(Atlantic, Iowa) – A Public Hearing will be held Tuesday morning in Atlantic, with regard to the County EMS (Emergency Medical Service) Advisory Council’s recommendation of an EMS Levy (as required under the Code of Iowa), and later on action on approving the third-reading of an Ordinance imposing a Local Option Income Surtax for EMS at a a rate of One-percent on the State Individual Income Tax for 15-years (In accordance with the Code of Iowa). Both matters will take place as part of the Cass County Board of Supervisor’s meeting that begins at 9-a.m. in their Board Room at the Courthouse.

Other business on the Supervisor’s agenda includes the following:

Discuss repealing Urban Renewal Areas in Cass County with John Danos and Amy Bjork from Dorsey & Whitney LLP.

• • Cass County Cass-Audubon Border Econ Development Urban Renewal
  • Cass County Amazing Energy Urban Renewal

Monthly report by Jotham Arber, Executive Director of Cass/Guthrie County Environmental Health

Administer Oath of Office to the following:

John Westering, County Sheriff

Kathy Somers, County Auditor

Stephen Green, Supervisor, District 1

Bernard Pettinger, Supervisor, District 5

Steve Baier, Supervisor, District 4

Discuss/approve Cass County Wellness Program for January 1, 2025 – October 31, 2025

Discuss/approve the Cass County Health Insurance Rates policy designating participation and non-participation rates for January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2026 based on wellness plan participation in 2025.

Approve Class B Retail Alcohol License for Dollar General #20294 in Griswold, IA.

Discuss/Approve allocating the balance of ARPA funds designated to be used to purchase an ambulance for training new EMTs and Paramedics, strengthening the EMS system in Cass County.

Discuss/Approve plans to appropriate remaining ARPA funds.

Approve Resolution 2024-27 Setting Posted Weight Limits on Bridges that are Embargoed.

Approve Cass County Safety Action Plan in support of strategies outlined in Iowa’s Five-Year Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) 2024-2028 and the overall vision of Zero Fatalities on Iowa’s public roadways.

Report from Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken.

Discuss/approve courthouse hours for Christmas Eve.

Reports of Supervisors and Committees.

Filed Reports: Clerk of Court.

Approve claims.

Adjournment.

Next Regular Meeting: Thursday, January 2, 2025

(Lewis, Iowa) – Griswold Rescue & Cass EMS were dispatched this morning to the scene of a rollover accident at 580th St, & Lewis Road, south of Lewis. Dispatch reports said four subjects in the vehicle were unable to get out on their own. An 8-year-old female was complaining of back pain. (7:23-a.m.) The Lewis Road was said to be extremely icy.

(Creston, Iowa) –  The Creston Police Department reports two weekend arrests: At around 3-a.m. Saturday, 33-year-old Zackary Charles Huddleson, of Creston, was arrested near the Casey’s store on W. Taylor Street. Huddleson was charged with OWI/1st Offense, Urinating in Public, and Interference with Official Acts. He was taken to the Union County Jail and later posted a $1,600 bond before being released.

And, a little before 3-a.m. Sunday, 39-year-old John David Foster, of Creston, was arrested in the 400 block of S. Vine Street, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana 1st offense. Foster was cited and released from the scene a promise to appear in court.

(Radio Iowa) – A first-in-the-state combination store and craft studio is now open in central Iowa that’s geared towards people with A-D-H-D. The Glitter Factory in Des Moines offers classes, crafts and activities like moss art, button making and beading at what are called “hyper fixation stations.” Store founder Britney Brown works as a neurodiversity consultant and says she’s constantly honing her techniques for making the place more neurodivergent-friendly.

“We shift, we find a new way, we figure out a new strategy, we figure out a new learning tool,” Brown says, “and that allows me to create a more accessible space in real time, which is different, but also very valuable.” Brown was diagnosed with autism and A-D-H-D as an adult and she says she saw the demand for a store like hers from the neurodivergent community online. “There was this meme that was floating around on the socials for the last year or so that’s like, best business idea ever: somebody take everybody’s ADHD craft hoards and turn them into a library,” Brown says, “and that’s almost exactly what I’ve done.”

The store also offers “Blind Date with a Hobby” sessions where people can sign up for a random craft that will be revealed to them in class. In addition, there’s a subscription service for $25 that will deliver a new craft to your home every month. The studio doubles as a sensory-friendly co-working space.

(Radio Iowa) – Today (November 16) is the 80th anniversary of the start of the “Battle of the Bulge, the last ditch effort by the Germans in World War Two that broke through American lines in 1945. The Iowa Goldstar Museum at Camp Dodge recently honored one of the Iowans in that battle. Museum board member Bob Holiday talked about First Lieutenant John Phillipps of Waterloo, who got involved in the battle while trying to get some rare rest in the village of Medell, Belgium. “He was woken up before daylight. Captain wants to see you. You take six men a mile east out of town, down the road, and you find a fire break on a hill. Go up that fire break to top the ridge and put a machine gun out, because the Germans are going to counter attack,” he says. Phillipps took his men to the area, but the Germans were already there.

“They opened up on the Americans, and there were five Americans killed instantly. If you go back in the back of our exhibit hall, back here towards the back, you’re going to find the shirt that John Phillipps had on that day he was hit five times by this German machine gun,” Holiday says. Phillipps and a sergeant survived, but the Germans wanted him because he was an officer. “One of these Germans spoke English, and he said, You’re coming with us. And John said, What about the sergeant? And the German who spoke English said, you’re going to bring him with you, or we’re going to shoot him right here. John said he drug this guy — now John’s been hit five times — and he drug this guy against a tree, gave him his canteen, and they went on,” Phillipps ended up in a prison camp, but never found out what happened to the sergeant.

Holiday met Phillipps through the museum and went looking for the sergeant in 2020. They found out he was Lawrence Lyon from Texas and had survived the war, but was now dead. Holiday was able to contact the man’s family in Texas so Phillipps could to talk to his kids before he died a few years ago. Phillipps’ daughter Sharon Monfredini says it took a long time before she found out about her dad’s heroic actions. “As a child, neither my sister or myself ever heard anything. Dad would not talk about it,” Monfredinisays. “And it wasn’t until we were much older, in fact, probably ten years before he passed away, that he started to share his story.” She says it was an amazing thing to learn about her dad. “It was just shocking that we didn’t know what he had gone through. It maybe explained some behavior,” she says, “if there was maybe some violence on T-V that was very hard for him to watch. He was a very quiet man, but internalized a lot. He was quite a thinker.”

Bob Holiday and Sharon Monfredini. (RI photo)

Monfredinisays her dad was so glad to be able find out the sergeant he saved made it through the war. “Oh, my goodness, it meant everything, because he had actually survived and gone on to have such a wonderful life, married with kids and was a professional, and he was just so thankful for that, but very sad that the two of them never reconnected,” Monfredini says. Phillipps went on to become a successful businessman after the war.

Governor Reynolds issued a proclamation recognizing the importance of the Battle of the Bulge in defeating the Germans and ending the war.