Authorities in Mills County say three people have been arrested on unrelated charges. On Thursday, 31-year old Joseph David Eckley, of Silver City, was arrested at around 2-a.m., on a charge of OWI/1st Offense. His bond was set at $1,000. And, 43-year old Thomas Paul Tupper, of Glenwood, was arrested at around 11-a.m., for allegedly violating a No Contact order, and for Contempt of Court. His bond was set at $600.

Wednesday morning, Edward Lloyd Sharp II, of Mason City, was arrested at the Cerro Gordo County Jail for Failure to Appear on a Contempt of Court/Child Support charge. He was being held in the Jail on $1,000 bond.

The Iowa DNR says the city of Creston discovered untreated wastewater bypassing from its northeast lift station to a dry run that leads to the Middle Platte River. Today’s incident was discovered around at 6:30 a.m.  The bypass has since stopped. Officials say the amount of untreated wastewater released is estimated at 1,500 gallons. No impact to aquatic life was observed at the time of discovery.

The city will collect samples both upstream and downstream and place lime on the soil. People should avoid the area for 48 hours.

The city will notify the DNR if adverse impacts are observed.

No injuries were reported following an accident Thursday afternoon at 6th and Birch Streets, in Atlantic. The Police Department says Nicole Ross, of Atlantic, was cited for Failure to Yield upon entering a through highway, after the vehicle she was driving collided with one driven by Paul Huddleson, of Atlantic.

Officials say Huddleson was traveling west on 6th Street at around 12:35-p.m., as Ross was traveling south on Birch. After stopping, Ross proceeded into the intersection, without having yielded to the Huddleson vehicle. Damage from the accident amounted to $5,500.

Two Atlantic residents were arrested Thursday. The Atlantic Police Department reports 26-year old Justin Knutsen was arrested for Disorderly Conduct. Knutsen was booked into the Cass County Jail. And, 16-year old Corey Sunderman, of Atlantic, was arrested on Theft of a Motor vehicle and Theft in the 5th Degree, charges. Sunderman was also cited for Operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent. Sunderman was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center in Council Bluffs.

Sunderman was one of four teens who went missing on October 13th.  Sunderman and 13-year-old Austin Boggs, of Atlantic, and 15-year old’s Skie Floyd and Jazlyn Visek of from Shellsburg, were located a few days later in Eureka, IL., where they were taken into custody. The teens had taken a Jeep Cherokee from Atlantic, when they took off on their adventure. All four teens faced trespassing and criminal damage to property charges in Illinois.

The Atlantic Police Department reports two people were arrested today (Friday). 28-year old Ty Jordan, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Simple Assault. And, 50-year old Jon Misner, of Atlantic, was arrested on a felony warrant out of Nebraska, for Violation of his Child Support Order. Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

w/ Ric Hanson

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BOUTON, Iowa (AP) – The financially troubled Xenia Rural Water District is resisting takeover efforts by the firm that insures the district’s bonds.  The Des Moines Register reports  that Assured Guaranty has gone to court, seeking to fire the district’s directors and to install new management.
The district has debts of about $135 million. It owes about $2.5 million to Assured Guaranty, which made bond payments after the district defaulted.

Xenia board Chairman Dan Lovett says the district is doing everything it can to avert a takeover.  Plans to pay off the debt include a rate increase that the board will consider on Nov. 29th. Xenia’s financial troubles were mostly caused by expansion plans that never materialized. Xenia serves about 9,400 customers in parts of 12 counties north and west of Des Moines.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A 21-year-old man accused of impersonating an airline employee at the Omaha airport has pleaded guilty. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Timothy Foster, of Omaha, admitted entering a secured area at Eppley Airfield under false pretenses. Foster made his plea Wednesday in federal court in Omaha.

According to the criminal complaint, Foster pretended to be a United Airlines employee for six weeks starting in April. The complaint says he accessed restricted areas and a computer system of United Airlines and displayed a security badge he’d made.

Foster faces up to six months behind bars and a $5,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 26.

The U-S Army Corps of Engineers is ready to move the Missouri River into what it’s calling “drought reserve mode” and it’ll mean much less water flowing downriver. Corps spokeswoman Monique Farmer says water levels will drop by the end of the month. Winter releases from Gavins Point Dam, near Yankton, South Dakota, will be dropped to minimum levels, averaging around 12-thousand cubic feet per second (CFS) starting on December 1st and running through the end of February. Current release levels from the dam have been running more than three times that level, at 38-thousand C-F-S.

Farmer says the Corps’ forecast for next spring has the reservoirs down drastically. They’re expecting to be about 8-million acre feet below the base of the annual flood control and multiple use zone, so the three major reservoirs in the system may be drawn down 8 to 12 feet lower than what would normally be seen at this time of year. It was just last summer that reservoirs and releases hit record high levels during the spring and summer flooding. Releases from Gavins Point hit just over 160-thousand C-F-S. Farmer says they will step down releases gradually to allow downstream water users to adjust.

They’ll cut the releases initially to around 18-thousand C-F-S and hold for a few days. That will give cities and individuals who have their water intakes in the river the chance to see how they may be impacted. After a few days, water levels will be cut further to the projected 12-thousand C-F-S, where it should remain until March. The plan is raising concerns. Leaders in the state of Missouri fear such a drop in water levels on the Missouri River will impact the Mississippi River so much, barge traffic may have to be halted.

(Radio Iowa)