BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Criminal Investigation Division and the Burlington Police Department have appealed a judge’s conclusion that they broke state law by refusing to turn over all records after investigating a city officer’s accidental shooting of a woman. Autumn Steele was fatally shot on Jan. 6, 2015, by an officer responding to a fight between Steele and her husband. The Hawk Eye newspaper and her family filed complaints with the Iowa Public Information Board when the two agencies didn’t turn over all the records.

The Hawk Eye reports that lawyers for the two filed separate appeals Friday to the information board, which will decide whether to accept or reject Administrative Law Judge Karen Doland’s proposed opinion.
The police attorney argues that Doland relied on an “incorrect application” of Iowa code governing open records law. The investigation division’s attorney argues that Doland is wrong in interpreting “what materials may be part of an investigative file.”

The Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources said today (Tuesday), that DNR Conservation Officers are investigating a Nov. 1st hunting incident involving a group of quail hunters in Page County. Authorities say 58-year old Neil Bartelt,  of Fruitland, Iowa, was injured while upland bird hunting in the northwest corner of Page County, near the Montgomery, Mills, and Fremont county lines, around 3-p.m. on November 1st, when he was acting as a “blocker” for his hunting group.

The four other members of the hunting group were walking towards Bartelt when they scared up a group of quail. Several of the hunters fired shots at the quail striking Bartelt with pellets in the face and abdomen. Bartelt was transported to the Shenandoah Medical Center Hospital with minor injuries. The investigation continues into this incident.

The Iowa Department of Corrections reports that a man incarcerated in connection with Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree and other crimes in Pottawattamie County, has died from natural causes. 79-year old Donald Warner Brammer was pronounced dead at 4:22 p.m. on Monday, November 5th, at the University of Iowa Hospital where he had been admitted due to chronic illness. His incarceration began on January 12th, 2018.

Donald Brammer (File photo from Pott. County Sheriff’s Office)

Brammer was formerly “foster grandparent” at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands’ Council Bluffs Unit from 2012 to 2015, during which time, according to court documents, he bought his female victim gifts, invited the family for cookouts at his apartment complex and let the girl and her friends have sleepovers in his extra room. The victim said he eventually began to give her what investigators believed to be spiked drinks to make her fall asleep. He would then abuse her while she was alone with him and once locked her in his bathroom.

During his sentencing, Brammer maintained his innocence, and proclaimed he would be dead long before he was eligible for parole at the age of 95.

Officials in Shelby County have announced plans for two short-term closures this week on Linden Road. Shelby County Emergency Management said that on Wednesday (Nov. 7th), from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the bridge on Linden Road south of 200th Street will be closed. On Thursday (Nov. 8th), the bridge on Linden Road between F-24 and 2100th Street will be closed for the day.

Two men refused medical treatment after the vehicle they were in struck a cow on the road in Page County, Sunday night. Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports the accident happened on Highway 71, just south of the Montgomery/Page County line, at around 8:25-p.m. An investigation determined 23-year old Mark Richard Schut and 20-year old Paul Andre Schut, both of Villisca, were traveling in a 1996 Chevy K1500 pickup northbound on Highway 71, when the vehicle struck a black cow that was in the traveled portion of the road. The pickup continued into the east ditch before coming to rest. The cow went into the east ditch also, where it died.

Damage to the pickup was estimated at $4500. The black cow was owned by Jacob Harold Eitzen, of rural Villisca, who was notified of the accident and identified the black cow as being his. The estimated value of the cow is $1000. No citations were issued. The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by Villisca Fire and rescue.

A woman who had been reported as missing from Ackworth, in central Iowa, was involved in an unknown, possible injury accident Sunday morning, west of Thayer, in Union County. Sheriff’s officials say 66-year old Jacqueline Kay Hodson was traveling south on US Highway 169 at around 10-a.m., Sunday, when she failed to stop at the T-intersection stop sign for Highway 34. The 1996 Dodge pickup she was driving continued south across US 34 and struck an Alliant Energy power pole before ending up in a field. Authorities noted Hodson was a previous medical condition that does not allow her to drive.

The pickup sustained $3,000 damage. Damage to the power pole was also estimated at $3,000. Hodson was transported by ambulance to the hospital in Osceola, to be checked for injuries. No citations were issued.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A January trial has been scheduled for an Illinois resident accused of killing a man in southeast Iowa last year. Des Moines County court records say 28-year-old Antoine Spann, of Dalton, Illinois, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. He’s accused of shooting to death 26-year-old Demarcus “Peanut” Chew on Sept. 10, 2017, in a car outside the home of Chew’s mother in Burlington. His trial is set to begin Jan. 8 in Burlington.

The Harlan Community School District Board of Directors will meet tonight at 5:30. They will have a presentation to the Board by the FFA. They will also discuss the employment of Amanda Simon in High School Food Service, Mary Renkly and Kim Zaccone for Middle School Mock Trial Co-Sponsors and Dawn VandenBerg and Troy Renter as Key Club Co-Sponsors. The Board will also discuss Flex Funds and hear administrator reports. The Board will then go into closed session to evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance or discharge is being considered. The Board will then re-enter open session.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — City officials in northwest Iowa have voted to bar people from carrying “toy” firearms, which police say are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from actual guns. The Sioux City Council on Monday adopted an ordinance banning pellet and BB guns. The city code revision doesn’t ban carrying Nerf, suction-cup dart or squirt guns. Sioux City Police Capt. Mark Kirkpatrick says officers have had multiple encounters with replica weapons, facing the question of whether to use deadly force.

The police department says that while no one in the city has died from a police encounter while carrying a toy firearm, there are more than 50 such deaths nationwide each year. Assistant City Attorney Caleb Christopherson says officials will consider how the toy firearm is being used before issuing a misdemeanor violation.

The Adair County Board of Supervisors are set to meet 9-a.m. Wednesday at the courthouse in Greenfield. On their agenda, is a report from County Engineer Nick Kauffman, who will also have a final voucher for the Board to sign for Fort Dodge Asphalt Company, with regard to County-wide road crack sealing.The Board will also set the date for a Public Hearing on a Road Classification change.

Afterward, Mike Galloway, with Ahlers and Cooney, will discuss with the Board a Union Contract and Certification Election.

At 10-a.m., the Adair County Supervisors will hear from Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, with regard to Prisoner Meals, and at around 10:15, they’ll hear from VA Commissioner John Schildberg, with regard to the VA Directors’ resignation.