land be annexed.

The Supervisors approved the request after Auditor/Board Secretary Dale Sunderman read a Resolution pertaining to the matter. The Board also approved a Resolution of Support for the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Sheriff’s officials in Union County say a man from Ringgold County was arrested Wednesday afternoon on sex abuse charges. 18-year old Quintin Tyler Chumbley, of Mt Ayr, was arrested at the Ringgold Union County line, on a Union County warrant for two counts of sexual abuse in the 3rd degree. Chumbley was being held in the Union County Jail on $10,000 bond.

(9-a.m. news)

Police in Creston say a woman from Kent was arrested Wednesday evening at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. 38-year old Crystal Huddleson was taken into custody on a Union County warrant for Violation of Probation, on an original “Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drug” charge. Huddleson was being held without bond, in the Ringgold County Jail.

A bell-ringing ceremony on the state capitol grounds this morning (Thursday) is an annual ritual with decades of history behind it. The Peace Bell that was a gift to Iowa from our sister state in Japan will be rung to bid farewell to the old year and to ring in 2016. Iowa State Capitol tour guide Steve Person says the huge metal bell is a symbol of Iowa’s longstanding relationship with our neighbors in the East.

“After typhoons in 1959 severely damaged crops, homes and farmlands of the Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan, citizens of Iowa generously sent breeding hogs and feed corn to aid that district,” Person says. “This action began a friendship culminating in a sister state relationship, the first of its kind between the United States and Japan.” The donations from Iowa helped that region of Japan to survive the aftermath of the natural disaster and a few years later, they offered thanks.

“As a sign of their appreciation in 1962, the citizens of Yamanashi presented this 2,000 temple bell of peace and friendship as well as the structure that houses it,” Person says. The bell is located just south of the Capitol and west of the Judicial Building in Des Moines. While the ceremony is at 9 A-M Iowa time, that’s midnight in Japan, where bells will also be tolling at the same moment to welcome the new year.

(Radio Iowa)