A meat cooking facility in Shelby County has closed its doors. Superior Meats out of California purchased Jim’s Meat Market in February 2008. Since that time, the plant went from a raw plant to a cooking plant. Owner and operator Hank Mayhue said it was because of the price of raw buffalo going from $1.70 per pound of a-trim to $5.73 per pound. The company renovated the building, purchased equipment and turned it into a cooking plant, distributing hamburgers and meatballs. The product was sold to schools, prisons and retailers. The company was shut down for months and cost millions of dollars to get the company up and running. 

Mayhue said it was their own inability to get the machine working properly that led to the company closing its doors along with the cost of testing the meat extensively. The company at their peak had close to 30 employees. They have paid their vacations and treated their employees’ right. Mayhue says he hopes someday the plant will be successful. Mayhue says they can’t say enough good things about the people of Harlan. He says they are so sad that the money is gone and lost, and they wanted to see people be successful. 

The plant was shut down last Friday, May 11^th. Kohler Company in Lincoln, NE will host an auction for everything in the plant and the 5 acres sometime in the middle of July this year. Superior Meats is hoping someone in the meat industry will purchase the building because it is ready for production right away.

(Joel McCall/KNOD – Harlan)

The Cass County Memorial Hospital’s seven member Board of Trustees this (Wednesday) morning voted to keep the Behavioral Health Unit at the hospital, even though the bids to remodel a portion of the facility for a scaled down version of the BHU came in at a greater than anticipated cost. The Board approved the remodeling project and to retain the BHU by a vote of 4-to 2, with board members Lois Casey, Jerry Putnam, Phyllis Stakey and Ned Brown voting in favor, and Leanne Pellett, John Molgaard voting against.

The plan is to move forward with the remodeling of the special care unit to house a four-bed BHU. It was just last week that the hospital board opened bids for the electrical, mechanical and general construction portions of the project. Hospital officials said while the electrical and mechanical bids came in at around projected costs, the general construction bid was higher than expected, primarily due to certain specifications pertaining to the type of glass used, and other such issues.

Two men from Omaha were arrested Tuesday morning in connection with the theft of copper from Center-Point Irrigation systems in the northwest part of Pottawattamie County. According to Sheriff Jeff Danker, the arrests followed a call early Tuesday morning from a farmer who received an alarm at around 4:40-a.m., from his two CPI units in the vicinity of 145^th and Treasure Lane (about 3-miles south of the Interstate 29/I-680 split). Danker says deputies quickly responded and found a 1994 Dodge Intrepid with Nebraska plates, but no one around the vehicle.

The deputies discovered the Center Pivots had copper stripped-off. After a search of the area revealed no suspects, the vehicle was towed. About 3-hours later, deputies located an individual walking on the railroad train tracks in the same area, at about 145^th and Desoto. Clifford Krings, 38, of Omaha, was brought to the Sheriff’s Office for questioning. A little more than 90-minutes later, 41-year old Scott Mohr, also of Omaha, the owner of the car, was located in the same area as Krings. Danker says a comparison of the mens’ footwear with impressions left in the area where the thefts occurred were similar. Both men were arrested on charges of Theft in the 2^nd Degree and Criminal Mischief in the 2^nd Degree.

Krings was being held this (Wednesday) morning in the Pott. County Jail on $5,300 bond, while Mohr was later released on a $5,000 bond. The Sheriff says the theft of copper from the Center Point irrigation system is just the latest in a string of such occurrences in the area devastated by last year’s flooding. He says there are no residences nearby, and the remote location makes it an easy target for thieves looking to steal copper wiring any chance they get. Danker said it costs about $5,000 to replace the wiring in just one of the CPI units, which is why the farmer who called them had an alarm system installed.

Two men from the western part of the country were arrested over the weekend on drug charges, in Pottawattamie County. Sheriff Jeff Danker said the driver of a 2012 Kia Optima, 40-year old Greg Lisheski, of Ventura, CA, and his passenger, 38-year old Michael Christy, of Hayden Lake, ID, were arrested following a traffic stop last Saturday morning.

Danker says Deputy Brian Miller stopped the eastbound rental car on I-80 at around 11:35-a.m., for excessive speed. Conversations the deputy held with Lisheski and Christy led Miller to suspect the men were transporting drugs. He requested permission to search their vehicle, but was denied. Miller and his K-9 partner “Francisco” then conducted a free-air search around the car, during which the dog alerted to the presence of narcotics in the trunk.

A search of the trunk resulted in the recovery of 18-pounds of packaged marijuana. Both men were taken into custody and brought to the Pott. County Jail on Possession of Marijuana with the Intent to Deliver, Prohibited Acts and Tax Stamp Violation, charges.

Lisheski and Christy posted $5,000 bond each, and were released from custody.