COUNCIL BLUFFS– The Iowa Department of Corrections reports 36-year old Jonathon Mandel Clausell, who was convicted of Robbery 2nd Degree and other crimes in Union County, failed to report back to the Council Bluffs Residential Correctional Facility as required, Monday night.

Jonathan M. Clausell (IA DOC photo)

Clausell is a black male, height 5’10”, and weighs 195 pounds. He was admitted to the work release facility on February 23, 2021. Persons with information on Clausell’s whereabouts should contact local police.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports five recent arrests. Sunday night, 25-year old D’Angelo Thomas Monson, of Glenwood, was arrested at the Mills County Jail, for Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree, with bond set at $1,000. Sunday evening, 37-year old Garret Allen Horgdal, of Henderson, was arrested for Theft in the 4th, two counts of Harassment in the 2nd, Domestic Abuse Assault, and Harassment in the 3rd Degree. Horgdal was being held without bond in the Mills County Jail.

On March 5th, 54-year old Walter Melvin Hankins, of East St. Louis, IL., was arrested at the Mills County Jail, for being a Fugitive from Justice. He remained held in the jail without bond. And, On March 4th, 18-year old Nathanyel Mychal Daley, of Bellevue, NE., was arrested in Mills County at around 5-p.m., for Possession of a Controlled Substance.

Late Monday morning, March 8th, a collision occurred in Mills County on the I-29 north on ramp to Highway 34. Authorities say a 2012 Ford driven by 26-year old Dustyn Oliver of Glenwood, and a 2017 Kenworth driven by 59-year old Jeffrey Barnes, of Clifton, KS, were eastbound on Highway 34. Oliver didn’t see the semi ahead of him. The rig had recently turned onto Highway 34 and was just about up to speed, when Oliver’s vehicle hit the trailer of the semi.

The impact caused his vehicle’s airbag to deploy. Oliver suffered possible, minor injuries, but was cleared at the scene by rescue personnel. His vehicle was towed from the collision site. The semi was able to continue after its rear bumper was pulled free from the rear set of wheels.

(Radio Iowa) – Following the January 6th riot, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says security upgrades are still needed to better protect the U-S Capitol but he disagrees with some of the initial recommendations in a report released on Monday. The task force called for spending 500-million dollars on additional security measures, including keeping a National Guard presence in Washington D-C for another two months. Grassley, a Republican, says that’s unnecessary. Grassley says, “We’re waiting for people that are studying it to make that decision but we don’t have to be spending a half a billion dollars, just a million dollars a day just for the fence that’s being maintained, and it’s a temporary fence.”

A retired Army lieutenant general and others on the task force are calling for significant changes to bolster security around the Capitol and to speed the emergency response. “He said we need a thousand more policemen. I think we have about 1,800 now,” Grassley says. “This is just for the five or six blocks around Capitol Hill and we’ve had that number of policemen for a long time.”

Grassley says law enforcement needs better training, especially in crowd control, and better communication is also needed between the House and Senate as well as between the police and the sergeant-at-arms. Grassley recalled the days when his wife would drive him to work and drop him off at the Capitol steps. While acknowledging more security is needed, he doesn’t want to see Washington become a fortress. “I don’t have an answer except to wait and see what these people recommend,” Grassley says. “I don’t see the need for a permanent fence and yet there’s people advocating that.”

The senator agrees with the task force’s recommendation to streamline the chain of command to deploy the National Guard in an emergency situation. Grassley notes it took four or five hours for the guard to respond during the unrest in January and a more immediate response is needed. Some five-thousand National Guard troops remain on-duty in Washington, though most of them are scheduled to return home this week.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has unanimously passed legislation that would make a pandemic era policy for telehealth services permanent. Last year, the governor used her emergency powers to temporarily make insurance reimbursement rates equal for in-person and virtual visits for mental health services. Representative Joel Fry of Osceola says the bill would continue the requirement that rates be equal, whether the appointment is face-to-face or conducted online.

“Over the course of the last year with Covid, we have all learned the importance of telehealth,” Fry says, “and its ability to provide health care to Iowans, regardless of where they live in the state.” Fry says this kind of reimbursement parity for mental health services is already law in ten states and many others are considering similar legislation.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports two persons arrested over the past week or so, were later released on citations. 31-year old Meagan Lorraine Horner, of Fontanelle, was arrested later released with a citation for OWI/1st offense, after she was pulled over in Stuart at around 1:15-a.m., on Feb. 28th.  Horner allegedly failed to stop the intersection of S. 4th and Division Streets. Tests later indicated her intoxication level to be .088%.

And, at around 7:10-p.m. March 1st, 20-year old Jeffrey Dale Dillenberg, Jr., of Creston, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana – 1st offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (a glass pipe). His arrest stems from a traffic stop for speeding and defective headlight, in Greenfield.

One person died and two others were injured during a collision between a semi and a car early this (Tuesday) morning, in Polk County. The Iowa State Patrol reports the crash happened in the suburb of Pleasant Hill at around 1:23-a.m., when a semi stopped for a traffic light eastbound on Highway 163 and NE 80th Street, when the rig was hit from behind by an eastbound 2002 Cadillac Seville, driven by 34-year old Zachary Willer, of Pleasant Hill.

Willer and a passenger in his car, 23-year old Kyleigh Jeffrey, of Des Moines, were injured in the crash. Both were wearing seat belts. Willer was flown by Life Flight to Mercy One Hospital, Jeffrey was transported to the same hospital by Pleasant Hill EMS. A second passenger in the Cadillac, 23-year old Dean Goodenough, of Maple Park, IL., died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt. The driver of the semi, a 26-year old man from Minnesota, was not injured.

The crash remains under investigation.