A fire at a farm early this (Monday) morning, resulted in the death of several chickens in Montgomery County.

Photo’s courtesy Brian Hamman.

According to Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman, the blaze at Sunbest Papetti’s Chicken farm happened shortly after 5:30-a.m.  Firefighters from the Villisca and Stanton Fire Departments responded to the scene, along with the Montgomery County EMA.

Hamman says the blaze was quickly contained by Villisca Firefighter’s to the east end of the south building before it spread throughout the entire structure or endangered other buildings in the complex. No injuries were reported to any firefighters. Crews were on scene for roughly 3 hours. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) – A Southeast Iowa farmer has come up with a surprising solution to the high cost of cattle feed.   Bob Batey, of Mount Pleasant, says his 50 cows devour the sawdust mixture he feeds them. Batey, who is 85, stumbled upon the idea in the 1970s when he noticed cows eating sawdust that had washed into their pasture from a nearby paper mill.

Experiments on his farm led him to discover a way to treat and cook sawdust that results in a digestible feed cows find tasty. It has a nutritional value equivalent to grass hay.  Veterinarian Tara Wellman-Gerdes of West Point confirms Batey’s cows are healthy.

The drought created a shortage of corn and hay, causing prices to jump for livestock farmers.

Officials with the Atlantic Police Department report five people were arrested over the weekend, on various charges. On Sunday, 28-year old Melissa Bolin, of Atlantic, was arrested for 1st offense OWI. On Saturday, 22-year old Mary Elizabeth Claybourn, of Atlantic, was arrested for Simple Assault.

And, last Friday, 56-year old Terry Calhoun, of Atlantic, was arrested for Simple Assault….24-year old Joseph Fredericksen, of Atlantic, was arrested for Criminal Trespassing…and, 28-year old Joseph Howell, of Lewis, was arrested on a Polk County warrant for Failure to Appear.

Each of those individuals were booked into the Cass County Jail and held, pending a court appearance.

Forecasters say another winter storm is headed for Iowa that has the potential to drop significant snow on parts of the state. Meteorologist Roger Vachalek, at the National Weather Service, says this system should drop the deepest snow on a different area of Iowa from last week’s storm. He says the system will arrive late tonight and early tomorrow and it should bring snow to the southeastern half of the state. The heaviest totals are expected in the southeast. Cities like Ottumwa, Fairfield, Burlington and Keokuk could see between five and nine inches of snow. Parts of central Iowa may only see two to four inches, with little-to-no snow expected in the northwest. Vachalek says there’s another issue with this approaching storm.

Some strong winds may accompany the storm, with gusts around 15 to 25 miles an hour, so blowing snow could become a visibility problem for motorists. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for parts of southeast and south-central Iowa from late tonight into Tuesday. Cities in the advisory include: Lamoni, Ottumwa, Iowa City and Davenport. In far southeast Iowa, Lee and Des Moines counties are under a Winter Storm Warning from 3 tomorrow morning until midnight tomorrow night. Late last week, another snowstorm coated much of Iowa in white, dumping the most snow in the Sioux City area, which reported ten inches.

(Radio Iowa)

w/ Ric Hanson

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Residents of Adair County and Guthrie Counties have a new option for receiving emergency announcements. Bob Kempf, Emergency Manager for both counties, said the system, which is designed to get emergency messages to the public in a quick and effective manner, has already by used twice over the past few months. He told KJAN News they used it this past week for the Boil Water advisory in Stuart, and again a couple of months ago with a Boil Order in Fontanelle.

According to Kempf, when the Boil Order was issued in Stuart last week, the system made 1,200 calls to residents within 5-minutes. Kempf says he’s spent four years testing options and researching companies offering the service needed. Last year, the EM Commissions selected Global Connect of Mays Landing, NJ, and have been working hand-in-hand with the firm to “go live” with emergency notification in both counties. He says it costs about $7,700 per year for both counties combined, which allows officials to send messages to as many groups as possible, with unlimited usage. While the system is expensive for the Counties, Kempf says the 1^st National Bank of Fontanelle and Greenfield are helping to defray costs by pledging $500 per year, but additional sponsors needed.

