(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County met in a regular session this (Tuesday) morning, in Red Oak and held considerable (continued) discussion, with regard to an ordinance for a proposed carbon transfer pipeline. During the Public Comment portion of the meeting, the Supervisors heard from several people who are in support of the ordinance, including Jan Norris from West Township in southwestern Montgomery County. She praised some members of the Board for actions they have already taken in support of an ordinance to regulate pipelines. Norris acknowledged there are multiple misconceptions about pipeline safety and permitting, as well as several questions that need to be asked still, before any such ordinance is set into the County’s Code of Ordinances.

She said she called the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) last week, asking that they consider putting out a fact sheet for the public to review for consideration when it comes to pipeline placement on their properties.

Jan Norris

Maggie McQuown, a Board of Adjustment member who resides west of Red Oak, said she supports a carbon pipeline ordinance. She mentioned two BOA members would have a pipeline on their property if it becomes constructed.

Two residents of a home in the far southwest corner of Montgomery County, said the pipeline will come too close for comfort to their residence. Lori Johnson spoke on behalf of special needs resident Sarah Johnson, whom she lives with in the home.

In September, members of the Montgomery County Planning and Zoning Commission met and voted to recommend the Board of Supervisors adopt an ordinance for the proposed Summit Solutions Pipeline project. The Commission’s recommendation was based on a similar Ordinance adopted by the Shelby County Board of Supervisors.

In related news, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors discussed, and unanimously agreed to sign a letter engaging the Ahlers & Cooney Law Firm if it should become necessary for legal action. Shelby, Bremer and Palo Alto Counties have taken similar action. Ahlers & Cooney Special Counsel Tim Whipple explained what the next steps might be, with regard to costs and a possible pool to share those costs.

Ahlers & Cooney Special Counsel Tim Whipple & the Montgomery County BOS (10/4/22)

Whipple said he’s set to hold a conversation with officials from ISAC (Iowa State Association of Counties), to possibly work with them with regard to representating the member counties as a whole, instead of separately. He was asked if Montgomery County passes an ordinance, “is it enforceable?” In a long-winded answer, he said the IUB can impose conditions on permits, so in essence, there is some teeth in a local ordinance.

“The answer,” he said, “is yes, if you do it right.” But he advised the County not to attempt to “dictate” terms to the pipeline company about its operations and engineering aspects, because they are likely not enforceable and would be preempted by federal law. The Iowa Utilities Board–not the county–will make the ultimate decision on the pipeline’s fate. The Board opted to wait on yet more information before approving any ordinance that may be drafted.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill that aims to help college campuses stop sexual assaults before they happen while helping survivors to recover is being introduced in the U-S Senate today (Tuesday), co-sponsored by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. He says the Campus Accountability and Safety Act is a bipartisan, bicameral effort. Grassley says the bill is designed to reform the process of investigating sexual assaults to both better shield victims and to prosecute offenders. “Our bill seeks to protect college students by providing them with resources,” Grassley says, “and especially by strengthening colleges’ accountability and transparency standards.”

Grassley, a Republican, has joined with Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, in moving the legislation forward. Grassley says he and Gillibrand recently worked together on a similar measure targeting sexual assaults in the military. With the new bill focused on higher education institutions, Grassley says weak enforcement of the laws on the books only encourages perpetrators. “It would establish a uniform process of adjudicating sexual assault cases and also promote training for on-campus personnel,” Grassley says. “This will ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, and I think it will help survivors begin to recover from a life-altering trauma.”

This is the reintroduction of a bill that was first offered in 2015 but it failed to go to a floor vote in either chamber. Past critics said the measure encouraged colleges to expel students who were accused of sexual assault even when there was little or no evidence.
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After being blocked in a procedural move by a Democrat last week, Republican Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he will try again to move forward with a bill that would permanently schedule all knock-offs of the drug fentanyl. Grassley says 200 Iowans died of fentanyl overdoses last year, while it killed 70-thousand people nationwide. “The reason for scheduling it is, it’s really easy to change the chemical makeup of fentanyl knock-offs,” Grassley says, “and then when you do that, that’s a way of getting around the law and selling things legally.”

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey opposed the measure, according to Grassley, because it includes mandatory sentencing. Grassley says he hopes to work out a compromise with Booker and get the bill passed before year’s end, when the current scheduling expires.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two accident took place last Friday. Authorities say a 2018 Hyundai driven by 65-year-old Debora Olerich, of Malvern, was traveling east on East 3rd Street at around 11:10-p.m., when her vehicle struck a 2014 Dodge, driven by 66-year-old Robert Muellner, of Randolph, after he failed to yield the right-of-way at the uncontrolled intersection with Prospect Avenue. Olerich was transported to Mercy Hospital by Malvern Rescue. Authorities cited Muellner for Failure to Yield.

And, at around 8:33-a.m., Friday, a 2020 Mack truck driven by 28-year-old Cody Lyons, of LaVista, NE., was traveling east on Highway 34 in a construction zone, and passed several construction zone signs indicating a maximum load width limit of 10-feet. The bulldozer he was hauling with a blade attached, scraped the concrete barricade all the way on the south side of the Highway 34 railroad bridge, which was closed to one lane because of the construction. The bulldozer blade also pushed the moveable concrete barricades along the construction zone.

Lyons told Deputies he saw the width restriction signs too late, and made an error in judgement, believing he could make it through the construction zone.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests: 40-year-old Brook Worku Abebe, of Monticello, AR., was arrested Sunday afternoon on I-29, for OWI/1st offense (Bond $1,000); Monday morning, 19-year-old Michael Anthony Monson, of Omaha, was arrested for Driving While License Denied or Revoked ($1,000 bond); and, 43-year-old Jeffrey Christopher Potter, of Elliott, was arrested on a warrant for Failure to Appear (Bond $5,000).

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports the arrest at around 1:10-p.m., Monday, of a man for Violation of a No Contact/Protective Order. 39-year-old Sean Michael Wall, of Creston, was arrested at his residence. He was transported to the Union County Jail and held without bond, pending an appearance before the Magistrate.