(Radio Iowa) – A man has been sentenced to nearly 29 years in prison for importing meth from Mexico and distributing it in the Waterloo area. Thirty-four-year-old Travis Charles Werkmeister of Waterloo — who goes by the nickname “Cheese” — pleaded guilty in February to a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Undercover agents bought meth at Werkmeister’s house in Waterloo in 2018. In 2019, investigators tapped Wekmeister’s phone and, according to a news release from the U-S attorney’s office, they were able to intercept thousands of calls and messages between Werkmeister and others in a drug-distribution organization, including the head of the group who’s based in Mexico.

Werkmeister is one of 13 people arrested a year ago after a dozen locations in Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Roland and Marshalltown were searched.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is calling on the Biden administration to take action on the nation’s drug overdose deaths which, according to the Centers for Disease Control, hit a new record high in 2020. “93,000 people died of opioid overdoses last year,” Grassley says. “That’s a 30% increase from the previous year, so it’s a real problem.” Grassley, a Republican, says the administration “isn’t serious” about working with Congress to find solutions to the massive amounts of extremely lethal drugs that are being smuggled into the U-S.  “China is sending its fentanyl to Mexico and it’s coming across the border, just like all the illegal aliens are coming across the border and in historically high numbers,” Grassley says. “There’s enough fentanyl coming into the country to kill everybody in the United States ten times over.”

Grassley is scheduled to take part in a Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control hearing this (Tuesday) afternoon at 1:30/Central entitled, “The Federal Response to the Drug Overdose Epidemic.” He says it’s very difficult to write legislation that specifies what sorts of drugs need to be more closely regulated or banned. “Let’s say we make a drug illegal today. Through chemical components, they can change it just a little bit and the next day it can be legal,” Grassley says. “We need to make sure that the analog is part of the program so we can outlaw any deviation from what you might call pure fentanyl.”

As bad as the overdose death rates are, Grassley says they will likely continue to rise without immediate intervention by the president and Congress. He’s calling on Biden to create “a coordinated national strategy” to address the “overdose crisis.”

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa native who’s been president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — known as “SNAP” — is stepping down from the post. Tim Lennon has been SNAP’s president for the past three years and a part of the group’s board of directors for a decade. “During that time I’ve seen a dramatic increase in acceptance, acknowledgement of how widespread sexual abuse is within society,” Lennon says. “We have found that even with sacred institutions, like the Catholic Church, that sexual abuse is going on by clergy and that the hierarchy was covering it up.”

Lennon was abused by a parish priest in Sioux City when he was 12 years old. Lennon says after he publicly disclosed the abuse five decades later, 15 of his classmates came forward with similar accounts.  “So getting public awareness and knowledge is very, very important to reaching those who are suffering in silence,” Lennon says. Lennon credits an investigation by Pennsylvania’s attorney general with getting the Catholic Church to admit years of wrongdoing. In February of 2019, the Sioux City Diocese released a list of 28 priests who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. “The only reason that they’ve come forward with the list was they were compelled to do by public outrage,” Lennon says. “After the Pennsylvania grand jury investigated, they found 300 other clergy and over a thousand victims, so this compelled the Sioux City Diocese and other dioceses to release names.”

Iowa lawmakers changed state law this year, removing time limits for filing criminal charges against a person accused of sexually abusing a child. Lennon, who lives in Tucson, Arizona, has lobbied at the Iowa Capitol for that change, but he also wants to see the time frame changed for victims who want to file a civil lawsuit against someone who abused them as a child. The so-called statute of limitations requires child sex abuse victims to file lawsuits seeking damages before their 33rd birthday.

Officials with the Atlantic Police Department, today (Tuesday), said there were eight arrests from June 27th through July 17th, and one person cited. Four people were arrested for Disorderly Conduct:

• 42-year-old Monte Casteel, of Atlantic, was arrested June 27th
• 20-year-old JR Berdon, 33-year-old James Erickson, and 28-year-old Renson Berdon, all of Atlantic, were arrested July 5th.

Atlantic Police arrested 39-year-old Jasper Daniel, of Atlantic, on July 17th. He was charged with Driving While License Barred. On July 15th, 21-year-old Kyle Confere, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Interference with Official Acts. On July 12th, 45-year-old Amanda Bashor, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication. June 30th, Atlantic Police arrested 54-year-old Bryan Westphalen, of Atlantic, for Domestic Abuse Assault.

And, on July 11th, 29-year-old Devin Gardner, of Atlantic, was cited for Driving While Barred. He was released at the scene with his citation. All of the other subjects mentioned were booked into the Cass County Jail and later released.

(Griswold, Iowa) – Members of the Griswold School Board met Monday evening and discussed the number of open positions that still remain within the District. Superintendent Dave Henrichs reports that includes the need for an elementary classroom teacher.

He also spoke with the Board about redistricting, and how that might affect the Board makeup.

He says any changes should not impact the upcoming November elections, but it would likely affect future elections if there are boundary changes. Dave Henrichs said also, the Board approved the resignation of Custodian Reed Porter, Patty Jipsen as Route Bus Driver/MS-HS Paraeducator. They also approved some new hires….

Henrichs says the Board voted to re-appoint Dan Rold as Business Manager/Treasurer, Hannah Bierbaum as Board Secretary, and George Blazek ,with Frank, Sextro & Blazek, PLC., in Denison, as the District’s Attorney.

Police in Shenandoah, Monday afternoon, arrested a man following an investigation into a reported incident of trespassing. Authorities says officers called to the 200 block of North Blossom Street around 12:05 p.m. located a suspect — 29-year-old Daniel Dean Archer, of Shenandoah — and attempted to detain him.

Daniel Dean Archer

When Archer allegedly resisted arrest, and one officer suffered minor injuries. Archer faces charges that include disorderly conduct and interference with official acts causing bodily injury. He was being held in the Page County Jail on $1,300 bond.