High school students in a northwest Iowa school staged a walk-out on Wednesday after the proposed merger of the Battle Creek-Ida Grove and Odebolt-Arthur School Districts failed. On Tuesday, voters in the Battle Creek-Ida Grove district overwhelmingly voted in favor of the merger, but 57 percent of voters in the Odebolt-Arthur School District voted against it. Terry Kenealy is the superintendent for both districts. He says teachers were going to have some professional development time Wednesday afternoon, so an early dismissal had already been planned for the high school.

“We had become aware that this was going to happen and our principal worked well with the students to try to make sure that it was done in a respectful manner,” Kenealy says. “They walked out to the football field and kind of had a rally and a discussion.” Students who didn’t want to participate left for home or stayed in the school cafeteria. The majority of students, though, chanted, “Ask the students!” as they left the school.

“My impression since I got here is that students for the most part — we’re not perfect, but for the most part — they get along really very well and they’ve enjoyed this experience as a whole-grade sharing school,” says Kenealy, who’s been superintendent for both districts for two years. “There’s many of them that were upset that the vote failed and they feel that students were not the primary concern that people were focused on when they went to vote…They feel like if they’d focused on the students, it would have passed.”

The two districts have had a whole grade sharing arrangement since 2009. High school students in both districts go to school in Ida Grove. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders to go school in Odebolt. There’s also an elementary school in Odebolt and an elementary school in Ida Grove. The superintendent says school boards in both districts will meet next week to discuss what’s next. Kenealy says the Battle Creek-Ida Grove School Board will discuss ending the whole grade sharing agreement with the neighboring district — and that decision must be made by November 1st.

“My point, in my discussion with board members, is students, families and staff members need to know what we’re going to do sooner rather than later because this impacts them more than anybody else,” Kenealy says. “The quicker we can let them know what’s going to happen, the better.” If the school boards decide to seek a second vote on a merger, that can’t happen for at least six months. Critics in Odebolt-Arthur who voted against the merger this week objected to the make-up of the merged school board. They argued it would give too much control to the Battle Creek-Ida Grove side of the district.

About 3900 people live in the Battle Creek-Ida Grove district and about 2000 people live in Odebolt-Arthur’s district. The merged district would have covered 259 square miles and included more than a thousand students.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bankers say weak farm income continues to weigh down the economy in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states. The overall rural economic index for the region remained in negative territory and declined to 37.3 in September from August’s 41.1. Survey officials say any score below 50 on any of the survey’s indexes suggests a decline in that area.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says farm income is expected to decline 12 percent over last year. That is limiting spending by farmers and hurting the economy in rural areas. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

Goss says the number of farm loan defaults hasn’t increased significantly over the past year, but more loans are being restructured.

Officials with the Atlantic Police Department are asking for your help in solving an incident of field vandalism. Authorities say last Sunday (September 11th), a person reported that a bean field had been mowed through, causing several paths of damage. Officials say it appears that the field was mowed with a bush hog.

The land is located on the southeast corner of Buck Creek Rd. and Iowa Ave., in between the railroad tracks and the Schildberg Recreation Area. Anyone having information about the incident is encouraged to contact the Atlantic Police Department.

Area where a bean field was vandalized.

The Harlan Police Department has issued an update on recent arrests and incidents. Officials say on Sept. 8th, two juvenile males were cited for possession of tobacco by persons under legal age when an officer observed them smoking at the skate park.  The juveniles were cited and released to their parents.

On Sunday, Sept. 11th, 64-year old Larry Meurer, of Harlan, was arrested when officers were called to an altercation between neighbors in the 1300 block of Hawkeye Avenue.  Meurer was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with intoxication in public.

This past Monday, 30-year old Cory Hunter, of Harlan, was taken into custody when officers were called to the 500 block of 12^th Street for a domestic disturbance.  Hunter was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with domestic abuse assault for allegedly assaulting Gloria Sammons, also of Harlan.

And on Wednesday,  55-year old Denise Heilesen-Winchell was arrested on two active Shelby County warrants.  Heilesen was taken to the Shelby County Jail.

