(Shenandoah, Iowa) – Officials with the Shenandoah Police Department reports numerous recent arrests. Beginning with the latest arrest:

Police on Monday (11/21) arrested 54-year-old Curtis Arthur Blacketer, of Oklahoma City, OK, at around 12-p.m.  He was taken into custody for Public Intoxication and Disorderly Conduct, following a call about a disturbance in the 1000 block of 7th Avenue, in Shenandoah. Blacketer was unable to post a $600 bond, and was being held in the Page County Jail.

Last Saturday, Shenandoah Police arrested 34-year-old Brent Allen Neal, of Shenandoah, on a charge of OWI/2nd offense, following an investigation into an accident that occurred at around 10-a.m., near the corner of Southwest Road and South Fremont Street. Neal was unable to post the required $2,000 bond, and was transported to the jail.

On the 18th of November, Shenandoah Police were called to the Casey’s General Store at around 1:30-p.m., following a reported theft. An investigation resulted in the arrest on a charge of Theft in the 5th Degree, of 34-year-old Elizabeth Rose Anderson, from Shenandoah. She posted a $300 bond and was released with a court date.

The previous day (11/17), at around 1-p.m., Shenandoah Police were called to the 100 block of South Center Street, for a disturbance. An investigation resulted in the arrest of 90-year-old Douglas Dean McGinnis, of Shenandoah. He was charged with Harassment in the 3rd Degree, and served with a summons to appear in court.

And, finally, on Nov. 16th at around 1:45-a.m., Officers in Shenandoah conducted a traffic stop in the 2000 block of Highway 59. They arrested 28-year-old Amber Jaye Fichter-Harris, of Shenandoah, for Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Unlawful Possession of a prescription drug, as well as possession of paraphernalia. Fichter-Harris was unable to post a $2,300 bond, and was booked into the Page County Jail.

“All charges are merely allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.”

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Tuesday morning, held a Public Hearing on a proposed amendment to Zoning, changing McCunn Specialty Firearms, LLC near Massena, from Business District to Light Industrial, for the purpose of assembling certain firearms. There were no comments from the public. Zoning Administrator Rich Hanson.

Hansen noted that the Cass County Zoning Commission has already given its approval for the change. Brice McCunn explained in additional detail, what kinds of services they would, and would not be offering, with regard to the assembly of weapons.

He said they don’t have any interest at this time in machining a gun or related components, but that could change sometime in the future.

Since there was no Resolution for action today’s (Tuesday’s) agenda, the Board agreed to meet approximately 10:45-a.m. Wednesday to pass a Resolution approving the change in zoning. In other business, West Central Community Action Executive Director Wendy Mueller provided the Board with an Annual Report, and a request for funding of $4,500, which is a $500 over last year. She said they have not asked the County for an increase, since 2016,

Mueller said the demand for assistance has increased substantially since the advent of Covid, and it has not waned. For Fiscal Year 2022…

West Central provided Head Start school readiness and other services for low income families with children who are between 3- and 5-years of age. The also handle child care resource and referral services.

She said in 22 Fiscal Year, they had 192 enrolled in child care at 12 home providers who participate in the program. One of the problems is finding affordable child care. Board Chair Steve Baier says next Monday, ground breaking will take place in Griswold for the 88-hundred square-foot Noble Initiative Foundation daycare center. Noble Initiative is a 501(c)3 non-profit agency.

(Radio Iowa) – Around eight in ten nursing home residents on Medicare received psychotropic drugs during the past decade, according to a watchdog report from U-S Health and Human Services that was requested by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. He says he’s “very disturbed” by the report. “It shows that just an overwhelming number of people in nursing homes are on psychotropic drugs,” Grassley says, “and I don’t think that it’s justified and I think that there’s overuse of it.” The report covered the years between 2011 and 2019. Grassley says nursing home residents deserve to be “treated with dignity” and their loved ones ought to have the confidence that nursing homes are appropriately prescribing medicines.

“If it was given to people because they just wanted to keep people quiet,” Grassley says, “it seems to me an inhumane thing to do.” Grassley says the Inspector General report “confirms many of our fears” that serious medications are being administered “without appropriate diagnoses or oversight.” He says the report makes it clear that more needs to be done to protect nursing home residents.

Link to the full report:
https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/OEI-07-20-00500.asp?hero=psychotropic-nursing-home-hero

(Griswold, Iowa) – The Griswold School District’s Board of Education, during their meeting, Monday evening, accepted three resignations.

That’s Griswold Superintendent Dave Henrichs. The Board also set 6-p.m. January 18, 2023. as the date for a joint Board Meeting with the Lenox CSD School Board, with the regard to the sharing of a Superintendent.

In other business, the Griswold School Board passed a resolution to maintain the current Director Districts.

Their final order of business was to set a work session for December 5th, with regard to setting an action plan for Board Goals.

(Radio Iowa) – As hundreds of employees left or were fired from Twitter after billionaire Elon Musk became C-E-O, the social media platform is also seeing a flurry of users quitting, but Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’ll be staying put. “I’m thankful that Musk is trying to make it into the free speech platform that it was intended to be,” Grassley says, “because I believe in a democracy like we have, the more political speech you have, the stronger our democracy is going to be.” Grassley, a Republican, says he sees many of those who are leaving Twitter as being from one ideology.

“It seems to me that there’s a liberal wing of the spectrum, and I don’t mean just political wing, generally people that are somewhat believing in censure of political speech seem to be the ones that are raising in the most cain,” Grassley says, “and between those two, I will choose the side of free speech.” Grassley is a frequent tweeter and he has more than 788-thousand Twitter followers.

(Radio Iowa) – A northern Iowa woman is facing multiple felony charges after being accused of lottery related theft. According to the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office, deputies arrested 40-year-old Michelle Lynn Gruver of Wesley Friday afternoon on nine counts of lottery forgery/theft. Each charge is a Class D Felony. Gruver is also facing one count of third degree theft, an aggravated misdemeanor.

Online court records show that the Algona Police Department filed the criminal complaints on Thursday and Gruver allegedly committed the acts while working at an Algona convenience store. Gruver was booked into the Kossuth County Jail to await an initial court appearance. She is due back in a Kossuth County Court for a preliminary hearing on December 8th.