The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports an incident about a suspicious good Samaritan motorist occurred earlier this week. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says at around 4-p.m. Tuesday, his office received a call from a southwest Iowa resident, who reported that on Monday, February 10th at around 5-p.m., they were traveling north on Highway59 just north of Shenandoah, when a cream colored car got behind them.  The car was flashing headlights from bright to dim attempting to get them to stop. 

The caller said they pulled their vehicle to the shoulder, stopped and locked the vehicles’ doors.  They went on to say that a male in his early 20’s approached their vehicle and told the driver their front tire was about to fall off.  The caller reached for their cell phone at which time the male ran back to his cream colored car and sped off.  The caller told authorities that there was nothing wrong with their vehicle. 

The only information given about the suspect is a male in their 20’s driving a cream colored car.  Sheriff Palmer said the incident should serve as a reminder to motorists about situations that can be avoided by doing just what the caller did with their cell phone and locking their doors.  If the suspect had truly been a good citizen telling the caller about a possible issue with their vehicle’s safety, they probably wouldn’t have minded the caller using their cell phone to call for assistance. 

Palmer says this is the only case that has been reported to the Sheriff’s Office at this time.  He reminds residents and motorist to ALWAYS report these types of incidents WHEN they occur, as a Law Enforcement broadcast can be made and it is more likely that the suspect can be stopped and questioned.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports they have received several complaints of phone scams where callers are attempting to obtain personal information from individuals for financial gain.  The callers sometimes do already have information about person’s credit / debit cards or bank accounts and are attempting to gain PIN numbers claiming they can offer better interest rates etc.

Sheriff Lyle Palmer says area residents need to be wary about these types of calls and it is not recommended to give out this type of information over the phone.  It is also not recommended that any personal information be given out as if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Once personal information is given out, it is usually too late to stop some of the charges that will be assessed to accounts.  This will usually leave the person in more financial turmoil than they were in prior to the call.

The Sheriff’s Office along with all other Law Enforcement agencies receives calls of scams numerous times a week.  Fortunately most of the Page County residents reporting these scams recognize them as just that, scams.  However there are some Page County residents that have been “taken” by these scams and usually loose thousands of dollars when it happens.  These scams are virtually impossible to solve and harder to recover lost funds.  Most of the calls come from out of the United States.  Callers have developed a way to appear to be calling from a phone number within the United States, but are actually physically located outside of our borders.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Grants will enable a community group to plant trees along a three-mile stretch of a busy Council Bluffs street.  The North Broadway Alliance says it’s received $55,000 from various organizations to complete the project. Volunteers will help with the plantings, which will take place when the weather is better.

The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reports the trees will be planted three-deep, with ornamentals nearest the street and larger trees behind. Organizers say the project will bring residents together.  The North Broadway Alliance is a grassroots group comprised of neighborhood associations.

The Atlantic Police Department reports two recent arrests. On Tuesday, 25-year old Andrew Nickum, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Violation of his Probation. And, 43-year old Carl Kemp, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Cass County warrant for Violation of a No Contact Order. Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

The P-D says there were also two accidents in Atlantic, Tuesday. The first happened at around 8-a.m. at the intersection of 6th and Oak Streets. Officials say a vehicle driven by Julie Steffens, of Atlantic, was traveling south on Oak Street at the same time a vehicle driven by Mark Ruthfusz, of Atlantic, was traveling east on 6th. Officials say Ruthfusz failed to yield from the stop sign, and the vehicles collided in the middle of the intersection, causing a total of $4,000 damage. There were no injuries reported.Ruthfusz was cited for Failure to Yield.

The second accident happened at around 4:30-p.m., Tuesday, in the 300 block of Chestnut Street. The P-D says a parked vehicle occupied by James Murray, of Atlantic, was beginning to back out of the stall. Murray didn’t see a vehicle owned by Meagan Campbell, of Atlantic. When he was backing out, his vehicle struck the right front corner of the Campbell vehicle, causing $2,000 damage altogether. There were no injuries, and no citations issued.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors approved the vacating of two roads during their meeting today (Wednesday), in Atlantic. Action on another road closure was tabled until the Board’s next meeting, during which a public hearing will be held on five additional road closures, as well.

