Officials with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday their K9’s “Vader” and “Mufasa” recently received bullet- and stab-protective vests thanks to the efforts of Vested Interest in K9s, Inc, a Massachusetts based non-profit organization. The made-to-order vests were recently delivered and will protect the K9’s from bullet and stab wounds as well as blunt force trauma.

Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. is a 501c (3) all volunteer charity located in East Taunton, MA, whose mission is to provide bullet and stab protective vests for law enforcement dogs throughout the United States. Each vest costs $950.00 and has a 5 year warranty. The nonprofit was established in 2009 to assist law enforcement agencies with this potentially life-saving body armor for their four-legged K9 officers. Through private and corporate sponsorships, Vested Interest in K9s, Inc., has provided over 435 law enforcement dogs with protective vests since their inception in August of 2009. Over $400,000 in K9 vests have been donated in 35 states including Alaska and Hawaii.

Two recent events made it possible for the charity to provide 217 vests for our four-legged crime fighters across the country.  In January 2013, a regional Groupon Grassroots campaign naming Vested Interest in K9s as a charity partner raised over $55,000 which allowed the donation of 53 K9 vests, and a nationwide Groupon campaign in March 2013 raised over $155,000, providing vests for 163 K9s in 30 states.

The organization orders the Armor Express vests made in Central Lakes, MI, exclusively from distributor Regency Police Supply in Hyannis, MA, who also does the custom embroidery on the body armor. New K9 graduates as well as K9’s with expired vests are eligible to apply for the ballistic vests.

For more information about Vested Interest in K9s visit www.vik9s.org or call 508-824-6978.

SHENANDOAH, Iowa (AP) – A southwest Iowa medical center has suspended a surgeon who is facing disciplinary action by the Iowa Board of Medicine.  The Daily Nonpareil in Council Bluffs says Dr. Subir Ray was suspended Friday by the Shenandoah Medical Center.  The Iowa board says Ray has been practicing in Iowa without informing the board he had been disciplined by Pennsylvania.

Ray had worked in Harrisburg, Pa., before beginning his work in Shenandoah. He was disciplined by the Pennsylvania Board of Medicine in November 2011. That board concluded Ray had engaged in unprofessional conduct and, during an evaluation, failed to diagnose and manage complications in a timely manner. The Pennsylvania board put Ray on indefinite suspension.

Police in Harlan say no injuries were reported following two, separate, recent accidents. On Saturday, vehicles driven by Donna Stephens, of Woodbine, and Jeanne Beilenberg, of Harlan, collided as Beilenberg’s 2002 Ford was traveling south in the 2300 block of the 23rd Street frontage road. Stephens was pulling out of the service station when her 1985 Chrysler  hit the Ford in the rear end, causing minor damage to both vehicles.  The damage amounted to $800. There were no citations.

And, on September 3rd, Mellisa Fitzpatrick, of Harlan, was cited for failure to yield upon entering a through highway and failure to have insurance, after her 1999 Dodge collided with a 1997 Ford driven by Eric Rose, of Harlan. The accident at the intersection of 8th and Chatburn Avenue, happened as Rose was traveling west on Chatburn and Fitzpatrick was heading north from Southwest Avenue and crossing Chatburn.

Fitzpatrick’s vehicle hit Rose’ car on the driver’s side, causing his vehicle to veer into a stop sign, while Fitzpatrick’s car to come to rest on the grass, past the curb line.

Police in Harlan report the arrest on Sunday of a local resident on burglary and other charges. 23-year old Jeremy Bias, of Harlan, was caught thanks to tips from citizens, after he allegedly tried to break into a car. Bias was charged with four counts of Burglary in the 4th degree, Criminal Mischief, Public Intoxication, ongoing criminal conduct and possession of stolen property. A search of his residence resulted in the recovery of numerous items reported stolen over the past two weeks. Those items were seized and held as evidence in the case against him.

On Saturday, officer with the Harlan P-D arrested 31-year old Justin Henriksen, of Harlan, on charges of OWI/2nd offense, eluding, and careless driving. Henriksen was taken into custody after a brief pursuit, which ended near 8th and Farnam Streets. That same day, a Harlan resident reported to police the theft of his 1999 Chevy Blazer. The vehicle was stolen from a residence in the 1200 block of College Boulevard. The incident remains under investigation.

