The Cass County Board of Supervisors have set February 13^th and 20^th as the dates for public hearings over a proposed amendment to the County’s zoning ordinance, which would allow for the creation of businesses that allow gun sales and service, along with an indoor shooting range. Under the current zoning ordinance, such businesses are not allowed.

The County’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved the proposed amendment during its meeting Jan. 24^th, and have forwarded their recommendation on to the Board of Supervisors, who will decide on the amendment’s fate after the two public hearings are held. A local man has proposed establishing a gun sales/repair and indoor shooting range business, near Massena.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors were supposed to have met Thursday, with a representative of the Jailer’s Union with regard to an exchange of collective bargaining proposals, but the AFSCME representative failed to show up. Regardless, Auditor Dale Sunderman provided the media with copies of both proposals.There were many areas of the three-year contact where the County and the Jailer’s Union disagree. One of those areas concerns wages.

The Union proposes a 3.5-percent wage increase effective July 1^st, 2013, for all steps and pay grades of the salary schedule, and a shift differential increase amounting to 80-cents per hour for jailers, which would match that of deputies. The County instead, proposes giving all Deputies a base annual salary, which is 70-percent of the Sheriff’s annual base salary. All remaining non-deputy union members would receive a 3-percent salary increase.

Cass County says it also does not agree with the Union, with regard to discussion about the Sheriff’s Office overtime policy, and Holiday time for regular full-time employees, which would allow 11 holidays instead of the previous 10, and would include Christmas Eve. The County also does not see eye-to-eye with the Union as far as Standby and on-call pay is concerned, whereas the Union proposes employees will be paid a minimum of two-hours, when called out while on standby.

There are others issues for which the two sides do not agree, including the County’s request all union Jail employees contribute more toward the cost of their insurance per month, beginning in year two of the contract. The increase would amount to $20 the second year and $40 the third year.

No date was set at the end of the Supervisor’s meeting for both sides to sit down and hold a closed session on the initial bargaining attempt, which is the next step in the negotiating process.

Officials in Shelby County say a county road department employee suffered only minor injuries following a rollover accident in a snowplow Wednesday. The Shelby County Sheriff’s say 45 year old Tracy Klein of Harlan was traveling east on County Road F-58 in a 1998 Mack snow plow when blowing snow blinded the driver. The plow drifted onto the south shoulder and was pulled into the south ditch.

Once in the ditch, the vehicle rolled over one and one-half times coming to rest on the driver side. The accident took place around 6:55am Wednesday about one half mile east of Elk Horn. The Elk Horn Fire Department responded and had to extricate Klein from the plow. He was transported to Myrtue Memorial Hospital for treatment.

(This is an update to our earlier, posted story)

Three Atlantic teens were arrested Wednesday night for using and possessing homemade explosive devices, after police responded to a report of “shots fired.” Atlantic Police Chief Steve Green said the call about activity in the 300 block of Maple Street came in at around 9:10-p.m. Green says the officers arriving also heard what sounded like gun shots, and observed  individuals in the second story of an apartment looking out the window. Green says an investigation determined the individuals were allegedly throwing pop bottle bombs outside from the window to the ground and watching them blow up.”

The officers who arrived and heard the loud noises had their guns drawn, but no shots were fired from their weapons. Soon after the individuals were questioned, officers discovered two unexploded bottle bombs in the yard. The Iowa State Patrol responded and disabled the devices by firing rubber bullets at them to relieve the pressure inside the bottles. He says rubber bullets are generally used for riot control and while not intended to be lethal, if fired at a person’s head, they can become lethal.

Green says that would explain why people thought they heard two different sets of gunshots. One was the bottle bombs going-off, the other was the sound of rubber bullets being fired. Taken into custody following the investigation, was 19-year old Daylan Kleen, 17-year old Bryce Gehling, and 17-year old Jeremy Stone, all of Atlantic.  All three were charged with Reckless use of Fire or an Explosive Device (a Serious Misdemeanor), Unauthorized Possession of Weapons/Homemade explosive (a Class D felony), and Using Explosives with the Intent to Commit a Public Offense (a Class C felony). Kleen was booked into the Cass County Jail, while Gehling and Stone were later released to the custody of their parents, pending an appearance in juvenile court.

Chief Green says in the early 1990’s kids were blowing up mailboxes with bottle bombs comprised of common household chemicals, and the stiffer charges are intended to demonstrate that type of activity will not be tolerated again.