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The Woodbine Twiner
February 9, 2011
Sending Valentine’s Love: Overseas Guilty plea trims 50 counts to one From LOVE Page 1 hard on assigning soldiers to the appropriate classroom when it’s possible. “I try to assign soldiers to classes that have a relative at the school,” Eby said. “For example, Mrs. Kelley’s class is writing to Rob Neligh because Kaitlyn, his daughter, is in that class. Each Woodbine Elementary teacher dedicates efforts to the soldier pen-pal project, and this year, Janet Christiansen’s junior high English class, is using the project as an opportunity to teach the
students about grammar, punctuation and the art of letter writing. Their first exchange of letters for the 2010-2011 school year happened in December, when the soldiers received Christmas greetings. The Valentine’s Day cards are among the second round of mailings to the soldiers. And fortunately for the students and the soldiers, the postage is paid for. “We have very generous people that are funding the mailings,” Eby said. “Irene Kuhlman, Eby Drug Store, Rollie Clark and CUBS.”
But it’s not a one-sided project, as Diana Kuhl’s third grade class found out when Army National Guardsman Nathan Johnson, surprised the students. “We wrote him letters in the fall and he wrote back to each student, trying to answer each question they had,” Kuhl said. “We have 14 students in our class, and I know it took him a long time to write to each one of them. They were so excited and wanted to share their letters with everyone. He even answered my questions
and talked about my husband as he worked with him in guidance.” Kuhl’s class also made brightly colored Valentine’s Day cards to send to Johnson, sending their appreciation overseas. One to two more exchanges are hoped to be made with the soldiers before the end of the school year in May, as most classes send out correspondences every other month. But in the mean time, each soldier will have approximately 15 Valentine’s Day wishes delivered to them from Woodbine.
Schlichtemeier pled guilty Jan. 31 From PLEA Page 1 Pacific Junction; and Dale Aspedon and Dennis Chaney, both of Glenwood. They were returning from Sturgis, S.D., when the collision occurred in an I-29 construction zone near Little Sioux. The Iowa State Patrol said Schlichtemeier’s bloodalcohol level measured .373 percent, more than four times the legal limit. Schlichtemeier entered a written plea of guilty Jan. 31. The plea agreement will be presented to a judge Feb. 10. Schlichtemeier’s lawyer,
Steve Lefler of Omaha, said there is a “very slight” possibility the case could still go to trial because “nothing becomes final until a judge accepts it.” The amount of time Schlichtemeier ultimately spends in prison depends on many factors, including his behavior behind bars. Someone sentenced to 50 years in Iowa, with no mandatory minimum term, typically is paroled in less than half that time, said Robert Rigg, director of the criminal defense program at the Drake University Law School.
About 12 years is average, Rigg said. But the type of crime matters, too. Given that four people died as a result of Schlichtemeier’s crime, he’s more likely to serve 15 to 20 years, Rigg said. “It (the collision) has enormous impact on, could be, hundreds of people. Will the Parole Board be sensitive to that? Yep.” Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber, who emphasized that he has no special knowledge of the case, suggested that Schlichtemeier probably would serve at least 10 years.
Getting out before his full sentence is served still doesn’t mean the former University of NebraskaLincoln honor student’s life will be easy, Rigg said. People who spend more than 10 years in prison, he said, often have a hard time adjusting once they are back outside. “If people don’t think he’s going to be punished ... they’d better think again — about the reality of being in prison a significant amount of time, and then getting paroled, and what the rest of your life is like. He just blew his whole life up.”
VISTA employee making changes in Woodbine From SMITH Page 1 Woodbine in finding ways to make Woodbine more energy efficient and environmentally friendly,” Woodbine City Administrator Joe Gaa said. “I’d like to see this accomplished by getting more residential energy audits completed and find ways to implement the needed improvements. Alana will be facing questions such as how do we get more residential energy audits? How do we begin a community wide recycling program? What about educational programs throughout the school and community that focuses on what it means to be more environmentally friendly?” Alana is more than qualified for the job, through her education and her upbringing. She grew up in Chapel Hill, N.C., a town with a population of around 55,000 and what Alana believes to be among one of the top of the list of green communities. She attended the University of North Carolina, graduating in 2009 with degrees in geography and environmental studies.
