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Man Arrested, Taken To Hospital After Incident

Near Hudson, SD — A Hawarden man was arrested on charges including two felonies, and then was taken to a Sioux City hospital after an incident in Sioux County near Hudson, South Dakota.
lightbar with hand cuffs
The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office reports that they arrested 21-year-old Matthew Zinnel of Hawarden after the incident, which happened on Thursday afternoon, January 14th, 2016.

According to the sheriff’s office, about 3:50 PM their 911 center received a call asking them to make sure Zinnel and others residing at a home on Coolidge Avenue, four miles east of Hudson were okay. The caller stated Zinnel had made threats earlier that day to harm family members.

When they got there, officers found Zinnel at the home. They report that he became combative and fought with them, and that two officers sustained minor injuries from the incident.

After Zinnel’s arrest, the Sioux Center Ambulance took him to Unity Point St. Luke’s hospital in Sioux City for treatment and observation. He was transported to the Sioux County Jail the next day.

Zinnel was charged with two counts of assaulting a peace officer, a class D felony; interference with official acts, an aggravated misdemeanor; interference with a police K9 and false imprisonment, which are both serious misdemeanors, and obstruction of emergency communications, a simple misdemeanor.

The Sheriff’s Office says the Iowa State Patrol and the Sioux Center Ambulance crew assisted on the scene.

New Powerball Scam Emerging

powerballNorthwest Iowa — Northwest Iowans are being warned about a scam that’s surfaced this week, following Wednesday’s world record Powerball drawing.

Jim Hegarty, at the Better Business Bureau, says crooks are always looking for new ways to separate unsuspecting folks from their money.

Hegarty says Iowans need to be very wary of this type of email, letter or phone call.

Con artists have learned to make it appear that they’re legitimate, so Hegarty says you need to be on guard when answering your phone and when opening your mail and email.

Hegarty says if one of these scammers calls you, simply hang up.

Osceola County Sheriff’s Office Says Goodbye To Long-Time Member

Kyzer_EOWSibley, Iowa – EOW, or End Of Watch, is the term used by law enforcement to describe the date that an officer passes away.  Thursday, January 14th marked the EOW for a long-time 4-legged member of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

K9 Kyzer had been with the Sheriff’s Office since 2004, according to Osceola County Sheriff Doug Weber.

Weber talked about the process of acquiring Kyzer.

The Sheriff says Kyzer was, what is called in law enforcement, a “dual purpose” dog.

Weber says Kyzer was retired in 2013, and had lived at the Sheriff’s Office since that time.  He says that, even in retirement, Kyzer’s nose for narcotics still worked just fine.

He says that time and age finally caught up with Kyzer, and Thursday, a veterinarian recommended that it was time to end the dog’s pain and suffering.

Sheriff Weber says having to put Kyzer down has been hard on the Sheriff’s Office staff, the people with whom he had interacted every day since his 2013 retirement.

The year after Kyzer retired from life on the street, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office acquired another K9, named Hunter, who is a chocolate lab/bloodhound mix.  Unlike Kyzer, who was a dual purpose dog, Hunter is strictly a narcotics detection canine.

Kyzer with trophies
In 2005, Kyzer was awarded the top rookie trophy at the Iowa K-9 trials

College Savings Iowa Deposit Deadline Extended

money cash bills dollarsNorthwest Iowa — Did the end of the year 2015 sort of sneak up on you?  It did for many of the folks here in northwest Iowa.  And if you didn’t put any money into your child’s College Savings Iowa account before the end of last year, I have good news for you.You can still do so and get a break when you file your state taxes.

State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald says the rules that required you to get the contributions to the state program by the end of the year have changed.

Fitzgerald says you don’t have to have an existing account to take advantage of the tax break. You can open a new account before the May 2nd deadline and deduct whatever you put in on your 2015 taxes.

He says the maximum tax break for 2015 is three-thousand-163 dollars.  But, Fitzgerald says, you can double that if both parents have an account for their kids.

Fitzgerald says the maximum amount you can deduct is adjusted each year based on inflation — so you will be able to deduct a little more from your 2016 taxes.

Fitzgerald says you can even easily create an account online.

He says you can start an account for a child as soon as they are born and let it build until they are ready for college. You can withdraw the funds from the account for qualified college expenses, such as tuition, books, supplies and room and board at any eligible college, university, community college or accredited technical training school in the United States or abroad.

Norem Conviction Upheld

Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court has affirmed a Harris man’s conviction for first-degree kidnapping and second-degree sexual abuse.
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The Iowa Supreme Court wrote that they found ample evidence that in November 2012, 48-year-old Walter Norem removed his wife Dawn from a Milford parking lot, transported her to their rural residence, confined her there, and—as a consequence of that removal and confinement—she was intentionally subjected to sexual abuse and torture. Norem had argued insufficient evidence for the kidnapping charge among other issues in his appeal.

Norem’s attorney had argued that because Norem pulled over and offered his wife a chance to get out of the vehicle that the kidnapping ended there, and that she continued with him by her choice. The court did not agree since the offer happened in a secluded, uninhabited area where it would have been difficult for Dawn Norem to find help since she didn’t have her cell phone.

Challenge Aims To Make Sheldon Folks Healthier

Sheldon, Iowa — The Northwest Iowa Community College Lifelong Learning and Recreation Center in Sheldon is helping to sponsor the annual “Live Healthy Sheldon” Competition. LLRC coordinator Greta Giese tells us more about the competition, which begins January 25th. She says it’s a local take on the Live Healthy Iowa challenge.


She tells us some of the perks and prizes.

Greta Giese
Greta Giese

For more information you can go to the LLRC’s web site at nwicc.edu/recreation-center/ or call the LLRC at 324-2493. You can also stop by the LLRC or LLRC East (formerly the Sanford Fitness Center) in Sheldon. You can sign up and get early bird pricing if you sign up by Monday, January 18th at 5 PM. The deadline and first day of the challenge is January 25th.