(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Red Oak Police Department and the Red Oak Volunteer Firefighters Association, with the support and assistance of multiple public safety agencies, local businesses and organizations in Montgomery County, will once again be distribution point for the Marine Corps “Toys for Tots” program for Montgomery County. The goal, is to see to it that every child, which is registered in Montgomery County, is able to have at least one new toy for Christmas this year.

Registration dates: November 18th, 2022 3-5PM will be the main sign up day, this will be held at the Red Oak Fire Department meeting room 1904 N Broadway in Red Oak (Please use the east door to the meeting room). A toy drop off/2nd registration day is set for December 2nd, 2022 at Fareway parking lot from 5PM-7PM with Santa and the Gammell lighted fire truck! At Fareway for toy drop off you may drive thru; to see Santa on the fire truck please practice social distancing rules and sign ups need to be contactless so please have child’s birth certificate or medical card ready to display to the officers in charge. The main sign-up at the Red Oak Fire Station will be 1 individual per time, NO Groups or multiples registering together, this will be contactless also – please have documents ready to show.

If you are unable to make it on the listed dates, contact ROPD Chief Justin Rhamy or Amber Jennings and they will assist you in figuring out other means of getting you signed up. No matter how you register, whether online, or in person, the necessary information, will need to be provided for each child you want to register, and then go through the screening process. After Dec 2nd it will have to be done online, through the website. However, delivery of the toys, cannot be guaranteed after that time. This is because of time needed to confirm the details of the necessary registration process, and time available to the person at the local distribution site to follow up. Our projected toy delivery date will be set for December 22nd, 2022.

A parent, guardian, or grandparents are the only ones allowed to sign up a child. There is some information that needs to be brought in with the person registering the child when they come to register. If they can bring a copy of the child’s birth certificate or medical card, that works the best. Child’s full name as it appears on the birth certificate/medical card, Date of Birth, parent’s names and a telephone number of the person registering the child.

Toys are divided into three age groups with a maximum age of 14.

0-3 Non gender specific

4-8 Male/Female

9-14 Male/Female

DONATIONS can be dropped off at: Fareway, Montgomery County YMCA, Cubby’s, The Bucksnort, Orscheln’s, Red Oak Express, Red Oak Library, Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, Family Dollar/Dollar Tree and the Red Oak Police Department. Toys must be a new unwrapped toy.

Agencies assisting with the Montgomery County Toys for Tots program include: Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency, Stanton Fire & Rescue, Villisca EMS Association, Villisca Fire Department, Grant Fire Department & First Responders, and Elliott Fire First Responders, Fareway, Montgomery County YMCA, Red Oak Eagles #2715 , Bucksnort Restaurant, SWIA Squadron of Heroes, Red Oak Community Schools, Cubby’s, Orscheln’s, Red Oak Express, Montgomery County Memorial Hospital and Red Oak Library.

Any person having questions in regards to the Toys for Tots program or would like to make a monetary donation please contact Chief Justin Rhamy or Amber Jennings of the Red Oak Police Department at 712-623-6500.

(Anita, Iowa) – The CAM School Board will meet tonight, in the High Superintendent’s Office. Their session gets underway at 6:30-p.m., with a Public Hearing on the conveyance of real property.

In August, the CAM School Board accepted a bid of $26,500 from Wahlert Construction to purchase a school-owned property located four-blocks south of the main campus, in Anita. The property is rarely used by the District. The Board set Nov. 14^th as the date for a hearing on the matter, during their meeting last month.

Afterward, the Board will adjourn the hearing and convene their regular session, which includes action on any resignations or contracts, and a Resolution for a Conveyance of Real Property. The Board will hold discussion with regard to enrollment for 2022 and financial projections, as well as objectives regarding District facilities/future alignment.

(Radio Iowa) – The Peoples Law Library of Iowa And the State Law Library of Iowa and University of Iowa Law Library have teamed up with the hope of offering clear information to people involved in a case or just trying to understand a particular issue. U-I Law Library director, Carissa Vogel says the website is an on-ramp for non-lawyers looking for quality information. “There are lots of people that come to the judicial system not knowing that they need representation, not understanding necessarily the complexity of what they’re dealing with, or having challenges finding representation. … There are a lot of people trying to get help that don’t have representation,” she says. Vogel says the project is essential for making the judicial system accessible.

“There’s an eviction notice, or someone loses their job, or there’s a custody issue, and they don’t know where to start, right. And so it was important for us that the Peoples Law Library fit that really first basic step in foundational understanding,” Vogel says. A 2015 national survey of civil dockets found at least one party was self-represented in 76 percent of civil, non-family related cases. Twenty five years before that — nearly all cases involved attorney on both sides. The Iowa project was funded with 100-thousand dollars from the American Rescue Plan.

(reporting by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – All three of Iowa’s state universities will now have nursing programs after the Board of Regents gave the go-ahead for the University of Northern Iowa to start one. U-N-I Provost, Jose Herrera, says there’s no doubt the program will help fill gaps in the health care system. “The need for nurses in Iowa and nationally is critical. Many major medical centers, centers and rural hospitals are forced to close entire floors to the shortage of nurses,” he says. Herrera says patients suffer from the lack of nurses.

