Arraignment in the case of a former Harlan teacher charged with felony Sexual Exploitation by a School Employee and and Aggravated Serious Misdemeanor charge of Assault with Intent to Commit Sexual Abuse, is scheduled to take place later this month.

Lee Nelson

According to online court records, 72-year old Lee Gordon Nelson, of Harlan, is scheduled to appear in Shelby County District Court on August 26th. His trial will take place October 29th.  Nelson plead not guilty to charges on July 26th. He remains free on $7,000 bond.  If convicted on both charges, Lee faces up to seven-years in prison and fines amounting to nearly $14,000.

According to the Iowa DCI, a 17 year old female and her parents contacted Harlan police on May 30th, 2013, to report that since October, 2012, Nelson had been saying rude and inappropriate things to the victim, as well as touching her inappropriately. The incidents allegedly occurred at school, on band trips and at his residence.

Nelson was employed with the Harlan Community School District for 35 years, before the school board accepted his resignation on April 22nd.

The 17-year old son of a southwest Iowa School Superintendent is facing sexual abuse and kidnapping charges. According to KETV in Omaha, Kreighton Elwood, son of Treynor Community School District Superintendent Kevin Elwood, has been charged with two counts of 3rd Degree Sexual Abuse and one count of Kidnapping.

The teen is accused of forcibly removing one victims clothes and fondling her in his truck, covering her mouth with his hand to keep her quiet, and preventing her from leaving the vehicle. In a separate case, Elwood is accused of trying to rip off a victim’s underwear and forcing her to touch him inappropriately.

The alleged incidents date back to November 2012. Elwood turned himself in to Pottawattamie County authorities on July 11th. Afterward he was booked and given pre-trial release. A judge signed-off on trial information, Thursday morning. Online court records indicate the teen has a court appearance set for September 3rd and a trial date set for October 29th. If found guilty, Elwood faces up to 10-years in prison for each of the alleged felony sexual assaults, and life in prison without parole, for felony 1st degree kidnapping.

Treynor school officials say Elwood is a senior at the school and he has been placed in an alternative education program.

The Iowa Department of Transportation reports (As of 2:58-p.m.), Interstate 80 eastbound is partially blocked due to an accident between Exit 29 – County Road L66 (near Minden) and Exit 34 – County Road M16 (near Shelby). The left lane is blocked. No other details are currently available.

Bad bearings on a wagon caused the vehicle being pulled by a tractor to tip over and spill its load Wednesday afternoon, in Page County. The Sheriff’s Office reports a 2004 John Deere 7920 tractor operated by 33-year old Jay Crom, of Malvern, was traveling west on Highway 2 just east of C Avenue at around 3:40-p.m., when the wheel bearings on a Parker 4-wheel wagon it was pulling failed. The wagon dropped onto the road, turned over onto its side and spilled its load onto the road.

The wagon was totaled during the accident. It was valued at $15,000. The Page County road sustained an estimated $5,000 damage. There were no injuries, and no citations issued.

The rain was a much welcomed event across southwest Iowa overnight and early this (Thursday) morning, but a southwest Iowa teen probably wishes it hadn’t rained quite so much. The Page County Sheriff’s Office says 17-year old Koreen Polsley, of Essex, suffered minor injuries, when the car she was driving crashed after it hydroplaned on standing water in tire tracks on a gravel road.

The 2000 Pontiac Grand Am was traveling north on H Avenue at around 6:30-a.m., when it went out of control, slid sideways on a washboard gravel road, entered a ditch and struck a tree. The car then spun around and slide over other, smaller trees before coming to rest on another small tree.

Polsley was transported by private vehicle to the Shenandoah Memorial Hospital. Officials say standing water in the tire tracks and the washboard road conditions created by previously dry conditions, contributed to the crash. Damage to the vehicle amounted to $2,000. No citations were issued.

Cass County Election Commissioner Dale Sunderman reports he has received a call for a special city election from the City of Massena. Purpose: to fill the vacant mayor position. The Auditor has set September 17th, 2013 as the date of the election.

Nomination petitions for the office of Mayor in the City of Massena may be filed with the Massena City Clerk beginning now and continuing until noon on August 23, 2013. Nominations petitions are available from the Massena City Clerk, the Cass County Auditor and online from the Iowa Secretary of State.

The term of office for the Mayor in the City of Massena is 2 years. The person elected in this special election will serve until the end of year 2013. The office of Mayor will appear on the November 5, 2013 city election ballot. The two year term for the person elected in November will begin in January of 2014.

Officials with the Cass County Memorial Hospital Foundation recently accepted a donation of $500 from the Delta Zeta Sorority. The group raised the funds through their annual community nut sale.

