The Danish Immigrant Museum has announced plans to construct an 8,000 square foot curatorial center at its location on the western edge of Elk Horn.

Danish Immigrant Museum

The center will be located below ground on the west side of the present building and will feature an environmentally-friendly green roof. The project cost estimates are $3 million – $2 million for construction and $1 million to be invested in the museum’s endowment to meet increased operational costs.

To date, over $2.3 million has been raised or is anticipated, though construction will not begin until the $3 million fundraising goal is reached. The new addition will include offices for the curatorial staff and interns and space for traveling exhibit design, fabrication and storage, as well as additional climate-controlled artifact storage.

There will also be a loading dock to facilitate the shipping of traveling exhibits and a quarantine space for isolating artifacts before accessing them. The increased space will allow for the consolidation of four off-site storage facilities that the museum presently rents. Museum Executive Director Dr. John Mark Nielsen says the museum “Is the only museum in the country dedicated to preserving artifacts of the Danish American community here in the United States.” He says “The planned curatorial center will assure that the museum has appropriate space for expanded artifact collection and for creating traveling exhibits that will be shared with museums across the country and in Denmark.”

The museum is currently preparing for Memorial Day weekend’s Tivoli Fest in the Danish Villages of Elk Horn and Kimballton, and  a 30th anniversary celebration, in June. More information can be obtained by calling (712) 764-7001 or visiting the website at www.danishmuseum.org.

(corrected from earlier posting to indicate the district is in Carroll County, NOT Guthrie Co.)

A Carroll County school district was placed under lockdown earlier this week, after negative comments directed primarily at the superintendent, were allegedly made by a member of the community.  In a statement, Coon Rapids-Bayard Superintendent Rich Stoffers said the district was placed on lock down Monday morning after school personnel received perceived threats from a community member. Stoffers said an off hand comment with “direct” remarks by a community member were received by school personnel approximately 6:45 a.m., Monday.

Police were notified and while an investigation was underway into the “verbal threat,”  the school was “locked down” for about 90 minutes. The threat amounted to someone saying they “Wouldn’t want to work for” Stoffers.  A police investigation determined determined no crime had been committed, the lock down was terminated and students and staff were advised to continue with normal schedules and activities.

Stoffers said he was “Very proud of (the)  staff and students for listening, following directives, and keeping their focus on their classes and academics throughout the (morning), even though it was somewhat of a ‘stressful’ start to the work week” for school employees.

A Sioux City attorney says Woodbury County jailers have continually violated the constitutional rights of female prisoners by conducting unwarranted strips searches in the county jail. Attorney Dave O’Brien is representing Shannon Peters and Nicole Clay in lawsuits against the county and the Sheriff’s Department over the strip searches. He says three women have received settlements of 385-thousand dollars in strip search cases, but that didn’t solve the problem. “Jail administration stood up and eventually understood that what they were doing was wrong and their policy was unconstitutional and they’ve corrected that. And I applaud them for that,” O’Brien says. “But unfortunately there are certain correctional officers that just haven’t gotten the message. And that’s what happened to Shannon, most recently, and also to Nicole Clay.”

O’Brien says his clients were given unlawful demands by jailers and read testimony from a case deposition by Jail Administrator, Lieutenant Lynett Phillips, regarding the strip searches of Clay and Peters. “If the correctional officer tells the detainee you have to strip naked in front of me even when the policy does not justify the detainee taking their clothes off, is the detainee required to follow the instructions of the correctional officer. Answer, ‘yes’,” O’Brien read. “They don’t get it.”

O’Brien says a deposition from the officer in charge when Clay was brought in on a public intoxication charge said she was forced to strip in front of him after refusing to undress herself. O’Brien says his clients were brought to the jail for legitimate reasons, but that does not allow for their rights to be violated. He says the Woodybury County Jail needs a top to bottom overhaul. Woodbury County Sheriff Dave Drew was not in office when the strip searches happened. He says he cannot comment on the ongoing lawsuits, and has been advised not to meet with O’Brien. “At one time after I took office he wanted to meet with me…and through the legal advice of three different attorneys, “I) said it would be best if we met after litigation was over,”Drew said.