“Many patients who require hospitalization spent several hours in the emergency room waiting for a bed. The nursing shortage results in higher patient caseload and significant burnout and nurses, further exacerbating the problem,” Herrera says. He says data from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing show that more than eight-thousand qualified applicants were denied entry to programs just in the Midwest last year due to a lack of space. Herrera says U-N-I’s plans have broad support.

“All healthcare providers but particularly those in rural settings have made it abundantly clear they’re in desperate need of additional graduates that we can provide,” he says. “Leadership from the University of Iowa’s College of Nursing and Iowa State University’s nursing program have provided fruitful conversations to guide our efforts and we hope to continue to benefit from their advice and partnership.” Herrera made his comments during a presentation to the Board of Regents, which approved the new program during their meeting last week. U-N-I will seek accreditation of the nursing program with the hope of getting it started on the Cedar Falls campus in the fall of 2024.

(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowans will be meeting up next week with family members they haven’t seen in a while, and some of us need to mentally prepare ourselves so we’re not sucked into a squabble that ruins Thanksgiving. University of Iowa professor and psychologist Michele Williams says we just had the mid-term elections last week, but that’s likely something to be avoided, along with discussions about inflation, gas prices and the economy. Even vaccines can still be a touchy subject. “With the kind of triple threat of COVID is still around, we’re having the flu, we have RSV, so people are not necessarily going to be healthy this holiday season,” Williams says. “So there’s a lot to talk about that is potentially still divisive and so much in the media that people it may be on people’s minds.”

In order to keep family conversations civil, Williams says the key is to make discussions dialogues, not debates. Stay patient, she says, and tread carefully on potential hot-button topics. “If you were just talking about the price of gas or how the restaurant prices have gone up, so just things that you might talk about in a normal family gathering like, ‘Oh, where are you going?’ ‘We’re not sure if we’re gonna fly home to such-and-such because airline prices are still high,’ that could easily spill over to political perspective on how the economy is going.” She says some families manage conflict by deciding only to talk about football or the kids or other things that they have in common — and not politics.

“We need to listen more. Americans are not really good at listening. We’re good at talking, we’re good at having debates and trying to prove the other side wrong,” Williams says. “We need to kind of move that more to a dialogue where we’re interested and curious about the other side. So we need to listen and I think about it as listening with empathy and grace.” Williams is a UI professor of management and entrepreneurship in the Tippie College of Business and she’s a psychologist who specializes in management communications and relationships.

(Corning, Iowa) – A man from Griswold was arrested Saturday on drug charges, in Adams County. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports 36-year-old Carl Daniel was arrested after a probable cause search of his vehicle was enacted, following a traffic stop near the intersection of Dogwood Avenue and Highway 34, in Corning. Inside the vehicle, deputies found 23 grams of methamphetamine.

Carl Daniel faces charges that include Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd offense – Meth; Poss. with the intent to deliver over 7 grams; Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp, and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia. He was being held in the Adams County Jail on $35,300 bond.

*Any potential criminal charges identified above are merely allegations, and any defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law*

(Afton, Iowa) – An SUV popped out of gear Sunday evening in Afton, and struck a gas pump, causing $10,000 damage. The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports no one was injured when the 1996 Ford Explorer backed out of a parking stall in the Afton Casey’s Store parking lot, rolled westward and into the middle gas pumps, causing disabling damage to the pump. The accident happened at around 6:50-p.m., as the vehicle’s driver, 37-year-old Travis J. Klos, of Afton, was out of the SUV.

The Ford sustained $3,000 damage but was able to be driven away. Klos was cited for Failure to Provide Proof of (insurance).

(Clarinda, Iowa) – As a reminder to our report on November 3rd, Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer says the Sheriff’s Department’s “Operation Blessing” is underway. The Sheriff’s Department officially began taking requests yesterday (Saturday, Nov. 12), and continuing through Dec. 10th, for children who are in need of a gift. “Operation Blessing” strives to make sure every child in the rural areas of the County receives a Christmas gift.

The program covers children from birth to age 14, who reside in the communities of Shambaugh, Braddyville, College Springs, Yorktown, Coin, Blanchard, and Northboro as well as the rural areas, of Page County. The child must be a resident of the aforementioned communities, or rural Page County. The requests must come from a parent or guardian of the child and can be called into the Page County Sheriff’s Office at 712-542-5193, or reported in person by the parent or guardian at the Page County Sheriff’s Office located at 323 N 15th Street in Clarinda, IA. Each child will be given a first and second choice. It is suggested that a toy and clothing be requested.

Anyone wishing to donate money to the Page County Sheriff’s Office Operation Blessing program can either stop by the Page County Sheriff’s Office or mail the monetary donation to the Page County Sheriff’s Office at 323 North 15th Clarinda, Iowa, 51632. Monetary donations are taken year-round at the Office. The Page County Reserve Program started Operation Blessing in the mid 1980’s to ensure that every child in the rural areas of Page County had the opportunity to receive a gift at Christmas. It has continued every year since for almost 40 years. In these times, the program is adapting. Department deputies and staff will be delivering gifts just prior to Christmas Eve.