DES MOINES, Iowa – Last year, during the final weeks of summer, there were 54 traffic fatalities in Iowa; 44% involved impairment.* To prevent future tragedies, the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) is partnering with law enforcement across the state to decrease impaired driving. August 16-September 2, agencies will be participating in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over high-visibility enforcement project. You’ll see officers working together to remove impaired drivers/motorcycle riders from the road.

“We want drivers to understand it’s law enforcement’s first priority to keep people safe, so we’re asking everyone to make a plan,” says GTSB’s Law Enforcement Liaison Randy Kunert. “The drive sober/ride sober campaign is an awareness effort to spread the message that impaired driving is illegal, and it takes lives.”

There are plenty of options to get impaired drivers home safely. Designate a sober driver or call a taxi/rideshare service. If available, use your community’s sober ride program. If you see a drunk driver/rider on the road, contact local law enforcement.

GTSB works with city, county, state, and local organizations to develop and implement strategies to reduce deaths and injuries on Iowa’s roadways using federally funded grants.

(Radio Iowa) – An 18 year old who’s a frequent camper at the Iowa State Fair is the 2024 Iowa State Fair Queen. Elli Blackford says being crowned at the end of Saturday night’s contest was a surreal moment. “It was just so unbelievable and it’s something I never imagined I could do,” she says. “It was truly a dream come true and I can’t even tell you what was running through my head because it was running at 10,000 miles per hour.” Blackford watched the queen contest as a child, one of the activities she’s enjoyed due to having such close access to the fairgrounds. “I’ve been at the fair 18 years and I’ve camped at least 13 of them,” she says. “It’s just a super fun tradition with our family. I actually camp with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle have a site real close to us.”

Blackford, a 4-Her, has showed cattle — Simmental heifers — at the fair, too. “You get to know so many 4-H and FFA members throughout the entire state, so we really build a community in the barn as a family and as a 4-H group, as a county, being stalled with the people that you’re working with all year long, just building those connections,” she says, “then also having the ability to cheer on your fellow 4-H or FFA members while they’re also doing the same in the stands for you.” Blackford joined a different community this past week as she, along with 102 other Iowa county fair queens, gathered in Des Moines. The group learned the lyrics to “Our State Fair” — featured the State Fair play on Broadway and in the State Fair movies.

2024 Iowa State Fair Queen Elli Blackford of Weldon. (Iowa State Fair photo)

Blackford and the rest of the queens sang it as they rode a trolley down Grand Avenue in Des Moines in this year’s Iowa State Fair parade. “They taught it to us kind of on the buses on the way there. I’d heard it before, but didn’t 100% know all the lyrics. I was able to catch on pretty quick,” Blackford says. “Sometimes it gets in my head and other people will be singing it and I kind of hum along with them.” Blackford is from Weldon, a small town in Clarke County and she graduated from Clarke Community School in Osceola this spring. She’ll be a student at Iowa State University this fall and plans to study animal science and agricultural business. “That career pathway for me right now looks like marketing or sales with either of the two degrees,” she says.

Blackford, the queen of the Clarke County Fair, provided daily reports on “Go Clarke TV” — a video network run by her school — to provide updates on activities during the local fair.

(Sidney, Iowa) – The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office has released a report on arrests occurring from July 29th through August 12th. The entire press release can be found in the link below:

081324 press release

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, today (Tuesday), approved a proposal from Camblin Mechanical, Inc., to remove and replace a bad courthouse air conditioning unit in the courtroom, that was causing some people to become overcome with heat exhaustion. Board Chair Mike Olsen…

The also approved an invoice from Camblin Mechanical for repairs to A/C units on the second and third floors of the courthouse, amounting to a little more than $27,538. Supervisor Mark Petersen said faulty work by a contractor, resulted in the units failing. He wanted to make it clear, that he did NOT blame Camblin Mechanical for the issues associated with those units.

In her weekly report to the Board, Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert said for one thing, they’ve been hauling rock.

She said also, there are road repair and other projects that are, or will soon-be, underway, so please slow down when you approach those crews as they work to make the roads smoother and safer.

In other business, the Board approved the Treasurer’s Semi-Annual Report, with an ending fund balance as of July 31, 2024, of nearly $10, 526, 468. They also discussed and agreed to accept a Letter of Intent from the estate of Rodney Most, to acquire the bordering vacant property known as Walnut Street in Hawthorne. Board Chair Mike Olsen explained…

And, they approved claims payable on August 14^th, in the amount of $560,048.44. West Township resident Jan Norris spoke to the Board during the Public Comment part of their agenda. Here is a transcript of what she had to say:

“Good Morning, I am Jan Norris from West Township. Summit Carbon Transport is planning to kickoff their Phase II public information meetings in Red Oak on Tuesday, Aug 27 at noon at the Red Coach Inn. There will also be a meeting at the Corning Opera House on Mon, Aug 26 at 6:00pm. The public is invited to attend as many meetings as they wish and ask questions.  Summit filed their slide presentation to the docket yesterday.

