DAKOTA CITY, Neb. – A few prisoners at the Dakota County Jail were involved in fisticuffs last month, but officials believe the bout came from rather unusual origins.

According to court documents, a corrections deputy summoned a Dakota County sheriff’s deputy to the jail on Oct. 12 after two male prisoners got into a scuffle at the Dakota City facility.

The sheriff’s deputy wrote that a review of security footage showed one inmate sticking his butt toward another inmate, after which the two men began fighting.

When authorities interviewed inmates who witnessed the fight, they were told that the incident had gaseous beginnings.

According to court documents, the witnesses said the fight started because the first inmate “passed gas” on the second.

As a result, I believe both men involved were charged with one felony count of assaulting a confined person. It may not be a felony to fart in someone’s face in a Nebraska jail, but it is if you beat them up afterward.

The cops say he came from Wasilla.

Clay County (Iowa) authorities say an Alaskan man was injured this weekend while trying to help out at the scene of a crash involving a 91-year-old woman.

According to a sheriff’s press release, Joseph Beck, of Wasilla, Alaska, was driving in the area when he noticed an accident at the corner of M-50 and B-24 just east of Spencer, Iowa.

As many of you know, Wasilla is famous for being the home of former Republican vice presidential nominee, hockey mom and new author Sarah Palin. (Or, as Vanity Fair likes to say about Palin: “It Came From Wasilla.”)

Police say the accident happened about 4:45 p.m. Saturday when Lois Michelson, 91, of Spencer was turning left from M-50 onto B-24 when her Buick Century hit the side of a Chevrolet Cavalier driven by Jesse Clark, 23, of Spencer.

The impact sent Clark’s vehicle into the ditch.

Police say Beck, who was not involved in the accident, stopped to help.

Things really got interesting, police say, when Clark found out somebody called the cops — and promptly took off.

Beck allegedly saw him leaving, tried to get him to stop and was dragged across the intersection for his efforts.

According to police, Beck suffered a laceration to the back of his head when he fell.

The press release doesn’t say why Clark, likely not the cause of the accident, allegedly decided to flee but the fact one of the charges he faces is driving while license revoked speaks volumes.

The other charge is reckless driving.

Could this be some sneaky sort of media campaign for Palin’s new book, Going Rogue? You know, send out native Wasillans to do good deeds the week your book launches….

Maybe not, but Beck is the first Alaskan I’ve ever seen in a Northwest Iowa accident report.

Then again, if you’re brave you can try asking Palin yourself when she signs copies of her book Dec. 6 at Barnes & Noble in the Southern Hills Mall. As of now, it’s her only stop in Iowa.

Deputies in Clay County, Iowa, made an important announcement Wednesday about an armed robbery someone reported on Sept. 17 on a rural road.

The announcement was, basically, that the guy made the whole thing up.

We at the Journal originally wrote about the alleged robbery a few days after it happened in September.

The alleged victim, Tommy Lynn Hartfield, gave a good amount of detail about the alleged robbery, police say, including that the man looked “scruffy,” the female robber was quite rotund, and that the couple were riding in a newer-model maroon or red Mitsubishi Eclipse.

It sounded really strange. Not that this can’t happen in Clay County. It could. But you don’t even hear about that sort of thing in a bigger area like Sioux City.

Apparently Clay County deputies were suspicious as well, because the release stated they began conducting “parallel investigations” with one focused on finding the bad guys and the other focused on whether there were any bad guys to find.

On Halloween, Hartfield went to the sheriff’s office to “review his case.” Police say that they, with help from a South Sioux City company, got him to admit he was lying.

The police statement doesn’t say it, but a little nosing around on-line makes me think someone from the South Sioux City company may have administered a polygraph.

And now, the sheriff’s department wants its money back.

According to the statement, if Hartfield is found guilty deputies will ask the court for restitution for the 40 hours they spent working on the case.

Which makes me wonder: How much does a polygraph cost?

NORTH SIOUX CITY — Every once in a while the best part of the story gets away from you.

You get distracted for a few minutes, lose your train of thought and then forget to ask the one question you REALLY want answered.

Sometimes you never get to ask the question, but on days like today you finally get to hear the rest of the story.

In April, North Sioux City authorities hoisted a girl from the base of one of the pilings on the railroad bridge spanning the Big Sioux River. Police said the girl fell while using a homemade tether (it broke) to retrieve a fallen cell phone.

Later, I kicked myself because I forgot to ask if the girl actually got her cell phone. I mean, isn’t that what you wanted to know?

On Friday, North Sioux City Police Sgt. Richard Headid was kind enough to talk about the aftermath while I was interviewing him about his city’s upcoming National Night Out activities.

The original incident left me shaking my head, but it isn’t as good as the rest of the story.

And, no, people did not learn their lesson.

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A 24-year-old Rock Rapids woman left her vehicle running Saturday as she went into a Dollar General store in Rock Rapids. The car jumped the curb and crashed into the store’s front door, according to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.

Heather Rose Wilkerson parked the running vehicle in front of  the Dollar General store at 205 S. Story St. and the vehicle, a 1995 Dodge Intrepid, followed by jumping the curb and striking the front door of the store.

No one was hurt, but the door received about $4,000 in damage and the car had $500 in damage.

Wilkerson was cited for parking without stopping the engine, a simple misdemeanor.

Okay, I know I should have posted this a week ago, but it’s still pretty funny.

Recently, I noticed a Sioux City woman had been indicted for a federal drug conspiracy charge in U.S. District Court in Sioux City.

But there’s a twist or two in this tale.
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Police were summoned to the Brass Rail for an alarm early Tuesday morning, but not because someone was trying to break into the bar.

No, someone was trying to break out.

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The upcoming tour of Historic Homes and Churches in LeMars just got a little more interesting.

Since 1997, the event has highlighted the city’s most interesting architectural features in old homes, businesses and churches. In that respect, this year will be no different.

However, I’m guessing this is probably the first time in 12 years the tour will include the site of a recent drug bust whose owner is accused of dealing drugs.

But I could be wrong.

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If only he hadn’t had such memorable hair.

The police log contains quite a bit of criminal mischief, a charge that covers property damage such as graffiti and vandalism, but it seems like few suspects get caught in the act.

Especially not by a police sergeant.

However, court documents allege Zachary Bainbridge, 17, of Merrill, Iowa, is an unlucky kid with an eye-catching head of hair.

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On Friday, some local officers got to try their hand at herding cats.

Literally.

Sioux City police, a Union County sheriff deputy and an animal control officer responded to a report of a woman driving a car carrying 30 cats.

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