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.

Burglary charges have been dropped against two men who were arrested with black permanent marker scribbled all over their faces, but one of the men still faces accusations of drunk driving.

According to court documents, Matthew McNelly, 23, and Joey Miller, 20, were “wearing” the clever disguises when they were arrested Oct. 23 for allegedly trying to break into an apartment.

Carroll police booked both men for felony second-degree burglary, also charging McNelly with drunk driving, and took the mug shots that made headlines around the world.

The men were scheduled to be arraigned Friday, but the burglary charges were dismissed last week.

According to court documents, McNelly still faces a single misdemeanor charge of operating while intoxicated – first offense.

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?

For years, volunteers have placed approximately 3,000 American flags at the graves of veterans in Mount Hope, Port Huron Allied Veterans and Lakeside cemeteries in Port Huron, Mich.

For the first time anyone can remember (and I once talked to a woman who’d been placing flags for 75 years), someone — or something — was stealing those flags from graves in a section of the Mount Hope Cemetery.

Ruthlessly ripping them right off the pole.

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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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This weekend, Sioux City police investigating a hit-and-run traffic accident discovered they had more than just a bad driver on their hands.

They had Andrew Carlos Orellana, a man accused first-degree murder for allegedly gunning down a South Sioux City teen in a gang-related shooting in 1997.

After 12 years evading police, it was truly a minor accident that got Orellana caught.

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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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People have the craziest things in their cars.

According to court documents, officers made an interesting discovery when they conducted a traffic stop March 26 on a vehicle that had a cracked windshield.

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A Sioux City woman was sentenced to probation after stealing $1,700 while she was dealing cards at Argosy Casino on the Missouri River.

The theft involved casino chips and $100 bills.

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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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