Once again it’s that time to nominate a person in Cass County for this year’s Athena Award. The ATHENA Leadership Award — made possible locally by Deter Motor Company, in Atlantic — is presented in January at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce’ Annual Dinner. Those interested in nominating an individual can pick up a nomination packet at the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, 102 Chestnut Street, or by visiting www.atlanticiowa.com. Nominations are due in September.

The ATHENA Leadership Award, developed through a grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation, identifies eight distinct attributes that are reflective of women’s contributions to leadership: living authentically, learning constantly, advocating fiercely, acting courageously, fostering collaboration, building relationships, giving back and celebrating. These personal traits are more intuitive to women and combined with the strongest aspects of traditional leadership – taking risks, assertiveness, hard work – prepare women to be successful leaders in the 21st century.

Over 7,000 recipients around the world have been honored with the ATHENA Leadership Award since the program launched in 1982. Locally, past winners include: LaVon Eblen, Judy Marnin Leanne Pellett, Denise O’Brien, Margaret Slepsky, Glenda Farrier, Carole Schuler, Jan Kinnison, Janell Hansen, Ann Pross, Wendy Richter, Dolly Bergmann, Pat Markham, Lanette Plambeck, Kathie Hockenberry, Dr. Tressa Wilcox and Heather McKay.

Presented to leaders, woman and men, across the professional sector, the ATHENA Leadership Award is one of the most prestigious leadership awards one can receive—and Atlantic is one of the few communities in Iowa with an active ATHENA Leadership group.

Nominees must meet each of the following three criteria:

1.      Demonstrate excellence, creativity and initiative in their business or profession

2.      Provide valuable service to improve the quality of life for others in their community

3.      Actively assist women in achieving their full leadership potential

An investigation into an accident around 4-p.m. Saturday in Mills County resulted in the arrest of a Pottawattamie County man. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports 51-year old Darren Eugene Weis, of Avoca, was taken into custody for OWI/3rd offense, and Driving While Revoked for a previous OWI. Weis was also cited for Failure to Maintain Control. His bond was set at $6,000.

Officials say Weis was driving a 2014 Infinity northbound on Interstate 29, when the car entered the median near the Mills/Pott. County line. The car hit several guardrail posts before getting back onto I-29 and continuing northbound. Weis then crossed the turnaround area in the median and went south on I-29 for about one-eighth of a mile before stopping his vehicle, which had sustained major front end damage.

The person who reported the incident and another passerby detained Weis from leaving the scene, until Deputies could arrive and take him into custody. No injuries were reported.

The Iowa Board of Chiropractic has filed a Notice of Hearing and Statement of Charges against a Chiropractor from Atlantic. According to IBC documents, a disciplinary contested case hearing for Melissa S. Sternberg, who operates Dr. Zook’s Family Chiropractic in Atlantic and Carson, will take place 10-a.m. Oct. 10th, in Des Moines. The Board alleges:

• Sternberg represented herself as a chiropractic physician, when her license was suspended or on inactive status, in Violation of Iowa Code.
• Sternberg is practicing with an inactive license, in Violation of Iowa Code.
• And, that she has failed to comply with a subpoena issued by the Board, or otherwise failing to cooperate with a Board investigation, in violation of Iowa Code.

The Board’s records show Sternberg’s business license to practice chiropractic was suspended in Feb., 2015. Her license expired on June 30th, 2016. Her license was indefinitely suspended in Feb. 2015 due to the Board’s receipt of a certificate of non-compliance from the Iowa Department of Revenue Centralized Collection Unit.  The statement issued by the Iowa Board of Chiropractic said the matter may be resolved by settlement agreement if Sternberg follows the procedural rules.

(More information on this case can be found here: https://idph.iowa.gov/Licensure/Iowa-Board-of-Chiropractic/Discipline-and-Public-Actions?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery )

The Harlan Fire Department was called to Essentia, east of Harlan, at around 5:24-p.m., Friday. According to our sister station KNOD in Harlan, the original call was for an explosion in the east part of the building. Harlan Fire Chief Roger Bissen said upon arrival, the fire department did not find any fire, but there was a lot of smoke in that area of the building. The cause of the smoke was powder inside of one of the hammer mills had ignited, causing the explosion. The blast was contained within the stainless steel tank. The Harlan Fire Department disassembled the machine and ventilated the building. There was no damage to the building.