The Harlan Police Department is reporting two recent arrests and a citation. On Sunday, 28-year-old Ashlen Marie Rutherford, of Harlan, was arrested for Domestic Abuse Assault and False Imprisonment. On Saturday, 26-year-old Alexander Archer Foster Gorka, of Manilla, was cited for Driving While Suspended.

And, on Nov. 2nd, 56-year-old Michael Mario Morelli, of Harlan, was arrested for Assault.

Officers with the Red Oak Police Department, Tuesday, arrested a Pottawattamie County man for Interference with Official Acts. Authorities say 47-year-old Robert Michael Lynn Petersen, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 10:30-a.m. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Representatives of the Cass County Library Association, comprised of the head librarians from each of the libraries in the County, provided an annual report to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning, and made their traditional, annual request for funding. Sara Young, Head Librarian at the Anita Public Library, thanked the board for its continued support for the libraries.

As part of their early childhood literacy efforts, the library directors came up with a plan to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to all Cass County residents.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library partners with local affiliates to provide high quality, age appropriate books to children across the United States and beyond. Cass County is now one of 22 counties in Iowa that offers the program. Any child under 4 1/2-years old who lives in Cass County can register to receive a free book a month until their 5th birthday. Young said there are currently 178 children enrolled in the program.

With regard to funding, the directors requested: A $5,000 increase from the County for the Atlantic and Cumberland Public Libraries; $2,500 for the Anita and Griswold Public Libraries; a $1,000 increase for the Lewis and Massena Public Libraries. The request was taken under advisement and will be acted on when the Board meets in early 2022 to determine where county funds will be spent.

(Radio Iowa) – Tens of thousands of Iowans checked the box when they renewed their drivers licenses to become organ donors, but should they happen to die of COVID-19, will their organs still be used? That depends, according to Heather Butterfield, spokeswoman for the Iowa Donor Network. Butterfield says, “Based on studies that have been conducted and with the approval of our medical directors, our current policy is that as long as the patient isn’t actively infectious with COVID-19, so typically that means they would be at least 21 days out from a diagnosis or symptoms, then they can be considered for organ donation.”

Nationwide, more than 100-thousand people are waiting for organ transplants, while Iowa’s organ waiting list is nearly 600 names long. Organs are an exceptionally rare and valuable commodity and Butterfield says it would be a shame not to make use of those hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys that are healthy. “Our number-one priority is always the safety of the recipients and we want to make sure that the organs we recover are safe to transplant,” Butterfield says, “which is why we have the policy in place that we do.”

As yet, Iowa has not seen a dramatic upturn in the demand for organ donation during the pandemic, but there are fears about the situation worsening. “We are wondering, we have seen stories of people who have had COVID and have had long-term effects that are now needing a lung transplant,” Butterfield says. “We don’t know yet what the long-term implication of that will be. Will that mean the transplant waiting list will go up specifically for those in need of lung transplants? That is certainly a possibility.”

During the first year of the pandemic, Butterfield says the Iowa Donor Network set a new record for organ donations. “We had 103 organ donors give 300 organs for transplant despite the fact that, yes, we had a lot of people pass away from COVID but people who have COVID at the time of their passing cannot be organ donors,” she says, “so even despite the increase in deaths due to COVID, we still had a record year for organ donation in 2020.”

With less than two months remaining in 2021, Butterfield says this year is on track to break last year’s record, which would be the fourth straight year for new organ donation records in Iowa.
www.iowadonornetwork.org

(Radio Iowa) – A body was pulled from the Wapsipinicon River near Quasqueton this (Tuesday) morning. The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office says it received a 911 call shortly before 8:30 a.m. from fishermen in the area, who reported a body in the river just north of the bridge in Quasqueton. Deputies, firefighters and EMS personnel responded to the scene. The sheriff’s office says a man’s body was found and recovered from the river.

The body has been transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny for an autopsy to identify the cause of death. The Sheriff’s Office says at this point, there is no reason to believe foul play is involved.

A body was pulled from the Wapsipinicon River near Quasqueton. ( photo from Buchanan County Sheriff.)