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Man Will Serve 10-Year Prison Term For Meth

Orange City, Iowa — A Rock Valley man has been sentenced to ten years in prison for possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine.
Sioux County Courthouse front_sva
Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle says that 46-year-old Stephen Bryant of Rock Valley was sentenced on Monday, April 18, 2016, in Sioux County District Court for the crimes of Possession with Intent to Deliver Methamphetamine, a Class C Felony, and one count of Possession of Marijuana, a Serious Misdemeanor.

Court records indicate that on January 6, 2016, the Rock Valley Police Department arrested Bryant on an unrelated charge. Bryant consented to a search of his apartment and police found almost 12 grams of methamphetamine, and 12 plastic baggies among other drug paraphernalia. After a search warrant was executed on Bryant’s cell phone the police obtained additional text messages showing Bryant intended on distributing methamphetamine.

Bryant was sentenced to ten years in prison on the felony Possession with Intent to Deliver Methamphetamine charge. The County Attorney’s office says the sentence is subject to a one-third mandatory minimum before parole or work release eligibility.

Sioux Center Hy-Vee May Build On Former Hospital Site

Sioux Center, Iowa — A deal is being hammered out between the City of Sioux Center and Hy-Vee Food Stores that would basically amount to a swap of properties.
Hy-Vee Logo
Sioux Center Health moved to a facility on the eastern edge of Sioux Center on B40 nearly two years ago. Since that time, the former hospital building has been demolished, and made ready for development.

Last fall, an agreement was made for the city and Hy-Vee to swap properties, with the city becoming the new owner of the property in southern Sioux Center adjacent to what used to be Walmart, before Walmart built their supercenter. The adjacent building is now home to a few restaurants and other businesses.

Now Hy-Vee says they want to include more property in the deal.

The Sioux Center city council has set a date for a public hearing next month on the proposal, which would add property south of Seventh Street Southwest, adjacent to the former hospital site. The public hearing will be May 4th.

Seventh Street Southwest is the street to the south of the former hospital property, south of where the clinic used to be. The additional property, part of which has been a parking lot, would be designated for future development. City officials say a couple of homes would also be included in the deal.

City officials have said that if the plan is approved, they will re-align the Seventh Street Southwest and Highway 75 intersection.

Police Officer Calls In House Fire

Sioux Center, Iowa — An alert police officer may have saved a home from further damage from fire Friday night, April 15, 2016 in Sioux Center.
sioux center fire logo door
According to Sioux Center Fire Chief David Van Holland, about 9:40 PM, a Sioux Center Police officer radioed in a report of a working structure fire. The Hull and Sioux Center Fire Departments and the Sioux Center Ambulance Crew were paged to the home of Gary and Julie Schley at 211 Twelfth Street Southeast. That’s about four blocks north and two east of the Walmart corner, just south of the cemetery.

The chief says the fire department saw flames coming from the roof and smoke in the house as they approached the scene. He says they used a small amount of water on the roof and in the basement to fight the fire, and then carried burning items outside.

Van Holland says no injuries were reported. He says the fire appeared to be chimney fire. Chief Van Holland reports that there was moderate damage.

He says crews were on scene for about an hour.

Drug Dogs Do Well In Competition

Northwest Iowa — Drug dogs from northwest Iowa have participated in a drug dog competition recently.
Deputies Ver Meer Munneke Athos and Rizzo
The Sheriff’s Offices in Osceola, Lyon, and Sioux Counties tell us that their dogs took part in the annual United States Police Canine Association Region 21 Detector Dog Trials last week.

About fifty dogs participated in the event that was held in Manchester, Iowa. Officials say each year canine units from around Iowa are required to certify their dogs on four different odors; Marijuana, Methamphetamine, Cocaine and Heroin. Testing consists of searching three rooms to locate two drug hides and searching five cars to locate another two drug hides. The tests are designed to make sure the dog recognizes the odor of the narcotics and can indicate their presence. Participants were scored individually by ten judges and then also participated in four and five-person teams.
Deputy Bos and Hunter
Osceola County Deputy Tyler Bos and his Drug Detection Dog, Hunter brought home two trophies at the trials. Bos and Hunter won first place in Individual Overall Drug Detection and first place in Team Drug Detection.

Lyon County Deputy Rob Ver Meer and K9 Athos teamed up with Lyon County Deputy Kyle Munneke and K9 Rizzo along with three other K9s from the area. As a team they placed first overall in the event. Deputy Ver Meer and K9 Athos also scored second place on individual scoring in the car searches.

Sioux County Deputy Justin De Bruin and his canine partner, Sonny and Deputy Tony Reitsma and his canine partner, Neiko both passed the certification. Deputy Reitsma and Neiko placed third overall in the room search with a score of 99.33 out of a possible 100 points.

Top picture: Deputy Munneke and Rizzo; and Deputy Ver Meer and Athos
Bottom picture: Deputy Bos and Hunter

Grassley Endorses King For June Primary

Washington, DC — Iowa’s senior Senator has endorsed the incumbent fourth district Congressman.

steve king forster center
Steve King

Senator Chuck Grassley is throwing his support behind Congressman Steve King in the June primary.

Grassley says he’s supported Congressman King in his previous elections, and Grassley has been supporting him in this election.

King also received an endorsement from Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey of Spirit Lake at the recent Fourth District Convention in Fort Dodge.

King faces a Republican challenger in the June primary. Iowa State Senator Rick Bertrand of Sioux City has thrown his hat into the ring for the fourth district chair. The winner will face the only Democrat to file for the position, Kim Weaver of Sheldon in the general election in November.

The primary is on June 7th.

Debate Over State-Ordered Third Grade Retention Continues

Des Moines, Iowa — As the 2016 legislative session winds down, lawmakers and the governor are debating not only WHEN but even IF third graders who are poor readers should be forced to repeat the third grade.
apple for the teacher school desk
A 2012 law calls for third graders to repeat the grade if they are poor readers, but the policy wasn’t scheduled to go into effect until 2017. Senator Rita Hart, a Democrat from Wheatland, doesn’t want it to happen next year either. She says “state-ordered retention” is wrong.


Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo who is dyslexic, cried during a speech on the senate floor as he talked about being forced to repeat the fourth grade.


Dotzler and others say it’s too late to wait to intervene when a student who reaches the end of third grade cannot read well. A bipartisan committee of House and Senate members last week voted to delay until 2018 the requirement of summer school for lagging third grade readers, because there’s no money in the budget for it. That means no third grader in Iowa would be forced to repeat third grade until the fall of 2018 if legislators get their way.

Governor Terry Branstad doesn’t want to wait. “We made a commitment in 2012 to really strengthen our efforts to help all kids learn how to read before they leave third grade,” Branstad says. “This is kind of the last step and we need to continue to move forward with it as expeditiously as possible.” Tests last fall found nearly 25 percent of Iowa third graders cannot read at grade level.