(Radio Iowa) – Fort Dodge police are investigating a fatal motorcycle accident that happened shortly after 7 o’clock this (Monday) morning.  When officers arrived, they found an unresponsive male lying in the grass near the intersection of Hawkeye Avenue and Second Avenue Northwest. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

The preliminary findings indicated that the male was operating a motorcycle traveling westbound when he lost control and struck a tree at the intersection. The identity of the victim is not being released at this time.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports there were three accidents over the weekend, with one resulting in an arrest.

Friday evening, 28-year old Kody Mitchel Ross Havens, of Anita, was driving a 2015 Harley Davidson motorcycle westbound on White Pole Road at Frontier, when he lost control of the machine. The cycle entered a ditch. Havens told authorities he had gotten too far over onto the shoulder of the road before his motorcycle crashed. The accident happened at around 6:30-p.m.    Havens suffered suspected minor/non-incapacitating injuries, and was transported by private vehicle to his residence. The Harley sustained about $5,000 damage. Kody Havens was cited for Failure to Maintain Control, and Leaving the scene of a personal injury accident.

Authorities says 47-year old Chad Edward Polivka, of San Tan Valley, AZ, was charged with OWI/1st offense, Failure to Maintain Control, and Leaving the Scene of an accident, after the 2019 Audi SUV he was driving left the road as it was westbound on 200th Street, at around 11:25-p.m. Friday. The vehicle struck a tree at the Lake Panorama National Golf Course in Panora, causing $15,000 to the SUV and and estimated $300 damage to the tree.  Polivka suffered suspected minor/non-incapacitating injuries, but was not transported to the hospital.

And, at around 5:40-a.m. Saturday, a 2010 Chevy Traverse SUV driven by 60-year old Pamela Sue Carruthers, of Jefferson, was traveling south on Highway 25 in Guthrie County, just south of 310th, when a deer ran into the vehicle. The SUV sustained about $5,000 damage. Carruthers was not injured during the accident.

(Radio Iowa) – Advocates for Iowa’s 50-thousand blind and visually-impaired residents are asking state officials to let them vote by mail independently, using assistive technology for absentee ballots. Right now, blind Iowans are unable to vote from home without another person there to help. Jane Hudson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, says many people don’t want to go to the polls because of the coronavirus pandemic.  “So they can’t vote independently and privately. They have to depend on someone else and that’s not voting,” Hudson says. “Voting, you’re supposed to be able to do privately and secretly, and no one else knows what your vote is.”

The secretary of state’s office says the legislature has to change the law for this to happen, but lawmakers declined to do that earlier this year. Advocates disagree, pointing to recent changes that were made to election procedures without full legislative approval. Carrie Chapman, president of the Iowa Council of the United Blind, says she’s had someone help her fill out an absentee ballot, but she says blind Iowans have a right to vote privately and independently.  “There’s people that don’t have an option of having someone come and help them,” Chapman says, “and especially during the pandemic, they may be high risk, so having someone come into their home is a whole other ballgame in terms of that.”

Groups representing blind Iowans have been asking the secretary of state and lawmakers for more than a year to approve an accessible absentee ballot system. Then voters could use a computer program at home that would read the ballot out loud, allow them to mark the ballot, print it, and mail it to their county auditor.

(By Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio)

The Creston Police Department reports seven arrests took place over the weekend. Early Sunday morning, 27-year old Brandon Scott Lawrence, of Creston, was arrested at the intersection of Monroe/Maple St on a Union County Warrant for failure to appear original charge Theft 5th Degree. Lawrence was also charged with Possession of controlled substance 2nd offense and Possession of Paraphernalia. He is being held in the Union County Jail on $2.000 cash or surety bond. Sunday afternoon, 34-year old Skyler Lee Mcintosh, of Creston, was arrested at the intersection of Hwy 34/Osage during a traffic stop and charged with Possession of Paraphernalia, Possession of Controlled Substance 1st offense, and driving while barred. McIntosh was being held in the Union County Jail on $1,300 cash or surety bond.

Sunday morning, 35-year old Nicole Adrienne Sider, and 45-year old Harold Michael Roberts, both of Creston, were arrested on separate Domestic Abuse Assault charges. Sider was later released on $1,000 bond. Roberts was released on a $300 bond. 41-year old Justin Lawrence Moorhead, of Des Moines, was arrested Sunday afternoon for Public Intoxication. He was later released on a $300 bond.

And there were two arrests on Friday: 45-year old John Anthony Neely, of Creston, was arrested on a Union County warrant. He was taken into custody at the Union County Clerk of Court’s Office, and held in the Union County Jail on a $5,000 cash only bond. Friday night, 26-year old Andrew Thomas Palmer, of Creston, was arrested for OWI/1st offense. He was later released on a $1,000 bond.