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.

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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More information was released today about what drugs the late Anna Nicole Smith was on, how she got them and who gave them to her.

The Associated Press has an interesting article on the wire today, which tells more about the nuts and bolts of the investigation into her death — it was on Tribal land — and information on the massive quantity of pills she had access to.

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I always wondered how Anna Nicole Smith got her drugs. Now, the police think they arrested the three men responsible.

And yes, one of the is Howard K. Stern.

Now, if Larry Birkhead — the father of the woman’s surviving child — would stop auctioning the kid’s memories to the highest bidder and throwing the girl in front of every camera he sees, the child just might have a shot at a happier life than her ill-fated mother.

If you haven’t checked out the Journal’s live blog of jury selection in the murder trial for Lawrence Douglas Harris of Sioux City, you are missing out.

It’s addictive.

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People just won’t stop stealing Budweiser from Kum & Go gas stations. It makes no sense.

According to the Sioux City Police log, two different Kum & Go stores were hit by beer thieves this weekend.

– At 12:38 a.m. Sunday, four men took an 18-pack of Budweiser beer from Kum & Go, 2930 Gordon Dr. One man was wearing a yellow hooded-sweatshirt.

– A second beer theft was reported at 2:32 that morning, when a man stole two cases of beer from the Kum & Go at 1373 Pierce St. (Doesn’t say what kind of beer it was that time.)

At least this weekend’s beer bandits aren’t accused of attacking the store clerks, like three people earlier this year.

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Law enforcement officials have been trying for a few years now to stop people who make meth with anhydrous ammonia stolen from farm and business tanks, doing anything from putting heavy-duty locks on the tanks to putting a colorless additive in the ammonia that makes it unusable for meth production.  It’s helping quell the problem a bit, at least.

Plymouth County just joined a long list of counties giving out free locks to tank owners to keep those pesky thieves out.  Check out this quote from a lock manufacturer representative that closed out a recent Le Mars Sentinel article on the subject.

“In Pottawattamie County they had locks on all their tanks, but they were losing anhydrous every night,” said David Christianson of Humboldt, Iowa, company Tanks-A-Lock. “It turned out the son of the owner was renting the key out each night, $500 a shot. Don’t hang the key up on the wall.”

Good advice, man.  But that sounds like a lot of money to rake in…