Red Oak Police have arrested a man from SE Iowa on a Theft charge. 44-year old Anthony Deon Gregory, of Keokuk, was arrested at around 11:30-a.m. Wednesday (today), on a Red Oak P-D warrant for Theft in the 4th Degree, and Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. Gregory was taken into custody in Fountain Square Park and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where his bond was set at $2,000.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum announced today (Wednesday), 61-year old Leonard David Capp, was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge John A Jarvey for prohibited person in possession of a firearm. Capp was sentenced to 46 months in prison, to be followed by a term of supervised release of two years.

According to court documents, on August 13, 2018, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office received a call regarding shots fired at Capp’s residence. Witnesses told deputies Capp fired a shot into the ground at his son’s feet. Neither Capp nor his son were at the residence when deputies arrived.

Knowing Capp was a prior convicted felon and not permitted to have firearms, deputies obtained a search warrant for his residence. Deputies executed the search warrant on August 22, 2018, and located two loaded firearms in Capp’s home, as well as additional ammunition. At the time of his arrest, Capp was in possession of a small amount of marijuana and methamphetamine.

The case was investigated by Taylor County Sheriff’s Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Iowa Department of Narcotics Enforcement. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Veterans groups around Northeast Iowa are struggling to provide honor guards for veterans’ funeral services because of decreasing membership. Oftentimes, veteran service organizations provide honor guards when reserve units can’t because of the lack of active duty bases in the area. A reserve unit may send two members to fold the flag for the family, but a local service organization will provide the rifle salute and pallbearers for a full military detail. Even the Patriot Guard, an organization that holds a flag line at funerals and escorts remains to cemeteries, is struggling with declining membership.

Kevin Dill, formerly Black Hawk County Veterans Affairs executive director, knows about the need. “When I was the VA director I would get calls all the time, ‘Hey dad died, grandpa died, how do we get an honor guard detail at the funeral?’ I would always tell them to call the funeral home,” Dill told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. “I didn’t realize until once I was out here talking to these guys there’s going to be a time when the funeral home will have nobody to call, because the average age of honor guard members is in their 70s and 80s.”
Many service organizations don’t have the money to staff honor guards either, Dill said. He wants to reach out to veterans who have a service-connected disability or are retired to help when they can.

“Otherwise there’s going to be a day that’s going to come when these guys who pass away, who deserve that honor — they’ve earned it — are not going to be able to have it because the guys that are doing it now are going to get too old or they’re going pass away,” Dill said. “That honor may not happen sometime down the road because we as a community and the younger veterans have forgotten.” Dill predicts in 10 years there won’t be enough people around to perform honor guards properly.

“The same thing is happening to our numbers,” said Tim Houts, Patriot Guard ride captain. “We have about five or six in Northeast Iowa that come, that includes Waterloo and Cedar Falls.”
Houts said sometimes he won’t know if anyone is going to show up for a funeral. “We’ve been down to four, to three for a funeral, and that’s tough. Especially in winter when people don’t want to go outside,” Houts said.

People can donate their time or money to help with honor guards in the Cedar Valley. The Cedar Falls AMVETS has an honor guard, and many other veteran service organizations do also. “It’s a problem all over,” said Marvin Mattfeld of Cedar Falls AMVETS. “A lot of younger guys don’t want to become members of a veteran service organization.” The Cedar Falls AMVETS does 60 to 70 funerals a year. There are 21 AMVETS members who take part in funeral honor guards. “These guys, they’re in their 70s and 80s,” Dill said. The youngest are in their 60s.

Anyone who wants to get involved or donate can contact Dill at (309) 738-8684 to donate or get involved with any veteran service post. To get involved with the Patriot Guard, visit patriotguard.org and sign up. The only requirement is a want to help and respect for the American flag, Hout said.

MARION, Iowa (AP) — The Marion school district in eastern Iowa has settled another lawsuit with a family who alleged their child was sexually abused by a 15-year-old classroom volunteer.
Television station KCRG reports that the Marion Independent School District will pay $619,000 to the family, which was the fifth of six families to sue the district over abuse of kindergartners. The district has so far agreed to pay a total of more than $3.3 million to victims’ families.

The 15-year-old boy was convicted of sexual abuse in 2016. The kindergarten teacher who oversaw the class was acquitted in 2018 of failing to report sex abuse allegations. Prosecutors had said two students at Starry Elementary told the teacher in 2016 that they were being abused by the volunteer and that she failed to report it.

HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) — Motorists in southwestern Iowa are back to traveling a maze of detours as a new round of flooding closes a 40-mile stretch of Interstate 29 and other highways and roads. Those thoroughfares had only reopened in recent weeks following devastating flooding along the Missouri River in March. Today (Wednesday), the Iowa Department of Transportation said that I-29 was closed from Pacific Junction to the Missouri state line. Some sections of I-29 from the state line to St. Joseph, Missouri, had reopened Tuesday afternoon, after being closed earlier in the day.

Highway 2 — which connects the interstate to Nebraska City, Nebraska, over the Missouri River — is again closed for flooding. New flooding has also closed Highway 34 between the Nebraska state line and I-29 near Pacific Junction.

Other Iowa roads currently closed due to flooding:

S. 169 near Adel
S. 65 near Lucas
Iowa 92 near Oskaloosa
Iowa 21 near Belle Plaine
Iowa 130 near Plainview
S. 67 in Davenport

Flooding is a dynamic situation and conditions can change quickly. Other closures are expected. Travelers should check 511ia.org, the Iowa 511 mobile app or call 511 (within Iowa) or 800-288-1047 (nationwide) for up-to-date closure information on state-owned roadways across Iowa. Closures due to flooding can be viewed by turning on the incident layer on the online map and mobile app.

The Atlantic Police Department reports two men were arrested on separate warrants, Tuesday. 38-year old Michael Parrott, of Atlantic, was arrested on Cass County warrants for Harassment in the 2nd Degree, and Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. And, 30-year old Justin Cooley, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Theft in the 3rd Degree. Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Department report a man and woman from Corning were arrested at around 9-a.m. today (Wednesday), for Violation of a No Contact Order. 33-year old Damien Michael Most and 40-year old Joleen Mary Most, were seen together in a vehicle at 9th and Davis Streets, in Corning. A valid No Contact Order was in effect. Both parties were placed under arrest and transported to the Adams County Jail, before being released on their own recognizance.

The Iowa Smoke Free Homes Registry now includes more features to help renters find the smoke-free property that best meets their needs. The registry’s smoke-free rental properties map now also shows transit stops, parks, grocery stores and farmers markets.

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control partnered with the department’s Nutrition and Physical Activity bureau to add community points of interest to help Iowans be more informed about the neighborhood and community when searching for a smoke-free single or multi-unit rental home.

“Over 80 percent of all Iowans are non-smokers and 74 percent of Iowa renters say they would choose to live in a non-smoking building,” said Emily Vogt, who helps coordinate the Smoke Free Homes Registry. “These new map features will make it even easier for renters to find the property best suited for their needs.

The Smoke Free Homes Registry includes more than 1,200 smoke-free rental properties; a property must have at least one building that is 100% smoke free and must have this specified in the lease language. To learn more and see the properties listed on the registry, visit https://smokefreehomes.iowa.gov. To view the property map, from the home page, click on “Find a Property” and then choose the “Browse Map” tab.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A man who stabbed five people at a downtown Mason City bar last year has been sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. The Globe Gazette reports that 40-year-old Raul Millares Arias, of Mason City, was sentenced Tuesday in Cerro Gordo County District Court. After a judge rejected his plan to argue diminished responsibility because he was drunk, Millares Arias entered an Alford plea last month to five counts of willful injury and one of going armed with intent. In an Alford plea, a person doesn’t admit guilt, but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a likely conviction.

Police say Millares Arias had been asked to leave the bar July 4 last year before stabbing four men and one woman and attempting to stab a sixth person.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Weeks after historic flooding in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa forced thousands of people living along swollen rivers out of their homes, some of those residents again find themselves faced with evacuating in the wake of new flooding. The Omaha World-Herald reports that rural and riverside residents along the Missouri River in Mills County, Iowa, were preparing this week to evacuate. In Nebraska along the Platte River, residents around Hanson Lakes just south of Bellevue were sandbagging a levee that was already being overtopped by the river.

The Plattsmouth Emergency Medical Services Department warned via its Twitter account Tuesday that the Platte and Missouri Rivers were rapidly rising around Plattsmouth. The department advised: “If you are in an area which previously flooded a few months ago, get out NOW.” The new flooding comes in the wake of recent heavy rains and as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stepped up releases from Gavins Point Dam upstream on the Missouri River.