Emergency crews from the Red Oak Fire Department this (Tuesday) morning responded to a reported airplane crash at the Red Oak Airport. Emergency Manager Brian Hamman reports the fire department was dispatched at around 8:30-a.m.

Photo’s courtesy Montgomery County Emergency Management Director Brian Hamman.

Crews arriving on scene found a single engine aircraft that appeared to have gone off the runway during landing and entered a bean field in the middle of the airport complex. The pilot and single occupant of the aircraft was outside the aircraft walking around. The unidentified pilot was uninjured in the crash that involved a 1965 Fixed Wing Single-Engine Cessna Model 150F registered to Call One Incorporated, out of Clarinda.

Hamman says the airport was closed for a short period of time while emergency crews were on the runway. At this time the scene has been turned over to the FAA for investigation. The Red Oak Fire Dept was assisted on scene by the Red Oak Police Dept, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency, City of Red Oak officials and airport authorities.

Several U-S senators from states along the Mississippi River are urging the U-S Army Corps of Engineers to abandon plans to radically cut water flows on the Missouri River. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the Corps is going to start, in his words, “impounding” water behind Missouri River reservoirs starting December 1st to prepare for the possibility of a dry spring ahead. “The problem is, that’s going to lead to major navigation problems on the Mississippi River, which also has low water levels because of this year’s drought,” Grassley says. “The result is, difficult shipping conditions for grain and other commodities.”

The Corps is moving the Missouri River into what it’s calling “drought reserve mode” and it will mean much less water flowing downriver. Grassley and the bipartisan group of senators wants that plan delayed, at least until the Mississippi River’s already-low channel can be cleared of obstacles. Grassley says, “We asked the Army Corps to demolish rock pinnacles, especially at Thebes, Illinois, and to delay impounding the Missouri River water until these rocks can be removed.”

Winter releases from Gavins Point Dam, near Yankton, South Dakota, will be dropped to minimum levels, averaging around 12-thousand cubic feet per second (CFS) starting on December 1st and running through the end of February. Current release levels from the dam have been running more than three times that level, at 38-thousand C-F-S. Grassley says that move to cut the flow on the Missouri will cause significant harm downriver. “The Mississippi River is vital to commerce for agriculture and other products headed to export markets,” Grassley says. “It’s very important also to move things, supplies up the river, particularly agriculture and coal.”

Ironically, water levels last year were at a record high on the Missouri River, with significant flooding that lasted from the spring through summer and into fall.

(Radio Iowa)

Members of the Griswold Community School District met Monday evening at the Middle School/High School Building. Superintendent Dana Kunze says the majority of their meeting was used to discuss last week’s Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) conference they attended, and related presentations. The Board did however take time to approve the specifications for a Lift Bus designed for handicapped persons. Kunze says they elected to solicit bids for the vehicle. He says also, the Griswold School Board approved an Early Retirement Policy similar to what was done in the past. The policy will be made available soon, for teachers in the district, to review.

The board also discussed wrapping up the parking lot and sidewalk improvement projects, where there are still some “loose ends,” according to Kunze.

Patrons of the Exira and Elk Horn-Kimballton Community School Districts have a chance to voice their concerns and ask questions about a potential reorganization of the Exira-EHK School District during meetings to be held tonight (Tuesday, Nov. 20th) in Exira, and next Thursday, in Elk Horn. Exira-EHK Superintendent Dr. Dean Schnoes, says the districts have been Whole Grade Sharing for the past couple of years, and using each other’s resources to save costs, but additional opportunities for cost savings will soon be going away.

He says on June 30^th, 2014, supplemental funds the districts receive for Whole Grade Sharing, “Goes away.” Schnoes said the next available “perk” for the districts, if they consolidate, is a lower tax rate per thousand, for three years. The kicker is, the districts have to reorganize.

The meeting tonight at Exira in the Middle School Lunchroom at 7 o’clock, and at the same time November 29^th in the EHK High School Lunchroom, is designed to gain input and guidance on what the districts need to do in order to make reorganization and consolidation possible. Schnoes says questions from the public are important, so he can find answers to those questions – if they don’t already have them – from the Department of Education, and others. He says Directors from the Green Hills and Heartland Area Education Agencies (AEA) will be at a joint meeting next Monday night, to explain the AEA’s role in the process.

The meetings are being facilitated to light a fire under the communities to get serious about the effort to reorganize, and Schnoes says he’s the temporary “Ignitor” for the cause. He says the districts have been working well together in the past, and if patrons want a tax break, they need to attend the meetings, ask questions, and work on the continuation of efforts to provide a “solid education for students,” by seeing the reorganization and consolidation process through.

The Clarinda Police Department reports the arrest on Saturday, of  20-year old Nicolas Theodore Lasley. The Clarinda man was taken into custody for second offense misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Lasley was arrested at 16^th & Grant Streets during a traffic stop. He was processed at the Jail and then released on his own recognizance pending an initial appearance in Page County Magistrate Court.

Police in Clarinda are investigating several incidents of the theft which were reported on Monday. Police Chief Keith Brothers says resident Bobby J. Hull reported that his home at 716 N. 12^th St had been burglarized sometime during the early morning hours of November 4th. Hull said entry to his home had been gained by removing a screen from a window. Various items of personal property, including money and jewelry were taken from the residence. The estimated value of stolen property is $445.00.

Chief Brothers says Lisa H. Holtz reported Monday that a 1999 Dodge she owns had been broken into while the vehicle was parked in the parking lot at Timber Creek apartments at 1010 N. 16^th St. Holtz said $100 in cash was taken from the vehicle sometime during the early morning hours of November 19^th.

Also this past Monday, employees at Cardinal Auto Sales in Clarinda reported that a Pioneer brand stereo system had been stolen from a 1993 GMC Suburban that was for sale at the dealership. The theft is believed to have occurred sometime during November 16-19. The value of the stereo system is estimated at $100.00.

And, Clarinda resident Elton Ray Provo reported the theft Monday, of some checks from an account Provo had closed some time ago. The report did not state where Provo believes the checks to have been stolen from. Provo resided for a period of time at Maplewood Trailer Court. He thinks the checks may have been left behind when he moved out of the trailer court.

Additional incidents of theft were reported to Clarinda Police on November 18th and 16th.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors will meet Wednesday morning, in Atlantic. During their 9-a.m. session in their boardroom at the Courthouse, the Supervisors are expected to act on allowing or disallowing Military exemptions and Homestead Credit applications for taxes collectible for Fiscal Year 2013-2014. And, if the paperwork is ready, act on an Ordinance removing parcels from the Amaizing Energy TIF District, as it pertains to the Division of Taxes Levied on Taxable Property in the Amaizing Energy Urban Renewal Area (URA), pursuant to the Code of Iowa.

The Board will also act on a contract for Private Development with Fagen Farms, if the contract is ready. And, approve two sub-recipient agreements for federally funded projects in Woodbine (the Walker Street Upper Story Apartment Rehab. and the Normal Street duplex/triplex construction).