Cass County Engineer Charles Marker said the bridge to the County Landfill which had been closed last week for repairs, has reopened, but there has been a delay in the arrival of guardrails that were ordered. Rather than keep the bridge closed until the guardrails are installed, they elected to re-open it, but install snow barriers to keep people away from the edge of the bridge. The barriers were just installed, and already they have been destroyed. The barrier was torn down by someone Tuesday night. They hadn’t even been up for a whole day. It was tossed into a ditch, which Marker says is very “aggravating.”

He issued a warning to those responsible for removing the safety barriers, and he urged people who live near the bridge to be watchful for suspicious activity in the area. He says if the activity ceases, they will keep the bridge open, but if it continues, they will be forced to close the bridge again, for liability reasons. Marker says they need the public’s help to make sure the damage doesn’t happen again.

The last County in southwest Iowa to rescind its ban on opening burning did so today (Wednesday). Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon told the Board of Supervisors and the media during the Board’s meeting Wednesday morning, that the Burn Ban would cease effective at Noon today. The ban has been in place for the past three-months. Kennon cautioned however, that if dry conditions return, the fire danger will return as well.

He says area Fire Chiefs are still concerned about unsupervised burns of large brush piles, which can smolder for days, left unattended.  Kennon says County residents still need to call their local fire chief if large outdoor burning is planned. He said you should also call the Cass County Communications Center at 243-2204 to report open burning plans before the fires are lit, so area departments aren’t sent out by calls to the Comm Center from concerned citizens and motorists who think a fire is wild or out of control.

Kennon says overall the Burn ban was successful, but there was some confusion about what was considered to be an “Open Burn,” versus outdoor recreational-type fire activities. He says those in a pit outside your home for barbeques and such, has always been allowed. He blames himself for the frustration and confusion among the public for not getting enough information out through the media, and making it clear what a “Burn Ban,” covers.

Even though the drought has dropped levels in Missouri River reservoirs drastically, last year’s flood damage is still being repaired at key points along the waterway. Just upriver, restoration is underway at Gavins Point Dam near Yankton, South Dakota. Dave Becker, the dam’s operations manager, says bank restoration work is being done just downstream from the dam on the north shore. “We lost about 12 foot of river bed there so we lost the foundation for that riprap,” Becker says. “That riprap work is going on and that’ll probably be going on for three or four more months.”

The water releases last summer topped 160-thousand cubic feet per second and caused damage along and under the concrete slab just in front of the spillway gates. Becker says repairs are planned for that area, too. “We are going to have to do some work on the spillway slab,” Becker says. “They have to do more testing on that. It’ll need to wait until our spillway flows stop, about Thanksgiving or so.”

Becker says contractors will drill through the massive slab, working to fill some voids that developed in the gravel bed under the concrete as the floodwaters churned. “They are going to drill through the slab, try and fill the two largest voids and they’ll drill more test holes through the slab to check what the conditions are below,” he says.

Much of the work will extend into next spring.

(Radio Iowa)

Citing the need to explore expanding and rewriting a 2010 ordinance concerning dog permits in Atlantic, the City’s Community Protection Commission, Tuesday, tabled action on forwarding a recommendation pertaining to Vicious Dog permits, to the City Council. Police Chief Steve Green said there are only two reasons a person would need to have a Vicious Dog permit. That includes a dog who has bitten someone, but is still “worthy of redeeming,” but needs to be insured to protect against loss. The other reason is if a person owns a guard dog, which by nature, is trained to be vicious. The owner he says, should have to insure against that animal getting loose and biting someone.

Green has his own definition of what constitutes a “Vicious Dog.” It is one who jumps up and attacks the torso or face or a person. He says no amount of insurance will replace the face of a child who is attacked by such an animal. Green says there is no reason to issue a permit for that type of animal within the City limits. Green and City Administrator Doug Harris agreed, the current definition in the ordinance is wrong, and giving the City Administrator control over how those permits should be issued, not having even seen the animal, is wrong.

Green is in the process of rewriting the guidelines and definitions for the ordinance. In other business, the CPC tabled action on truck parking within the City limits, because arrangements are in the works to possibly relocate the current parking lots for semis and other similar, large vehicles that are not allowed to park on City Streets.