(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors will hold their regular weekly meeting beginning at 9-a.m. Tuesday, May 23rd, in their courthouse Board Room. (The full agenda is shown below). Among the action items on their agenda is discussion, followed by approval of a Resolution approving a Cass County Investment Policy, approval of a Resolution to Receive and Earmark Funds Received from the Sale of the County-owned Farm, and, approval of a Resolution amending the FY 2023 Secondary Roads Budget, for Submission to the Iowa Dept. of Transportation (As discussed during the Board’s meeting on May 16th).

Following the Board’s regular session, they will hold a Work Session to discuss the County Wellness Program.

With May being Military Appreciation Month and Memorial Day approaching, the personal-finance website WalletHub today (Monday) released its report on 2023’s Best & Worst States for Military Retirees.

To help our troops plan their years after service, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 28 key indicators of retirement-friendliness toward veterans. The data set ranges from job opportunities for veterans to housing affordability to quality of VA hospitals.

In the Midwest, South Dakota placed 8th, Missouri place 17th on the Best States list, and Kansas came in at #21. Iowa ranked 36th on the list, just barely avoiding the Worst States list. Wisconsin was next with a ranking of 37th, and Nebraska scraping-by the worst list, coming in at number 40.

The top ranked States (1st through 5th place) were Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Making the worst States list for Military Retirees, was Georgia (#42), followed by Tennessee, California, New Mexico and Washington State.

(Creston, Iowa) – Three people were arrested over the weekend on separate charges, in Creston. According to the Police Department, 26-year-old Mackenzie Breanna Giltner, of Ottumwa, was taken into custody at 1:40-a.m. Saturday (May 20), near the intersection of Sumner and Taylor. Giltner was charged with Driving While Barred, cited and then released from the scene.

Saturday night, 29-year-old Matthew Ray Garcia, of Creston, was arrested at Green Valley Road and 130th Street. He was wanted on two Union County Warrants for Harassment in the 2nd Degreem and Assault. Garcia was transported to the Union County Jail and later released on a $1,300 cash or surety bond.

And, early Sunday afternoon, Creston Police arrested 56-year-old William Robert Atteberry, of Lenox. He was arrested at the Creston Wal-Mart on a charge of Harassment in the 3rd Degree-Personal Contact. Atteberry was subsequently cited, and released from the scene.

(Grinnell, Iowa) – A call to the Grinnell Police Department last week about a woman who wanted to cross something off her “Bucket List,” resulted in a police escort. The Police Department was contacted by Sammi Bryan with St.Francis Manor/Sealand Park Hammond Center (an assisted living facility), with regard to a resident who was turning 100 years old and wanted to do some things she had never done and wanted to experience. One of those things was to ride in a Police car.

According to the Grinnell P-D’s social media page, Sergeant Chris Wray made contact with Bryan, and arrangements were made to pick up the resident, Dorothy Peak, from one of her appointments in a Police car and escort her back to the Hammond Center at St. Francis Manor.

Sgt. Wray & Dorothy Peak. (Grinnell PD Facebook photo)

Sgt. Wray said the Department was “Honored to be a part of fulfilling one of Dorothy’s “bucket list “ wishes, and wish this special lady a very Happy 100th birthday!! Dorothy celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday (May 20, 2023).

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A traffic stop at around 3:50-a.m. today (May 22nd) in Red Oak, resulted in the arrest on a drug charge, of a woman from Nebraska. Red Oak Police report the traffic stop took place near Highway 34 and 4th Street, in Red Oak. Upon further investigation, 23-year-old Alanna Rae Minton, of Omaha, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense. Minton was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – A special traffic enforcement effort targeting seat belt usage gets underway today (Monday) in the state. Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau spokesman, Brett Tjepkes says Iowa continues to have good numbers in seat belt surveys. “We’ve been, you know, over 90 percent regularly for quite some time now,” he says. “Even though we do have that high percentage of usage for front seat, drivers and passengers — still in 2022 over half of our people that were killed in crashes in Iowa, we’re not wearing their seatbelts. And so, I think it’s perceived that it’s not a problem anymore,” according to Tjepkes.

He says their goal of lowering traffic deaths could be helped by everyone in the car buckling up. “We took a little dip last year but to date, we still have more people that have died in crashes this year compared to the same time last year.” he says. “Speeding distraction are still major problems as well as impaired drivers. And so wearing your seatbelt is that one thing you can do to protect yourself when you’re in a crash. To protect yourself from others in a crash to have that seatbelt on.”

State law requires anyone under the age of 18 to wear a seatbelt. Tjepkes says it’s important for anyone regardless of age. “If you’re sitting in the backseat of a car, it’s still very important to wear your seatbelt back there also,Tjepkes says. “I think we feel like we’re more protected we’re in that backseat, but a lot of our crashes happen on rural roadways. somebody leaves the road and the car rolls over and those passengers in the backseat are in just as much danger of getting ejected out of a car and in being severely or fatally injured.”

The national seatbelt campaign coincides with the Memorial Day holiday and the start of the summer driving season. ” But I can tell you are our law enforcement partners that we work with all over the state are out looking for seatbelt usage and addressing those with either with citations or educational opportunities all year long.,” he says. The “Click it or Ticket” enforcement will run through June 4th.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports one person was arrested following a traffic stop Sunday evening, in the 1000 block of Highway 34. 31-year-old Corey Gloden, of Ft. Myers Beach, FL, was taken into custody at around 5-p.m., for Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st offense – Marijuana. His cash bond was set at $1,000 .

(Radio Iowa) – A University of Iowa study finds people who have a blundering boss will give them a pass if that boss is older, but they’ll judge more harshly if the boss is younger. Michele Williams, a U-I professor of management and entrepreneurship, co-authored the study that surveyed hundreds of professionals. It found workers are more willing to accept an incompetent boss who’s older and more experienced, but they’re less likely to tolerate incompetence if the boss is younger.

“When your boss is competent, age doesn’t matter,” Williams says. “If you’re a younger boss and you’ve been promoted and you’re doing a great job, people accept and respect you and think the performance system is fair, but when you’re less competent, then that older piece kicks in.” Those working under an older supervisor may convince themselves their employer’s promotion system is fair and their boss isn’t so bad. Williams says that worker is likely justifying a system that’s -not- fair, just to avoid the mental conflict that could result from acknowledging an unfair system.

“When they feel like they’re in a low power position or they don’t have many job alternatives or as the economy gets worse and jobs dry up,” Williams says, “then people are more likely to look to those status characteristics as evidence that their organization is fair because they want to justify the system.” The study found that workers who think their younger, less experienced boss is incompetent will begin to question the fairness of their employers’ promotion system. Williams says that can have a negative impact on their behavior, their morale, and their productivity.

“Using age as a marker of the fairness of the system is good for the organization, in the sense people aren’t getting disgruntled and they’re not complaining, but it is not good for the individual employee,” Williams says. “They’re not seeing things clearly. They’re accepting a boss that maybe they should be talking to the organization about getting someone else promoted into that position.” So what are the take-aways from the study? Williams says people need to remember to judge a person by their actions, not their appearance, and give the new boss an opportunity to prove him or herself.

“Transitions are difficult, so when you get a new boss coming in, it’s a change, they’re going to change the way things are done,” Williams says, “and keeping that open mind, and giving that person a chance — regardless of their age — is so important. Age is something that’s kind of still under the radar in our culture.”

The study is being published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.