COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A Council Bluffs day care provider will be on probation for a year under a deferred sentence for the death of a 5-month-old boy in her care. Thirty-seven-year-old Teresa Chapin pleaded guilty on Thursday to aggravated child endangerment. Prosecutors say Chapin had put 5-month-old Lane Thomas in an adult bed for a nap on Aug. 17. He didn’t wake up. The autopsy says the cause of death was sudden unexplained infant death. Pottawattamie County attorney Amy Zacharias says that without medical evidence that shows anything other than sudden unexplained infant death syndrome, prosecutors couldn’t prove that Chapin caused the baby’s death. Sentencing won’t occur until late next year. If Chapin follows her probation terms, she won’t be given more punishment.

A Shelby County boy will live out a life long dream this weekend in Iowa City. Ryan DeMott suffered 3rd degree burns on 70 percent of his body during a campfire accident last year. After being flown to the Nebraska burn Center in Lincoln for treatment, he was transferred to Iowa City for additional treatment.

DeMott stayed at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital for the next 2 and a half months. During that time, the boy had several visitors including some Iowa Hawkeye Football players.

This weekend, Ryan and his parents are scheduled to be back in Iowa City, but this time they’ll be on the football field. On Saturday, DeMott will serve as an honorary “Kid Captain” for the Iowa Hawkeyes, at Kinnick Stadium. Kid captains walk with the other Hawkeye team captains and flip the coin prior to the game.

Ryan’s parents says he has a “Can-do attitude,” and is continuing to recover from well from his injuries.

A Cass County native was inducted into the Iowa Inventors Hall of Fame last month, for his innovative work on John Deere’s round bailer product line for the hay and forage industries. The event honoring Henry Dennis Anstey, of Ottumwa, a native of Cumberland, was held during an induction ceremony held in Dubuque, on October 7^th.

Anstey has worked with John Deere for more than 38-years. Larry Smith, retired Engineering Manager for John Deere’s Hay and Forage Group said Anstey was instrumental in introducing round bailer technology to Europe in the 1980’s. His name is on at least 60 U.S. patents and more than 230 foreign patents, most have which have found their way into the John Deere product line around the world. Several of his patent applications are still pending, as well. During his induction ceremony, Smith noted that Anstey views his purpose in life to make farmers’ lives easier, safe and productive.

Dennis Anstey’s mother, Alice, says her son’s interest in design and innovation was sparked by his late father’s work on machines around the family’s farm near Cumberland. Alice says Dennis would watch his father repair machines in an old shed. She said Dennis was always interested in farming. He graduated from the Cumberland-Massena High School in 1968, and went on to graduate from Iowa State University. His first job was with John Deere, a company he’s worked for ever since. Dennis’ brother Bob says the family is proud of the bailer machine and related accessories Dennis helped to invent, machines which many area cow-calf producers use in their day-to-day operations.

He says a lot of what Dennis invented goes back to his roots in southwest Iowa, and a desire to make machines that would work better, easier and safer, than what was in the marketplace at the time. He says the round bailer machine concept was essentially his life’s passion. That includes the pickup and belt design, and how bales are feed into the bailer. Bob says Dennis had some brilliant co-workers who helped in the design, but his influence in creating the product “was huge.”

One of the innovations he’s associated with improving, was a net wrap system for round bailers. Bob Anstey says Dennis was instrumental in making a machine and the product that would wrap the large round bails in a water resistant, yet breathable wrap that makes the harvesting process more productive. Alice Anstey says her son is happy to see the products he’s helped to design put into use by farmers around the world, but he’s not one to brag about it.

Dennis lives in Ottumwa wife his wife Belinda. The couple has five adult children.

Atlantic Police Lt. Dave Erickson (P.D. website photo)

The investigation continues into Thursday’s reported bomb threat at the Atlantic Middle School. Atlantic Police Lt. Dave Erickson said the Police Department received word of the threat at around 8:30-a.m., Thursday. Erickson says just a few minutes before police were notified, a message was found on a bathroom wall, indicating the school would be “blown up at 11:45.” Police began a search of the building, and the threat was ruled not credible. Erickson says they had a “possible suspect” in the case, but that person was interviewed and then ruled out as the perpetrator. Erickson says the building was evacuated at 11:30-a.m. and the search resumed. At noon Thursday, students and staff were allowed back in the building. He says the suspect who was arrested in last week’s bomb threat at the Atlantic Middle School is NOT the same person who made Thursday’s threat. He says they continue to investigate who caused the most recent incident.

Erickson says he’s not going to give up until he runs out of leads and they will continue to look for the young person responsible. Lt. Erickson says parents who are concerned about this most recent incident, the second in one week at the Middle School, should not feel the need to pull their students out of classes. He says “The schools are extremely safe. We take every precaution to keep these kids safe at all times. There’s no reason to pull them out of school and start home schooling them, or anything like that.”

Officials with the Iowa DNR said today (Friday), a Boil Order has been issued for the city of Dexter because of a break in a water line between the treatment plant and the city.
While the repair is being made, water pressure will be lost. Due to the potential for bacterial contamination, it is being recommended that the water be boiled before using for drinking or cooking or that an alternative source such as bottled water be used. The boil order will be lifted after the repair has been made and water samples have been analyzed to ensure that the water is safe.

It is recommended not to drink the water without boiling it first. Bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using, or use bottled water. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, and food preparation until further notice. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms in the water.  The water may be used for bathing and other similar purposes.

General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1(800) 426-4791.