No injuries were reported following an accident that occurred at around 3-p.m. Monday, here in Atlantic. The Police Department says vehicles driven by Dennis Toepfer, of Atlantic, and Steven Scheuring, of Defiance, collided at the intersection of 7th and Olive Streets, when Toepfer rear-ended Scheuring’s vehicle, as both were traveling westbound on 7th. When Toepfer didn’t see the vehicle in front of him was stopped at the red light due to the sun blinding him, he ran into the rear of the vehicle, causing a total of $4,000 damage. Toepfer was cited for failure to maintain control and reduce speed.

The Atlantic Police Department reports three people were arrested Monday. 30-year old Randi Shafer, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance. And, 29-year old Daniel Long, and 20-year old Taylor Short, both of Leon, were arrested on charges of Theft in the 2nd degree. All three of the individuals were booked into the Cass County Jail.

Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors explore the new Cass County Memorial Hospital Rehabilitation Center. Complete with a new pool and many other tools for assisting a rehabilitation patient, the team at the center have many areas of expertise including speech, occupational and physical therapy.

Pictured at the visit are Jane Kay, Tracy Milius, Becky Zinke, Ashley Williams, Erin Johnson, Ryan Legg, Carole Schuler, Dolly Bergmann, Pat McCurdy, Nedra Perry, Pat Markham, Mike Rohde, Whitney Welp, Nicole Schweigert, Sue Muri, Connie Wailes, Sara Nelson, Julie May, Christie Ladd, Haley Kickland, Rebecca Bowen, JoAnn Mueller, Steve Lewis, Bill Saluk, Doreen Ross, Russell Joyce, Rich Perry, Rita Willmont, and Linda Hemminger.

The Iowa Department of Transportation plans to start a five-year plan to spread out the renewal dates for driver’s licenses. D-O-T Motor Vehicle Division director, Mark Lowe, says it’s part of the effort to transition from five-year to eight-year licenses as directed by lawmakers. “Right now we have really significant swings in our renewal volumes and we are in a peak year right now. They range from as high as 530-thousand in some years down to about 275-thousand,” Lowe says.

In order to spread out the renewals, licenses will be issued with four different lengths. “The system will assign a person a five, six, seven or eight year license according to the percentages we determine for each year,” Lowe explains. “By the time we get to the end of it starting in 2019, we will have a very even distribution across an eight-year renewal cycle.” The hope is the even distribution of renewals will also make it so the lines at the driver’s license station aren’t longer in one year than another.

“When we have those big swings, it really strains our service delivery in those peak years, and then in low years we are really understaffed,” Lowe says. “So by evening that out we’ll be able to even out our resource distribution and provided better service at the same time.” He says knowing how many staff to have on hand will save them money. There are some restrictions on the eight-year license as the regulations regarding drivers under 18 and temporary foreign nationals will stay in place. Some of the state’s oldest drivers will not be eligible for a long-term license.

“If you are 72 or over, then the maximum license we can issue you is two years,” Lowe says. He says that’s a safety issue as they find drivers over 72 start to have more accidents and they want to assess their overall condition to drive more frequently. Lowe says they will still face another peak period of license renewals before the plan starts to even things out. “We will see early on the predominance of five-year licenses and then in 2017 we are going to see a shift to a predominance of eight-year licenses,” Lowe says.

It doesn’t matter how many years you get on your new license, the cost will stay at four dollars for each year. The D-O-T estimates the changes will save drivers three-point-four million dollars annually in reduced travel and time to get licenses. And it’s expected to save the department about one-point-eight-million dollars annually in production costs for licenses. For more information, got to the Iowa D-O-T’s website at: www.iowadot.gov.

(Radio Iowa)

Many Iowans purchase lottery games to give away as presents over the holidays. Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says she’s yet to hear from any of those gift givers who raised a dispute over a big prize. “We hear every year from people who say they got the ticket as a stocking stuffer or they got the ticket maybe in a holiday gift exchange and it ended up being a big winner and so far it doesn’t seem like the folks who gave the tickets didn’t have any hard feelings,” Neubauer says. “They were happy for the folks that they gave the tickets to.”

Some of the big winners this year might be young kids. “Here in Iowa the law says that you have to be 21 — at least 21 years old — to purchase lottery products, but you can be younger than 21 to play lottery products and if you were to win a prize in that case there’s a process where a parent or a guardian has to sign the claim form with you when you claim the prize,” Neubauer says, “so there certainly is a process in place for that.”

Neubauer notes that lottery games may not be an appropriate gift for anyone. “Certainly that applies to lottery tickets, but it could apply to a lot of things, you know, maybe the movie that you give somebody…or the video game that you give someone,” Neubauer says. “…Is it a violent game? Are you giving it to a small child? So we just want people to remember that, that certainly you are welcome to give whatever gift you would like, but some gifts may not be appropriate for certain people.”

(Radio Iowa)