The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests over the weekend. On Saturday, 26-year old Sarah Beth Ewing, of Griswold, was arrested on a charge of Driving While Barred. Ewing was taken to the Cass County Jail where she was released later that day on $2000 bond. And, on Sunday, 19-year old Dillon Douglas Bates, of Griswold, was cited into Magistrate Court for being an underage person in possession of Alcohol.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports a Walnut woman was arrested today (Wednesday) on a State Fire Marshal’s warrant for Arson 2^nd Degree, an Atlantic Police Department warrant for Conspiracy, a District Court warrant for Failure to Appear, and a Sheriff’s Office warrant for Driving Under Suspension.

Katrina Sue Bates (booking photo courtesy Cass Co. Sheriff's Office)

 45-year old Katrina Sue Bates was brought to the Cass County Jail, where she was being held without bond, on the Conspiracy charge. The charge was brought in association with the August 6th, 2010 fire at the former Wyman’s Building on West 7th Street in Atlantic. The owner of the building, 49-year old Jerry Jay Wyman plead guilty in December 2010, to Conspiracy and Insurance Fraud charges. A charge of 2^nd Degree arson was dismissed in exchange for his plea. Wyman received a 5-year suspended sentence. He was instead placed on two-years supervised release, and ordered to reside in a Residential Corrections Facility. In May 2011, Wyman was released from the RCF on supervised probation, until December 2012.  The building was recently torn down.

Cass County Attorney Dan Feistner told KJAN News Katrina Sue Bates (formerly known as Katrina Forde) was arrested by authorities in Pottawattamie County on or about May 1^st in Louisiana, pursuant to a Federal warrant. She was extradited back to Pott. County and held on felony burglary charges. In May, she entered a written plea of not guilty to those charges. On Tuesday (July 24^th), the case against her was dismissed according to Feistner “In the interest of justice.” Additional charges are still pending against her, in Cass and Audubon Counties. 

Her husband, 47-year old Douglas Dean Bates, plead guilty in Jan. 2011, to a charge of Arson in the 2nd Degree. He received a 10-year suspended sentence, and two-years of supervised probation, in addition to credit for time served. Last week (July 18^th), he was sentenced to 15-years in prison, for Conspiring to Distribute Methamphetamine in and around Cass County.  Douglas Bates was also ordered to serve a five year term of supervised release following incarceration. On February 21st, 2012, he plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance – methamphetamine. The conviction was the result of a three year investigation into methamphetamine trafficking in and around Atlantic.

Cass County Engineer Charles Marker appeared before the Board of Supervisors during their meeting Wednesday morning, in Atlantic. Marker provided the Board with an update on the various projects the Secondary Roads Department is handling. He said they have completed basically all of the culvert-related projects that they have material available for. That also includes all of the paving jobs, such as the Marne Road. The only thing that remains is some shoulder work, and some guardrails on the bridge coming into Marne. 

With the culvert pipes being installed, Marker says their attention now turns to a couple of bridges they’ve been examining, which will likely need deck replacement. The wooden decks will be replaced with corrugated steel. One is a high truss bridge is from Buck Creek Road to Chicago Road. The second, a steel I-beam bridge is located near Cumberland, just off Quincy Road and 710^th Street. Marker says the improvements will help the bridges have a longer, useful lifespan before they need to be completed replaced. An overflow bridge just to the east of the landfill road bridge also is in need of repair. A steel I-beam bridge two-miles north of Cumberland and one-mile East, will get a new deck as well, along with other improvements.  

(12-p.m. news)

AARP Magazine ranks Omaha-Council Bluffs as one of the ten best metro areas in the country to live on one-hundred dollars a day. Gabi Redford, the magazine’s editorial projects manager, says they looked for cities where a person could live most comfortably on an annual income of 36-thousand-500 dollars a year.  “The $100 a day was a nice round number, plus, we know that many seniors are living on a fixed income,” Redford says. “Many seniors are actually living just on their Social Security income and that’s a very modest amount of money.”

She says one of the first things they looked at were cities that had an extremely affordable housing market. She says the Omaha metro area’s median home price is $123,000, while the area also has many cultural offerings, parks, hiking, biking and other recreational activities. Redford says they also looked at things ranging from the arts to health care facilities to educational opportunities in determining the top ten list. 

The cost of living in Omaha-Council Bluffs is very affordable, she says, considering categories including: groceries, utilities, health care, transportation and one of the nation’s lowest unemployment rates. The other cities in the top ten are: Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Las Cruses, New Mexico; Spokane, Washington; Roanoke, Virginia; San Antonio, Texas; Grand Junction, Colorado; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Morgantown, West Virginia and Gainesville, Florida.