A little over two weeks ago, the Cass County Board of Supervisors approved the use of ATV’s and UTV’s on designated County roads, with some stipulations. The Board however left it up to each city in the County to determine whether or not those machines could be used within their respective city limits. Atlantic Police Chief Dave Erickson warned during the City Council meeting Wednesday night (Feb. 21st), that ATV’s and UTV’s are NOT allowed on city streets within the city limits.

Erickson said the first violation is punishable by a $250 fine plus $85 court cost. The second offense is a $500 fine plus court costs, and the third offense is a $1,000 fine, plus court costs. The exception would be if a snow blade is attached for legitimate business use. Simply driving around with a snow blade attached to your machine will not exempt you from a fine. Erickson said it hasn’t been a problem so far, but with the Ordinance passed by the County may result in some confusion about where the machines can be used.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council Wednesday, discussed a proposed Rental Inspection Ordinance. The Community Protection Committee met Feb. 13th to discuss a draft inspection ordinance, and decided, after some contentious debate, against recommending the Ordinance to the Council for approval. The packed meeting drew passionate comments from landlords both in favor of, and against the Ordinance. Councilman Chris Jimerson is the CPC Chair.

Jimerson said “Some of them were a little bit out of line with some of their comments. The majority of them though, were pretty interested.” He said “Fear of the unknown,” was a lot of what drove their comments and concerns. “Because you’re going to ask somebody to come in and go through your property. What’s that inspection look like?” That was the biggest key, he said.

Jimerson said a similar Ordinance is working in Red Oak, and has since it began a few years ago. The proposed Ordinance for Atlantic, based on the International Maintenance Code, would have included an inspection every three years, at a cost of $25 per year, or $75 altogether. The inspections would look for things like mold, exposed wiring and other common sense issues that would assure the property is clean, safe and livable.

While the Ordinance died at the CPC meeting, the City Council had the option to approve it, but instead followed the CPC’s recommendation. Councilperson Ashley Hayes said some of the landlords she’s spoken with over the past couple of weeks have told her, efforts are underway to come up with an alternative proposal.

Councilman Dana Halder said the City needs to better focus its Minimum Maintenance Code, and going after those property owners who “Have porches falling in. Those aren’t necessarily rental houses. Some of them may [even] be empty.” Broken windows and vacant properties are another problem. He called for better enforcement of the Code.

Mayor Jones suggested the CPC, representatives from SWIPCO and the landlords get together and try to hammer out another solution and bring it back to the Council. The main thing, he said, is that Atlantic isn’t going to shell out money for pay for an inspector’s annual salary.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government is recalling chicken salad made by an Iowa processing company and distributed by Fareway Stores which has now sickened people in five states.

The Iowa Department of Public Health says it has linked 115 cases of salmonella-related illnesses to the chicken salad sold by the Iowa-based grocery store chain and made at Triple T Specialty Meats Inc. of Ackley, Iowa.

Officials in South Dakota report two illnesses and Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois report one case each linked to the chicken salad. It was sold in plastic deli containers with a Fareway store deli label.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued the recall Wednesday. Lawsuits have been filed in Iowa state court and in federal court by residents from Illinois and South Dakota.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Corning man on Wednesday after a warrant was issued Tuesday. Results from a lab test resulted in a Possession of a Controlled Substance charge for 27-year-old Anthony Darling of Corning. The charge stems from a traffic stop where Marijuana was found in the vehicle. Charges were filed and a warrant issued Tuesday and Darling was arrested at 9:00am Wednesday.

A deadly crash in south-central Iowa this (Wednesday) morning involved a driver going the wrong direction on Interstate 35. Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Nate Ludwig says the head-on crash between a 2005 Toyota SUV and 2015 Mack truck, happened in Warren County around 3:30 a.m. “The vehicle was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of I-35 near the Cumming exit,” Ludwig said. The driver of the car was killed. He was identified as 32-year old Wayne Christopher Field, of Winterset. The semi driver, 54-year old Richard Hewitt Judkins, of Ankeny, was not injured.

“We don’t know why the driver was heading the wrong way on the interstate or where they got on the interstate at…it’s still under investigation,” Ludwig said. The crash forced the closure of I-35 southbound for several hours. “I think they cleared the interstate at about 8 a.m. and opened it back up,” Ludwig said.

The crash happened near the town of Cumming, which is located about nine miles south of the Des Moines metro area.

