You may recall last November, KJAN News mentioned the Cass County Board of Supervisors had authorized County Engineer Charles Marker to work with County Attorney Dan Feistner, in an effort to draft a Resolution it’s hoped would put a little more “bite” into a State law penalizing those who use 4-wheel drive vehicles to tear up County dirt roads after it rains. Today (Friday), Feistner told the Board of Supervisors the efforts of law enforcement has resulted in action being taken against some of the parties responsible for the damage.

Feistner said there have been convictions and/or guilty pleas made in association with the Criminal Mischief charges filed against three individuals who “played” in the mud with their 4-wheel drive vehicles on Level B roads. If Probable Cause is established, Feistner said other charges will continue to be filed against persons who destroy dirt roads, which become muddy during periods of heavy or consistent rain. The individuals who have already been convicted or plead guilty to the offense are being required to pay restitution to the Secondary Roads Dept.

Supervisor Mark Wedemeyer wanted to make clear that farmers who are using the roads to get to their crops are not the ones being charged with destroying the roads. Feistner agreed. He said the incidents in question were clearly intentional, whereby the trucks “fishtailed” down the road one-quarter mile or more and could not be retrieved by conventional means. He said they obviously had not entered the road by mistake and simply got stuck.

Feistner said also, if it had been a farmer, they wouldn’t have run from law enforcement.
Anyone who sees an obvious case of “Mudding” on county roads, is urged to call law enforcement with a description of the vehicle, direction of travel, and if possible, a license plate.

In other business, the Board approved a Resolution placing a Public Measure on the Nov. 4th General Election ballot. The measure calls for the appointment of township officers by the Board of Supervisors, rather than by election. Auditor Dale Sunderman points out 14 townships are now by appointment by the Board. The change would affect Edna and Union Townships.

After reporting a deep drop in quarterly earnings earlier this week, Deere and Company now plans to lay off more than 600 workers at four of its manufacturing facilities, including one in central Iowa and two in the Quad Cities. Deere spokesman Ken Golden says the job cuts will be coming at the Des Moines Works in Ankeny, at the Harvester Works in East Moline, Illinois, the Seeding and Cylinder Works in Moline, Illinois, and at the plant in Coffeyville, Kansas.

“The largest number on today’s announcement is from the John Deere Harvester Works in East Moline,” Golden says. “That’s about 425 employees at that location. Des Moines is going to have 110 employees on indefinite layoff.” Deere is Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer and the company announced third quarter earnings on Wednesday of 850-million dollars, down 150-million from a year ago. Ag equipment sales dropped eight-percent in the U-S and Canada, 11-percent globally.

“We are always going to align the size of our manufacturing workforce with the market demand for our products,” Golden says. “Our employees are aware of that and so there is going to be some flux in the size of the workforce.” There are two ways the company makes adjustments, Golden says, like with extended shutdowns at each facility based on what’s being produced there.

“For instance, in Des Moines, all of the employees will be on an extended shutdown through September 29th,” Golden says. “When we place someone on an indefinite layoff, as we have done today, we are not projecting a particular date that they will be called back. That’s the unfortunate thing.” Deere is also implementing a seasonal shutdown affecting most of the manufacturing workforce at its Ottumwa Works. Production will be cut in the fourth quarter to meet market demand, which Golden says, is “not anything new for us.” Deere revised its full-year earnings projection to three-point-one billion dollars, compared to its spring prediction of three-point-three billion.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — For candidates in the Midwest, almost nothing tops a photo opportunity with a barnyard animal or a colorful anecdote about life on the farm. Take Mary Burke, a former business executive running as a Democrat for governor in Wisconsin, who recently paused to check out the cows at a county fair. Or Illinois venture capitalist Bruce Rauner, who talks about his dairy farmer grandfather as a role model in his Republican bid for governor.

And then there is Iowa U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst, who gained national attention with an ad touting her hog castration skills. Most voters in these states don’t work on farms. Most candidates don’t either. But many of those seeking office seem to be stretching farther than ever for a barnyard background to establish common-man authenticity.