Authorities in western Iowa are now helping with the search for a missing woman and one of her children from eastern Nebraska. The last anyone heard from 41-year-old Charlotte Schilling and her 11-year-old son Owen was last Thursday when Schilling drove to her son’s school and picked him at 10 a.m. The elementary school is located in Plattsmouth, a town on the Missouri River about 20 miles south of Omaha. Plattsmouth Police Chief Steve Rathman says, so far, there no evidence of foul play or suspicious activity.

“It is a mystery at this point,” Rathman says. “Hopefully, with the agencies partnering together, we can get an answer for the family real soon.” Schilling’s husband and their 20-year-old daughter say the situation is “very out of character,” but police say there’s no evidence of a crime. Charlotte’s car was located Friday at Lake Manawa, just south of Council Bluffs. Schilling had been known to fish in the lake. Rathman says Council Bluffs police searched the land surrounding the lake this (Monday) morning.

“In addition, I had the Plattsmouth Water Rescue go down with their boat and sonar equipment and get out on the lake and check in the lake to see if there was any evidence of suspicious activity or foul play. Both of those searches came back negative,” Rathman says. Schilling’s cell phone and wallet were found in the car’s trunk. Rathman says, right now, investigators have few leads.

“We have investigators out doing follow up interviews. We’re looking for any surveillance videos we can find from gas stations, restaurants or fast food places that the mother and son may have visited so we can get a timeline as to when the last time they were seen and where they were at,” Rathman said.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Nishna Valley Trails association said Monday the organization is sponsoring it’s second “Friends of the T-Bone” trail work day this coming Saturday, May 19th , from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.  Organizers say interested members of the public are invited to come to the trail crossing at Lorah, one mile west of US Highway 71, about a mile south of “The Valley” truck stop.

The goal is to once again clear out dead branches from the right-of-way, and stack them by the trail for the County Conservation staff to run through the chipper. Persons interested in volunteering are advised to wear a good pair of shoes, long pants, some sturdy gloves, and a hat to ward off sun and bugs. Bottled water will be provided so you can stay hydrated. If it rains that morning, the event will be postponed to a later date.

At 11:00-a.m., or when the work is done, whichever comes first, there are tentative plans for the work group to gather at the Valley trailhead and take a bike ride together. Volunteers can travel along with the group to Darrell’s Place in Hamlin for lunch. Or, if you prefer not to go so far, you can stop at the Little Red Barn in Exira, or Big T’s Bar and Grill in Brayton.

Cass County Conservation Director Micah Lee said he was very pleased with what the groups’ efforts accomplished on the last clean-up day, May 5th .  Lee and his crew plan to be out on the trail this weekend to chip the branches volunteers work to pile-up along the trail.

Atlantic Firefighters were called to the scene of a barn fire this (Monday) afternoon, about a mile and a-half south of town. The call from the Calvin Knop farm at 58748 630th Street (Highway 71), came in at 2:55-p.m.

Barn Fire south of Atlantic, Monday.

Several sheep were housed in the barn, but they were moved out before firefighters arrived, and buckets were being used to douse the area where smoke was seen. Atlantic Fire Department 2nd Assistant Fire Chief Tim Cappel told KJAN News when the first crews arrived there were no visible flames coming from the building. Upon further investigation, they did discover charred, smoldering wood in the upper floor near a corner of the barn, where  electricity comes into the building.

Cappel said Brown Electric arrived and quickly shut off the power. They were also working to fix the problem with an apparent electrical short. Cappel said there was minimal damage to the structure.

Firefighters were on the scene for about 35-to 40-minutes. There were no injuries, and none of the animals were harmed.

Sheriff’s Officials in Cass County say an Anita teen was injured Friday evening during a single-vehicle accident on Chestnut Street, in Anita. A car operated by 17-year old Shaley Kay Winther was parked in a driveway and began to roll because the vehicle was not in “Park.” Winther attempted to stop the 1994 Pontiac Grand Am, but was knocked down by the vehicle. 

The car traveled through the corner of a yard, across 6^th Street and struck a power pole, which snapped-off and fell on the vehicle. Winther suffered minor injuries and was transported by Anita Rescue to the Cass County Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and released. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $3000, while the power pole sustained about $1000 damage. 

