An investigation into recent thefts in western Iowa and Nebraska has resulted in the arrest of a Shelby County man. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says 28-year old Justin Levell, of Irwin, was arrested at his home Wednesday morning and brought to the Shelby County Jail, where he was charged with Theft in the 1st Degree, a Class-C felony punishable by up to 10-years in prison. His bond was set at $10,000.

Officials say Deputies, Wednesday, found Levell in possession of a 2012 35-foot camper trailer, along with a John Deere 4-wheel Gator. The camper trailer had been reported stolen out of Mills County, and was valued at $20,000. The Gator was stolen from Wahoo, NE., and was valued at $15,000.

The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency advises residents and emergency responders, the bridge over Lyons Creek on1700th Street, is set to be closed for an overhaul project, beginning Monday, April 4th. The bridge is located in the 1100 block of 1700th Street, just west of Highway 59.

The road will be closed from April 4th through the end of June, weather permitting.

Officials estimate the cremated remains of as many as 80 deceased veterans are stored in Iowa funeral homes. A bill signed into law by the governor would let a veterans’ organization claim the cremated remains of confirmed veterans who were indigent of homeless when they died. Those veterans will be buried at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery with full military honors.

Iowa Funeral Directors Association president Marty Rieken says he does not have veterans remains in his Oakland funeral home. “But I do know some funeral directors who do and this will give them a chance to give those people a proper burial and everybody deserves a proper burial,” Rieken says.

Giving a veteran full military honors at the burial site is a moving tribute, according to Rieken. “And anybody that’s served our country sure deserves our respect,” Rieken says. “And we should be able to give them a proper burial.”

Under current law, cremated remains may only be claimed by a family members. The new law that goes into effect July 1st lets Iowa funeral directors with unclaimed cremated remains contact the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs six months after they’ve filed the death certificate, to find out if the deceased was a veteran. If he or she was a veteran, the funeral director will keep the cremated remains for another six months, just in case a family member comes forward.

After that, the cremated remains will be released to a veterans organization for transport to the Iowa Veterans Cemetery. Iowa’s new law is similar to laws in other states. In 2007, a national group began an effort to find indigent veterans who had been cremated, but not yet buried. According to the organization’s website, the Missing in America Project has identified the cremated remains of more than three-thousand veterans and interred more than 27-hundred of them.

(Radio Iowa)

A traffic stop on Interstate 80 this (Thursday) morning in Cass County resulted in a Pottawattamie County woman’s arrest on numerous felony drug and other charges. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports 29-year old Melaney Lynn White, of Council Bluffs, was arrested on a charge of OWI 1st Offense in conjunction with Iowa Department of Motor Vehicle Enforcement felony charges filed against White for: Possession with Intent to Deliver/Meth; Possession with Intent to Deliver/ Hydrocodone; Possession with Intent to Deliver/Hydromorphone; and three charges of Failure to Affix Drug Tax Stamp.

White faces additional charges that include: Possession of Controlled Substance 2nd Offense/Psilocybin Mushrooms; Possession of Controlled Substance 2nd Offense/ Lorazepam; and Possession of Controlled Substance 2nd Offense/Clonazepam.

The woman was brought to the Cass County Jail where she remains held on $32,000 bond.

The ballot is set for the June 7^th Primary in Shelby County. Running for seats on the Shelby County Board of Supervisors are incumbents Steve Kenkel and Charlie Parkhurst. Loren Christensen of Elk Horn is also in the running for a seat on the Board. All the Supervisor candidates are Republicans.

Others running for election June 7^th include Republican Neal Gross, for Sheriff, and incumbent Democrat Auditor Marsha Carter. Mark Maxwell, a Republican, is also running for Auditor, in Shelby County.