Authorities in Montgomery County are investigating recent incidents of thefts in the Red Oak and Stanton areas. Sheriff’s officials say they received two reports Tuesday. One of the incidents occurred sometime between Saturday and Monday, south of Red Oak. A white & yellow 2012 Cub Cadet GT-2100 lawn tractor and black 1995 H&H Dovetail trailer were reported stolen from Dickel Outdoor Power, just off of Highway 48. The trailer with Iowa license plate number 3544HB is valued at $3,000, while the lawn tractor was valued at $4,000.

The second incident occurred in the 500 block of Thorn Street, in Stanton. Officials say the victim reported someone removed two center caps off the rims of her 1999 Ford F-250 pickup truck, and damaged an aluminum door on the inside of her 2000 Kiefer-built horse trailer. The loss was estimated at $350 altogether.

Anyone with information about either of those crimes, is asked to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 712-623-5107, or Montgomery County Crimestoppers at 1-800-432-1001.

Funeral services will be held next Tuesday afternoon in Fontanelle, for a 3-year old boy who died Sunday afternoon, when a tree fell on him as he was playing hide and seek with his stuffed animals under the tree in his family’s back yard. Nathan “Tader” Hutt died instantly from injuries he suffered when a huge Maple tree fell over and landed on top of him. The accident happened at around 12:45-p.m. His mother Alisha, made the call to 9-1-1.

Fontanelle Police Chief Pat Henry told the Des Moines Register that it had been windy that day. Too windy, for the old tree, which was basically hollow, with only about five inches of wood remaining around the edges of the trunk. Henry said the tree looked fine from the outside, and there was no way to tell it was so internally weak.

Funeral services for Nathan Hutt will be held 3-p.m. Tue., June 5th, at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Fontanelle. Memorials may be directed to the Nathan Hutt memorial fund in care of the First National Bank, 311 5th Street, Fontanelle, Iowa 50846.

The latest campaign disclosure reports show there’s a lop-sided fundraising race between Tom Latham and Leonard Boswell — the two incumbent Iowa congressmen who’re running against one another in November. Republican Congressman Tom Latham had nearly two-million dollars in cash in his campaign account by May 16th. That was a deadline day for reporting fundraising totals. It’s six times more than Democratic Congressman Leonard Boswell had. Boswell had about 300-thousand dollars in his campaign account by mid-May.

Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley of Waterloo raised about 100-thousand dollars since April 1st. Congressman Dave Loebsack, a Democrat from Iowa City, raised about 13-thousand more than that. But former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack, the Democrat who plans to challenge Republican Congressman Steve King in November, raised more than Braley and Loebsack combined. Her haul in the six-week period was 230-thousand dollars.Congressman King, however, is a more aggressive fundraiser than he has been in the past, collecting nearly 373-thousand dollars during that six-week period. King had about a million dollars in his campaign account by mid-May. Vilsack had about 144-thousand less.

Two Republicans face off in June’s primary to win the G-O-P nomination to challenge Braley in November. Loebsack faces a Democratic challenger in the primary who hasn’t set up a campaign website or raised enough money to require disclosing his donors. And two Republicans are running in the second congressional district for the change to run against Loebsack in November.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)