Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Transportation said Friday (Today), that a portion of U.S. 34 west of Interstate 29 that was severely damaged by flood waters in March, reopened to traffic at approximately 3 p.m. today.

The roadway opening provides a valuable link between Mills County, Iowa and Sarpy County, Nebraska. Restoring mobility over the U.S. 34 bridge will give travelers another option to cross between Nebraska and Iowa in addition to Iowa 2, which had been restored in a very limited manner using temporary measures.

Traffic will be able to use both westbound lanes, but eastbound travel will be restricted to one lane.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office reports 36-year old Rex Dean Peterson II, of Dunbar, Nebraska, was arrested Thursday on a Theft charge in Hamburg. His arrest was the result of a call from a citizen at around 10:19-a.m., about suspicious activity at A and Argyle Street in Hamburg.

Rex Dean Peterson, II

The caller reported that Peterson was in the in possession of pipe and filters from the Manildra Milling Corp, at 100 George Street. The company is located in an area of extensive flooding in Hamburg. The Pipe had a value of over one-thousand dollars.

Peterson was charged with Theft 2^nd was transported to the Fremont County Jail. He posted a $5,000 cash or surety bond.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Stanton man after a short pursuit of a motorcycle on Thursday. Officers attempted to stop a motorcycle with a male driver in the city limits of Shenandoah and the driver led them on a short pursuit.

The driver eventually pulled into a residence and was apprehended. 18-year-old Cooper Michael Stanley of Stanton received numerous traffic citations and was arrested for Driving While License Suspended or Revoked. Stanley was taken to the Page County Jail and held on $1,000 bond.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by Shenandoah Police Department.

In honor of Memorial Day, Greenfield artist and State Representative Ray “Bubba” Sorensen is repainting a 12-foot tall, approximately 60-ton boulder located just south of I-80 off Highway 25. The rock is being painted this year to pay tribute to our military men and women. Sorensen started painting the original Freedom Rock® the first week of May and plans to be finished by Memorial Day 2019.

2019 Freedom Rock (Courtesy Sorensen Studios)

The front feature side of the Freedom Rock® has a soldier’s cross and ribbon stating, “For Those Who Gave All”, with Soldiers, Sailors and Marines through the ages looking on. The south side will honor the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, the east side honors the sailors killed in the turret explosion 30 years ago on the USS Iowa, and above that Tuskegee Airman Robert Williams, who wrote “Red Tails.” The north side features the only Navy Seabee to be awarded the Medal of Honor, Marvin Shields, with the Seabee logo and a ship named for Shields. And local Veteran Rick Schaecher, who flew many missions on T_33s in Vietnam. And of course, Old Glory waving on top in honor of all who serve.

The helicopter remains as the paint that it is comprised of has been mixed with the ashes of our Vietnam Veterans since 2006. Sorensen said: “I’m so glad I am able to paint a sincere Thank You to those who serve our country and those who’ve given their life in that service, with the support of my family. Having enjoyed our country’s freedom and understanding that it comes with a heavy cost, I hope our Veterans know how much we appreciate them…and that it is conveyed in my artwork.”

Sorensen is not commissioned for his work on the original Freedom Rock® in Menlo, Iowa but works as an independent mural artist on the Iowa Freedom Rock® Tour. Sorensen is only able to complete about ten rocks per year, due to scheduling and weather and is currently booked into the 2021 year. The Freedom Rock® Tour is helped by the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation of Iowa Falls, Iowa, who provide the truck and Aluma Trailers of Bancroft, Iowa, who provide the trailer.

For a list of complete counties booked for the Tour and locations of already existing Freedom Rocks®, visit www.thefreedomrock.com. Although it is Sorensen’s 21st annual year of painting the original Freedom Rock®, this is Sorensen’s seventh year on the Freedom Rock® Tour across Iowa. This also marked the third year since Sorensen began the 50 State Freedom Rock® Tour with rocks already painted in Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin. A Freedom Rock® has also been booked for the state of Washington. Sorensen plans to be at The Freedom Rock® over Memorial Day weekend, including Memorial Day to meet with visitors.

Calendars as well as other merchandise are also available to help offset costs for the project. In the fall of 2018, Sorensen was elected to his first term as a State Representative in the Iowa House.

Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon reports the ability to call 911 has been restored for Westel phone company customers in the Anita area. The outage was originally reported to have occurred late Thursday morning, and left landlines unable to call 911.

(Radio Iowa) — There appears to be little relief from the rain in the forecast. Crews in Davenport are erecting wider and taller barriers in the same place where a temporary flood wall was breached earlier this month. Parts of SOUTHWEST Iowa were hit with heavy rain overnight Thursday into Friday morning. Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman says rainfall amounts in and around Red Oak vary from four-to-seven inches. “All of our rivers, streams, creeks, tributaries are full,” Hamman says. “Some of them are out.”

Crews started assessing the condition of roads in the county and began putting up barricades on some roads before sunrise. Hamman says the potential for flash flooding remains if there’s more rain. “Obviously, we’ve already got a lot of rain this spring. The ground is saturated, so it’s not a good situation on our already-vulnerable roads,” Hamman says.

In Page County, a flood warning has been issued for the Nodaway River at Clarinda through Sunday afternoon. The National Weather Service said the river crested more than two feet above flood stage Friday morning.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A secretary at Iowa’s school for juvenile offenders has been fired after using her job to purchase pain pills from a former student who later demanded monthly payments to keep quiet about the transaction, records show. Kelly Reed lost her 19-year position at the State Training School for Boys in Eldora in March after reporting what she called a 9-month blackmail scheme to the institution and police, according to records related to her termination and request for unemployment benefits obtained by The Associated Press. The former student threatened that, if he was not paid, he would tell the school and news outlets of the purchase she made last year when she was desperate to relieve back pain, Reed alleges. In reporting the case, she said she could no longer tolerate the threats and wanted them to stop.

The Division of Criminal Investigation and the county attorney are now investigating the purchase of pills, which occurred off school grounds, and the alleged threats and payments that came afterward. So far no charges have been filed against Reed or the former student, who was not identified in the records. The State Training School is for boys ages 12 to 18 who have committed felonies involving violence or substance abuse and have been ruled delinquent. There, they can undergo a range of treatment and education programs designed to transition them back into society. The school has a history of controversy that includes assaults of employees by students and allegations that boys are placed in isolation rooms too frequently and mistreated in other ways.

At a recent hearing in her unemployment case, she testified that the former student had left the program about five years earlier and called the school in May 2018 seeking a copy of his transcript. Reed said she was suffering from pain that was unbearable at the time. She had a rapport with the ex-student and called him back to ask if he could help her obtain prescription drugs. Her doctor was planning to reduce her pain medications before she planned to enroll in a program at the Mayo Clinic in a couple months. “I was going to go to Mayo on July 9. I needed a little help to get there and asked (the former student) if he would help me out and he said yes,” Reed testified, according to audio obtained by the AP. She said she wasn’t thinking clearly because of the pain but that she knew her actions were wrong. The man got her some prescription pain medications and then “started blackmailing me once a month,” she said.

“He was going to go to my employer and the media and smear my name,” she said. Reed said after receiving a threatening text message in February of this year, she reported the alleged blackmail to leaders of the training school and was placed on paid administrative leave. She testified that she had been making the payments to protect the school, herself and her family but “I just couldn’t do it anymore, so I came forward.” Reed said that she turned over text messages and other information to the DCI.

Reed, 38, had worked at the school since 2000 and had no prior record of discipline. She testified that she did not expect to be terminated given the circumstances. She said that she completed a three-week pain rehabilitation program at Mayo and that her “life was much better” afterward, a fact confirmed in a letter from her therapist to state officials. The Department of Human Services, which operates the school, ended Reed’s employment on March 8 after an internal investigation, her termination letter shows. The department concluded that she had violated several policies, including those that bar unauthorized contact with former students and illegal conduct.

Administrative Law Judge Christine Louis denied Reed’s claim for unemployment benefits. Louis said she understands that Reed was in a “dire mental state at the time the situation occurred” but that her actions nonetheless amounted to serious misconduct. The school’s human resources supervisor, Ed Gilliand, testified at the hearing that the misconduct in Reed’s case “would kind of be off the charts” since it involved multiple violations. “It was truly an egregious act,” he said.