The Greene County supervisors had a light agenda for their May 18 meeting. The only agenda items were resolutions to hire Sandy Groves as a fulltime dispatcher for the Greene County sheriff’s office and Michael Glover as a part-time EMT for Greene County Ambulance. Both hires were approved.
During the Reports portion of the meeting, county attorney Thomas Laehn praised both the sheriff’s office and the Jefferson police department for their work investigating the murder of Richard Thompson in Greenbrier Township last June. Christene Thompson was charged with murder in the first degree and found guilty at a jury trial last month. Sentencing is set for June 5.
Laehn reminded the supervisors that his office prosecuted the case without assistance from the state attorney general’s office. “There’s not a county in the state our size that would have done that,” he said, and thanked his office staff, assistant county attorney Laura Snider, and law enforcement for their help.
“Our sheriff’s office does a fantastic job. We were only successful in the courtroom because they did such a great job with the investigation. The sheriff’s office is just as good if not better than the DCI, the state version of the FBI.”
He continued that his office never has chain of custody issues and that his office doesn’t lose cases on technicalities. “That’s in part because of the sheriff’s office,” he said, and added that in the Thompson case, a Jefferson police officer was first on the scene. “He handled the situation incredibly professionally and was a key witness at trial. Both the sheriff’s office and the PD deserve to be commended.”
Laehn told the supervisors Nolan Wilson, whose murder trial was set to begin May 13, pleaded guilty to child endangerment resulting in death the day of the trial. Wilson’s sentencing is set for June 30. The crime carries a 50 year prison sentence.
“There are no winners in any of these cases. Guilty verdicts or convictions don’t change the history, don’t change what happened. There’s still a loss all around,” Laehn said.
County zoning officer reported that Summit Carbon Solutions has submitted a new plan for a carbon capture pipeline that would go through Wyoming rather than North Dakota. He said he didn’t think it changed much for plans in Greene County.
Laehn agreed, saying a portion of the proposed route would be eliminated but it would have no effect on Greene County. “The legislature did nothing, despite the fact that 78 percent of Iowans are opposed to this project. They did nothing legislatively to limit the use of eminent domain. It shows who they’re working for, as far as I’m concerned, and it’s not us.”
Sheriff Jack Williams reported construction on the new jail is still set to be completed at the end of July. DCI training will begin in early August.
Laehn also updated the supervisors on the status of using eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines. There had been hope at the beginning of the legislative session County engineer Wade Weiss reported that crushing the existing asphalt on County Road E-26, “the Dana pavement,” is close to being complete. The sub base was to be put in during the week and he anticipated paving the second week in June. Work on County Road P-46 will follow.
