A Jefferson Police Vehicle is Damaged and Two People Were Arrested Following Tuesday’s Incident
A Jefferson man and woman were arrested after an alleged incident on Tuesday.
Police Chief Dave Morlan says at 5:24pm, an officer and a Greene County Deputy responded to a call in the 400 block of Cedar Street about a female threatening to harm herself. When the officer arrived, he found out that the female was instead arguing with a male.
The female in question, 29 year-old Shauna Allen, was charged with domestic abuse after an incident on May 26th and there was a no contact order in place. Once the officer got Allen and the male, 29 year-old Christopher Hernandez outside, the officer arrested Hernandez and put him into the back of the patrol vehicle. When the officer went back to place Allen under arrest, he heard Hernandez kicking at the door of the car. The officer asked Hernandez to stop and he did, but not before the vehicle sustained $2,500 in damages. The deputy then arrested Allen and both suspects were transported to the Greene County Jail. No one was hurt in the incident.
Hernandez is charged with a Class D Felony for second degree criminal mischief and a simple misdemeanor for aiding and abetting the violation of a no contact order. Allen is charged with a simple misdemeanor for violating a protective order.
Morlan notes that they were both released from the jail under their own recognizance Wednesday morning.
Elementary Addition and Informational Meetings Scheduled for $20 Million Bond Referendum in Greene County
As we’ve previously reported, a $20 million bond is being proposed by the Greene County School District to improve efficiencies, upgrade safety and security and compete for student enrollment.
Today, we look at the addition to the elementary building in Jefferson. Superintendent Tim Christensen says about four classrooms would be added onto the northwest portion of the current facility and the school would be transitioned into a pre-kindergarten through fourth grade building.
Construction would only be $1.8 million of the $20 million bond. Plans are to move the office to the front of the building, so that visitors would have to enter through the office in order to gain access to the school. Christensen points out another improvement would be off-road parking.
“Right now if you were to drop off your kids at the elementary, (there’s) a heck of a lot of traffic. I’m surprised that we’ve haven’t had more fender benders and/or I don’t want a kid running between cars or anything like that. I think that off-road parking and drive(way) would be key for some safety issues.”
It would also eliminate five bus routes that go from Jefferson to Grand Junction to transport students and the district could then re-purpose the Intermediate School in Grand Junction.
The final informational meetings will be held from August 24th through the 26th from 6:30 to 8pm at the Ram Restaurant at the high school in Jefferson.
A Two Vehicle Accident Sends Two People to a Hospital in Greene County Wednesday
A two vehicle crash in Greene County resulted in minor injuries and severe vehicle damage in Greene County Wednesday afternoon.
Greene County Sheriff Steve Haupert says the accident happened at the controlled intersection of 130th Street and L Avenue shortly before 3pm. A 16 year-old female from Churdan was heading north on L Avenue when she failed to stop at a stop sign and her 2000 Chevrolet Blazer collided with a 1998 Nissan Maxima that was heading east on 130th Street.
The crash forced the Blazer into the northeast ditch and the Nissan remained on the roadway. Haupert notes that the female and the driver of the Nissan, 36 year-old Jacob Dennis Smith of Paton, were transported to Greene County Medical Center by Churdan Rescue with minor injuries. He adds that they were both wearing their seat belts at the time of the accident and airbags in both vehicles deployed, which prevented either driver from sustaining more serious injuries.
Both vehicles were total losses and the female minor was issued a citation for failure to obey a stop sign.
West Central and Farmers Cooperative Discuss Possible Merger
West Central Cooperative and Farmers Cooperative Company are in negotiations to merge the two businesses together.
A letter of intent to study the membership benefits of unification was signed this past Tuesday by both company’s board of directors. It’s the first step in the potential merger for the two leading farmer-owned cooperatives.
Farmers Cooperative Board President John Scott says their first series of discussions identified opportunities that could benefit their members for decades. West Central Board President Sue Tronchetti agrees and adds that the letter allows them to further explore equity, governance, organizational structure, asset investment and other member-focused efficiencies.
West Central Chief Executive Officer Milan Kucerak says each company has its respective strength, which together, could benefit each other such as Farmers Cooperative has access to every major rail line in Iowa while West Central has built-in soybean demand for 20 million bushels per year at their manufacturing plant.
In the next few weeks, each company will have a series of employee and member meetings to conduct due diligence. Each board will then determine whether or not to bring the unification proposal to a member vote. Both Scott and Tronchetti encourage members to participate in the meetings and provide feedback and concerns. A list of meeting dates and locations can be found on each company’s websites and logging in to their customer section.
Greene County Medical Center’s Expansion to Open Next Weekend
Next weekend will be Greene County Medical Center’s grand opening of its expansion.
Chief Executive Officer Carl Behne tells Raccoon Valley Radio that he’s excited about their $22.5 million, 52,000-square foot addition is finally ready to open.
“I’m extremely excited. I’m certainly not as excited as our staff, and our providers and I would guess most of the community. It’s been a long process. But I’m really looking forward to getting us over there and being able to deliver on our promise of better access, greater efficiencies and better privacy.”
The medical center first broke ground in April 2014 and the goal was to get it completed by early this spring. However, a wet summer last year, pushed the project back. He points out one highlight of the expansion is the changes to the emergency department.
“Obviously the ER (Emergency Room) is going to be very front and center. So definitely pay attention here on the radio, local newspapers as well as Facebook and other social media, because we’ll have a lot of information coming out kind of early to middle of next week to start to share with the community.”
Initial plans include an open house for August 28th through the 30th.