The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday) approved a proposed preliminary plat for a new subdivision, located about 2.5-miles south of Atlantic near the old Walnut Grove Research Farm. Zoning Administrator Rich Hansen said plans for the Walnut Grove Subdivision off of Highway Six, started last October. He said the septic systems have already been approved, the utilities are accessible and hard surface roads are nearby for those who want to construct homes on at least three of four available lots. Plans for the fourth lot, which is a little over 11-acres are still being discussed.

Hansen said there were also some issues with regard to easements for some water lines, but the zoning board approved the preliminary plat, and recommended the Supervisors follow suit. Hopefully, he says, that issue will be resolved by the time the final plat is presented to the zoning board.

Hansen says the land itself won’t be rezoned. It’s classified as agricultural, and the prospective property owners were made aware of that.  The subdivision is bordered on the north by Lansing Road, on the east-southeast side by Highway Six, on the west/southwest by the Jerry and Linda Petersen, and Billy and Leanne Pellett properties, and the Pellet property on the south.

In other business, the Cass County Board of Supervisors approved expense appropriations for Fiscal Year 2012, certified the base salaries of deputies serving county offices, a two-percent across the board compensation increase for non-union or other such county employees, and a 28-E agreement with Adair County for the services of Cass County Engineer Charles Marker. The 28-E agreement stipulates Marker will get a two-percent increase in pay, the cost of which will be shared by the two-counties.

About one-third of the City of Atlantic and a large part of a rural area served by an Atlantic Municipal Utilities substation were without power for a few minutes Tuesday evening, thanks to a previously unknown problem.

Greg Smith, AMU’s Director of Electric Operations said they were putting in a new control system at around 4:45-p.m., and when they went to test the system and operate a breaker remotely, they quickly discovered a problem with some of the older wiring. Smith says result was a signal being sent to a wrong breaker, which opened-up and caused the Chestnut Street substation to briefly go off-line. He says it‘s a good thing they found the problem because the wiring was incorrect.

He says once the signal was sent and the breakers were tripped, they were able to clear the alarms and restore electrical service.  Smith says they are working to correct the problem so it doesn’t occur again.

An old scam is making a comeback. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office is making the public aware of a scam that is currently going around in our area.

The scam involves a person who — in most cases — calls, claiming to be a grandchild or another relative. The individuals claims they are in jail and need money.

The Sheriff’s Office encourages anyone receiving a call of that nature to be extremely suspicious, and to ask questions of the caller, that only your grandchild or other relative would know the answers to.

In addition, before offering any financial help or information, you should to attempt to contact your grandchild or other relative yourself, to verify the story being told to you. You may recall, a year or so ago, we told you an area resident received a similar call from a person claiming to be a man’s grandson who was in jail in Canada.

When the resident asked the caller a question only his grandson could answer, the person on the other end of the phone became upset and eventually hung-up. The man later called his grandson to confirm he was NOT in trouble with the law.