The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports just two arrests took place over the past week. On Sept. 9th, 47-year old Bobby Glen Agan, of Stuart, was arrested by Stuart Police, on a Cass County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault/display or use of a weapon – 1st offense, and Assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. Agan was turned over to Cass County Deputies. He was released from custody on Sept. 12th.

And, 42-year old Brandy Dawn Johnson, of Perry, was arrested Sept. 9th, for Driving While License Denied or Revoked (OWI related), and OWI/3rd offense. She was taken into custody by the Iowa State Patrol, following an investigation into an accident on Interstate 80 near mile marker 88, a little before 5-p.m. Sept. 9th.

The Trooper found a Chevy Suburban hung-up on the north side guard rail and partially in the ditch. Motorists advised the Trooper that the female driver of the vehicle had walked away in the north ditch. She was located and identified as Brandy Johnson. Johnson failed the Standard Field Sobriety and Preliminary Breath Tests, during which she tested out at a .223 Breath Alcohol Contact (BAC) (nearly 3 times the legal limit). At the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, Johnson blew a BAC of .179 (slightly more than twice the legal limit).

Johnson was released from custody the following evening.

Nearly 77 years after leaving for a patrol in present-day Papua New Guinea during WWII, Pvt. Laurel W. Ebert is returning home to Iowa. Ebert, a 27-year-old Blairstown, Iowa native serving with Company I, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, was last seen Nov. 26, 1942 when he and a team of eight other U.S. Soldiers went on a patrol to find and silence an enemy machine gun position in the Cape Killerton area of the Australian Territory of Papua. Ebert and five others failed to return from the mission and were listed Missing in Action (MIA).

Laurel Ebert Photo

In January 1943, the remains of an unidentified American Soldier were interred at the U.S. Temporary Cemetery Sanananda #3. The remains, later designated X-3127, were moved to U.S. Armed Forces Cemetery Finschhafen #2 in 1945, then to the Central Identification Point at the Manila Mausoleum in the Philippines in 1947. Unable to be identified, X-3127 was interred at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Due to new historical investigations and new technology that could link an identification to Unknown X-3127, the remains were disinterred in May 2017 by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Dental and anthropological analysis, as well as mitochondrial DNA analysis, were used in the identification of Ebert’s remains in 2019.

Ebert’s military awards and honors include Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one Bronze Service Star, World War II Victory Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Infantryman Badge, and Honorable Service Lapel Button-World War II.

A graveside service will be held at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery, 21st Ave., Blairstown, Iowa on Friday, Sept. 20 at approximately 10:45 a.m., with full military honors provided by the Iowa National Guard. The public is welcome to attend the memorial service.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady has removed himself from considering a lawsuit challenging a new law that shortens his term as chief justice and gives the governor more power over the commission that selects supreme court and appeals court judges.

In an order signed Friday, Cady says the new law challenged in the lawsuit reduces his eight-year term as chief justice by three years, forcing him to step down as chief in 2021 and cutting his pay by about $8,000 a year.

He says a reasonable person could conclude he has a personal interest in the outcome and the case must be resolved in a way that ensures public trust in the courts.

The law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May was challenged by several Democratic lawmakers and a member of the judicial nominating commission. A judge appointed by Reynolds dismissed it in June, saying the legislators don’t have standing to sue. The Supreme Court must decide whether to uphold that decision or allow the case to proceed.

The other six justices on the court declined to recuse themselves.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities suspect that two cybersecurity workers charged with breaking into an Iowa courthouse were also responsible for a late-night entry into the courthouse in Des Moines.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that based on surveillance footage, investigators believe 43-year-old Gary Demercurio, of Seattle, and 29-year-old Justin Wynn, of Naples, Florida, entered the Polk County Courthouse the night of Sept. 9. The men were charged with burglary after being found early on Sept. 11 in the Dallas County Courthouse, about 25 miles west in Adel.

The men told Dallas County deputies they worked for the cybersecurity firm Coalfire and had been hired to test the courthouse alarm system. The state court administration acknowledged hiring the firm but only to test the security of electronic access to court records.

Polk County investigators say a small electronic device baring the Coalfire logo was found in the Polk County Courthouse. No charges have been filed in Polk County.

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. (AP) — A 43-year-old St. Joseph man could face up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in a Lake of the Ozarks boating accident that killed a man.

Cletus Barsch pleaded guilty on Sept. 10 to one count of boating while intoxicated resulting in a homicide and two counts of boating while intoxicated resulting in serious physical injury. Sentencing will be March 11.

The accident happened during the 2018 Memorial Day weekend. Authorities said Barsch was driving a boat that struck another boat. A passenger in the second boat, 20-year-old Alec Potthoff, of Van Meter, Iowa, suffered a serious head injury and died in August 2018 at a care facility in Des Moines, Iowa.

Barsch’s 14-year-old daughter and two other passengers on the second boat suffered minor injuries.