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) – An online petition is calling for an Iowa judge’s removal after a 19-year-old man was spared jail time after pleading guilty to a child molestation charge involving a toddler. KTVO-TV reports Kraigen Grooms pleaded guilty to a count of engaging in a lascivious act with a child in July.

Wapello County Attorney Gary Oldenburger tells the station that Grooms received a 10-year suspended sentence and five years of supervised release Monday. He’s also required to register as a sex offender. The station reports that law enforcement told them after Grooms’ 2014 arrest that there was videotaped evidence of Grooms assaulting a 1-year-old.

The petition seeks Judge Randy DeGeest’s removal from office.

A traffic stop early this (Thursday) morning in Pottawattamie County resulted in a man being arrested on several charges. A deputy stopped a pickup truck at around 3:20-a.m. near mile marker 54 of on Interstate 29. The driver, 36-year old Rodney Steel McCormick, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, being a Fugitive from Justice, Possession of a Controlled Substance/marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia (a marijuana pipe with residue).

The Pott. County Sheriff’s Office said also, 32-year old Samantha Kathleen Wright, of Woodbine, was arrested Wednesday afternoon by police in Missouri Valley, on a Pott. County warrant for Failure to Appear in court on an original charge of Theft in the 4th degree. Wright was booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail and held on $10,000 bond.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a man wanted on a Cass County warrant for Sexual Abuse in the 2nd degree, was arrested Wednesday afternoon at his place of employment, in Council Bluffs. 25-year old Patrick James Barrett, Jr., of Glenwood, was arrested at around 3:30-p.m.  and brought to the Pottawattamie County Jail and was awaiting transported to Atlantic, by Cass County deputies.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The Sioux City Diocese says five more people have made allegations of years-ago sexual abuse by a now deceased priest. The Sioux City Journal reports that the diocese also confirmed Wednesday that it has reached a settlement with the man who first came forward with allegations against the Rev. Peter Murphy, who served in several northwest Iowa parishes from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Spokeswoman Kristie Arlt says Bishop Walker Nickless is reaching out to the people who’ve contacted the diocese since June, when the diocesan newspaper asked readers for information about sexual misconduct by Murphy, who died in 1980.

Allegations originally surfaced when the now 69-year-old man wrote to Blessed Sacrament Parish in Sioux City about sexual abuse by Murphy when the man was a 12-year-old altar boy.

Officials with ISU Extension in Montgomery County report an afterschool STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering & Math) program held on Wednesday early outs at the Montgomery County Family YMCA for students in 4th through 6th grade, starting on September 28th. The afterschool program will run for six consecutive weeks. Youth do not have to be a member of the YMCA to participate. The afterschool STEM program will be coordinated by ISU Extension and Outreach Montgomery County in partnership with Montgomery County Family YMCA, Anderson Conservation Center, Southwest Iowa STEM Hub and Johnson Controls, INC.

Chelsea Cousins, Program Coordinator at ISU Extension and Outreach Montgomery County, says “Youth will engage in hands-on experiments about science, technology, engineering and math as they relate to real world topics. Activities will vary each week including strawberry DNA extracting, building rockets, and understanding the impact of pollution and recycling – just to name a few.”

Youth may register for the afterschool program by contacting the Extension office at 712-623-2592. The program is funded by a Blue Sky Grant from Johnson Controls, Inc. and the collaborative efforts of each partner. For more information, please contact ISU Extension and Outreach Montgomery County at 712-623-2592 or 400 Bridge Street, Suite 2, Red Oak, IA.

Three Cass County men were critically injured during a single-vehicle accident early this (Thursday) morning, in Pottawattamie County. Pott. County Sheriff Jeff Danker says the driver of a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup, 20-year old Jacob Johnson, and his passengers, 20-year old Adam Bolton, and 20-year old Dacoda Schwarte, all of Atlantic, were injured and transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, before being flown to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

Danker says the crash happened at around 12:20-a.m., in the area of 510^th Street and Sumac Road.  An investigation determined the pickup was traveling northbound on 510^th Street when Johnson failed to negotiate the curve at Sumac Road.  The pickup traveled into the ditch and struck an embankment. Adam Bolton was ejected from the vehicle during the crash. While the incident remains under investigation by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, Danker say alcohol is believed to have been a factor.

(9-a.m. News)