Law Enforcement Agencies Respond To Merrill Stand-off
(Merrill) — A stand-off occurred last evening (Friday) at a Merrill residence. At approximately 5:54 p.m. the Plymouth County Communications Center received an abandoned 9-1-1 call from 507 Calhoun Street in Merrill. During the call
back, the dispatcher had learned of an assault in progress between a father and a son. As law enforcement units were responding to the address, the dispatcher also learned that a knife may have been involved.
The first arriving officers were able to make voice contact with the suspect, Seth Vires, age 24 of the same address. However, Vires was barricaded in an upstairs room and refused to come out and talk with officers. With the threat of a knife, the decision was made to contact the Iowa State Patrol for assistance with a negotiator.
At approximately 6:40 p.m. the decision was made to activate the Combined Emergency Response Team (CERT). Once the CERT team had arrived on scene and it was determined the negotiations were not working, a plan was developed to
force entry into the bedroom and take the suspect, Vires, into custody. The negotiator continued to talk to Vires throughout the incident, until the CERT team was ready.
At approximately 7:30 p.m. the CERT team forced entry into the bedroom.
Vires was immediately confronted and failed to comply with commands. A Plymouth County K-9 was deployed into the room and Vires was then taken into custody without further incident.
Vires was placed under arrest by the Merrill Police Department for Harassment, Domestic Abuse, and Interference with official acts. Vires was taken to the Floyd Valley Healthcare for treatment of a dog bite. He was
then transported to the Plymouth County Jail and held to see a judge.
Assisting agencies included Merrill and Hinton police departments, Merrill and Le Mars Ambulances, the Iowa State Patrol, and CERT. CERT is comprised of deputies from the Plymouth, Cherokee, and Sioux County Sheriff’s Offices,
and officers from the Le Mars and Cherokee Police Departments.
New Parade Route For Ice Cream Days
(Le Mars) — Several events have had a new venue this year, including the Ice Cream Days annual parade. Teresa Petty with the Ice Cream Days Committee explains the new route.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Health insurance company Medica says it will offer insurance plans statewide in Iowa again next year through the Affordable Care Act exchange.
The Minnesota-based company also says it will expand insurance
offering for many Iowans.
Geoff Bartsch, the company’s general manager of family and individual business says the company is excited to stay in the market and to expand product choices.
Medica was the only statewide carrier in Iowa last year. Bartsch says this year the company will offer more choices and more network options in some areas of the state.
Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield has said it also plans to return to the Iowa individual market in 2019.
Friday is the deadline for companies planning to offer ACA policies next year to file plans.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – A Michigan man accused of ordering drugs online and having them shipped to a friend in Dubuque – who then died of an overdose – has pleaded guilty.
Federal prosecutors for Iowa say 28-year-old Jay Rickert pleaded
guilty Thursday in Cedar Rapids’ federal court to willfully causing the distribution of a controlled substance.
As part of the plea, Rickert admitted he had ordered a hallucinogenic drug in February 2015 on the dark web from a supplier in Canada and had it shipped to a woman in Dubuque. Investigators say the woman used the drug, believing it was a hallucinogenic, but the supplier had shipped fentanyl, a powerful and often deadly synthetic opioid.
Rickert faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced at a later date.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled for the first time that workers under union contract with the state may sue for wrongful discharge if they’re fired for retaliation or other improper reasons.
The decision came Friday in a lawsuit filed in 2015 by former Iowa Workforce Development judge Susan Ackerman. Her claims included that former IWD Director Teresa Wahlert and other agency leaders defamed her, caused her emotional distress and breached her contract.
The court’s ruling filed Friday overturns a judge’s dismissal of the
wrongful discharge portion of her case and allows her lawsuit to go forward in district court.
The supreme court, in a separate case, also says former Workforce Development judge Joseph Walsh, who led the agency’s unemployment appeals bureau, can proceed with his whistleblower and wrongful discharge lawsuit
filed in April 2014.
A third IWD judge, Marlon Mormann, had sued for age discrimination but the court upheld his lawsuit dismissal.
NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) – The trial of an Iowa father charged in the death of his infant son will be moved from Chickasaw County to Henry County.
The Courier reports that a judge on Thursday ordered the change of venue after defense attorneys for 28-year-old Zachary Paul Koehn argued he couldn’t get a fair trial in Chickasaw County because of pretrial publicity.
The trial will be held in the Henry County Courthouse in Mount Pleasant, about 50 miles south of Iowa City. Koehn’s trial is set for Oct. 29.
Police say officers found the maggot-infested body of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn in an infant swing.
Koehn and the baby’s mother, Cheyanne Harris, have pleaded not guilty to murder and related charges. They’re having separate trials.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped slightly to 2.7 percent in May, giving the state the nation’s third-lowest rate.
Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday that the unemployment rate was down from 2.8 percent in April as the number of unemployed Iowans fell from about 47,000 to 46,000.
Iowa’s rate was behind only Hawaii’s 2 percent rate and the 2.6 percent rate in North Dakota. New Hampshire also had a 2.7 percent rate in May.
The national unemployment rate in May was 3.8 percent.
