DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad has ordered flags flown at half-staff Friday to honor a volunteer firefighter and state trooper who died in separate accidents this week.

Firefighter Michael Collins of Shelby was struck by a vehicle and killed while directing traffic Sunday around a car accident on Interstate 80 in western Iowa. Trooper Mark Toney was killed when his patrol vehicle crashed while on patrol near Indianola on Tuesday. Collins’ funeral is scheduled for Friday. Toney’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday. Flags flown at all state buildings and facilities across the state will be flown at half-staff from Friday until Monday. Individuals, businesses, schools, cities and counties are encouraged to also lower their flags to half-staff during that time.

An eight-person jury in Atlantic deliberated for less than two-hours Wednesday afternoon before finding an Adair man to be a sexually violent predator. According to Cass County District Court documents, 52-year old David Charles Whetstone was remitted to the custody of the Director of the Department of Human Services, where he will be controlled, receive care and treatment for “His mental abnormality” until he is deemed safe for placement in a transitional release program, or discharged. The court made it clear his was a civil, and NOT a criminal, commitment.

Whetstone was immediately sent to the DHS Civil Commitment Unit for Sexual Offenders on the campus of the Cherokee Mental Health Institute, in Cherokee, where in addition to treatment, he will receive an annual medical examination of his mental state of being. The judge also said Whetstone must register as a sex offender before he is released from confinement, and submit a sample of his DNA to be kept on file. The sentence is subject to appeal.

In May 2008, Whetstone was found guilty of Assault with the Intent to Commit Sexual Abuse, an aggravated serious misdemeanor offense. The incident which led to his arrest and conviction occurred on April 4th, 2008. He was sentenced in August of that year to a two-year prison term. Prior to his release from prison and parole, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office filed a petition to have Whetstone committed, as an “extremely dangerous sexually violent predator.”

A little more than two-years earlier, Whetstone pled guilty to a charge of Disorderly Conduct, and was ordered to pay a $100 fine, following an incident which occurred between Whetstone and Greenfield Republican Representative Clel Baudler. Baulder told KJAN News in February 2006, that Whetstone had been harassing him for nearly a year, and had made veiled threats against his life.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A Council Bluffs man who told police that he performed a sex act on a cat and then threw it out of a seventh-floor window has been given two years in prison. Thirty-year-old Gerardo Martinez was arrested after officers  found the dead cat on a sidewalk outside a Council Bluffs apartment building on Aug. 3. Officers say Martinez was naked and told them he used methamphetamine and had had sex with the cat.

Court records say Martinez pleaded guilty last week to animal torture. A charge of beastiality was dropped. Martinez is a registered sex offender in Iowa. Online Iowa records say he was convicted in Pottawattamie County of sexual abuse of a girl age 13 or under in 1998.

Authorities in Shelby County are warning about a scam being perpetrated on area residents following the death of a local firefighter. Officials with the Shelby Fire and Rescue Department have learned residents are receiving phone calls asking for donations, which the caller says will help the family of Shelby volunteer firefighter Mike Collins, of Minden, who was hit by a vehicle and killed Sunday night on Interstate 80, while assisting at the scene of an accident.

A telemarketing firm has been making phone calls to residents around the area, asking for donations to the “Mike Collins Fund.” When officials with the Shelby Fire and Rescue squad heard about the scam Wednesday, they issued an alert asking resident to hang up the phone if you receive such a call, and report it to the authorities.

The only legitimate fund for the family of Mike Collins is at the Shelby County State Bank, Shelby Branch. Officials say the bank will NOT call and ask for your donation. They will accept donations in person or by mail, at an address we provided you with earlier this week, here on KJAN. The address can be found in the story we posted about Collins’ death, at www.kjan.com. Click on “News” under the “Community Hub” tab, and look for the story on September 20^th.