w/ Ric Hanson

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The song says some kids just want two front teeth for Christmas, but others are getting a whole new face. Children across the region who are the targets of bullies are going to great lengths to make the taunting stop, including plastic surgery. Dr. Richard Bruneteasu is a plastic surgeon in Omaha/Council Bluffs who says more children from Iowa, Nebraska and beyond are seeking help from his office because they’re bullied.

“When people stand out a bit, they become targets of abuse from time to time,” Dr. Bruneteasu says. “We see kids who come in, maybe they have prominent ears and people make fun of them because of that. We see kids with nasal deformities, they may have an ethnic nose which results in people picking on them.” He says there’s a big difference between wanting surgery and needing it.

“You have to look at each case on an individual basis,” Bruneteasu says. “If it’s just vanity, then maybe it’s something that you can wait until you’re older and a bit more mature, but if it’s something that’s just totally disrupting your life, then I think it’s a reasonable thing to consider.” Bruneteasu says more children are having expensive procedures done to improve their self-image.

“We get the occasional kid who has a pretty significant nasal deformity and is very bothered by it and maybe has been subject to teasing by his peers or maybe physical bullying,” he says. “In those kinds of situations, we consider everybody on a case-by-case basis and in some parts of the country, like New York City, it’s very common. They do a lot of teenage rhinoplasties.”

Bruneteasu says the most common procedure performed on a child is to fix prominent ears and that’s usually done at age five.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

Want to know where Santa is right now? The folks at NORAD are making sure his journey is safe and trouble free. Follow his warp-speed delivery style at http://www.noradsanta.org/

A Marne man was cited this (Monday) morning for Unlawful Use of a Firearm, in the shooting of a a Chocolate Labrador. According to Cass County Deputy Corey Larsen, the dog,a  family pet, was loose and entered the mans’ property when it was shot. The incident occurred at around 10-a.m. near a residence on Washington Street in Marne.

Dan Ernat, who lives in the Quad Cities, told KJAN News the dog was his 23-year old daughter Stacie’s beloved pet. The woman lives in Denver, CO.,  and had stopped by her friend’s house in Atlantic. Together, he says they went to another friend’s house in Marne before Stacie was to continue on to visit her parents in the Quad Cities.

Ernat said his daughter was playing a game of  “fetch” with the dog, when it ran onto property owned by Collins C. Cutler at 305 Washington Street,  of Marne. Ernat says according to his daughter, Cutler came out the back door of his home and shot the dog with a shotgun, about 40-feet away, in full view of other individuals.

A call to Collins’ home by KJAN News Director Ric Hanson went unanswered at mid-day, Monday.

Plenty of Iowans could use a thousand-dollar gift card at this time of year. Be warned though, thousands of people are getting text messages on their phones, telling them they’ve been picked to get a big-money gift card from a well-known retailer. Jim Hegarty, of the Better Business Bureau, says you shouldn’t fall for it. “The text message indicates you’re eligible for a free $1000 gift card from Target,” Hegarty says. “It indicates you need to go to a website and enter an access code.” Don’t go to the website, no matter how tempting it may be. Hegarty says the senders of the texts are up to no good.

“What ends up happening, you get further bombardment, emails, all sorts of offers from companies we don’t know anything about,” Hegarty says. “We can’t really evaluate the legitimacy of them.” The best course of action is to just delete the text, as no good will come from it, certainly not a free thousand-dollar gift card.  He says, “We believe this is a phishing scheme that is simply designed to gather lots of personal information about consumers that can ultimately be sold.” Iowans are reminded to treat any text message that comes to their phone from someone they don’t know just like they’re treat an email from an unknown source — as if it’s spam. Learn more at www.bbb.org.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Carstens 1880 Farmstead, Inc. say their annual meeting will be held on Monday, January 8th, 2013, beginning at 7:00 pm,  at the Shelby Community Building in Shelby. Anyone wanting to re-new or begin a new membership in Carstens 1880 Farmstead, Inc., can download a membership form that’s available on the organization’s web page.

Memberships can be paid on January 8th during the annual meeting or they may be mailed to: Carstens 1880 Farmstead, Inc., PO Box 302, Shelby, IA 51570.  An election for positions on the board of directors will be held.  Proxy voting will be available for those who cannot attend the meeting.  Members may access a Proxy by visiting www.carstensfarm.com.

Carstens’ President Mel Hursey says they will “Discuss what is in store for visitors to the farm in 2013.” In addition, reports will be given on Farm Days 2012 and on-going repair and maintenance projects at the farm.  Immediately following the election, members of the board will vote on officers for 2013.  Hursey says also, they Will review the past year and hold elections for the 2013 officers.” Carstens 1880 Farmstead, Inc. members, as well as the general public, are encouraged to attend.

Carstens 1880 Farmstead, Inc., a non-profit group of local volunteer members, maintains the farm as a working museum exhibit.  It is located between Minden and Shelby, in Pottawattamie County.  The farmstead is the home of Carstens Farm Days, which is held the first weekend after Labor Day each September.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  For more information visit the web site: www.carstensfarm.com

The Atlantic Police Department says no injuries were reported following an accident Saturday morning, at 7th and Poplar Streets. Officials say vehicles driven by Leo Garside and Troy Retallic, both of Atlantic, collided at the intersection at around 9:10-a.m., when Retallic failed to stop for the red light as he was traveling west on 7th Street, and Garside was traveling south. The police report did not indicate if any citations were issued. Damage from the accident amounted to $6,500.

w/ Ric Hanson

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