Drew says he kept the jail administrator in place, although some changes and reviews are taking place. He says since he has taken office there are supervisors overseeing each shift at the jail and they are working on going over the policies and directives. Drew says jailers have a tough job, but people must be treated with respect and dignity.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak report the arrest today (Friday), of 61-year old Ginger Lee Urban, of Red Oak. Urban was taken into custody at around 8:40-a.m., on warrants out of Pottawattamie County, and Sarpy County, Nebraska, for shoplifting (Theft in the 3rd degree). She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond, pending transport to the Pott. County Jail.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety says as motorists take to the roads during the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, Iowa law enforcement officials are urging everyone to “Buckle up.” Officers around the state will be out in force as part of the 2013 National “Click it or Ticket” seat belt enforcement mobilization, cracking down on motorists who are not wearing their seat belts, as well as other traffic violators. The enforcement effort runs May 20th through June 2nd.

In 2012, there were 364 traffic fatalities in Iowa, according to data from the DOT. 167 of those victims, or almost 46-percent, were not wearing their seat belts. For those killed in crashes at night, the percent of unbuckled motorists grew another 15.5-percent.

During a four-day Special Traffic Enforcement Program (sTEP) in March 2013, 205 law enforcement agencies and 1,828 officer reported 16,922 traffic violations. 388 crashes were investigated, and 879 motorists were assisted.

w/ Ric Hanson

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ONAWA, Iowa (AP) – An Onawa woman will learn next week whether she’s been convicted of murdering her 15-month-old son.  Judge Jeffrey Neary said Thursday, that he’ll announce his verdict May 17th,  in the case against 25-year-old Ashley Cameron. She was charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment in the death of Markis Dahms. Neary heard the case during a nonjury trial last month.

Investigators testified that Cameron told them Markis had vomited in the bathtub and that she held his head under a running faucet to clean him, repeating that process as he vomited four or five more times.  Cameron testified that she’d left him in the tub to get some items and found him face down in the water when she returned. Her attorney suggested that Markis may have had a seizure.

w/ Ric Hanson

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The Iowa D-O-T’s Office of Motor Vehicle Enforcement is partnering with the non-profit group Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) to help try and stop human trafficking. Motor Vehicle Division Chief, David Lorenzen, says it’s a natural role for his office, which comes into regular contact with truckers. “One of the initiatives of our office is to reach out to the motor carrier industry and to provide materials that educate them on the aspects of human trafficking,” Lorenzen says. “We have materials in all 11 of our state scale sites, we work with the highway division to put materials for drivers in the 40 state rest areas, and we’re also continuing to work with putting the materials in the truck stops across the state.” Lorenzen says they learned of TAT and it’s goal, and thought it was a good fit to work with them.

“This effort is something that we feel is important, we feel we can help play a part in it and do what we can to help curb this,” Lorenzen says. He says enlisting the help of truck drivers is a good way to expand the reach of law officers. “The motor carrier industry are people who are out there every day, 24-seven, 365 days a year they see things where there’s not that much law enforcement out there. They can obviously give us a set of eyes that we don’t have,” according to Lorenzen. The U-S Justice Department estimates between 100 and 300-thousand American children are at risk to enter the sex trade industry every year.

“And that doesn’t even count some of the people who’re being imported from other countries,” Lorenzen says. “Obviously human trafficking involves that part of it too, and it’s a billion-dollar industry. It’s something obviously that the F-B-I noticed there’s a lot of these things happening in truck stops and those types of things.” The F-B-I held four stings between 2003 and 2009 that targeted truck stops and over 500 children were rescued and millions of dollars recovered.

The TAT program began in March 2009. You can find out more about the program on it’s website at: www.truckersagainsttrafficking.com. The National Hotline number to call and report suspected human trafficking is 888-373-7888.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak say a local man was cited for Failure to Yield half of the roadway and Leaving the Scene of an Accident, following a collision Thursday morning on east Summit Street. Officials say 23-year old Kiley Brian Caron, of Red Oak, was traveling east on east Summit at around 11:25-a.m., when his 1998 Chevy Monte Carlo crossed the center line and struck a utility trailer being pulled by a 2004 Chevy pickup, driven by 23-year old Joshua Lee Porter, of Red Oak, as Porter was traveling west.

Following the collision, Caron continued east on east Summit until he reached the intersection of North Boundary and turned south onto Boundary and went over a curb, nearly hitting a sign before continuing south. While police were investigating the first accident, they received word from a witness who followed the Monte Carlo to 1000 Highland Avenue, where officers caught up to Caron.

During their investigation, police determined the right front side of Caron’s car hit the corner of the home at 1000 Highland Avenue. Officials say when the man entered his driveway, he was traveling too fast. His car went up on a bank next to the driveway and back down the slope to the driveway before hitting the house, causing $1,000 damage to the structure.

Caron’s car sustained $2,000 damage. No dollar amount of damage was listed for the trailer being pulled by Porter’s pickup. No injuries were reported.