Newton
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Wednesday, April 30, 2014
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OBITUARIES Ty Rushing/Daily News Mike Jacobsen has been the Jasper County Attorney since 2009 after his predecessor passed away in office. Jacobsen enjoys his job and was partially inspired by the TV show “L.A. Law” to become an attorney.
Helen M. Horn, 76 Stephen T. Jones, 66 Larry Vande Voort, 71 INSIDE TODAY
Newton, Iowa
Newton man charged with false imprisonment, reckless use of firearm By Daily News Staff
Local
BBBS Bowl for Kids’ Sake Page 2A
TV show inspired Jacobsen to become an attorney By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Sports
Cards suffer first loss of season Page 7A
Religion
APEPT to host spring conference Page 12A
Weather
Thursday
High 50 Low 38
Friday
High 60 Low 41 Weather Almanac
Tues., April 29 High 51 Low 37 .04 inch of rain Also: Astrograph Page 11A Classifieds Page 9A
— Jasper County Attorney Mike Jacobsen
cases. In 2013, his office had 159 CINA cases and 112 of those were labeled DEC and this resulted in 17 termination of paternal rights cases. Jacobsen explained how a case could be classified as CINA and evolve to DEC. “If the child is having issues or the parents are having issues, with things such as like drugs or alcohol or sometimes a parent has a mental illness in which they can’t take care of the child or the child is out of control — they’re not going to school or they’re having their own mental health issues — those are called (CINA) cases,” Jacobsen said. “We have a large number of those, it seems that those have gone up. We used to have (them) one day a week until probably about three years ago now. Now, we’re handling those about two days a week.” He said that DEC cases occur when drugs are found in the house and the children are of a younger
Dear Abby Page 6A
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Opinion Page 4A
Having recently passed its budget for next year, the Newton Community School District needs to amend the budget for the current 2013-14 fiscal year budget according to District Business Manager Gayle Isaac. The FY 14 budget was originally approved last April. “We are looking back now, one year plus, and we are going to project what the costs are going to be at the end of June (2014),” Isaac said at Monday’s school board meeting. “We’re are looking at 15 months ... I’ve highlighted (my best guess as to what) the (Iowa) Department of Education is most concerned about.” The areas Isaac highlighted in his report were under the instruction, total support services, non-instructional programs and total expenditures portions of the FY 14 budget.
Obituaries Page 3A Police Page 3A Our 112th Year No. 242
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age where they could be harmed by getting into the parents’ drugs. In addition to juvenile cases, his office handles simple misdemeanors — which can be anything from a speeding ticket to possession of drug paraphernalia. The most recent figures indicated his office handled 1,245 of those types of cases in 2013. “We represent the State of Iowa in all criminal prosecutions,” Jacobsen said, explaining another aspect of his office’s duties. “Those would be things like OWIs ... misdemeanor magistrate court, that would be in front of the district associate judge and those would be things like possession of marijuana and methamphetamine, where they are not trying to sell but have for their own personal use.” Jacobsen also included assault causing injury and domestic assault as things that would need to go to misdemeanor magistrate court and those items are considered indictable misdemeanors. His office handled 546 of those types of cases last year. “We also handle felonies that are filed,” Jacobsen said. “Some of the cases that we had were the State v. Olea and pending cases like the State v. Supino. Those kinds of cases are serious cases where somebody can go to prison for up to life depending on what the charge is.” JACOBSEN See Page 5A
ARREST See Page 5A
Fire Damage
Zach Johnson/Daily News A house and garage located at 403 E. Fourth St. N. sustained damage in a fire early this morning. No report has been made on the extent of the damages. Look for more information on the house fire as it becomes available.
National Day of Prayer Breakfast set for Thursday Several area churches are sponsoring the Newton National Day of Prayer Breakfast from 7 to 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the DMACC Conference Center. Tickets are $5 and are available at the sponsoring churches, Choices Book Store and Bridgehouse Coffee. For more information, call (641) 8313029 or email newtonprays@gmail. com.
School board looking to amend last year’s budget
Comics & Puzzles Page 6A
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Mike Jacobsen will be the first to tell you being a lawyer is nothing like what you see in the TV shows. There aren’t many moments where you scream “OBJECTION” or dramatically pound a table with your fists in the courtroom. He’ll also tell you that you spend more time filling out paperwork and reviewing cases, files, warrants and contracts than you do in the courtroom. However, despite the fact that this profession isn’t quite like the show “L.A. Law” — which inspired him to become an attorney — he wouldn’t have it any other way and has been serving as Jasper County’s county attorney since 2009. As county attorney, Jacobsen and his staff of four assistant county attorneys oversee a number of cases in Jasper County’s legal system. “We handle juvenile court cases in which a child has gotten in trouble with a criminal offense,” he said. “Those are juvenile delinquency cases, and they can be put on probation or sent to a juvenile home or a group care facility.” Last year, his office handled 50 juvenile delinquency cases. Other types of juvenile cases they deal with are Child in Need of Assistance (CINA) cases and Drug Endangered Children (DEC)
“I thought being a prosecutor sounded like a pretty interesting position.”
A Newton man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly holding a woman against her will at gunpoint while driving around Jasper County. Nathan James Nelson, 20, of Newton has been charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon, a Class D felony; carrying weapons, an aggravated misdemeanor; false imprisonment, a serious misdemeanor; and reckless use of a firearm, a simple misdemeanor. According to court documents, Nelson and a female victim were driving around in rural Jasper County at
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BUDGET See Page 5A
Ty Rushing/Daily News Newton Community School District Business Manager Gayle Isaac explained the reasons why the district needs to amend its 2013-14 fiscal year budget at Monday’s meeting of the Newton Community School District Board of Education.