While in college, Alana took advantage of opportunities to travel abroad, visiting Paris in 2007 for a summer and Thailand in 2008 for eight months. Her opportunity to travel supplied her with knowledge she probably wouldn’t have been able to get behind a desk in North Carolina. “I travelled in Thailand through the Institute of the Environment through UNC,” she said. “When we were there, the students and I did a one and half to two month study about nuclear energy in Thailand. We actually surveyed 1,000 people on their opinions. We learned a lot about climate change and nuclear energy while were there.” Aside from Paris and Thailand, Alana spent some time in Central America working on an organic farm. Through her experiences and education, she knows what she wants to accomplish in Woodbine, but is shy to share … right now. “I would like to start quite a few projects here,” she said. “But I don’t want to say what they are just
yet, because I don’t know if they’re going to work. I’m just playing it by ear and taking everything in to see where it goes.” But Alana did express one major green aspect she wanted to see through in her few months in Woodbine. “I would like to see the recycling project take off,” she admitted. “That’s one thing I’m most excited about. I’m a big recycle person and Chapel Hill is very progressive about recycling.” But recycling will just be one aspect of Alana’s job description. According to VISTA, Alana has been trained to help the unemployed qualify for green energy jobs, persuade residents and businesses to develop plans to save energy and encourage high school students to join the fight against global climate change. Alana made it clear the latter two were more her objective in Woodbine. “There were about eight to 10 Energy Corps members in the training orientation and they were all going to be doing different things,” she said. “Some
were going to the high schools to teach sustainability and another is working with ex-cons trying to find jobs and train them to work in sustainability. Then there are others that are doing what I’m doing, working with communities and organizations.” Alana’s office will be located in the old eyebrow gas station on Third and Walker Streets. She currently works out of the city office and will be moving into her new office around the middle of February. Despite where her office is located, she is excited to be in Woodbine, a choice she made herself. “I got to choose my top three jobs and I interviewed for more than one,” she said. “I just picked here. I liked it.” City officials are looking forward to learning from Alana. “Alana is from a larger environment that is economically in tune with the environment,” Gaa said. “We already do good things here, but we don’t have as big of a picture and she will be able to help us with that.”
Confusion still lingers on ‘Odd-Even’ From ODD-EVEN Page 1 and the time from noon to midnight as ‘parking as normal,’ it makes it easier,” Arndt said. “The midnight to noon time frame allows city employees to clear the streets and the time from noon to midnight allows the citizen to get things done as they may need without any more inconvenience than possible.” Arndt point out city employees will remove as much snow as possible between midnight to noon. Arndt advised, That is not to mean the City will not continue to remove snow and slush after the noon hour, the clean up work involved takes as much time as conditions dictate, adding, The time between midnight to noon is the time frame when a $5.00 citation may be issued. “And, with the citizens’ cooperation and compliance with the oddeven parking, it allows city works the open
space to get their work done and it allows them to do it quicker and more efficiently, and that’s saving us tax dollars,” Arndt said. The Woodbine Police Department understands the importance of convenience and realizes not parking on the “correct” side of the street may not be practical, citing instances such as unloading groceries, children or a number of other circumstances, hence the odd-even restriction was constructed with concideration to the citizens needs of “life as normal” and from noon to midnight, parking is un effected by the new ordinance. But the objective of the odd-even rule is to allow city employees to do their job of clearing the streets of weather related material more effectively. “The city tries to clear as close to the curb as possible and the sooner
we get the snow off the streets to those curbs, it allows anything that may melt, quicker access to the storm drain. This helps to keep water from being trapped during the days of melt off and less ice for the pedestrians and drivers to contend with the next morning, making it safer for all of us,” Arndt said. “Also, water trapped on the streets’ surface will seep into the cracks caused by the cold weather’s contracting the streets’ surface. When that water gets into the surface cracks and freezes, it expands and as the street freezes, it contracts, forcing the crack to widen, allowing more water to seep in and further expansion as the cycle continues. This inevitably damages the street, mostly seen the form of chuck holes and sometimes worse, when, as a community, we are looking at the high costs of repairing or replacing damaged streets.”
The Woodbine Police Department has begun to enforce the odd-even rule through issuing parking tickets in the amount of $5 that may be paid via mail or in person at the Woodbine City Clerk’s office or directly to an officer. “Our city’s greatest assets are its people: the services provided to our citizens by our community’s workforce, from professionals to volunteers, are outstanding,” Arndt said. “They do an exemplary job and have always dropped everything in their lives to respond to the calls of service to the citizens of Woodbine anytime day or night. I, as a citizen of Woodbine, would like to tell them, ‘Thank you for your service.’” Arndt urges Woodbine citizens with concerns or questions, to contact him at 647-2550 or by e-mail at aarndt@woodbineia.co m or by stopping by his office.
