Sheriff’s officials in Ringgold County said Friday (Today), that on Wednesday, Dec. 13th, the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office responded to a complaint of an unattended child and an adult female who was passed out. After failed attempts to make contact with someone at 702 N. Webster street in Mount Ayr, the responding Deputy entered the residence of Chad Michael Mastin and Jacqueline Elaine Snyder to conduct a welfare check.

Snyder

Once inside it was determined the adult female was not in medical distress but was not easily awakened, sluggish and disoriented. In plain view drug paraphernalia was seen. The residence was secured and the defendant placed under arrest. A search warrant was applied for and granted. K9 “Heky” was deployed and alerted at different locations of the residence and garage. Items seized included: 2.5 grams of methamphetamine (another 3 grams from the defendant) for a total of 5.5 grams of methamphetamine, 3 grams of cocaine, 50 grams of marijuana and several items of drug paraphernalia to include a scale and various pipes used for smoking illegal drugs.

While executing this search warrant stolen property from at least two recent burglaries in Mount Ayr was discovered. A second search warrant was obtained for the stolen property. Items from The Farm and Home Store and Stutzman’s Auction have been recovered thus far.

Charges have been filed on Chad Michael Mastin for Possession of Stolen Property, Possession of Cocaine, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Child Endangerment. The Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office has requested warrants for his arrest. The investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be filed.

Snyder faces charges that include Possession of Meth and Marijuana, with the Intent to Deliver, Child Endangerment, Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Her bond was set at $40,000.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The city of Council Bluffs is suing the federal government to stop a Native American tribe from building a casino just seven miles away in Carter Lake.

City attorney Richard Wade says in U.S. District Court documents that a Ponca Tribe of Nebraska casino would compete with state-licensed casinos in Council Bluffs and cut into millions of dollars in fees, taxes and charitable contributions that benefit the city’s residents.

The National Indian Gaming Commission and the U.S. Interior Department cleared the way for the tribe’s casino plan in November. Wade claims in documents filed Wednesday that federal laws prohibit a casino on the tribe’s Carter Lake land.

The casino, to include 2,000 slot machines and a 150-room hotel, would create about 1,500 jobs.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Council Bluffs police say they have obtained a murder warrant for a man suspected in the death of another man whose body was found by a resident walking his dog.  According to a Press Release, investigators obtained the first-degree murder warrant for 43-year-old Michael J. Thacker in the death of 34-year-old David S. Simpson. Both men were described as being transients.

Thacker

A man walking his dog found Simpson’s body Monday morning in a grassy area near a warehouse on First Avenue. An autopsy shows Simpson died of blunt force trauma.

On Wednesday, officers charged 53-year-old Cleo W. McClellan with being an accessory to a felony-murder.

McClellan

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Iowa parks are facing staffing shortages after years of declining funding to the state Department of Natural Resources. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports that department officials announced layoffs and the dissolution of the forestry bureau in July. The Iowa Legislative Services Agency recorded that of the 68 state parks or recreation areas managed by the natural resource department, only 24 percent have two or more full-time employees.

Department spokesman Alex Murphy says they have 101 vacancies statewide, but that they don’t plan to fill 80 of them due to lack of funding. He says the department’s budget is almost half of what it used to be in 2009, so there’s a trickle-down effect in limiting services. Local supporters of the Mines of Spain State Recreation Area in Dubuque say resources are going to waste.