(Radio Iowa)

Weapons will once again no longer be allowed in the Woodbury County Courthouse. The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to re-institute a weapons ban. Supervisor Jeremy Taylor proposed rescinding a January 16th board request to Judge Duane Hoffmeyer to allow guns to be brought in to areas of the building and other county facilities:

“I think that practical implications of bringing weapons into the courthouse with varying functions has become unfeasible. It’s impractical, it adds cost, even though maybe not as much as has been purported,” Hoffmeyer says. He says the additional cost is enough to reconsider the issue.

“With adding that cost I think it is not long tenable to continue considering,” he says. Sheriff Dave Drew had estimated it would cost from 600-thousand dollars to more than 900-thousand per year to add more security measures if weapons were allowed into the buildings. Supervisor Matthew Ung, who led the effort to allow guns to be brought into the courthouse, challenged whether current board chairman Rocky DeWitt would be eligible to vote. DeWitt works for the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Department, which provides security to the building, but said he would vote.

He says the county attorney told him he is okay to vote. DeWitt was essentially the deciding vote joining Taylor and Marty Pottebaum, who seconded the motion, to re-institute the ban. Ung and Keith Radig voted against Taylor’s proposal. They also voted against a second Taylor motion to change language in the county employee handbook prohibiting employees from carrying firearms while court is in session or security is provided by courthouse security. That also passed 3-2.

(Radio Iowa)

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — Residents in northwest Iowa are fighting over a petition that calls on the public library to separate material dealing with LGBTQ issues and to request public input before acquiring such material.

Some expressed support for the Orange City Public Library’s integration of LGBTQ materials at a library board meeting Tuesday, the Sioux City Journal reported . Others shared reservations.

The petition was started by Terry Chi, an assistant psychology professor at Northwestern College, a liberal arts school in Orange City. The petition, which gathered more than 340 signatures in nine days, calls for labeling and separating materials involving LGBTQ materials within the library and providing a content rating service to help inform patrons’ decisions.

The petition also asks the library to hold public discussions before new materials are acquired. “We’re not asking for banning because I know that would just sink our ship,” Chi said. “We’re asking for transparency in the process and some public conversation before new materials are acquired.”

Iowa Library Association President-Elect Dan Chibnall said libraries tend to avoid special labels. He said he believes people should have access to as much material as possible. Officials at the Orange City Public Library have been working with the Iowa Library Association on a solution. The library’s board says its policy committee will review public input and analyze its collection development policy.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The three utility companies planning a high-powered transmission line from the Madison area to Iowa have picked a preferred route that runs along existing highway and power line corridors rather than farms and fields. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the proposed 345-kilovolt Cardinal-Hickory Creek line would run along Highway 18-151 from the Cardinal electrical substation in Middleton, go west from Dodgeville to Montfort, head southwest to Cassville and then move south to the Hickory Creek substation near Dubuque, Iowa.

American Transmission Co., ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative are working together on the $500 million project. The preferred route is more than 100 miles long, while an alternate route would add 20 miles to the line. Opponents argue that the line and its tall towers would damage important conservation areas.

UPDATE 2/22 1-p.m.: Meeting postponed again due to the weather. It will now be held 6-p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27th.

The Exira-EHK School District’s Board of Education will hold their rescheduled meeting from Monday, on Thursday, beginning at 6-p.m., in the Conference Room at the Elk Horn Building. On their agenda are Public Hearings on Capital Improvement Projects, and the 2018-19 School Calendar. The hearings will be followed later on during the meeting, by a vote on approving bids for General Obligation Bond Projects and the 2018-19 Calendar.

In other matters, the Board will receive information with regard to Coaches vs. Cancer, and act on approving a bid for Audit services, along with personnel hires, transfers and/or resignations.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A congressman from Iowa violated House ethics rules by failing to disclose his ownership of a company that uses one of his federal staffers in a false testimonial for its services.
A business filing reviewed by The Associated Press shows Rep. Rod Blum was one of two initial directors of the Tin Moon Corp. when it was incorporated in 2016 as Blum was in his first term. House rules require members to identify all outside corporate positions they hold, but Blum didn’t list his role in his 2016 disclosure.

Tin Moon’s website had listed Blum as its CEO, featuring an official photo showing Blum wearing his congressional pin. The company removed the photo and changed Blum’s title to “majority shareholder” Tuesday after AP raised questions.

Blum told AP he wasn’t involved in the company’s operations.