Four employees at the state-run Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant testified before the Iowa Senate Oversight Committee Wednesday, disputing the governor’s assertion that their facilities are antiquated. Sue Rehwaldt-Hays is an occupational therapist who has worked at the Clarinda M-H-I since 1984. She says, just like the Iowa statehouse, the facility in Clarinda has been updated with recent renovations like new windows, new furniture and a fire alarm system that’s still being installed.

“You can do a lot of treatment and you can care for a lot of people in an old building and you can make a lot of decisions in an old building,” Rehwaldt-Hays said. Anna Short worked as a drug abuse counselor at the Mount Pleasant M-H-I until last week. Many of her former patients who’ve made a success of their lives after treatment there called after learning the place was closing.

“None of those success stories when they all called to tell me how well they were doing mentioned anything about an old building that they had to reside in during their stay,” Short said. “They seemed to be more concerned about the care that they received while they were there.” Short says the facility was actually built in the 1960s and, in the past year, it got brand new, specially-made furniture that was bolted to the floor in the psych ward; a new, million dollar elevator and a new security system.

“If I didn’t know better, you’d think it was prepping for the new owner,” Short quipped. Cindy Fedler, a nurse clinician, worked her last day at Mount Pleasant on April 6th. Fedler and the others argued the services of the mental health institutes are a crucial last resort for patients suffering from an acute mental illness who have failed in other settings. “I think we’re all very well aware that…really, we have a mental health crisis in Iowa right now,” Fedler said.

A woman from Shenandoah who gave her name as Christina spoke briefly as well, telling legislators her outpatient treatment elsewhere hadn’t worked and it was “vital” to be admitted for a month at Clarinda. “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for that place,” she said. “…My illness was that bad that I needed that long stay.” She is now working full-time.

The Branstad Administration’s plan is to close the two mental health institutes in southern Iowa, but keep the M-H-I’s in Cherokee and Independence open. A spokesman for the agency in charge says there will be 30 MORE beds available after July 1st for in-patient treatment of acutely mentally ill patients in the two facilities than had been available when all four Mental Health Institutes were operating at full capacity.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The grieving family of an officer has bought his police dog from the Sioux City Police Department. The Sioux City Journal reports that Sgt. Jay Fleckenstein died Friday of natural causes at his home. He was 39.

The department bought the dog, a Belgian Malinois named “Eik,” from Fleckenstein in 2009. The officer had raised and trained Eik since he was a puppy. A police news release says the purchase agreement included an option that Fleckenstein’s family would be able to buy back Eik if Fleckenstein were to leave the department for any reason.

Eik had nearly six years on duty with Fleckenstein. The dog would have been required to be recertified before returning to service with another officer.

A man police identified as a transient was arrested early this (Thursday) morning, in Council Bluffs, during an investigation into the theft of a vehicle. Bluffs Police spokesman Benjamin Roth says at around 2-a.m., officers were dispatched to the Bucky’s store at 2713 South 24th Street, in reference to a stolen vehicle that had just occurred. The vehicle had been left running while its occupants entered the business.

While in the store, someone entered the vehicle and stole it from the parking lot. Within minutes of the initial dispatched call, a deputy for the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department located the vehicle belonging to 26-year old Leslie Ventura, of Sioux Falls, SD. Police stopped the car in the 3500 block of 4th Avenue.

The driver, identified as 33-year old Ryan Scott Beers, was taken into custody without incident, and charged with theft 2nd. The Council Bluffs Police Department reminds you not to leave their vehicles running while entering businesses, as it makes an easy target for thefts such as this one.