The Atlantic Police Department reports an accident today at 22nd and Palm Streets. James Sievers of Audubon was traveling eastbound on 22nd Street when his vehicle left the road and entered the south ditch, struck a utility pole and then bounced back 50 feet. Sievers was transported to Cass County Memorial Hospital with non life threatening injuries. Damage to his vehicle was estimated at $10,000.

It was the Riverside School District’s fifth attempt to pass a $15.1 million dollar bond issue that would result in a new 7th-12th grade facility and it has passed. Superintendent Jim Sutton is glad the bond has passed after all this time.

“We are thrilled. This is the fifth attempt I’ve been involved in, in the last 9 years. It’s been a continuing, changing thing as far as the plan is concerned and as far as the support is concerned. It’s grown each time.”

Leading up to the vote, school officials made appeals to the public stating that renovating the existing building would require more than $11 million.

A 60% super majority was required by law for the bond issue to pass, 1,805 people voted and of that, 1,096 voted yes. That is less than one percent of the number of votes needed.

Jim Sutton: “We passed it last night with a rather narrow margin. Even though there were 1,096 yes votes to 709 no votes, that’s still only 60.72% or a .72 margin as far as the number of yes votes that we needed.”

Absentee votes played a key role in this decision. 501 absentee ballots were cast with 367 of them voting in favor of the issue. Votes were counted in the Pottawattamie County Auditor’s Office on Tuesday night.

Jim Sutton says they are still making plans but they do have an idea of when things will be completed and they will begin moving forward soon.
“Well the architects now get in there and work with our staff and our board and put details to the concept that they had proposed. We know its going to be a 7th-12th grade building, we know that we have an auditorium included in that, all of our athletic complexes on one site and now we have to work on what the details are going to look like for that. That is probably going to take 4-6 months and then they can put those plans out for bidders and we should have the bidder selected by November or December. We’ll break ground in the spring of 2014 and plan on moving into the new building in the fall of 2015.”

The new 7th-12th grade facility will be south of Oakland near the intersection of Highways 6 and 59.

On Tuesday residents of the Exira and Elk Horn-Kimballton school districts voted in favor of reorganizing into one school district. According to the Audubon County Auditor’s Office, Public measure A passed in Exira 343-32 and 285-50 in Elk Horn-Kimballton. Public measure B passed in Exira 335-37 and 269-60 in Elk Horn-Kimballton.

Public measure C, which changes how Elk Horn-Kimballton school board members are elected, passed with a vote of 232-92. And lastly, John Leader was voted in to fill a vacancy term with 291 total votes.

Reorganization will take effect July 1st, 2014.

The 2013 Summer Iowa Games powered by the Iowa Food & Family Project will officially kickoff on July 20 with the Opening Ceremony in Ames. Several individual and team sport registration deadlines are approaching in the next week. Online registration and registration forms are available at www.IOWAGAMES.org.

The 2013 Summer Iowa Games will hold competitions in 58 sports, featuring more than 15,000 athletes from all of Iowa’s 99 counties. As Iowa’s premier Olympic-style sports festival, the Games will be held in 19 Iowa communities throughout the summer.

“The Iowa Games offers sports and events for everyone,” commented Cory Kennedy, Marketing and Communications Director. “Whether it is a non-competitive bicycle ride or a competitive soccer match, we have sports from A to Z.”

The majority of competitions take place July 13-14, July 18-21 and July 26-28 in Ames. New sports added to this year’s docket include a Drive, Chip and Putt contest and Zumba Fitness(r). Returning to the Games are the sports of Electronic Darts, Hapkido and Rowing. The Games offers events for athletes of all ages and abilities.

“You Can Be an Athlete” at the 2013 Summer Iowa Games. For more information and registration for the 2013 Summer Iowa Games powered by the Iowa Food & Family Project, visit www.IOWAGAMES.org.

The members of the State Fire Marshal Office would like to remind Iowans and their guests to exercise care when using legal fireworks during the July 4th holiday. The only legal fireworks include snakes, sparklers and caps. Please always read the instructions carefully and do not modify or bundle individual fireworks in any manner. Remember that fireworks are dangerous and children should always be closely supervised. For more information go to www.dps.state.ia.us

w/ Marissa Hovde

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The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau and Iowa law enforcement agencies are teaming up to save lives this 4th of July holiday by asking everyone to buckle up. July 1 – 7, 2013 law enforcement agencies around the state will be conducting “High Visibility” enforcement, cracking down on traffic violators, especially those motorists and occupants not buckled up.

Since its inception in 1986, Iowa’s seat belt law has been a primary law, allowing officers to pull over violators solely for not being belted. A seat belt violation citation will cost you $127.50. If that isn’t enough to entice you to buckle up, how about increasing your chances of surviving a crash by 50%. Banking on not being involved in a crash is simply not good math.

As of June 12, 2013, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation, Iowa has experienced 117 traffic fatalities in 2013. While this is a reduction of 38 fewer deaths than this time last year, every death is one death too many! According to the same data, more than 38.5% or 37 of our fatalities involved individuals who were not using a seat belt. Help yourself and your family/friends Buckle Up every for every trip regardless of the distance.

The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau and Iowa law enforcement agencies wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July. Please remember if you invest 3 seconds to buckle up each time you start up your vehicle, you can make the difference in surviving a serious crash. “Buckle Up! Day or Night!”

During the July sTEP wave in 2012, nearly 16,000 total traffic violations including 1,223 seat belt and 4,753 speed violations were reported by 1,444 enforcement officers and 226 agencies around the state.

For more on the 4th of July mobilization, please visit www.iowagtsb.gov or contact:

Randy Hunefeld
sTEP Coordinator
Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau
515-725-6124
hunefeld@dps.state.ia.us

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Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press
FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) – A Corrections Department spokesman says a break-in at a prison construction site in Fort Madison resulted in the theft of computers and software that detail facility drawings. The theft occurred June 19 at the construction site for the new Iowa State Penitentiary. Items stolen included laptop computers and tools.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Des Moines police say they plan to keep a pilot program that lets plainclothes officers focus on burglary investigations. The Des Moines Police Department says four officers began carrying out the special duties five months ago after an increase of burglaries in the city. The burglary detail squad has made nearly 100 felony arrests for burglary, theft, forgery and wanted subjects.

MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) – An auto repair shop in Muscatine says an employee has died from injuries sustained during severe weather that damaged his work area. The Krieger Auto Group posted on its Facebook page that the male employee died Monday from injuries caused the weather.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Republican state Rep. Mark Lofgren says he will run to represent Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. The Muscatine lawmaker says he wants to bring “fiscal responsibility” to Washington. The seat covers the southeastern part of Iowa and is currently held by Democrat Dave Loebsack.

Within the past week the Atlantic Police Department and Cass County Sheriff’s Office together have arrested four people on drug charges. On June 19th, 26-year old Jacky Walters of Atlantic was charged with Delivery of Controlled Substance (Methamphetamine).

On June 20th, 58-year old Blaine Buchanan of Atlantic was charged with Delivery of Controlled Substance (Heroin).

Two arrests occurred on June 21st, first was 57-year old Janice Peterson of Atlantic for Delivery of Controlled Substance (Oxycodone). The second arrest that day was 55-year old Jon Meyer of Atlantic for Possession with Intent to Deliver Controlled Substance (Morphine) and Sponsoring a Gathering where controlled substances are distributed.

They were all transported to Cass County Jail and booked in. Additional charges and arrests are pending.