February 9, 2012

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Cherokee man charged with trying to kidnap 12 year old

May 17, 2009 By

An arrest has been made in connection with Thursday afternoon’s attempted abduction of a 12-year-old girl from Irwin, in western Iowa’s Shelby County.

According to the Shelby County Sheriff’s office, tips from the public led to the arrest Friday evening of 64-year-old Marc Elliot Nelson of Cherokee. Nelson was taken into custody at his residence in Cherokee County and charged with attempted enticement of a minor and assault with the intent to commit sexual abuse. Both charges are aggravated misdemeanors.

Nelson was being held in the Shelby County jail on $4000 bond.

According to authorities, two search warrants were served on Nelson at the time of his arrest and investigators collected evidence from the home.

In all, three females reported a male matching Nelson’s description approached them Thursday afternoon. The incidents allegedly occurred in Irwin, Manilla, and Westside. The sheriff’s report did not indicate whether Nelson would be charged in connection with the two remaining incidents.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Sioux City dealer to fight G.M. closure notice

May 17, 2009 By

General Motors officials notified at least 10 Iowa car dealers last Friday that they’ll no longer be a G.M. franchise.

A Sioux City car dealer vows to fight the closure notice he received from General Motors. Eric Hoak, president of Hoak Motors in Sioux City, took over the family-owned dealership in the year 2000.

"I’m going to fight for my employees. I’m going to fight for the community," Hoak told KSCJ Radio. "You know, I mean there (need) to be choices in a city of this size."

Hoak’s grandfather Richard Hoak, Senior, started selling Dodge and Plymouth cars in Sioux City back in 1945. The dealership currently sells Pontiacs, Cadillacs, and other G.M. vehicles, as well as Nissans. Hoak admits his dealership is in the red on paper, but it’s due to a fire in February that caused $3 million in damage. 

"Still probably three to four months before I get back into the service department," Hoak says. "I just two weeks ago got back into my showroom. We were working out of trailers for the last two and a half months. I lost 16 cars…I all my computers, all my phones, all my furniture."

Hoak is urging his customers to lobby G.M. to keep his dealership on the map.

"I know the insurance is going to be there, but I need the community support," Hoak says.

Hoak employs about 35 people at the dealership. Last Friday, General Motors officials notified 1100 dealers across the country that they’ll be let go because of weak sales.

Filed Under: Business, Fires/Accidents/Disasters Tagged With:

Gronstal says disaster recovery a long process

May 17, 2009 By

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs says the severe flooding and tornadoes of 2008 created a "monumental disaster" in Iowa and legislators will have to keep responding to the "gigantic" problems left in the aftermath.

"I anticipate that we will continue to pass legislation over the next three to five years and maybe longer that relate to dealing with disaster recovery," Gronstal says.

Over the next few years Gronstal envisions a broader discussion about ways to prevent flooding in developed areas. The legislature set aside over a million dollars to create a flood center at the University of Iowa to work on flood management and mitgation and explore ideas like paying farmers to allow flooding on their cropland upstream as an alternative to flooding downtown Cedar Rapids again.

"Those are the kind of creative ideas that people ought to be looking at, so that this isn’t just a cycle of every time there’s a bad set of weather conditions that we end up having to do disaster recovery," Gronstal says.

In the recently-concluded 2009 legislative session, nearly half a billion dollars in state assistance was advanced to storm-damaged areas in the form of grants, loans and tax credits.

"This was a monumental disaster for the state of Iowa, just gigantic in terms of its impact on this state," Gronstal says. "I don’t think we’re going to get it all fixed in just one legislative session."

Gronstal made his comments this weekend during an appearance on Iowa Public Television.

 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government, Weather Tagged With: , , ,