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The Mahaska County Community Foundation Announces Grant Awards

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

The Mahaska County Community Foundation (MCCF) is pleased to announce its 2015 round of grant awards. The total amount distributed was just over $92,000 and benefitted 21 different projects throughout Mahaska County.

Once again, the MCCF had far more grant requests than funds available, with all applications totaling just under $166,000. Board Member Pat Deur, a banker at US Bank in New Sharon, commented “It is always difficult to distribute limited funds when so many worthwhile causes are presented. But we can be thankful that this program will allow projects to move forward that otherwise might be delayed or not occur at all.

The funding source for these grants comes from the Iowa Legislature, which passed a law that required a distribution of a portion of all gambling revenue to those counties that do not have a gambling facility within its borders. Calvin Bandstra, a banker at Leighton State Bank and MCCF Secretary stated “This legislation has allowed gambling profits to be spread throughout the entire state, not just those counties in which casinos, racetracks, or riverboats are located.

This has proven to be a real benefit to local charitable and non-profit organizations, with the State Legislature acknowledging this as over time the percentage available has been increased by statute.” This year’s grant allocation encompassed projects in several Mahaska County communities, including Barnes City, Leighton, Eddyville, Fremont, and Oskaloosa. In addition, this was the first year in the program’s 10-year history that a grant recipient was located in Peoria, a small unincorporated community in the northwest part of the county. This grant will help address library upgrades and safety improvements at the Peoria Christian School. One of the larger grants of $10,000 was to the Mahaska County Development Group to assist in a comprehensive survey of the Oskaloosa area’s recreational and childcare needs, and to determine what role the existing YMCA can play in this.

And also appropriately, as 2015 is the 175th anniversary of the existence of Eddyville, that city received an award to construct a new historical marker.

The following projects were awarded funding:

$5,500 George Daily Auditorium—Youth Arts Program

4,000 Mahaska Co. Historical Society—Improvements to Nelson Pioneer Farm Home

3,500 City of Fremont—Storm Sirens

10,000 Mahaska Community Development Group—Master Plan Recreational//Childcare/YMCA Survey

5,488 New Hope Community, Inc.—Garden Kitchen Start-Up

5,000 Mahaska Community Recreational Foundation—Playground at Lacey Complex

4,536 Oskaloosa Rotary—Welcome Sign on West side of Oskaloosa

1,250 Oskaloosa Main Street—Signage/Branding

4,000 City of Eddyville—Historical Marker

2,500 Oskaloosa Boy Scout Troup 71—Transportation Van for Outings

3,500 Oskaloosa Christian Grade School—Technology Updates

7,500 Barnes City Fire & Rescue—Capital Improvements on Building

5,329 Peoria Christian School—Safety & Technology Improvements

10,000 Mahaska County YMCA—Building/Design Improvements

1,500 William Penn University—GPS Instruments

4,000 Oskaloosa Fire Department—Gas Leak Monitoring Equipment

4,000 Oskaloosa Middle School—Character/Arts Incentives

2,500 Oskaloosa Farmers Market—Start-up costs

1,700 Personal Energy Transportation in Leighton—New Saw

3,825 Mahaska County Agency on Aging—Ice Machine

2,500 Food Bank for Southern Iowa—Transportation Truck

$92,128 Total

A Thousand Horses Certified Gold

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

Only one week after their debut album “Southernality” was released, A Thousand Horses’ first single “Smoke” has officially been RIAA-Certified Gold. The guys also learned last week they will be making their late-night television debut on June 24th on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, where they’ll perform their next single, “(This Ain’t No) Drunk Dial.”

Erik Jones Sweeps Both NASCAR Races This Weekend

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

Erik Jones traveled 765 motorsports miles to get a sweep of NASCAR’s two featured races this weekend. After winning Friday’s American Ethanol 200 in the Camping World Truck Series at Iowa Speedway, Jones journeyed some 290 miles east to Chicagoland Speedway, where he won Sunday’s rain-delayed Owens Corning AttiCat 300 X-FINITY Series race.

Jones led more than half of the total laps run in the two events, including ninety-four trips around the mile-and-a-half Chicagoland Speedway oval on Sunday to claim his second career X-FINITY Series win – both of which have come this season. Jones muscled his way past race leader Ryan Blaney following the day’s final restart and kept his Number-54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in front over the final eleven laps – beating runner-up Blaney to the checkered flag by two seconds.

Pole-sitter Austin Dillon finished third with Brendan Gaughan and points leader Chris Buescher completing the top five. The race was originally scheduled for Saturday night, but rain moved it to Sunday afternoon. Blaney turned in a gritty performance after starting at the rear of the field. He wrecked in qualifying on Saturday, forcing Team Penske to a backup car. Blaney started hustling his Number-22 Ford toward the front of the field at the drop of the green flag and had his first lead at Lap-71 of the two hundred-lap race. He led four times for forty-three laps in a bid for his first victory of the season, including thirty-five laps down the stretch before yielding to Jones’ winning pass.