These 14 new lateral routes will expand Summit’s total project by about 50% in Iowa & are gaining a lot of attention. Corning will be the first official Summit meeting, but last week 200 people showed up in Guthrie Center and 75 in Jefferson to hear the Sierra Club’s presentation.  Sunday night a couple of us held an informal Q&A in Stanton where 35 people stayed for 2 hours asking questions.

Other than Charla & Randy attending the first event in Stanton earlier this spring, I haven’t seen board members showing up to learn more. Two weeks ago the board asked Snyder & Assoc to wait until members had left the room before opening public Q&A. I hope you are not going to ONLY rely on Summit for information. Their meeting on the 27th will be heavy on spin, and skimpy on facts. I would be happy to meet with you individually any time to review what I have learned over the last 3 years of research.

The Free Soil Foundation is holding a meeting at the Viking Center next Tuesday, Aug 20 at 6:30 pm with former Congressman Steve King. Maybe you could announce a possible quorum and be in attendance?

Just an update on the open meetings complaint – last week the County filed their response and I filed a rebuttal. Our case can expect to be on the Iowa Public Information Board agenda on Sept 19. This process is neither pleasant nor easy and is not intended to be adversarial. Our communities are all stronger when we have open and transparent government. I trust that we all agree on that.

Thank you.”

(Sidney, Iowa) – Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports a couple from Hamburg are facing felony charges, following an investigation that began in late July. As we previously reported, on July 25th, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office received a report at around 8:53-a.m. on that date, about a small child seen alone near the roadway in the 1700 block of Washington Street, in Hamburg. Deputies discovered a 4-year-old child, with reported developmental disabilities, covered in filth and a mixture of both human and animal feces outside the residence. Deputies located another child inside the home. Both children were taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation.

Deputies allege that the parents, 26-year-old Dustin Carl Lee Perry, and 26-year-old Lindsey Barbara Marie Hamilton, both of Shenandoah, left the children in the care of relatives with the direction to keep the 4-year-old in a makeshift cage. Deputies located the cage in the home constructed out of a pack and play, a baby gate roof, and zip ties. Deputies allege that the child was able to escape from the device and left the home without waking the occupants. Deputies discovered a second homemade cage where it is alleged that the child was kept in a walk-in closet in a home in Shenandoah. Both Perry and Hamilton were arrested and charged with Felony Felony Neglect or Abandonment of a Dependent Person, and Child Neglect, an aggravated misdemeanor. Several children were removed from the home by the DHS. Both were being held in the Fremont County Jail without bond, pending a court appearance.

Martha Perry-Culley

Elvin Culley

Also as a result of the investigation, on August 9th, 78-year-old Elvin Leroy Culley, and 61-year-old Martha Karen Perry-Culley, both of Hamburg, were arrested and charged with Felony Neglect or Abandonment of a Dependent Person, and Child Neglect, an aggravated misdemeanor. Both were being held in the Fremont County Jail on $10,000 cash-only bonds, each.

Hamburg Rescue, the Iowa Dept. of Health & Human Services, and Shenandoah Police assisted with the investigation.

(Radio Iowa) – How early is too early? It’s still the heart of summertime, yet many Iowa grocery stores are already offering spooky Halloween decorations and big bags of trick-or-treat candy. Some stores had the orange-and-black boxes of sweets on display in July. Professor Peggy Stover, who directs the University of Iowa’s Marketing Institute and spent 25 years in the grocery industry, says stores are looking for any angle they can find to scare up profits.  “In the old days, when there was a major holiday coming, a month, maybe a month and a half in advance was pretty typical,” Stover says. “Now, we’re seeing — Halloween is a good example. We’re seeing Halloween merchandise in the stores, so it seems like every year it gets earlier and earlier.”

Back-to-school sales started at some Iowa retailers in June, and Stover says she wouldn’t be too surprised if we saw Christmas ornaments appear on the shelves soon. “We’re seeing a faster acceleration being driven mainly by manufacturers and retailers,” Stover says. “In the grocery business, the margins are so thin that anything that they can do to increase the profitability of their operations, I can’t blame them, they’re going to take advantage of it.” Some Iowans might buy Christmas gifts early and hide them until December, but Stover says nobody’s buying Halloween candy in mid-August who’s intent on saving it until late October.

Radio Iowa photo

“A lot of manufacturers are probably offering incentives to entice that impulse purchase,” Stover says, “you know, I see it, I’m going to throw it in the buggy, I wasn’t really looking for candy, but there it is, front and center, toss it in the cart.” Consumers may be mystified when they run across holiday items so far out of context, but she doubts few would actually file a complaint with the manager, not that it would likely have much impact — or would it? “It’s going to take consumers to tell retailers and manufacturers, ‘Enough is enough’,” Stover says. “Let’s go back to being more reasonable in when we’re going to be merchandising holiday items. I remember last year, I think it was January, right after the holidays, I was already seeing Saint Patrick’s.”

She says the best way for Iowans to send a message about Halloween in summer sales is to resist buying the products.