Police in Red Oak say two southwest Iowa men were arrested on warrants charging them with burglary. 27-year-old Seth William Rogers, of Shenandoah, was arrested on a Page County warrant for 3rd degree burglary. Rogers was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond.

And, 27-year-old Kenton Jarvis Schooling, of Red Oak, was arrested a Montgomery County warrant charging him with two counts of forgery, and a Page County warrant for 3rd degree burglary. Schooling was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond associated with the charges in Montgomery County, and $5,000 bond for the charges in Page County.

Authorities in Montgomery County say an 18-year old female was arrested Wednesday night after she called authorities to say she was intoxicated, and needed help. Cassidy M. Colebank, of Villisca, called for help at around 11:35-p.m. She told authorities she was near the City Hall in Villisca, and by a parts store.

When deputies arrived, Colebank was laying on the sidewalk in front of the parts store, and was allegedly intoxicated. She acknowledged she had been drinking, but denied using anything other than alcohol. Colebank was checked-out by Villisca Rescue, but otherwise refused medical treatment.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says her Blood Alcohol Content was .110. The legal limit for intoxication in Iowa, is .08.  Colebank, who was charged with Public Intoxication, was transported to the Montgomery County Jail without incident. Her bond was set at $300.

A report in the Omaha World-Herald says a 4th grade  teacher with the West Monona Community School District in Onawa is facing a possession of methamphetamine charge, after authorities found her with meth hidden inside an artificial sweetener packet, tucked in her purse. 43-year old Karen Kay Bartelson was taken into custody west of Onawa, July 21st.  Marijuana and drug paraphernalia were also found to be in her possession. Barteleson was arrested along with two other people, who were charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Lyle Schwartz, superintendent of the district, told the paper that administrators will wait for the outcome of the criminal investigation before deciding on Bartelson’s future with the district.

The state’s annual sales tax holiday is this Friday and Saturday (August 3,4). Iowa Department of Revenue spokesperson, Victoria Daniels, says the holiday suspends the sales tax on purchases of shoes and clothes. “Basically anything that you can wear that is under a hundred dollars and qualifies as clothing and footwear, then you can purchase that tax free,” Daniels explains. She says the holiday was created as a way to help families save on back-to-school purchases, but you don’t have to be going to school to take advantage.

The rules are very specific about what qualifies for the tax exemption. “Anything that you would consider to be like an accessory, you know that’s not really clothing. Things like backpacks…specialized sports equipment, anything that you would use to repair clothing, those types of things don’t really qualify,” Daniels says. “It’s apparel, that you wear on your feet and your body, that’s about it.” Daniels says this is the 13th year for the sales tax holiday. The state first started collecting data on the holiday in 2006.  “It looks like the amount of sales reported on this day has grown at a pretty good rate, not huge. It did take a dive in 2008, which I think was around the time the economy went downhill, and so that’s to be expected. But it’s been climbing back up since then and has actually exceeded the amount reported in 2007,” according to Daniels.

Figures show many Iowans took advantage of the tax savings last year. “Retailers self-reported about 14-point-six million dollars worth of sales. And so if you multiply that by the six-percent state tax rate, that’s about 877-thousand dollars. Now that doesn’t include any local option sales tax,” Daniels says. There’s an additional one percent in savings for the areas that have a local option sales tax. You can find out more about the sales tax holiday at: www.iowa.gov/tax.

(Radio Iowa)