For more information about the Foundation, surf the web to: http://www.casshealth.org/ccmh-foundation/

Deb Lamb, right, of Delta Zeta Sorority; Dawn Marnin, Cass County Memorial Hospital Foundation Director

The Cass County Memorial Hospital Foundation is pleased to announce that Simon Estes will be performing in Atlantic on October 27th, 2013, as part of his Roots to Wings tour, and part of fulfilling his goal of performing in each county of Iowa.  Estes will have a young musician perform with him, along with choirs from area High Schools.

Estes will also be sharing his journey from humble beginnings in a small Iowa community to performing all over the world for dignitaries, royalty and people of all walks of life in an assembly for area high school students on October 28th, 2013, at the Atlantic High School Auditorium.  During the assembly, Estes will emphasize the value of hard work, determination and perseverance.

The CCMH Foundation would like to invites area businesses and individuals to be a part of bringing this opportunity to Cass County.  If you would like to be a concert sponsor, or for more information, please contact Dawn Marnin, CCMH Foundation Director at 712-243-7409 or email her at mardd@casshealth.org.

As a sponsor, you will have special seating at the concert and be invited to a sponsor-only dinner with Simon Estes and his troupe after the concert at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club.  Sponsors $500 and above are listed in the program; all sponsors will be recognized on the posters.

Individual tickets will go on sale soon, with limited availability.

Safety is important, no matter where you live. Officials with the Cass County Extension Service and Outreach invite area youth to join them for a Rural Safety Day on August 24th from 8:30 AM – 2 PM at the Cass County Fairgrounds. The event is free for all 4-6 graders in Cass County, who will learn how to keep themselves safe while working on or visiting a farm.

Youth will learn about first aid, safety around animals, unexpected hazards, electrical safety and much more. Lunch and resources will be provided by Cass County Extension and Outreach. Whether you’ve spent your entire life on the farm, occasionally visit friends or relatives on the farm, or have never set foot on a farm, there is something for everyone at Rural Safety Day.

To register, contact the Cass County Extension office at 712-243-1132 or xcass@iastate.edu before 4:30 PM on August 22^nd. Youth will also need to have a health form on file with the Cass County Extension office to participate. These forms are available in the Extension office, or can be printed using the following link: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/cass/news/rural-saftey-day-set-august-24th.

This year’s Rural Safety Day will be full of hands-on fun and exploration. With the harvest season coming up and youth spending time outdoors in the cool fall weather, plan to attend this educational day for tips on staying safe this fall!  Make sure to register by August 22^nd to be a part of this fun-filled day.

A traveling memorial honoring Iowa’s fallen veterans at the Iowa State Fair this week, and is scheduled be in Council Bluffs and Treynor, afterward. “Remembering Our Fallen” is a 40-by-10-foot display with pictures of Iowa veterans who died in the line of duty. Inlaid on each soldier’s military profile picture is an image provided by the family with memorabilia, red roses and handwritten letters. The memorial was created by Omaha resident Bill Williams and his wife.

“We had read a story about a father who had lost his son and his concern was that he would be forgotten,” Williams says. “That’s when we came up with the idea to create an exhibit of the pictures of the fallen, not to sit in a museum but to travel from town to town.” In 2011, Williams and his wife made the first memorial as a tribute to fallen Nebraska veterans. After officials from Bellevue University saw it, they sponsored exhibits for more states, including Iowa. Williams wants to create memorials for all 50 states.

“We have ten exhibits now and we’ve been notified of four new deaths in those ten states just in the last week and a half,” Williams says. “As soon as we hear about the latest fallen, we’ll find the photo online and we’ll run a picture of it, 8-by-10 or 5-by-7, and then we’ll put it in a frame and it travels with the exhibit.”

Williams only includes veterans killed in action since September 11th, 2001. He says he’ll continue adding soldiers until the United States ceases military operations in Afghanistan. Bob King, executive director of the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, says unlike most memorials, this one allows the public see the faces of veterans. “You go to the cemetery and there are no faces, but you walk down through here and there’s Paul Fischer’s face and there’s Bruce Smith’s face and there’s David Kirchoff and Michael Deutch and David Resisnski,” King says. “It brings the remembrance a lot, lot closer to home.”

Retired Navy veteran Dean Kluss of Clarion, says the memorial may help people who haven’t served in the military understand the sacrifice soldiers make. Kluss says, “Today, while we’re here at the fair having a good time, there are people that are in harm’s way that potentially may give their life today for us to be able to enjoy these kind of freedoms.”

After the fair ends, the exhibit will move to cities throughout the state including Cedar Falls, Council Bluffs and Treynor.

(Radio Iowa)