The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman from Menlo was arrested March 8th, on three warrants. 21-year-old Payton Allyssa Hill was taken into custody at the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office on three Adair County warrants for: failing to appear on charges of Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense & Possession of a Controlled Substance/Meth – 1st offense; Failure to appear on a charge of Domestic Abuse Assault/2nd offense; and a felony warrant for Violation of Probation. Hill was being held in the Adair County Jail on bonds totaling 3,000 (a $2,000 cash-only bond, & $1,000 cash or surety bond).

Also arrested March 8th, was 59-year old Robert Edward McCrory, of Greenfield. He was taken into custody by Greenfield Police on a charge of assault causing serious injury, after allegedly pushing his sister down the stairs, causing her to break her hip.  McCrory was released the following day on a $5,000 cash-only bond.

On March 9th, 39-year old Stormy Crawford, of Greenfield, was arrested following a brief pursuit at around 9:30-p.m.   She was charged with OWI/1st offense, after she was observed failing to stop at a controlled intersection in Orient, and for speeding 79 mph in a 45 mph zone. During an investigation, an Adair County Deputy saw there was an opened can of beer on the floorboard of the pickup she was driving. Crawford also had bloodshot and watery eyes, and was slurring her speech. She was given a standard field sobriety and preliminary breath alcohol test, the latter of which indicated at BAC of more than .08%.  Crawford consented to a separate breath alcohol test, which indicated her BAC was .162, or twice the legal limit. She was released later that night on a citation.

And, on March 11th, 35-year old Lafayette Allen Easterling, of Ft. Worth, TX., was arrested at the Dollar General Store in Adair. He was taken into custody at around 4:20-p.m. for Trespass. The Sheriff’s office had received a 911 call from the store at around 1:50-p.m. about a man walking behind the counter, bothering the workers and refusing to leave. While enroute to the store, authorities were informed the suspect had knives in his possession, and was attempting to pour lighter fluid on himself.

The man cooperated with a sheriff’s deputy and was taken into custody. Easterling told the deputy he had taken ecstacy during the past 24-to 36-hours, to help keep him awake while driving. Easterling was released from custody the next day on a $300 cash or surety bond.

Sheriff’s deputies in Page County, Sunday, received a complaint about a vehicle sitting on private property that had driven through a fence in the 1400 block of Highway 71.  An investigation determined 21-year-old Brodee Allen Means, of rural Villisca, was operating a 2008 Chevy pickup northbound on Highway 71 at approximately 11:00 PM on March 13th. Means told authorities that he was the only occupant of the vehicle when it hydroplaned on the wet road, entered the west ditch, and struck a residential drive at 1465 HWY 71. The vehicle then struck a MidAmerican Energy-owned power pole before driving through a fence owned by Richard Negley. The pickup came to rest in Negley’s pasture.

Means said he then left the vehicle and went to his residence for the night. There were no injuries reported from the accident. Damages amounted to $9,000. No charges were filed.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa has “turned the corner” when it comes to vaccinating Iowans. “We just hit our one-millionth vaccination here in Iowa. That’s great news,” Reynolds says. “Ninety-five percent of 65 years old and (above) have had at least one dose and we just continue to see those numbers increase.”

The state website tracking vaccinations shows the state has distributed 72-thousand-500 doses of vaccine over the past seven days. The federal government is shipping additional doses directly to participating pharmacies like Walgreens and C-V-S. “We’ve actually turned the corner,” Reynolds says. “We’ve worked with a lot of our local pharmacies. We’ve worked with a lot of our local hospitals and clinics. HyVee has been a tremendous partner in helping us get those out as well as our local public health teams have also been from and center in helping us really distribute the vaccine, set up mass vaccination clinics.”

Nearly 409-thousand Iowans have had both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. About 30-thousand Iowans have gotten the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Information updated Monday morning on the state website shows on impact the vaccines are having in Iowa. There are just two Iowa nursing homes listed as having Covid outbreaks. There are 18 active infections among staff or residents at facilities in Davenport and Wapello. At the end of November, more than 150 nursing homes had Covid outbreaks. State officials have confirmed more than 22-hundred nursing home residents died of Covid.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports his deputies foiled a rural residential burglary, early Saturday morning. Deputies had been checking the property due to suspicious activity. At around 2:40-a.m., they arrested 37-year old Bradley Roy Lewis, of Broken Bow, NE, on an active warrant for Failure to appear on original Felony Drug charges out of Atchison County Missouri, and for Burglary 3rd Degree, in Page County.

Bradley Roy Lewis

Warrants for two other suspects involved will be issued. Lewis is currently being held in the Page County Jail on a $5,000 cash only bond for the Burglary, and $7,500 bond for the Atchison County Missouri warrant.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% in January as more residents joined the workforce. The state’s Workforce Development department reported Monday the rate was down from a revised 3.7% rate for December and compared to a 2.8% rate a year ago, before the coronavirus pandemic resulted in a severe economic slowdown. Workforce Development says the state added 8,200 workers in January.

There were 57,400 unemployed residents. Iowa was tied with Kansas for the nation’s sixth-lowest unemployment rate. South Dakota and Utah had the lowest rate, at 3.1%. The national unemployment rate for January was 6.3%.

Guthrie County Deputy Sheriff Jesse Swensen, Monday (Today), announced the placement of a permanent Medication Dropbox located in the lobby of the Sheriff’s Office, at 200 North 5^th Street, in Guthrie Center. Deputy Swensen said the drop box is made possible through a small grant from the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy to address the increasing problem of prescription drug abuse. The drop box will be accessible to the public during normal business hours. Citizens wishing to utilize the medication drop box are asked to place all medications in sealed non-breakable containers and are requested to not include any “sharps” (syringes or lancets) or any other item that could cause injury to the Sheriff’s Office staff servicing the drop box. 

Dale Woolery, Director of the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy said “his office is pleased to partner with the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office in providing citizens a secure and environmentally responsible option to dispose of unused prescription drugs, thus preventing their potential diversion and abuse. Woolery added “Most prescription drugs that are abused come from friends or family, so cleaning out medicine cabinets can save lives.”

Prescription drug abuse is Iowa’s fastest-growing form of substance abuse, and addiction to powerful pain relievers is also fueling more heroin use. Prescription pain pills and heroin are both opioid drugs. The combination is contributing to an increase in opioid-related overdose deaths in Iowa and the U.S. According to Deputy Swensen, “many people become addicted to prescription drugs because they started using a family member’s leftover prescriptions. Once addicted some of these individuals may then eventually move to heroin to fulfill that addiction.”

Additional information on prescription drug abuse/opioid abuse and properly disposing of unused medication can be found at:

https://odcp.iowa.gov/rxotc

https://odcp.iowa.gov/rxtakebacks

https://odcp.iowa.gov/rxbrochure