A national travel magazine is naming an Iowa hotel as one of the top 25 in the Midwest. The Hotel Pattee, in Perry, made the list in the latest edition of Conde Nast Traveler. Jay Hartz is co-owner of the hotel and says the ranking is a thrill. “Very proud and quite honestly, very surprised,” Hartz says. “We did not anticipate that award. That’s the first time we’ve been named by that organization.” Hartz and his business partner/wife Denise have owned the historic Perry landmark for five years. “When we bought the hotel, the hotel was closed and we reopened it. The first year-and-a-half or two years was very scary but we turned the corner,” he says. “Business picked up and continues to pick up and we’re doing fine now.”

The Hotel Pattee is the only Iowa hotel on the list and it’s joined by posh facilities including the Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis, the Hotel Ivy in Minneapolis and the Hotel Iroquois on Mackinac Island in Michigan. “We do have to create more of a marketing plan to draw people here because there aren’t really demand generators right in our backyard,” Hartz says. “We have marketed the hotel as a destination and we try to tell our guests, once they come here, they don’t have to leave for a few days.”

The 40-room hotel features specialty rooms centered around Perry and the state of Iowa. www.hotelpattee.com

(Radio Iowa)

A Pottawattamie County man faces numerous charges after Council Bluffs Police responded to a report of an armed man who had stabbed a dog. Officers were dispatched to the 700 block of  S. 18th Street, where they learned a neighbor’s dog had gotten loose and attacked the dogs at 1731 8th Avenue. The owner of the dogs being attacked, 52-year old James R. Herman, of Council Bluffs, attempted to stop the attack on his dogs by striking the attacking dog with his fists. When the effort failed, he produced a knife and stabbed the attacking dog several times. The owner of the attacking dog was then able to get control of his animal. Herman, who suffered a minor laceration to his hand during the attack, then allegedly made threats to stab the owner of the dog.

James R. Herman

Officers made contact with Herman to discuss the incident, and during their investigation discovered a marijuana growing operation in his home, as well as several items of drug paraphernalia. Detectives from the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Fore were contacted and took over the investigation. A search warrant was applied for and granted, for Herman’s residence. During the search, several marijuana plants in various stages of growth, as well as miscellaneous items of drug paraphernalia, were located and seized into evidence.

James R. Herman was arrested and booked into the Pott. County Jail, on charges that include: Manufacturing marijuana (A Class D felony); Harassment in the 1st Degree; Possession of a Controlled Substance/marijuana, for personal use; and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Council Bluffs Animal Control arrived on the scene and took control of Herman’s dogs, who suffered only minor injuries during the attack. The other dog was transported by its owner to an emergency veterinary clinic for treatment. A report on its condition was not available.

WEST BRANCH, Iowa (AP) — A substitute teacher who pleaded guilty to being drunk at an eastern Iowa school has lost her state license. The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa Board of Education Examiners suspended the teaching license of 60-year-old Kiaya Rickard-Urban for a minimum of two years. She can then apply for reinstatement.

Rickard-Urban had a blood alcohol content of 0.192 when tested at West Branch High School in West Branch in October 2016. Students had reported to administrators that Richard-Urban smelled of alcohol and wasn’t acting right. Court documents say Rickard-Urban pleaded guilty in December to first-offense public intoxication. She received a suspended jail sentence, a year of probation and was ordered to undergo substance abuse evaluation and treatment.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies early this (Friday) morning, arrested 47-year old Matthew Kevin Miller, of Red Oak. Miller was taken into custody at the intersection of Highway 34 and L Avenue at around 4:10-a.m., and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where he was charged with Violation of a No Contact Order. His bond was set at $2,000.