The top five drivers in the standings all held their positions with Buescher now carrying a twenty-nine-point lead over Ty Dillon, who finished ninth on Sunday.

#1 Oskaloosa Softball Finds a Way against Carlisle, PCM; Remains Unbeaten

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

The Oskaloosa summer sports season continues to be an exciting one, as the rain shortened Indian Softball Classic showed us on Saturday.
The event, which brought 16 schools to the Lacey Recreation Complex, was eventually shortened by Mother Nature and the severe weather on Saturday. Prior to that, there was some fine softball being played, including a couple of big matchups for #1 Oskaloosa.

The first game was against Prairie City-Monroe, a team that has just fallen out of the rankings in Class 3A. Kylee Silliman was the Indians’ starting pitcher, and played admirably, striking out ten and allowing only four hits. Unfortunately for Oskaloosa, the offense couldn’t get anything across either, forcing extras. In a “classic” style event, to try to maintain time restraints and still get a result, the international tiebreaker was used, with a runner on second to start the inning to make scoring easier. PCM couldn’t advance the runner from second in their half of the 8th, popping up a bunt attempt and striking out twice in a row against Silliman to end their half of the frame. For Osky, Anna Jones was the runner at 2nd, and eventually moved to third on a Silliman groundout. On a full count, Alexis Westercamp got yet another game-winning RBI by bouncing a single over the third baseman’s head to give Osky the 1-0 win. Westercamp was the only Indian with multiple hits in the game.

The second game was the main event of the day, as top-ranked Oskaloosa, at 19-0, faced off against 3rd ranked Carlisle, the same squad that eliminated Oskaloosa in the state tournament in the quarterfinals last year. Things got off to a poor start, as Carlisle scored three runs in the first four innings off of Osky starter Alexis Groet. With their backs against the wall yet again, the offense refused to lose, as Groet reached base and scored, taking advantage of a couple of Carlisle errors. In the 6th, another error resulted in allowing Anna Jones to reach base, and Bethany Rowley would also reach on an error sacrificing her to second. Yet another big error in the outfield allowed the tying run to score after Kylee Silliman singled in both of the runners. Later in the inning, Aubrey Miller came up huge with a 2 run homer to give Oskaloosa the 5-3 lead, and that would be the final score. That home run broke a school record, as the Indians have already smashed 14 long balls this season. Oskaloosa took advantage of a total of six Carlisle errors.

Oskaloosa is now 20-0, the only undefeated team in all classes in the state of Iowa. Head Coach Jay Harms will try to keep the magic going, as he faces off against a tough conference foe in Pella Christian tonight. Pella Christian, the #6 team in Class 2A, was at the Indian Classic, and in their stiffest test of the day, fell by the slim margin of 1-0 to #2 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. PC looks to right the ship and continue their great season by hosting the Indians tonight, a game you can hear on the Mahaska Zone Network, 99.5 FM and AM 740 KMZN and on kboeradio.com. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:30 this evening, weather permitting. Our pregame will start around 7:15.

The Oskaloosa baseball team, sitting 11-3 on the year, also is on the road for a single varsity game against Pella Christian. That contest is also slated to start at 7:30 this evening.

Photo Provided By Bob Ballard

Ottumwa Announces A Series Of Drug Raids

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

Authorities have announced a series of drug raids in Ottumwa that took place early Saturday morning. The raids came at about 6 a.m. and involved local, state and federal authorities. The target was what authorities describe as a “significant drug trafficking organization that was responsible for the importation and distribution of methamphetamine in Iowa, and other areas in the United States.

The locations raided include: 911 Chester, Ottumwa, the residence of Jose Jimenez and Stacey Jimenez.144 Grandview, Ottumwa, the residence of Maria Zaragoza-Ramos and Thomas VillalobosCardenas. 1133 South Street #5, Ottumwa, the residence of Wesley MelendezLanderos and Rose Melendez. 16343 Rock Bluff Road, Ottumwa, the residence of Christopher Sigala. 1508 Hamilton, Ottumwa, the residence of Carlos Ramon Mulatillo. 319 W. 5th Street Apartment A, the residence of Kyle Glenn Reynolds. 902 Center, Ottumwa, the residence of Michelle Gillen and David Eakins. 1420 Silverwood Lane, Ottumwa, the residence of Omar and Osvaldo Torres n 10433 155th Ave, Ottumwa. Authorities uncovered methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, cash and other items “consistent with the distribution of drugs during the searches. A number of people were charged as well: Jose Alfredo Jimenez-Enriquez, 37, of 911 Chester, Ottumwa, faces charges of conspiracy to deliver more than five kilograms of methamphetamine, a Class B felony, delivery of more than five grams of methamphetamine (three counts) Class B felonies, and three counts of failure to affix a drug tax stamp, Class D felonies.