From WAITE Page 1 The U.S. Southern District of Iowa Court trial had resumed Wednesday in Council Bluffs, then attorneys reached the plea deal during a lunch break. The case involved Waite’s banking relationship with Ed Sullivan, a Woodbine resident who runs a cattle-feeding operation. Sullivan, along with his son, Ryan, and Ryan’s wife, Tina, maintained an account, administered by Waite, at Commercial Federal Bank. The charge Waite pleaded guilty to involved a request made in March 2005 by Waite to renew and increase the Sullivans’ existing revolving line of credit from $7 million to $9.25 million. Waite wasn’t cleared to approve an increase of that amount, and he had to ask a Commercial Federal Bank approval committee. Authorities said Waite “knowingly made false statements for the purpose of influencing the action of” the bank. Waite presented the case to the committee that the Sullivans needed the extra credit because of increasing capacity on their cattle operation, when the extra money was, in fact, needed to cover $1.8 million owed to other bank customer accounts from which Waite had transferred money. The case centered on what authorities said were unauthorized advances on loans and lines of credit that Waite made in the names of other bank customers and deposited into the Sullivans’ account. According to the indictment, $4.2 million was moved from those customers’ accounts into the Sullivans’ account and then later repaid. Waite’s attorney, Joseph Hrvol of Council Bluffs, said during the trial the other customers were fellow cattle feeders and family and friends of the Sullivans’ who had agreed to “help Ed get by during a rough patch” then later denied giving authorization. Waite was released from custody until sentencing. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both. U.S. District Court Judge John Jarvey noted Waite might be ordered to pay restitution to Bank of the West, which purchased Commercial Federal Bank in December 2005. Hrvol declined to comment on the plea agreement. Kevin VanderSchel, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said, “Going with a plea agreement does provide certainty to the case. In case there is a hung jury, it helps avoid the cost of a retrial.” He also noted under federal sentencing guidelines, dismissed counts can still be considered “relevant conduct” in deciding sentencing.
Crime Stoppers back From HC CSPage 1 the group left $11,000 sitting in a bank in Missouri Valley – frozen. Rewards were being offered on two cases at the time – one for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of the origin of the Woodbine arsons and the other, a burglary at the Speedee Mart in Missouri Valley. Both crimes had happened in the spring of 2007. Between their inception in June of 1985 through their last meeting in November of 2007, the group had paid out $8,650 to tipsters in Harrison County. With the chance the state Crime Stoppers organization coming in to sweep the Harrison County funds, the group began to reorganize in October of 2009. A few old board members joined forces with some new faces and the group is beginning to get off the ground. They have even already awarded $300 for a tip since then. Harrison County Crime Stoppers is a partnership of concerned citizens and local law enforcement agencies. The board of citizen volunteers establishes policies and helps decide upon the amount and method of rewards to be paid out – in compliance with state Crime Stoppers guidelines. “The way it works is a CI (confidential informant) has the local law enforcement agency come to us and says, ‘This is what I’ve got, I need help,” new Harrison County Crime Stoppers Vice President Kenard Swift said. “Then the board members sit down and set a certain dollar amount based on state criteria that leads to the arrest for that crime. We put out flyers or run ads in the news paper that this is what we need and this is what we’re offering.” And the Crime Stoppers and the local law enforcement take special care to be sure the CI remains completely anonymous. “The CI calls the tip line and gives them any information they have. The tipsters are given a number and they are paid based on that number,” Swift said. “We write the check out to that number or to the local agency where the tip came through. Then the agency can make sure the person gets the funds. It’s completely anonymous. The public needs to understand the information doesn’t go any farther than that. There’s never any names involved and no paper trail back to the informant.” And the money the tipsters are paid from have nothing to do with local, state or federal tax dollars. Funding is received through Harrison County, its towns and private donations including, but not limited to, individuals, businesses, clubs and associations. All donations are tax deductable. Though the Harrison County Crime Stoppers is back in the action, they are still seeking community support and volunteers. “We’re always looking for ‘fresh blood,’” Swift said. “There are no membership fees or dues. All it takes is attending a meeting about once a month. And most of the time, those meetings are less than an hour long.” The group meets the third Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. in the basement of the Logan Public Library. “This is a good program,” Swift said. “An example is before we even had our legs under us when we were reorganizing a local officer received a tip that led to the arrest of individuals manufacturing meth. At this time, we didn’t have time to get a meeting together, so we perform calls based on a calling tree. The reward was needed. It’s a wonderful program.” Now there are approximately six board members, a mix of “old” and “new” and they are looking for more support. Carolyn Probasco currently sits as president, vice president is Kenard Swift, secretary is Amy Swift and treasurers are Ed and Pat Logan. If interested in participating, the next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 19 in the basement of the Logan Public Library. Interested citizens may also contact: Kennard Swift at 647-2623; Ed and Pat Logan at 712-644-2159; or Carolyn Probasco at 712-592-7911. If you have information regarding an unsolved crime, you are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 800-247-0592. Anonymity is guaranteed.