Sheriff’s officials in Mills County report the arrest Thursday evening of a Malvern man. 34-year old Justin Andrew Hooker was arrested on Main Street in Malvern at around 5:30-p.m. He was charged with Public Intoxication and Interference with Official Acts. Hooker was being held in the Mills County Jail on $600 bond.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A jury has cleared four Woodbury County jailers of a charge that they used excessive force after an inmate refused to change into jail-issued clothing. The Sioux City Journal reports the verdict Thursday was surprising because jurors had earlier sent a note to U.S. District Judge Mark W. Bennett, asking about the upper limit of monetary judgments. After the jury sided with the jailers, Bennett  exclaimed, “Wow, what a surprise.”

Shannon Peters had claimed officers Jonathon Hatfield, Michelle Risdal, Lee Blanchard and Carlos Lucero used excessive force in retaliation for her refusal to remove her clothing and change into a jail jumpsuit. That prompted officers to forcefully remove her clothes. Peters claims officers slammed her head against a concrete bunk but the jailers say they used proper force.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa Supreme Court justice has temporarily blocked a district court judge’s ruling that suspended the gambling license of a casino under construction in Sioux City.    The Sioux City Journal reports that Justice Brent Appel on Thursday granted an emergency stay of Polk County District Court Judge Robert Hanson’s Dec. 10 ruling suspending the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino license.  The company building the casino has spent $44 million on construction and says stopping it now amounts to an unconstitutional taking of property.

Argosy riverboat casino owners sued the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission after the commission licensed the Hard Rock casino in April instead one proposed by Argosy’s owners.  Attorneys in the case must file arguments by noon Tuesday and the Supreme Court with further review the case.

Atlantic Police Chief Steve Green reports the arrest of a local man on numerous charges connected with an investigation into thefts from the Atlantic School District. 61-year old Samuel Miller, of Atlantic, faces 17 charges, including: Possession of stolen property; Burglary in the 3rd degree; A drug tax stamp violation; 3 counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance (PCS)/2nd offense; Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, 2nd offense; PCS/Methamphetamine (2nd offense), and 8 counts of unlawful possession of a prescription pill. Miller was being held in the Cass County Jail.

Chief Green says the incident which led to Miller’s arrest was reported Wednesday to the Police Department. Video evidence resulted in the execution of a search warrant at Miller’s home at 611 West 6th Street, Apt. 4, in Atlantic. During the search, evidence in the theft report was recovered, along with numerous narcotics and items believed to have been taken during previous thefts. Quantities of both new and used copper wire believed to have been stolen were also found in the apartment.

Police are in the process of contacting persons and contractors with regard to the recovered items. Any person or entity who have had any items stolen from the Atlantic School District, are encouraged to contact the A-PD to make additional theft reports.

Green says to his knowledge, Miller was an independent contractor handling painting jobs for the School District over the past several years. Superintendent Mike Amstein was unavailable for comment about that, Friday morning.

CLASS 1-A (Record through 12/17/13)

1. Alburnett 8-2
2. Don Bosco 10-0
3. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 7-1
4. Woodbury Central 8-0
5. Wilton 7-1
6. Lisbon 7-2
7. West Marshall 4-0
8. Southeast Warren 10-0
9. South Central Calhoun 11-3
10. Audubon 8-1
11. Clarion-Goldfield 3-0
12. Ogden 7-1
13. Logan-Magnolia 5-1
14. Riverside 7-0
15. Maquoketa Valley 11-0
16. Iowa Valley 5-0

CLASS 2-A (Record through 12/17/13)

1. Davenport Assumption 5-1
2. Mediapolis 4-1
3. Albia 6-0
4. West Delaware 6-2
5. Creston/Orient-Macksburg 6-0
6. Humboldt 12-0
7. Osage 6-0
8. Clear Lake 11-1
9. Independence 3-0
10. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 6-0
11. Union 5-0
12. Grinnell 10-1
13. Charles City 2-4
14. Webster City 6-2
15. Dubuque Wahlert 12-2
16. Ballard 5-2

CLASS 3-A (Record through 12/17/13)

1. Southeast Polk 7-0
2. Bettendorf 5-2
3. Waverly-Shell Rock 3-0
4. Cedar Rapids Prairie  7-1
5. Linn-Mar 5-2
6. Iowa City West 5-3
7. North Scott 8-1
8. Pleasant Valley 4-0
9. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 4-0
10. West Des Moines Valley  2-1
11. Mason City 7-4
12. Dowling Catholic 8-2
13. Western Dubuque 6-2
14. Fort Dodge 2-2
15. Dubuque Hempstead 2-2
16. Clinton 1-4

Officials at Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan have approved a corrective action plan for the Petersen Family Wellness Center. A press release says the hospital became aware of problems with the building performance since the early part of 2011. The board of trustees has been collaborating with the architect, construction manager and two of the contractors along with consultants to understand the source of these problems and develop a corrective action plan.