Officials report also, 32-year old Kevin Bruck, of Harlan, was arrested Sept. 3rd on an active Shelby County warrant for Theft in the 5th degree. Meyers was booked into the Shelby County Jail. Authorities meanwhile continue to investigate the theft of several high end golf clubs belonging to several individuals. The clubs were stolen from the Harlan Golf and Country Club. The incident was reported on August 28th. Officials say there are no suspects at this time.

Also under investigation, is an incident involving damage to a light pole at the Westridge Acres trailer court. The pole was found Saturday, laying across the road, with the light still lit. Crews with HMU disconnected power from the pole, so it could be removed.

The Atlantic Police Department reports the arrest on Monday of 20-year old Bradley Herring, of Atlantic. Herring was taken into custody on a charge of Criminal Mischief in the 4th degree. He was booked into the Cass County Jail pending an appearance before the magistrate.

A bird flying into an electrical  substation in Griswold Tuesday morningcaused 1,180 customers of Mid-American Energy to lose power. Tina Potthoff, Media Relations Manager for the utility company, told KJAN News the outage affecting parts of three counties began at 8:07-a.m.  By 10:20-a.m., 1,100 people were still without power.

She said crews “Are working to restore electricity as safely and efficiently as possible.”  Potthoff said they were working to get those still without power switched to a different circuit. She said the substation itself has to be repaired before it can come back online. And, while unable to provide a specific timeline for when all customers might have power returned, Potthoff said they are hoping to do so early this afternoon.

At it’s peak, 1,180 customers were left without power. That included 564 in Griswold, 226 in Lewis, 201 in Elliott, and a dozen or so customers in Pottawattamie and Montgomery Counties. Power was restored to all customers by no later than 2:15-p.m.

The Harlan Community School District approved three sharing agreements with three separate school districts. In a meeting Monday, the Harlan Community School Board approved the sharing agreements of a college English teacher with AHST, Librarian with the Exira-EHK district and an ESL/Curriculum Director with the Atlantic School District.

The college English teacher agreement is not something new as the Harlan Community and A-H-S-T districts have shared for 4 years. The district saves more than $9,600 in costs by sharing the position. The teacher/librarian position is a unique one for both districts. Harlan Community held a staff member last year for the position however Mrs. Evans-Winfield retired. Superintendent Justin Wagner said after posting for the job, the district didn’t have much interest so they asked Evans-Winfield back to share between the Harlan Community and Exira-EHK District. Wagner says it is a big benefit to both schools as EHK meets a certification and the Harlan Community School district saves about $35,000.

The final agreement approved was with the Atlantic School District for an ESL/Curriculum Director. The Harlan Community School District held a full time position last year for the ESL but this year the Primary-Elementary Principal Scott Frolich is stepping in for that role with the help from the Atlantic School District. Wagner said this is yet another cost savings as the Curriculum Director from Atlantic will cost a a little more than $11,870, which saves the district more than $15,890 altogether, over the last year.

With the agreements with the districts, the Harlan Community School District met state incentives from the state for additional money from the Operational Sharing Dollars. Wagner said that is an additional $240,000 because the district met the criteria in both scenarios.

The district will receive their operational sharing dollars at the beginning of next year. In other business, the Harlan Community Board hired Kent Klinkefus for head softball coach, Megan Tasler for assistant middle school cross country coach and Sam Brummer for head boy’s track coach. All three will start their position during their respective sport’s season.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

A power outage has caused the Griswold schools to be dismissed today.  Students and teachers were greeted with the power troubles this morning.  Superintendent Dana Kunze says they don’t have the ability to cook meals and several interior rooms don’t have windows so they are sending students home.  Buses will run from the elementary school at 11:00 am and from the high school at 11:25 am.  Students who have the ability to get home from the middle school and high school have already been dismissed.  Kunze says they are contacting elementary student parents to make arrangements for those students to be dismissed.