Stacey Marie JimenzEnriquez, 50, of 911 Chester, Ottumwa, faces charges of delivery of more than five grams of methamphetamine, conspiracy to deliver more than five grams of methamphetamine, (3 counts), and failure to affix a drug tax stamp. Wesley MelendezLanderos, age 34, of 1133 South Street #5, Ottumwa, faces charges of conspiracy to deliver more than five grams of methamphetamine. Rose Marie Melendez, 26, of 1133 South Street #5, Ottumwa, faces charges of conspiracy to deliver more than five grams of Methamphetamine. Carlos Ramon Mulatillo, 26, of 1508 Hamilton, Ottumwa, faces charges of delivery of more than five grams of methamphetamine, (6 counts), conspiracy to deliver more than five grams of methamphetamine, and failure to affix a drug tax stamp (6 counts). Maria Jesus Zaragoza-Ramos, 67, of 144 Grandview, Ottumwa, faces charges of Conspiracy to deliver more than five grams of methamphetamine, Delivery of more than five grams of methamphetamine, and failure to affix a drug tax stamp.

Tomas Villalobos Cardenas, 63, of 144 Grandview, Ottumwa, faces charges of conspiracy to deliver more than five grams of methamphetamine, delivery of more than five grams of methamphetamine, and failure to affix a drug tax stamp. n Michelle Gillen, 47, of 902 Center, Ottumwa, faces charges of delivery of more than five grams of methamphetamine (three counts), conspiracy to deliver more than five grams of methamphetamine, and conspiracy to deliver less than five grams of methamphetamine, a Class C felony. David Joseph Eakins, 51, of 902 Center, Ottumwa, faces charges of delivery of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Christian Ryan Strom, 25, of 700 W. Alta Vista Lot 103, Ottumwa, faces charges of conspiracy to deliver more than five kilograms of methamphetamine, a Class B felony.

For more on this story, check out today’s Oskaloosa Herald

MidAmerican Energy Warning About Phone Scam

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

MidAmerican Energy Company is warning business owners and the public of a phone scam targeting utility customers in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

Several Oskaloosa customers have reported receiving a scam call from someone pretending to be a MidAmerican Energy Company representative this week. Of the calls reported, the majority were small businesses.

The scammers appear to be moving across the state. This month more than 400 scam calls have been reported by MidAmerican Energy customers. Unfortunately, some business owners and customers have reported losing money or disclosing personal information to the scammer.

In general, the scam works like this: scammers, claiming to work for MidAmerican Energy call residential or business customers demanding payment by threatening immediate service disconnection. The thief advises the customer to make a payment in one of two ways: either immediately on the phone via credit card or by calling back a specific number, which often resembles MidAmerican Energy’s phone response system, and paying with a pre-paid (Green Dot) card.

The criminals are often persistent and use sophisticated deceptive tactics that make it appear to Caller ID systems that the scam call is coming from the utility when it is not. They will often impersonate MidAmerican Energy representatives.

MidAmerican Energy wants customers to be aware that this is an outright scam. MidAmerican Energy does not use these methods. If such a call is received, customers should hang up and call 1-888-427-5632 to inquire about the call with MidAmerican Energy.

Three points to help customers recognize a scam call:

 

  1. The caller is threatening immediate disconnection. Sometimes the caller will claim a crew is already en route to the business to disconnect service. Customers should hang up immediately and call MidAmerican Energy. MidAmerican Energy makes several attempts to contact customers regarding overdue bills; disconnection is a last resort, not a first step in the process.

 

  1. The caller insists on a prepaid debit card (often a Green Dot card) as the only acceptable form of payment. MidAmerican Energy accepts several different forms of payment; a company customer service representative can go over these options with customers.

 

  1. The caller asks for credit card numbers, account numbers, balances or other personal information. MidAmerican Energy will not ask you for this information over the phone. Customers should never give out personal information.

Watch MidAmerican Energy’s scam prevention video for more advice on how to protect yourself from fraudulent calls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK9bZt81XSc

BREAKING NEWS: Jessica Strasser Sentenced For Embezzlement

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

Mahaska County Judge Annette Scieszinski handed down the sentence today for Jessica Dawn Strasser, who has been convicted of theft in the first degree. After several continuance rulings, today Strasser was sentenced to no more than ten years in a correctional facility and a $1,000 fine.

Strasser, 43, was convicted of embezzling $279,344.58 from the Mahaska County Soil and Water Conservation District from 2006 through 2013. Strasser was charged in October of 2014.

Strasser will begin to serve her sentence at the Iowa Correctional Facility for Women, located in Mitchellville. It is not yet known if there is an appeal planned. There is still $265,854.24 left to pay in restitution.

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