As 2019 enters its last few months, Guthrie County Attorney Brenna Bird reflects on her first year serving the county and the goals she set out to accomplish.

As Bird told Raccoon Valley Radio at the beginning of the calendar year, her three immediate goals as the Guthrie County Attorney were to establish a payment plan for offenders, decrease the use of paper and have the office become technology-reliant, and to be tough on crime and maintain the county as a good place to live. Bird says the year has gone very well in living up to those promises.

Holding criminals accountable was most evident this July when the county opened 127 new cases, which combined the three previous months’ totals. She credits the sheriff’s office and Panora and Stuart Police Departments for this achievement, “They have done a great job of cracking down on meth dealing. Methamphetamine is just killing rural Iowa and our smaller communities and we have to be tough on drug dealers, those who deal meth better stay out of Guthrie County because we take those cases very seriously and I’ve seen a big increase in drug cases over the summer and I think that is due to the hard work of law enforcement as they go and build these cases as we work to get convictions as well.”

This July also marked the beginning of new Assistant County Attorney John Twillmann. Bird ran unopposed for the attorney seat in last year’s election, and was previously the Fremont County Attorney.