This past week the Iowa State Sheriff’s & Deputies Association held the annual winter banquet in Des Moines at the Airport Holiday Inn. The Winter school of instruction is a 3-day training seminar with many vendors and local law enforcement officials from all 99 counties. 2019 is the second year the “Best of the Best” jail award has been presented. To be considered for the award, several things are taken into consideration. They include but not limited to cleanliness, maintenance, management, major improvements, overall operations of the jail, staff professionalism. The jails in Iowa meet or exceed the minimum standards as set forth by Iowa Code and Iowa Administrative Code.

Pictured: Jail Administrator Kyle Lindberg, Chief Jail Inspector Delbert Longley, Sergeant Cody Eckles (Shelby County S/O Facebook photo)

It was noted several jails have gone above and beyond the minimum requirements to be in contention for the award. A total of six jails in three categories, small-medium-large,were recognized for outstanding achievements this past year. The 2019 winners include”

Small Jail: Chickasaw County & Shelby County
Medium Jail : Benton County & Buena Vista County
Large Jail: Linn County & Scott County

Kyle Lindberg, Shelby County Jail Administrator, said “It’s a great honor to win this award again in 2019, and to be able to say we have won it two years in a row shows just how dedicated we are to our facility. We are very fortunate to have the “best of the best” talented and motivated staff here in Shelby County.” Lindberg said “This is and can be a difficult job at times, and we have the right people in the right places. Maintaining a correctional facility is just not from the administrative standpoint, there are so many valuable moving parts from the front-line officers, to the administrative assistants, dispatch personnel and the Sergeants whom assist myself with calls. Our staff always works hard and performs with operational excellence every day in the dedication they give to our jail facility. The support from Sheriff Neil Gross, as well as the predecessors before {Lindberg] who have set the quality standards that we continue to grow on and deliver daily within our operation.”

Back Row: Officer Andrew Bierl, Officer Walker Wilson, Officer Cody Hansen
Front Row: Traning Officer Nancy Pigsley, Officer Mikayla Blum, Officer Jade Daeges

He said also, “I’m able to work closely with the board of supervisors, and other members of the community to provide and keep a facility with current and state-of-the-art technology equipment and maintaining the structure of our facility to surpass our yearly inspections. Our jail was built in 1984 at its current location and is 14 bed facility. We on average process 550-600 Inmates in a year and maintain 24-hour coverage from state certified staff.”

Two people were transported by Glenwood Rescue to Mercy Hospital, following a collision at around 6-p.m. Thursday. The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports a 2016 Ram truck driven by 37-year old Michael Morelli, of Ruffin, NC., was traveling west on Highway 34 near Hillman Road. As he approached the crest of a hill, Morelli saw a Subaru in the roadway. Morelli tried to stop, but was unable to do so. His pickup hit the Subaru on its passenger side. Following the crash, the Subaru, driven by 56-year old Becky Decker, of Glenwood, came to rest in the north ditch. Decker was cited for Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device.

The Sheriff’s office reports also, 54-year old Thomas Lee Chalupa, of Omaha, was arrested at the Mills County Jail, Thursday, for Criminal Mischief. His bond was set at $1,000.

(Sioux City, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City man has been given 25 years in prison for trying to kill a police informant. The Sioux City Journal reports that Isaac McDonald was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City. He’d pleaded guilty to conspiracy to tamper with a witness by attempting to kill a person and guilty to other crimes. Authorities say McDonald shot John Mercure in the head on Aug. 1 as he passed the car Mercure was driving in Sioux City. Mercure, who was believed to be speaking to police about drug trafficking and firearms, survived after crashing his car into a tree.

(Update 10″10-a.m.) The Iowa Department of Transportations website 511ia.org, reports some roads in and around Cass County are partially covered with ice, and bridges are icy. The roads include

• Highway 71 north of Highway 34, to Highway 141 (South of Templeton)
• Highway 6, from I-80 west to Highway 48 (To Griswold)
• Highway 48 from Highway 6, south to Red Oak.
• Highway 92 from Cumberland, west to Griswold.
• I-80 between Stuart and the Olive Street exit to Atlantic.
• Highway 173 from Highway 6 north, to Kimballton.

Numerous accidents have been reported in the Council Bluffs/Omaha metro area this morning, resulting in travel delays on parts of I-29.

(Radio Iowa) — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was in southwest Iowa on Thursday afternoon to announce more than six-point-four million dollars in grants and loans to expand broadband service in rural Iowa. Stanton-based Farmers Mutual Telephone Company has a goal of 100-percent fiber optic coverage for Montgomery County. Perdue says F-M-T-C, coupled with funding allocated by Congress, is a partnership designed to benefit regional communications. “It makes a big difference in today’s world whether you’re connected or not,” Perdue says. “You know that and we know that. We’ve talked about some of the benefits — telemedicine, e-commerce, connecting to the world way out there, being able to provide and design things that can be sold across the world through the beauty of e-commerce.”

Through the U-S-D-A’s ReConnect program, F-M-T-C plans to expand broadband services through 214 square miles in Montgomery County and surrounding areas, serving 11-hundred customers. Perdue says high-speed internet is also a must for long-distance learning. “Why should kids in rural areas have to drive into somewhere in town into a parking lot to do their homework today?” he said. “Anybody use Google in here? You can’t do that without connectivity, right? And, you know how important that is.” Perdue says rural broadband expansion is necessary in order for small communities to survive.

“It literally is not a luxury any longer, but a necessity,” Perdue says, “if communities want to grow and to thrive and to have economic development.” Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds joined Perdue in Stanton. Reynolds praised F-M-T-C for the company’s “innovative, can-do attitude” in connecting the region. The governor says positioning Iowa to lead in the “information economy” is one of her administration’s goals. “From being able to connect our students in the classrooms to cutting edge careers,” Reynolds says, “to farmers checking crop conditions and precision farming, to small businesses processing credit card payments, to being able to sell our products abroad, connectivity is the expectation, no matter where you live.”

FMTC’s general manager and CEO Kevin Cabbage says expanding broadband to territory beyond its existing coverage area involves laying 185 miles of fiber optic cable. Federal regulations require the company to have the project completed in five years, though Cabbage boasts it’ll be done in two. The money awarded the company was part of Round 1 of the ReConnect funding process, made possible through $600 million awarded to the USDA by Congress in 2018. Cabbage says his company will apply for additional dollars in Round 2, which runs January 31st through March 16th.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman wanted on a Probation Violation warrant, has turned herself-in. 48-year old Keri Ann Harris appeared at the Pott. County Courthouse. After being taken into custody, Harris was transported to the Pottawattamie County Jail.