News

Rock Rapids, Iowa — In the latest happenings from the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office:

Their newest K9 has now been awarded a ballistic vest, and they are now a drop off point for no-longer-needed prescriptions and other drugs.

They report that their K9 Missy was awarded the ballistic vest thanks to a nonprofit organization, Vested Interest in K9s, Inc., and Quad City Area Women Police of Bettendorf, Iowa.

They tell us that Vested Interest in K9s, Incorporate is a charity located in Massachusetts, whose mission is to provide bullet and stab-protective vests and other assistance to dogs of law enforcement and related agencies throughout the United States. Each vest costs over a thousand dollars.

The drug return box is part of a permanent MedReturn drug collection program. The goal is to reduce the supply of drugs that can potentially harm teens and adults.

Lyon County citizens looking to dispose of excess and expired prescription and over-the-counter medications can now visit the safe and secure permanent drop box owned by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office will be unveiling the box at the Lyon County Fair. Following the fair, the box will be moved to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office front lobby, where it will be available 24/7. Drugs can be dropped off with no questions asked.

Properly disposing of excess drugs is everyone’s responsibility as a matter of public safety. More than 70 percent of young people abusing prescription pain relievers get them through friends or family, a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet. Environmental agencies also urge people not to flush their drugs as they could contaminate the water and affect fish, wildlife or humans.

The Sheriff’s Office says that the drug collection unit is produced by MedReturn, LLC of Grafton, Wisconsin. MedReturn, LLC says they are committed to providing a safe, secure and environmentally-friendly way to help law enforcement agencies and communities collect unwanted or expired household medication, including prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs and unused pharmaceuticals.

Sheldon, Iowa — In recent weeks there has been a parade of Presidential candidates making stops in northwest Iowa.  The latest to visit, Republican Mark Everson, bought lunch and answered questions for a group of northwest Iowa voters during a meet and greet Wednesday at the Sheldon Pizza Ranch.

Everson told the group that he was a New York native, born at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, and raised in Yonkers, New York.  He said he has lived in nine different states, including two here in the midwest, as well as in living and working in Turkey, France and Zambia.

He said that one of the reasons he’s running is to help get the country back to “Constitutional governance”.  He said he thinks it vital to stop the over-reach of the executive branch, and hold that branch of government accountable to Congress and the American people.

Everson said the Republicans need to elect a candidate who will adhere to conservative principles, but like Ronald Reagan, be willing to deal within the context of those principles.

He said that his six years serving in the Reagan Administration overseeing border enforcement operations and then in cold war foreign policy, provided him with a close-up look at that administration.  Everson also served six years in the 2nd Bush administration, serving as both IRS Director, and Deputy Director of White House Budget Office.  He also served for three years with former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, where he ran the state’s unemployment system and job training program.

In addition to his government service, Everson says he is one of the few Republican candidates who has more than limited experience in the private sector, having worked as a senior financial executive at Europe’s largest aluminum company, as well as the world’s largest airline catering company.

Everson says that, as President, he would undertake bold tax reform, favoring a consumption tax.  He’d make Wall Street and big banks follow the law and play by the same rules as everybody else, make real, balanced reforms to our entitlement programs to secure their continued viability, and rewrite our immigration laws to control our borders and reinforce the American tradition of assimilation.

He also said that he would take re-election politics out of Oval Office decision making by serving only a single term.  In fact, he said he favors a Constitutional amendment limiting the President to a single six-year term.

From Sheldon, Everson went on to an early afternoon stop in LeMars.  His northwest Iowa swing will continue Thursday with stops in Spencer and Spirit Lake, before wrapping up his Iowa swing with a GOP meeting in eastern Iowa.