Jefferson Pizza Ranch Owner Suspected of Arson
A two month long investigation leads to the owner of the Jefferson Pizza Ranch facing several charges.
The Greene County Sheriff’s office says 53 year-old Robert Duane Schultz, Jr. is charged with a Class B Felony for first degree arson, a Class C Felony for first degree criminal mischief and a Class D Felony for insurance fraud. He turned himself into law enforcement center on Wednesday and was booked and released from the Greene County Jail after posting a $25,000 bail.
The alleged incident happened just after midnight on January 27th. The Jefferson Fire and Police departments determined that there were multiple points of origin throughout the restaurant that led them to believe the fire was intentionally set.
Records obtained by Raccoon Valley Radio show that 2012-2016 Schultz took several advances for mortgage payments, owed $425,000 and was several months behind on those payments. Other search warrants revealed that Schultz was behind on his Alliant Energy bill and a food distributor bill of over $14,000.
There were also reports of gasoline odors inside the restaurant. When Alliant Energy spoke to Schultz about the odor, he said he accidentally spilled a two-gallon plastic gas can in the dining area as he was carrying it because he thought it would be a joke, due to one of his employees who ran out of gas for their vehicle. Schultz also claimed that his security camera and alarm system was working properly the night of the fire, but records show it was broken for a couple of weeks and Schultz did nothing to fix it.
The investigation is ongoing at this time with additional charges and suspects pending completion of the investigation.
Raccoon Valley Radio will bring you more information as it becomes official.
Greene County’s Prom Sure Won’t Look Like Kansas Anymore
The 2016 Greene County High School prom is today.
The theme is “There’s No Place Like Prom” and all the decorations relate to the Wizard of Oz. Prom will be at a new location at the Greene Room events center at Wild Rose. Even though the decision to move prom and the meal to Wild Rose was in December, Junior Class Advisor Teresa Green says initial plans for prom began a long time ago.
“We start planning for the prom right away when school starts. We met in September and we actually voted for our prom theme at the end of the year last (school) year. So it takes about a year to have all the meetings and get together with the parents and the kids and put everything together.”
The day will start with the grand march as the students “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” from the Greene County Courthouse to the Mahanay Bell Tower from 5:30 to 6:15pm. If there’s inclement weather, the march will be held at the Greene County Community Center. Then, the students will enter “Emerald City” at the events center for the buffet and dance.
The meal consists of a dinner salad, parmesan chicken, roasted pork loin, cheesy potatoes, alfredo pasta, green beans with bacon and red pepper and dinner rolls with cinnamon butter. After their meal, they will build their own dessert at the cheesecake station where they will start with plain cheesecake and add their own toppings to it including chocolate, raspberries, strawberries, and much more.
A new addition will be a magician on the stage of the events center with Ben Uhlin from Des Moines. Following the dance at 11:30pm, will be after prom, which starts promptly at midnight at the middle school gym. The “You’re Not in Kansas Anymore” after prom activities includes a hypnotist, ping pong, casino table games, minute-to-win-it and cash cube games. The event ends at 3am Sunday morning.
The public is invited to see the decorations at the events center from 4 to 5pm this afternoon.
A Drug Bust Leads to Several Individuals Facing Charges in Jefferson
A traffic stop leads to several individuals facing drug-related charges in Jefferson.
Police Chief Mark Clouse says during the investigation, one of the juveniles provided information to the officer, which led to an executed search warrant on February 25th in the 700 block of South Wilson Avenue. Police seized suspected drug-related items and cash from the residence. As a result, Clouse says he’s issued an arrest warrant for 22 year-old Michael David Teeples for a Class B Felony for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver in proximity of a school, failure to affix a drug stamp and a misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia.
An officer conducted the traffic stop earlier in February in the 500 block of North Elm Street at 12:25pm. The officer noticed a marijuana odor coming from the vehicle, which gave him probable cause to search it. The search resulted in three juveniles being charged with misdemeanors for possession of marijuana. Clouse notes that a 16 and 17 year-old will be tried in juvenile court, while 17 year-old Jacob Thomas Monthei will be tried in adult court with a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. Clouse adds that due to his prior court record, it was determined that Monthei will be tried as an adult.
Almost $1 Million in Grants Given Away at First-Ever Grow Greene County Ceremony
Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation gave away $900,354 in grants to 24 recipients at their first-ever ceremony at Wild Rose in Jefferson.
GGCGC received five percent of the adjusted gross revenue from Wild Rose as the non-profit gaming license holder to distribute to worthy projects and entities. The funds were given to the contiguous counties, all the towns and school districts in the county, along with Greene County Community Foundation, Greene County Development Corporation, Greene County Medical Center and five competitive grants were given for “impact” projects in the county.
Greene County Conservation received the largest amount of the competitive grants with $124,000 to finish their project to pave the rest of the trail crossings along the Raccoon River Valley Trail. Other competitive grants went to the Churdan Public Library to help with their expansion project, Bell Tower Community Foundation to purchase additional bells for the Mahanay Bell Tower, Jefferson Fire Department to upgrade their air pack equipment and Genesis Development to replace a baler. The competitive grants totaled $356,425. There were 13 applications that the Board considered.
GGCGC President Norm Fandel was incredibly pleased with how the event went Monday night.
“Absolutely fabulous. Great crowd and 100 percent participation from all of the recipients. Not only one but several people from the different groups showed up to receive the awards. Knowing the amount of funds and the amount of dollars that were awarded for the evening and the different groups and who received them, I can’t be more happy with the (GGCGC) Board and what we did.”
Grant funds that were awarded were only for the accumulated funds from when the casino opened last July to December 31, 2015.
A full list of the recipients and how much money they received can be found below.
Special Sunday Greene County Historical Society Program
The Greene County Historical Society invites everyone to a special Sunday program at the museum in Jefferson.
The program will feature the newest, recently donated collection of President Abraham Lincoln memorabilia. Historical Society President Dale Hanaman says having Sunday afternoon programs helps them to reach those who can’t be at their regular Friday monthly programs.
“Many of the people that are connected to the museum on a regular basis are retired so they do have that time. But younger people, children, youth, young adults (and) adults that are still working, this provides an opportunity to connect with the museum.”
Former Jefferson attorney and Iowa District Court judge Jed MaGee donated his lifelong collection and will be the featured speaker. His interest in Lincoln started in seventh grade when his teacher challenged him to find a public figure to research as a way to increase his academic knowledge and it just grew from there. The collection is already on display at the museum.
The program will be at 2pm on Sunday. It is free and open to the public.