The Audubon City Council, Monday evening, tentatively set September 9th at 7-p.m. as the date and time for a public hearing on the sale of a City owned vacant lot, and decided to add more properties to the sale. City Clerk Lora Hansen told KJAN news the lots are located at 202 Washington Street, one at the corner of Broadway and Pacific, another lot on Pacific, and one on south Golden Street.

The Council also approved a request from the Audubon High School Student Senate for the September 27th Homecoming Parade route, which is the same as it was last year. And, they heard from resident Paul Walther, with regard to the trimming of trees by volunteers. Hansen says during a previous  meeting, the Council decided against have volunteers trim trees because of liability issues.

Walther is one of the persons who has traditionally volunteered to trim trees. Walther asked if he could get rid of volunteer trees which have emerged in the prairie area of Bluegrass Park, but that falls under the control of the Parks and Recreation Board. Hansen said Walther will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the Board, where the matter will come up for further discussion.

The Council also discussed, but took no action on a request for the installation of a sidewalk. Hansen said recent outside remodeling efforts at the grade school included removing the old playground and installing a new one, as well as new fencing. On the west side of the fence, a sidewalk was installed that reaches a dead-end.

The City was asked to finish the sidewalk, but because it would be placed on private property, is not the City’s responsibility. And, since a side walk is already located on the other side of the street, Hansen says the City cannot require the property owners on the dead-end side to install a walkway.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports 7 arrests over the past week. Last Thursday, 53-year old Daniel Joseph Camerlinck, of Thurman, was arrested on a charge of Criminal Mischief in the 5th degree. On Wednesday, 27-year old Benjamin Wayne McQueen, of Farragut, was arrested for 2nd degree Theft.

On Tuesday (8/20), 23-year old Sierra Lucinda Dragoo, of Tabor, was arrested on a Pottawattamie County warrant after she failed to appear for her arraignment hearing on an original Possession of a Controlled Substance charge. She has plead not guilty and posted a $5,000 bond. Trial is set to begin on September 4th. Also arrested August 20th, was 46-year old Deborah Anne Dovel, of Northboro. She was charged with Driving Under Suspension.

51-year old Timothy Allen Cook, of Hamburg, was arrested Aug. 19th, for Driving Under Suspension. That same day, 22-year old Matthew John Mabe, of Malvern, was arrested for Possession of drug paraphernalia and having no insurance, and, 41-year old Darren Barclay Young, of Tabor, was arrested on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear on an original charge of Driving While license denied or revoked. He later posted a $2,000 bond

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The state is offering a one-time deal to people who have been dodging Iowa taxes on motor homes.  The Des Moines Register says the offer includes paying the initial registration fee of 5 percent of the purchase price and a penalty of 10 percent of the fee.  If the tax evaders don’t do that by Oct. 23, they could face fraud charges and fines equal to 75 percent of the fee that was evaded.

A law passes this past spring is aimed at keeping Iowans from registering luxury motor homes in Montana, where out-of-state residents legally can set up a shell company and register a motor home there. Montana doesn’t charge general sales taxes.

Officials with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas  and Southwest Iowa is warning area residents about another sweepstakes scam.  A senior consumer from Wausa, NE.,  reported receiving a phone call informing him that he had won $450,000 through the American Family Network. But before funds are made available, the caller told him he would have to pay $4,500 in advance “due to the government’s ‘Patriot Act’ that requires recipients of large amounts of money to pay 1%.”  When the consumer said he did not have the money, another person called later to tell him they got a $3,000 loan for him and he would only have to send a cashier’s check for $1,500 to receive the $450,000 prize.

When the consumer did not send the requested funds, he received several calls from an “attorney” from Las Vegas and his “secretary” claiming that they represented American Family Network and tried to convince him to pay the $1,500. The man told the “attorney” that that he had contacted the Better Business Bureau and was informed that he should not have to pay anything to collect a sweepstakes prize. When asked, the consumer gave him the phone number of the BBB in Omaha. The “attorney” assured him that he would have someone from the BBB call him.

Shortly after, the man received a call from “Linda Brown” at the BBB. Brown spoke with a Jamaican accent, but the caller ID indicated that the call came from 402-391-7612, the BBB’s main phone number. When questioned, Brown stated that she was located at the address of the BBB in Omaha and continued to try to get him to agree to send the $1,500. Instead, he called the BBB and spoke with a real BBB staff person who confirmed that there was no Linda Brown employed at the BBB.

BBB President Jim Hegarty stated, “The Better Business Bureau has absolutely no affiliation with this fraudulent operation. I advise consumers to be extremely leery of letters, faxes, emails or phone calls telling them they’ve won prizes, lotteries or sweepstakes. Remember, phone numbers can deceive.” He says “Many of these calls come from boiler rooms in Jamaica, and anyone playing along with them guarantees the only real winners will be the scammers.”

If you get a call telling you that you are a winner, BBB recommends that you look for these red flags:  Lottery tickets must be purchased. Sweepstakes usually involve application paperwork that you have completed; Don’t pay any money to collect supposed sweepstakes winnings. If you have to pay to collect your winnings, you’re not winning – you’re buying. Legitimate sweepstakes don’t require you to pay “insurance,” “taxes” or “shipping and handling charges” to collect your prize; Hold on to your money!  Scammers pressure people to wire money through commercial money transfer companies because wiring money is the same as sending cash. When the money’s gone, there’s very little chance of recovery. Likewise, resist any push from the caller to send a check or money order by overnight delivery or courier. Con artists recommend these services so they can get their hands on your money before you realize you’ve been cheated; A lottery application or win announcement comes via telephone or mail from outside the country; The letter, fax or email is full of grammatical and spelling errors; or, the caller is pressuring you for personal information.