A couple from Harlan were arrested last week following a traffic stop. 45-year old Timothy, and 55-year old Patrice Turner, were arrested April 26th. Both face charges of Violation of a No Contact Order, and Open Container. Patrice Turner plead not guilty to the charges. Timothy Turner’s case was not listed in the Iowa Courts Online system.

The Harlan Police Department reports a Harlan woman, 27-year old Amanda Sue Wicker, was arrested Tuesday, on an active Shelby County warrant for Failure to Appear for a pre-trial conference on drug related charges, and a moving violation. Wicker’s bond was set at $10,000. Wicker was arrested on December 31st, 2011 on two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance, Driving while denied or revoked, and OWI/1st offense. She had been scheduled to appear at her pre-trial conference on April 30th. Her trial is set to take place on May 30th.

Three days prior to her arrest for skipping her court appearance, Wicker was arrested on a Class-D Felony charge of Criminal Mischief in the 2nd degree, after police investigated an incident where a 2001 Chevy Suburban had been extensively damaged at a location on Market Street. She had posted a $500 cash bond and was ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing on the charges, on May 17th.

The Harlan Police Department reports a Kirkman man was arrested on drug charged Wednesday, following a traffic stop. 2o-year old Kolten Kobold was taken into custody on charges of: Carrying a weapon; Possession of drug Paraphernalia; and, two-counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance (marijuana and methamphetamine). Kobold was being held in the Shelby County Jail.

Three western Iowa students and an adult suffered minor injuries, including scrapes and bruises, when the bus they were in rolled over Thursday afternoon. A Lewis Township school bus carrying students with the Lewis Central School District  toppled onto its side into a ditch at around 3:15-p.m., after the driver of the bus apparently swerved to avoid another vehicle. The accident happened on Applewood Road in rural Pottawattamie County, near the Mills County line.  

The driver of the bus and one child, were taken to Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs. Two other children were transported to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha. Their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

The accident remains under investigation.

A candidate for Sheriff in Pottawattamie County has issued a press release responding to Sheriff Jeff Jeff Danker’s claims his opponent made “Baseless allegations” against him.

John W. Hitchcock, (R) candidate for Sheriff/ Pott. Co., IA

Republican John Hitchcock says he took it upon himself to look into several complaints that he thought required additional information and scrutiny. Hitchcock says after announcing his political campaign to run for Sheriff of Pottawattamie County, members of the public began to bring numerous complaints to his attention regarding incumbent Sheriff Danker’s Office.

Hitchcock, who’s from Council Bluffs, is a Senior Trooper with the Iowa State Patrol. He says after reviewing the complaints on his off-duty time, making and paying for open records request under the open records laws under the Code of Iowa, many of the complaints were discarded or found to have no factual basis. But some of the complaints, in his opinion, required additional scrutiny.

He says since it would be a huge conflict of interest for him to conduct an investigation against Danker, a law enforcement officer, he made the decision to turn the information  over to a non-biased third party. He says on his personnel time, he made “The ethical and moral choice,” and turned the information over to his direct supervisor, with the understanding the Iowa State Patrol turned over the information for review to the Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber. Wilber claimed a conflict of interest and turned it over to Dallas County Attorney Wayne Reisetter for review.

Hitchcock says Reisetter did not contact him regarding any of the information that was released Thursday, for review, prior to issuing his opinion. He says it appears Reistter’s opinion was reached only by using the information provided by Hitchcock, and to his knowledge, no further investigation was conducted Reisetter. In his press release, Hitchcock said Danker released only “Small portions” of Reisetter’s letter, and he scolded the media for not requesting “All documents related to this information, instead of sound bites chosen by the Jeff Danker campaign during this primary election.” He suggested the citizens of Pottawattamie County request a copy of the letter and review it themselves.

He also blamed Danker for the situation, claiming he “Has not released a platform as to his plans for the next four years,” and instead chose to create a press release about Hitchcock’s allegations. Hitchcock said it was Danker’s campaign that “Has chosen to expose the questionable activities by his administration,” and questions if the long-time Sheriff has any plans for the next four-years, “Or is he only relying on his name to get him elected?”