Signing-up to get your landline and/or cell phone registered for the announcements, is very simple. You can go to www.guthriecounty.org or www.adaircountyiowa.org. Click on the link to the emergency management page at either website and then on the emergency notification signup link. Fill out the form and press submit, your information will be registered within a few business days.  He says if you don’t have internet access, forms will be made available at City Halls in each county community and at the two County Auditor’s offices, and libraries. You can also call Kempf at 641-332-3030 and let him guide you through the registration process.

There is no cost to sign-up, and the information is owned by the two counties. Since it is proprietary, no company or person can sell it to a third-party vendor. The system stores and uses the contact information according to street address. It will not recognize Post Office Boxes or Rural Route addresses.

In the event of a localized emergency, your local street address will integrate with the notification system’s mapping capabilities. If you have any questions, you can call the Adair & Guthrie County Emergency Management Agency at (641) 332-3030.30.

The Iowa Department of Transportation says it has added a new service to its online services portal, myMVD, that allows suspended and revoked drivers to pay civil penalties that are due online. According to Iowa DOT Motor Vehicle Division Director Mark Lowe, “Iowa law imposes a civil penalty when a person’s driving privilege is suspended or revoked. This civil penalty must be paid before the person’s driving privilege may be reinstated. This new online service allows suspended and revoked drivers to see whether they owe any civil penalties and how much they owe, and to pay the civil penalties by credit or debit card without making a trip to a driver’s license location.”

Persons who are suspended or revoked can find out exactly what they owe by going online, anytime to the Iowa DOTs myMVD website at https://mymvd.iowadot.gov. Just enter the required personal information and select the “Payment of civil penalties” option. That’s it. The information will be presented for viewing.

The service lists all civil penalties owed in the order they were incurred and identifies the sanction that triggered the civil penalty. Persons who owe multiple civil penalties can elect to pay all civil penalties owed or can choose to make partial payments until paid in full. The service requires that partial payments cover the full amount of at least one civil penalty and applies the payments in the order the civil penalties were incurred. A $1.50 service charge for credit and debit card processing costs is added to the payment.

Civil penalties are typically in amounts of $50, $100, or $200, depending upon the age of the person that incurred the civil penalty and when the civil penalty was incurred. Iowa law provides that civil penalties collected by the Iowa DOT are transmitted to the Treasurer of State, who deposits the money in the juvenile detention home fund.

The Iowa DOT reminds people to not be fooled by imitation websites that appear as though they can help you renew your Iowa driver’s license, change your address, get your learner’s permit or replace your license online. There is no other website that has the ability to do these things. Any money that you pay to these look-alike websites will not result in you receiving any of these services. The DOT says you should trust ONLY the Iowa DOT’s myMVD website.

Authorities in Montgomery County report the arrest over the weekend of a Henderson man on a fraud charge. 19-year old Tyler Allen Dittus was taken into custody by Red Oak Police Saturday evening, on a charge of Forgery. Dittus was brought to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, where he was being held on a $5,000 bond.

The City Council in Audubon is expected to act this (Monday) evening, on setting March 11th at 7-p.m., as the date and time for a public hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2013-2014 Budget. The move will follow a review of the proposed budget.

The Council will also hear from a representative with the Region 12 Council of Governments (COG), about the “Safe Routes to School” program, and afterward, act on a resolution adopting the SRS plan and approve an application to the Iowa Dept. of Transportation for the program.

The meeting begins at 7-p.m. in the Audubon City Hall.

The five members of the Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will hold a work session this evening at the high school. During their 7:30-p.m. meeting in the Media Center, the Board will discuss the Atlantic High School Building Leadership Team (BLT), the budget, and Capital Projects. No action on those matters is expected to take place during the work session.