The roads the Board approved for vacating include 842-feet of 644^th Street in Section 14 of Grove Township, and 1,287-feet of Galt Lane, in Section 5 of Lincoln Township. No objections were made during the public forum held prior to the vote to vacate.

A representative from the Guthrie County REC voiced concerns however, with regard to the vacating of 2,400-feet of 700^th Street lying between the northern right-of-way limits of Boston Road and the southern right-of-way limits of Interstate 80. The representative said they have a power line along that road that crosses the interstate. He was worried they would be “land-locked” and the property owner, who intends to farm the land, would not allow them access to their lines, or that they would be held responsible for crop damage.

The Board tabled action on vacating that section of road until the County can make arrangements to talk with the property owner and come to an agreement about an easement and the crop concerns.

In other business, the Supervisors set 8:45-a.m. March 5^th, as the time and date for a public hearing on the Fiscal year 2014-2015 budget.

A woman who has served Cass County as the Mental Health/General Assistance Coordinator for nearly 19-years was fired today (Wednesday). The Cass County Board of Supervisors acted on the termination of Teresa Kanning during their meeting in Atlantic. Before the motion was made, Board Chair Frank Waters  announced the agenda item without recognizing Kanning and her husband Rich, who were in attendance, and refused her request for a closed session.

Supervisor Mark Wedemeyer then made the motion to fire Kanning. Wedemeyer’s motion said her termination, which is retroactive to Feb.5^th, 2014, was “Due to work related items.” The motion was unanimously approved. Afterward, Kanning and her husband left without comment. She had earlier indicated there would be no comment on the Board’s action. Near the end of the meeting, the media asked the Supervisors to explain their action.

Board Chair Frank Waters said “No Comment.” KJAN News Director Ric Hanson asked if the  Board had spoken with Kanning prior to the surprise announcement in the agenda on Monday. Waters said the only thing they had done was to hold an annual performance evaluation, but he would not comment on whether there were issues with her performance that had not been resolved since then.

Supervisor Chuck Rieken said the Board was advised by legal counsel not to comment on the matter. Deb Schuler, who works with Kanning, will step-in in the interim to handle the office duties. Rieken said a decision on whether or not to replace Kanning full-time depends on the State’s decision on mental health regionalization and design, and other matters.

w/ Ric Hanson

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The Sheriff in Crawford County says he’s confident arrests will be made soon in connection with a string of motor vehicle thefts which took place last week. Sheriff James Steinkuehler told the Omaha World-Herald Tuesday, six vehicles were stolen, five of them were full-sized pickup trucks.

Three Ford F-250 pickups were taken Thursday from a farm supply business in Dow City. Two other pickups, a Dodge Ram and a Chevy, were stolen from a residence in Arion. On Friday, a car was reported stolen from Denison.  Four of the pickups have been recovered. All three F-250s were recovered Friday, while another was recovered early Saturday.

The truck taken from Arion occurred after thieves rammed an overhead door. Surveillance cameras across the street from the storage building where the car was stolen, recorded a pickup truck backing through a roll-up door of one business, and the coupe being driven through another door. Steinkuehler said the surveillance cameras showed two of the stolen pickups near the storage building.

Anyone who has information about the thefts is asked to contact the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office at 712-263-2146. A $500 reward is being offered.

Iowa’s new Travel Guide is due out this month. It contains 175 pages of destinations, maps, and ideas for things to do and see across the state. Iowa Tourism office spokesperson Jessica O’Riley says a new section this year attempts to inspire travel with categories like outdoor adventures, wineries and breweries, restaurants, or, living like a local.

Although many vacationers have gone digital, printed copies of the travel guide are still available. “Pre-Internet days, we were printing probably 500,000 travel guides,” O’Riley said. “Now, with the use of our website increasing, were down to 125,000 (printed copies). That’s probably about where we’ll stay because we still see a demand for those from people who want a hard copy in their hands as they’re traveling the state.”

Travelers across Iowa determined the cover design of the 2014 Iowa Travel Guide, as sightseers provided the pictures and Facebook fans voted on the final photo montage. The new Travel Guide will be available next week at Iowa’s Welcome Centers or you can order one online at traveliowa.com.

(Radio Iowa)