(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department is reporting four arrests and two incidents of theft. Authorities say two people were arrested early Sunday morning in the 900 block of N. Spruce Street. According to the report, 59-year-old Rodney Earl Bell, of Creston, was arrested at 915 N. Spruce Street at around 12:50-a.m., on charges that include Possession of a controlled Substance 2nd Offense/ Marijuana, and Possession of Controlled Substance 2nd Offense/Methamphetamine. Bell was taken to the Union County Jail where he posted $4,000 cash or surety bond.

At around 3:13-a.m. Sunday, 55-year-old Deborah Lynn Graham, of Creston, was arrested at 912 N. Spruce, and charged with Controlled Substance Violation Methamphetamine, Possession of Controlled Substance 3rd Marijuana, Failure to Affix Drug Stamp. Graham was being held in the Adams County Jail on $100,000 cash or surety bond. Both arrests were made possible through the help of the K9 “Baxo,” who was deployed and played a key role in the investigation. Baxo also assisted in recovering precursors used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Late Saturday night, 62-year-old James Eugene Street, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at 915 N Spruce and charged with Intent to deliver Marijuana. Street was taken to Union County Jail where he posted $5,000 cash or surety bond. Creston Police say at around 3-a.m., Saturday, 41-year-old Julie Anne Geer, of Corning, was arrested at Lincoln and Townline in Creston, for OWI 1st Offense. Geer was transported to the Adams County Jail where she posted bond and was released.

Police on Sunday, issued a press release saying Officers with the Creston Police Department, the Creston Police K9 Unit, Union County Sheriff’s Office and Afton Police Department executed a narcotics search warrant on Saturday, October 9th, 2021 in the city of Creston. Authorities said also a large amount of methamphetamine, marijuana, U.S. Currency and a loaded firearm were seized from a residence. At that time, no arrests had been reported while the investigation was underway, and no names had been released.

Creston Police said also, a man from Lorimor reported Friday afternoon, that his vehicle was broken into the overnight of the 7th while parked at 1111 W Adams St., in Creston. He told police  that a Glock .17 was stolen, as well as an extra magazine that was loaded, and the holster it was in. The loss was estimated at $700. Saturday afternoon, a man residing in the 300 block of W. Lucas Street in Creston, told authorities that his black and white Genesis bike was stolen from his residence. The loss was estimated at $180.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City of Atlantic’s Planning and Zoning Commission will meet 5:30-p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12th, in the Council’s Chambers, at City Hall. On their agenda is a Commercial Building Site Plan review for Elk Horn, Nebraska-based McDonald’s Real Estate Company’s restaurant in Atlantic. During the Council’s meeting last Wednesday, City Administrator/Zoning Administrator John Lund mentioned McDonald’s is interested in demolishing their old/current building, and replacing it with a more modern structure.

Casey Thompson, of Bishop Engineering has submitted a site plan for a 3,307 square foot, new commercial building for the property located at 1510 E. 7th Street. The area is zoned as C-1 or “Highway Commercial District.” As such, as sit-down and drive through would be considered permitted uses under the City’s Zoning Ordinance. Lund says the parking requirements are the only area the Commission may wish to review. The site plans shows there will be 19 parking stalls and two handicap stalls. The Ordinance as it is written, is vague on the total number of parking spaces required, according to John Lund.

In other business, the P&Z will discuss regulations for Civic and Institutional Signage in non-commercial zones. It seems the City has recently had issues with a local church in  a residential zone, and their desired signage. Currently, signs in residential zones have restrictive sign regulations, according to Lund. Public agencies, schools, churches and museums are all permitted uses in such zones. Lund notes most of the existing signage on such buildings are not in conformance with the Zoning Ordinance, but have not conflicted with the surrounding residential property.

The Commission’s final order of business is to discuss Grain Bin Clearance Guidelines. Lund says the City has received notice from AMU regarding grain bin regulations. Lund says he will review both the signage and GBC regulations before reporting back to the Commission with recommendations based on other Iowa zoning codes.

