Firefighters from several western Iowa departments remained on the scene of a grain bin fire east of Shelby until about 10-a.m. Wednesday, or more than 7-hours after it was first reported. Crews from Shelby, Avoca, Harlan, Minden and Defiance were called to the scene north of Interstate 80, at 33804 400th Street. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker told the Omaha World-Herald the bin, which was worth about $30,000, contained about $60,000 in corn that was being dried. Officials say most of the corn was only damaged, and not destroyed. So it was still be used as cattle feed.

Avoca Assistant Fire Chief Keenan Martin says the blaze occurred sometime before 3-a.m., as his crew was dispatched at around 3:10-a.m.  Martin said Shelby Fire was already on the scene with pumper and tanker trucks when Avoca Fire arrived with their engine, tanker and support vehicle. He described what they saw: Heavy smoke and flames were emitting from the roof of the grain bin, and because and elevator link was hooked up, several bins around the main bin, were in danger of catching fire.

He said the situation was somewhat unusual, he said, with 20-foot high flames shooting from the roof of the bin, which held 8- to 12-thousand bushels of corn. He said it was a unique bin, in that  the dryer was on top. That allowed the fire to burn above about 75-percent of the corn being stored in the bin. The flames were coming from the top of the structure and over-shooting the roof when his crews arrived.

The structure was likely not salvageable, according to Martin. Avoca Fire was on the scene for about 6-hours. No injuries were reported. A cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

(Ric Hanson-KJAN/Joel McCall-KNOD)

The Harlan Municipal Utilities (HMU) approved a capacity agreement with the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). In a regular meeting Tuesday, the HMU board agreed to the contract to help with peak electricity emergencies and as a back up in case an outage was to occur. Chief Executive Officer Darrell Wenzel explained to the board the contract costs $700 per month and is mainly for peak times during summer months. HMU would incur a fine in the sum of $93,000 if they did not have the agreement. The contract with WAPA will run from now until December 31st, 2015.

In other business, HMU agreed to a new nepotism policy. The policy is for conflicts of interest that could arise including when circumstances exist which would place relatives in a situation of actual or reasonably foreseeable conflict between HMU’s interest and their own. Wenzel stated HMU needed the policy in case two individuals such as family members or domestic partners, outside the work setting that could make it difficult for the individual with the decision-making responsibility to be objective or that for a reasonable person would create the appearance that such an individual may not be objective.

During the director’s report, recently hired office manager Krista Allen told the board a financial change has been made in the office. Previously, HMU had hired an outside identity to work on financials. However, Allen is taking on the responsibilities for all the financials to make things easier and get the financial information out quicker to the board members and officials with HMU.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, took under advisement, a request from Elizabeth Tobak, who asked for $1,400 in funding for a continuation of her “I Care About Kids” PRICE Parenting classes. Tobak has presented the classes for several years, but none has been held for the past four-years, due to a lack of interest. Auditor Dale Sunderman says according to Tobak, interest has recently been renewed in the classes, which teach the basics of positive parenting to new parents. Sunderman says PRICE stands for Positivity, Responsibility, Influence, Consequences and Encouragement.

In a letter to the Board of Supervisors, Tobak says she would like to teach two, four-session PRICE Parenting Seminars and one, “1,2,3,4 Parents” class, beginning in January, 2014. In the past, the County has budgeted $1,200 for its contribution to the program.

In other business, the Cass County Board passed a motion to allow or disallow homestead credit and military service exemption claims for Fiscal Year 2013-2014 taxes collectible in FY 2014-2015, and a motion to exempt from taxation (for taxes collectible Fiscal Year 2015 – Jan. 1, 2013 values), all valuation on three parcels owned by the City of Atlantic, at the Municipal Airport.

In a letter to the Board from City Administrator Doug Harris, he said “The taxes on Atlantic’s Airport should be abated because it meets the exemptions under Section 427.1 of the Iowa Code as this property is devoted to public use and is not held for pecuniary profit.” The County has received a similar request for the past two-years. Sunderman said the reason the matter was brought before the board was because of a difference in opinion between the Assessor and Harris, on what “Pecuniary profit” is.

With State law having changed with regard to funding for the Mental Health and Disabilities Services in Iowa, Counties are forming Regions to respond to the changes. The Southwest Region includes nine counties (Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawatttamie and Shelby). Local advisory and Community input meetings have been scheduled to take place across the Southwest Region. The first was held Tuesday, in Shenandoah. Cass County Mental Health/General Relief Coordinator Teresa Kanning said the next meeting will be held in Pottawattamie County. She says the meeting takes place Dec. 19^th at the Oakland Community Center (614 Dr. Van Zee Road), in Oakland.

The meeting begins at 3-pm and runs until 5-p.m. In the event of a snowstorm, it will be held January 7^th at the same location. The public is invited to attend the session to provide input into the current mental health service system, including what you feel works and doesn’t work. It’s also designed to: develop ideas for future service needs, including Crisis Response in rural areas; Build relationships and interest in participating in Local Advisory Councils, and to provide an overview of the developing region’s progress, administrative structure, future board and advisory structure, and current service systems.

Anyone who is a consumer of mental health services, family members of those using mental health and disability services, community mental health/developmentally disabled service providers and those interested in being a part of forming the Southwest Iowa MH/DS Region, is urged to attend. The meeting is being facilitated by Beth Morrissette, Executive Director of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Network.

If you miss the Dec. 19^th meeting in Oakland, there will be a final session in Harrison County, January 21^st,  at the Dunlap City Hall.

Officials with Iowa Western Community College in Atlantic report that with the help of local donors, a new piece of technology has been purchased for the Design Technology Program, with the goal of understanding how objects can be taken from the physical world, translated into a virtual image, and then reproduced (using a 3-D printer) back into the physical world. The piece of equipment, made by FARO Industries, is commonly referred to as the FARO Arm and Laser Scanner.

FARO arm & laser scanner (Picture from FARO.com)

By using a highly tuned laser scanner, thousands of points per second are reflected off of the surface of an object. The result is a collage of hundreds of thousands of points, (referred to as a “point cloud”), which is reminiscent of a 3-D game of connect-the-dots. The point cloud is then uploaded to specialized software that connects all the points to create solid surfaces. At this point, the object can be manipulated and altered to fit the needs of the Design Technology students. Once the virtual image is verified, the students can then hit the “Print” button and the design will spring to life, creating a copy of the object that was just scanned.

This technology now gives students the opportunity to recreate objects that may be too complex to measure with traditional hand tools. With the FARO Laser Scanner, students can now capture all of the free-flowing, aerodynamic curves. The tandem function of Design Technology’s 3-D printer and the Faro Laser Scanner gives Design Tech students a unique experience during their education. In addition, it creates a broad skill set that will earn them the opportunity to be employed in a wide variety of positions across a full spectrum of industries.