Sheriff’s officials in Fremont County report a Des Moines woman was arrested last week on drug and other charges. 40-year old Annette LaVonne Thompson was taken into custody for 1^st Offense OWI, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Open Container, and for Driving Under Suspension. Thompson made her initial appearance in court on Thursday.

And, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports a Fergus Falls, Minnesota woman escaped injury on September 4^th, after the car she was driving hit a sand pile caused by the road closure on North Street, in Hamburg. Kathleen Kostrewski’s 1999 Pontiac Sunfire flipped once, and ended up on its wheels.

Voters across Iowa will head to the polls Tuesday, to elect their school board members and make a decision other, school related matters. The polls open at Noon at close at 8-p.m.  In Cass County, there are contested races in the Atlantic Community School District, where there are three At Large seats to fill. Incumbents Dennis Davis, Phil Hascall and Jon Martens are up for re-election, along with Rodney Hartwig. Voters in Atlantic will also act on approving a Physical Plant and Equipment levy that would allow the district to ask for up to 85-cents per thousand dollars of taxable valuation, beginning in the Fiscal year ending June 30^th, 2013. The levy would remain in effect for the following 10-years.

In the newly re-organized CAM Community School District, Julie Williamson is the lone candidate for the North District, and incumbent Todd McKee is unopposed for the South District. In the Griswold Community School District, Scott Peterson is running unopposed for the District 2 seat, and Douglas Lembke is unopposed in District 6.  They are expected to replace two retiring Board members, Mary Perdue and Angie Amos.  Incumbents Scott Hansen and Clarion Campbell are also unopposed in Districts 4 and 7 respectively.  Voters in the Griswold District will also decide whether or not to adopt a renewed Revenue Purpose Statement. Superintendent Dana Kunze  says it‘s basically a continuation of “business as usual” with regard to how sales, service and other tax funds from the State of Iowa can be used.  He says it’s an extension of the statement for a few more years. It will not increase or decrease taxes paid by the district’s patrons. It will allow the district to plan for some large projects. That includes the Griswold High School parking lot, which Kunze says is in pretty rough shape.  It also includes a new roof for the high school, projects will can be completed without having to raise property taxes, which is something that hasn’t been done in a while. In fact, in the last year, those taxes were lowered by One-dollar per thousand dollars valuation. Patrons of the district may vote at the Community Building in Elliott, and at the City Hall in Griswold and Lewis.

In the AHST Community School District, there are three spots open on the Board of Education: Kimberly Wise is running for the District 2 seat being vacated by Alan Sieh; Russell Sturm is running for the At Large seat in-place of Allen Cordes, who has decided to seek election in his own district, which is District 4. Incumbent Tony Denning will not seek re-election in that district.

In the Elk Horn-Kimballton School District, Mark Smith and Joel Schlueter have filed for the District 1 and 4 seats, respectively. Each of the incumbents in the Walnut Community School District are unopposed for re-election. Voters in the Corning Community School District have no candidates for District 2, so that will filled by write-in vote, the other districts have one candidate running for each seat. In the Prescott School District, there’s another write-in situation for a vacant Director At Large seat.

There are no contested races in either the Audubon or Exira Community School Districts, but voters in the Audubon District will act on adopting the Revenue Purpose Statement. In Guthrie County, there are a total of 14 seats up for election in five school districts, but only two contested races. One is in the Panorama School District, and pits incumbent Tom Arganbright against Jim Nelson, in District 3. The other is in the West Central Valley School District, where newcomers Dianne Harwood and Bryan Abbott face off in District 5.

AMES, Iowa – Sept. 12, 2011 – The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) will hold a public information meeting Thursday, Sept. 22, to discuss the proposed bridge replacement of the U.S. 34 bridge over the Platte River, 1.3 miles west of the Iowa 25 intersection, in Adams County. The meeting will be held from 4:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. at the Lenox Community Center, 110 E. Dallas St. in Lenox. This public information meeting will be conducted utilizing an open forum format. No formal presentation will be made. Iowa DOT staff members will be present to discuss the project informally. Through traffic would be detoured using Adams County Road N-64, Taylor County Road J-13 and Iowa 25 during construction. 

For general information regarding the proposed bridge replacement or the public meeting, contact Donald Stevens, interim district engineer, Iowa DOT District 4, 2210 E. Seventh St., Atlantic, Iowa 50022, telephone 712-243-3355 or 800-289-4368, e-mail donald.stevens@dot.iowa.gov. Visit the Iowa DOT’s project-related public meeting website at www.iowadot.gov/pim for information about scheduled public meetings and hearings – and opportunities to offer input to the Iowa DOT during the development of certain projects.