(Radio Iowa) – The top Republican in the Iowa Senate is pushing back against Democrats who say the Republican-led legislature intends to adopt new maps for congressional and legislative districts that favor Republicans. Jack Whitver of Ankeny is the Senate Majority Leader. “Iowa law is very specific about how districts need to be drawn. It has be within a certain compactness, a certain population deviation. You have to keep cities together as much as possible,” Whitver says, “so what they’re doing in Illinois or Oregon or a lot of liberal states that truly are gerrymandering is not something that’s allowed under Iowa law.”

Last Tuesday the 32 Republicans in the Iowa Senate rejected Plan One for redistricting. Whitver says no plan can provide districts with an equal number of residents, but the first plan had some wide swings when comparing the population count in each legislative district. “In the congressional districts, for example, it was about 60 people off per district, but there are legislative districts, including one here in Polk County, that’s almost 500 people off — eight times the variation in the much bigger congressional districts,” Whitver says, “so we think that with a new map hopefully we can improve that population difference.”

The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency will deliver Plan Two on October 21st and the governor has called the legislature to convene on October 28th to vote on it. The Democratic leader in the Iowa Senate has called on Republicans to promise not to offer amendments to a THIRD set of maps — if the set second is rejected. “I don’t think we should accept any plan that we’ve never seen and so we’re just going to take this one step at a time,” Whitver says. “I’m not going to say we’re going to accept or reject Plan 2 until we see it, which is the fair way to do it.” Whitver isn’t predicting how legislators may vote on the not-yet-revealed Plan Two for redistricting. “I would hope for the sake of the process that it’s a plan that we get to caucus, everyone likes it and we just approve it because that’s a lot easier,” Whitver says, “and then we can move on to the election cycle that’s approaching very quickly.”

The boundaries for legislative and congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years to account for population shifts. The data from the 2020 Census, however, was delivered to states five months late and Whitver says that’s delayed candidate recruitment and campaigning for the 2022 election. Due to constitutional deadlines, the Iowa Supreme Court is technically in charge of redistricting right now, but the court has given lawmakers until December 1st to approve a redistricting plan.

“They have a constitutional deadline on the court that a lot of people don’t talk about — December 31, so if for some reason we can’t agree, we can’t come up with a map and it’s turned over to the court, they have ’til December 31 constitutionally, so I think that’s probably what they’re worried about is having enough time that, if it got to that point, they’d have enough time to fix the map or change the map,” Whitver says. “I don’t expect it to get to that point. I hope that we can agree on map two and move forward.”

Whitver made his comments this weekend on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.

Four people, including three juveniles, were arrested in Red Oak, Sunday evening. Red Oak Police report 18-year-old Odin Alexander Vincent Hathaway, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 5:18-p.m. at a location on Riverview Road, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 bond. Three juveniles were arrested on the same charge. They were cited and released to their parents or guardians.

Odin Hathaway

(Percival, Iowa) – A collision on Interstate 29 Sunday morning in Fremont County resulted in four people being transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), in Omaha. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the crash south of the Percival exit occurred at around 1:20-a.m., when a southbound 2018 Honda Civic left the road for reasons unknown, crossed the median, and traveled a short distance in the northbound lane before striking a 2010 GMC Yukon head-on.

The Civic came to rest in the median, facing westbound, while the SUV came to rest on the east shoulder, facing southwest. The driver of the Honda, 19-year-old Mateo Zaragoza, of Overland Park, Kansas, the driver of the Yukon, 40-year-old Rebecca Harris, of Lincoln, NE, were transported by Hamburg Rescue and LifeNet helicopter to the hospital.

Two others in Harris vehicle were injured in the crash: 39-year-old Melvin Harris, of Lincoln, NE., and a 14-year old juvenile. The juvenile went to the UNMC by Riverton Rescue, while Melvin Harris was transported by Tabor Rescue. All of the injured, with the exception of Melvin Harris, were wearing their seat belts.

The accident remains under investigation. In addition to the aforementioned rescue units and helicopter, the Patrol was assisted at the scene by Nebraska City Rescue, Glenwood Rescue and Pacific Junction Rescue. Fremont and Mills County Sheriff’s Deputies also assisted at the crash site.