The Sheriff’s Office reports also, 50-year old Casey Renee Bates, of Red Oak, was arrested Saturday, on a District Court warrant for Failure to Appear for a Child Support Hearing. Bates was taken to the Cass County Jail where she was being held on $2000 cash bond.

The Page County Sheriff’s Office says three people suffered “possible” injuries during an accident late last week near Shenandoah. Sheriff Lyle Palmer says 16-year old Breanna Studey and 35-year old Shelly Boulton, both of Shenandoah, along with 13-year old Ieisha Jabbar, of Coin, were transported to the Shenandoah Hospital. 

Palmer says Studey, who didn’t have a driver’s license, was driving a 1994 Chevy Blazer eastbound on 220^th Street at around 7:45-p.m. Friday, when she lost control of the SUV and overcorrected, sending it into the east ditch off of “F” Avenue, where the vehicle rolled over. All three of the females were wearing their seat belts. 

The Sheriff’s report says Studey was driving too fast for conditions. She was cited for Failure to possess a driver’s license, no proof of insurance, and failure to maintain control. The SUV sustained $2,000 damage during the crash.

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Authorities in Page County say one person suffered minor, “possible” injuries during an accident Sunday afternoon, in Shenandoah. Sheriff’s Officials say 22-year-old Georgia Adams, of Shenandoah, was wearing her seat belt. She was transported to the Shenandoah Medical Center following the crash of her car on “A” Avenue, just north of Highway Two. 

Sheriff Lyle Palmer says Adams was traveling north towards Shenandoah at around 4:30-p.m, when she lost control of her vehicle, which left the road and hit a residential driveway, before flipping twice end-over-end, and coming to rest on it’s wheels. The Sheriff’s report said Adams may have fallen asleep or fainted due to fatigue, prior to the crash. Adams was cited for failure to maintain control. The 1997 Buick Regal she was driving sustained $3,500 damage.

A new study by Iowa State University economists shows small towns in Iowa that saw a Wal-Mart move in had moderate increases in sales 15-years later. Economist Ken Stone, became an expert on the study of the impact of the retail giant before retiring from I-S-U in 2004. He co-authored the new study and says Wal-Mart came into many of the towns 25-years ago as they were seeing population and sales declines.  “Even though towns that got a Wal-Mart store get an initial surge in sales, they start going down, and earlier we found that sometimes the go down more than what they were when (Wal-Mart) first came in. We attributed that to too many Wal-Mart stores too close together,” he explains. “What we concluded after this study was — that’s still true — but it was a lot better than if they had continued on the trend line they had been on before.” Stone says they also found the small towns that didn’t get a Wal-Mart to move in, didn’t see everyone leave to shop elsewhere.

“Even though they were at a little lower level, they sort of stabilized. And I attribute that to what I call the capitalism at work. We had companies like Hy-Vee and Fareway locate in those towns and we had Alco and Dollar Generals and so on,” Stone says. He says he has always gone by the premise that people don’t want to leave town to shop, and the smaller stores that filled the gaps in the non-Wal-Mart communities took advantage of that idea. Stone says the research shows the small stores in the Wal-Mart communities that tried to go head to head with the big retailer in areas like sporting goods and pharmaceuticals, did not survive. But he says those who adapted and offered something different have been able to make it.

“And it could be more upscale merchandise or specialty categories. Even hardware stores, if they’re handling more fasteners and tools and things (and provide) better service than what Wal-mart has, they’re doing okay,” according to Stone. “So there’s pluses and minuses others benefit from the additional traffic that Wal-Mart brings in if they are selling something different.” Stone says he can’t take all the information and make one general statement on the impact of Wal-mart on small towns.”So if a town has local option sales taxes for example…then they’re going to benefit from the additional sales. So that’s a plus. On the negative side, there’s a lot of environmental impacts. Many of these super centers take 20 or 30 acres and that’s can create drainage problems, and parking problems, and traffic problems and all kinds of things. So, it’s really hard to say yes or no it just depends on the local situation,” Stone says.

The study looked at 28 Wal-Mart host towns and 22 non-Wal-Mart control towns with populations between three and 30-thousand people. Stone says he doesn’t know of a study that’s taken such a long look at the impact of Wal-Mart. Stone, who is now a professor emeritus, co-authored the study with assistant economics professor Georgeanne Artz for publication in a future issue of Economic Development Quarterly.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)