HOLY CROSS, Iowa (AP) — Bob Hayes picked up the phone Dec. 21 and gave the usual greeting. “Holy Cross Locker, Bob speaking,” he said. A few seconds pass. Suddenly, Hayes chimes in again. “All right, 30 packages, that’s 60 pounds, all smoked, got it.” He jotted down the order on a piece of paper and pinned it to a wall already smothered with similarly sized notes. Thirty packages. Sixty pounds. It was a larger-than-usual order for the Holy Cross Locker. But practically every order for the past few weeks has been of a similar size. “People are in panic mode,” Hayes told the Telegraph Herald . “We got a guy coming up from Minnesota who ordered 100 pounds.”

Those massive orders started coming in November, shortly after Hayes announced that after 72 years in business, the Holy Cross Locker will permanently close Dec. 29. Founded in 1946 by Vic Brecht and Louie Hayes, who was Bob’s father, Holy Cross Locker has been one of the cornerstone meat processors in the tri-state area for generations. Much of the business remains the same as it did more than 70 years ago. A chipped wood countertop sits at the entrance. Ink-stained meat-labeling stamps dangle from the wall. Family photos hang on the massive freezer door. Hayes can’t remember when he started working at the locker with his father. He’s pretty sure by middle school he was slicing up cuts. But what he is certain of is that the locker has been a second home for his entire life.

Now, at 67 years old, he’s hanging up the smock. It’s not that he is tired of meat processing, he said. It’s just time to move on. The locker’s closing will hit meat enthusiasts throughout the tri-state area and beyond. Holy Cross Locker is known for producing some of the finest smoked sausage, with many farmers claiming it has no equal. While he enjoys working with meat, Hayes said he mostly is going to miss the people, whether it be his customers or his longtime employees who he now considers family. Still, he’s looking forward to his retirement. All that stands in the way now is a few thousand pounds of meat.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have charged a Des Moines man with murder in the deaths of his mother and uncle. Detectives on Friday night charged 30-year-old Joshua Lee Adams with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother, 49-year-old Tracy Linn Adams, and his uncle, 54-year-old Gaylord George Jolly Jr. Police say both of the victims died of “sharp-force injuries.” Adams was charged hours after officers were called to a home in northeast Des Moines to check a report of an assault. They found the bodies inside. Both of the victims were residents of Des Moines.

(Radio Iowa) — A volunteer firefighter from northwest Iowa was the first person on the scene after a small plane crashed in a Sioux Falls, South Dakota neighborhood Thursday. Amy Niewohner, of Lawton, was visiting relatives two houses away when the small plane hit the ground and burst into flames. “It was like very movie show plane crash you’ve ever seen — it was the big whir of the engine and a large crash — it shook the entire house. My first instinct was a motorcycle or car had crashed and blown up. So we rushed to the door, and as we were peering out the door we could see a plume of smoke coming out of the house,” Niewohner says.

Her firefighter instincts kicked in and she went to the scene of the crash. “There is debris everywhere, junks of flaming debris, parts of it were up in a tree on fire,” Niewohner says. “I ran up to the back fence to see if there was anybody out, if anything could be done, but there were too many flames. Immediately, everything was engulfed.” Niewohner was worried the people in nearby homes might be injured. She says she went and pounded on the door of the house that was hit and a neighbor came up and said they were not home. There was no one in the other house either.

Niewohner says it is something she will never forget. “It was one of the most surreal things I have ever experienced. I mean that’s one thing you hope you never witness,” according to Niewohner. “We were so, so fortunate, as were all the other neighboring families… somebody was watching over that entire neighborhood.” Niewohner says she thought of the pilot and passenger who died in the crash. Vaughn and JoAnn Meyer were killed in the crash.

Red Oak Police, early this (Saturday) morning, arrested a man for Public Intoxication. Authorities say 24-year old Richard Charles Golden, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 400 block of E. Grimes Street, at around 12:50-a.m. He was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.

Police in Red Oak say a man arrested Thursday night for Public Intoxication, was arrested Friday night, on a charge of Simple Assault. 45-year old James Reed Mitroff, II was arrested at around 8:50-p.m in the 100 block of W. Reed Street, on the simple misdemeanor charge. Mitroff was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 cash bond.

Police in Council Bluffs say three teens were taken into custody late Friday night following the armed robbery of a convenience store. Authorities say officers were called to the White Oak Station located at 154 Bennett Avenue, just after 10-p.m., where three male subjects wearing masks entered the business and one brandished a handgun. They soon left the store with an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes.

Officers quickly arrived on location and set up a perimeter. A police service dog was able to track the path of the suspects. Officers soon located all three suspects, the loaded handgun, and the stolen property. No shots were fired and no one was injured. The three suspects were juvenile males. Two were 16-years old, the third was 15. Their names were withheld by Police.

The Council Bluffs Police Department was assisted during the incident by the Pottawattamie and Mills County Sheriff’s Offices, and the Iowa State Patrol.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have charged a Des Moines man with murder in the deaths of his mother and uncle. Detectives on Friday night charged 30-year-old Joshua Adams with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother, 49-year-old Tracy Linn Adams, and his uncle, 54-year-old Gaylord George Jolly Jr. Police say both of the victims died of “sharp-force injuries.”

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A state audit of the Mason City school district has uncovered more than $2.1 million in improper disbursements consisting largely of salary overpayments. The audit report released Friday says more than $1.3 million was salary to 66 mainly administrative employees that exceeded the authorized pay and increases approved by the school board. The school board president didn’t immediately return a message Friday from The Associated Press.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A settlement between Wells Fargo and attorneys general from all 50 states will mean more than $6 million for Iowa. Wells Fargo and the attorneys generals announced the $575 million settlement Friday following an investigation into fake accounts opened without the knowledge of customers and other questionable practices. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says the state’s share of the settlement will be $6.18 million. The money will go to Iowa’s Consumer Education and Litigation Fund.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports that late Friday night, the Fremont County K9 Unit conducted a traffic stop in Randolph. 46-year old Bret Samuelson, of Randolph, was said to have been operating a motor vehicle while driving with a Barred license. During the course of the stop Samuelson was found to be in possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.

He was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center, where Samuelson was charged with Possession of a controlled substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving while license is Barred. His bond was set at $4,300, while he awaits his initial court appearance.

Bret Samuelson