Another Republican Presidential candidate will be making a campaign stop in Atlantic prior to the January 3rd caucuses. Texas Congressman Ron Paul will campaign in both Atlantic and Council Bluffs next week. Paul is scheduled to hold a town hall meeting at the Cass County Community Center on Thursday, Dec. 29th, at 3:00 p.m. , before he travels to the Mid America Center in Council Bluffs,  for another town hall meeting at 7:00 p.m. on the 29th.

Last Sunday, former Pennsylvannia Republican Senator Ric Santorum spoke to a crowd of about 50 people, here in Atlantic.

A Red Oak man was arrested Wednesday evening on a trespassing charge. According to Red Oak Police, 52-year old Ronald Lee Hall was taken into custody at around 11-p.m., and booked into the Montgomery County Jail. He was later released on $300 bond.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker late Wednesday evening released the identity of a man who died during a rollover accident Monday evening, near Underwood. Danker says on Wednesday, the Iowa Dept. of Criminal Investigation’s Medical Examiner’s Office positively identifed by fingerprint comparisons, 31-year old Clint Joseph Kilibarda, of Omaha, as having been in a vehicle which left the roadway at 240th Street and Railroad Highway. Kilibarda is orginally from Carter Lake. He was a 2000 graduate of Council Bluffs/Thomas Jefferson High School.

Kilibarda and 33-year old Kirk Ring, of Neola were ejected from the 2005 Mazda as it rolled into a ditch near just before 5-p.m., Monday. When deputies arrived, Ring was found conscious and breathing, but suffering from serious injuries. Kilibarda was pronounced dead at the scene. Ring was flown by helicopter to Creighton University Hospital in Omaha, for treatment of his injuries. Witnesses told authorities the vehicle had been traveling south on Railroad Highway at a high rate of speed prior to the crash. Danker says alcohol is believed to have played a role in the accident, which remains under investigation.

The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday night, approved an unbudgeted, supplemental expenditure request from Police Chief Steve Green, for $15,202 to upgrade the City’s sirens, and a new computer server for the police camcorder units.  Green said Federal Signal, manufacturer of emergency audible and visual warning devices, will be making a big push to make the sirens and soundboard replacements. Green said they’re “Not expecting to be cutting any deals,” once the push begins. He says the siren boards typically run $1,500-to $1,600 each. A Federal Signal area representative told Green he could only give him a best price through the end of this year, because after that they wouldn’t be making any more bargains. He says by ordering the 11 circuit boards now, he can get them for $150 per board instead of $1,500.

Green said by ordering the parts now, it will save the City between six- and eight-thousand dollars, than if they were to be ordered after the start of the new budget year on July 1st, 2012.  As far as the “server system” for the police camcorder units is concerned, Green said he needs that because the old server is not compatible for use with the newer camcorders installed in the squad cars. He says it normally sells for $5,000-to $6,000, but Green was able to get then for about $2,100.

Green, who says he’s been “In the black” for his budget for several years, says he was going to put the server into next year’s appropriations, but if he could get it now, it would save “Thousands of dollars.” Councilman Kern Miller asked City Administrator Doug Harris if there’s money in the budget to appropriate for the expense. Harris said if there isn’t, they’ll have to find ways to save costs elsewhere. With the Council’s approval, Green said he would likely place an order for the siren circuit boards/upgrades and computer server, sometime today (Thursday).

The Iowa Department of Education released its “Annual Condition of Education” report Wednesday, detailing a wide range of information from student population to test results for the 2010-2011 school year. The report says statewide enrollment has declined by 29-percent since peaking at 711-thousand in the 1972-73 school year. But the chief of the department’s Bureau of Information and Analysis Services, Jay Pennington, says the report also stays with projections that show a turnaround in enrollment. “We’re seeing increased birth rates which ultimately is the supply that hits the education system at some point, so based on those birth records, we project out that we will see a slight increase in enrollment,” Pennington says. The increase is projected at two-point-four percent, and Pennington says it will follow the trends seen in recent Census data.

He says there are increases in the Des Moines metro area and the Iowa City corridor area, mainly the urban areas surrounding the larger cities. The number of school districts dropped last year by two.
Pennington says the last school year saw 359 school districts. “What’s not actually in the report is this current academic year, and there were eight consolidations between the two years, so currently in this academic year, there’s only 351,” Pennington explained. The report says the average salary paid to teachers was 49-thousand-626, up slightly in 2010-11 from the year before. The average age of full-time teachers was 42. You can see much more of the data in the report on the Iowa Department of Education’s website at:educateiowa.gov.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)