The problems are related to the pre-engineered building envelope that has resulted in unusually high utility costs due to the lack of an effective insulation system. The mediation process resulted in a preliminary agreement approved by the Myrtue board of trustees at their meeting this (Friday) morning.

The board agreed to a cash settlement payment to the hospital of $650,000. A final agreement is expected by the middle of January. The construction at the Petersen Family Wellness Center is planned for late spring or early summer of 2014.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

A Harlan Community High School graduate has signed with a record label and released his first CD. Jeff Johannsen, son of Seth and Kay Johannsen of Harlan, has released a CD titled “I Want to Know” produced by Jerroll Lehman Productions of Fort Wayne, IN.

Johannsen has a long list of singing accomplishments including performing the national anthem at the 2009 3-A boy’s basketball championship. He’s a four year member of the Drake University choir and chamber choir, and graduated with a degree in May of 2013 from Drake in Music Business. He plans to return to Drake this coming January to complete his music education degree.

The CD project began in December 2011 when Johannsen signed with The Management Agency of Jacksonville, FL for artist management and development. The tracks were produced earlier this year in Tennessee and Indiana. Now in distribution, the Christian contemporary artist, has released one song in conjunction with Christian Radio Promotions and is the title track “I Want to Know”.

A second single will be released sometime later from the promotions company. The 7 track CD is out for purchase and can be found online for digital download on iTunes, Amazon and Google play by searching for Jeff Johannsen. The CD can be purchased online as well from Jeff’s website, www.jeffjohannsen.com and locally from Seth and Kay Johannsen or at Farm Sweet Farm store in rural Harlan. The cost of the CD is $12.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Iowa Department of Public Health says the flu season is starting to pick up as we approach the Christmas holiday. Department medical director, Patricia Quinlisk, says there are three strains of flu in the state this year, but they hadn’t been that much of a worry until now. “For most of October and November it was sort of steady at a very low level, but unfortunately it’s really starting to take off,” Quinlisk says. “We have quite a few more people being hospitalized, coming down with laboratory confirmed flu.”

Dr. Quinlisk says the concern now is that people will start getting together for holiday parties. “It is here and it is starting to spread and as we come across people starting to travel for the holidays, we are a little bit concerned that this is really going to take off,” Quinlisk says.

One way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated against it. “Don’t put it off any farther, holidays are coming up, you need to go get your flu shot now, so that again you won’t get the flu — and you won’t spread it to other people while you are traveling for the holidays,” Quinlisk says. The flu can cause you to get sick at a time when you’d like to be spending time with family and friends. And Quinlisk says in some cases it can lead to serious consequences.

“We know that — especially among the elderly — influenza is one of the top 10 causes of death,” Quinlisk explains. “Now people don’t usually think of people dying of the flu, but we do have people dying of the flu in Iowa every single year, and quite a few.” Quinlisk says there are plentiful supplies of the flu vaccine in the state.

(Radio Iowa)

A prosecutor in southwest Iowa is now discussing what landed a Council Bluffs woman in jail this week after she wrote about school shootings on Facebook. Police charged 39-year-old Teri Pallat with harassment and making terroristic threats after she suggested her son might soon be opening fire at Lewis Central High School. Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber says that type of comment is not the way to vent one’s frustrations.

Wilber says, “In today’s day and age, especially when we’re sitting here at the one-year anniversary of Sandy Hook and within a couple days of another school shooting out in Colorado, we take all of these threats very, very seriously.” Pallat was upset because her son, a student at the school, had been bullied over many months and she blamed administrators for not doing anything to stop it. Reports say Pallat had filed a police report about an attack on her son at school last month.

“I know that law enforcement was at least looking into some of her concerns,” Wilber says. “I know that one of the assistants in my office had been talking either to her or law enforcement. Obviously, it was a little different situation when I started receiving phone calls at night about the situation on Facebook.”

In her rambling Facebook rant, Pallat said her son would “get the ones that caused this,” and claimed he’s a good shot. School officials reported the posting to police and deny there’s a problem with bullying at Lewis Central. Wilber says people need to understand something about how the law works. “There is no criminal law against bullying,” Wilber says. “We don’t charge bullying. If there’s been an assault or there’s been harassment or there’s been threats, those are things we look at in criminal law. You hear the word bullying used all the time but we don’t have the crime of bullying.”

Pallat has told reporters her son hit his head when he was tackled by a bully in a locker room and now suffers from seizures.

(Radio Iowa)

w/ Ric Hanson

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