Stories from Wednesday, February 6, 2013

A snowstorm hit Des Moines and points east on Wednesday morning, and the six inches of snow and high winds made traveling difficult -- especially in the rural areas. Although some lawmakers were a little late, the House gaveled in at 8:30 a.m. and committees met at their scheduled times. ...

This past week I tried to pass an amendment in the Iowa Senate that would return excess collected tax dollars back to Iowa citizens. Two years ago, when Gov. Branstad took over this state, we were facing the largest spending gap in the history of Iowa. ...

Beulah Mildred Crocker, daughter of Jess and Ida (Sother) Williams, was born February 16, 1920 in Nemaha, Iowa. As a child she moved with her family to Aurelia where she attended school and graduated from high school in 1938. After completing her education, Beulah moved to Cherokee where she had a variety of jobs, including office work at the Cherokee Clinic and admitting office work at the Sioux Valley Hospital. She thoroughly enjoyed her work in the healthcare field, retiring in 1991...

Lois C. Johnson Lois C. Johnson, 80, of Cleghorn, passed away Saturday morning, February 2, 2013, surrounded by her family at her daughter's home in Milford. Memorial services were held on Tuesday, February 5th, at 11 a.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee. ...

Owen Walter Hiniker, age 88, of Cherokee, passed away Friday, February 1, 2013, at the Cherokee Villa in Cherokee. Funeral services were held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 5, 2013, at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Cherokee. Father Dan Guenther officiated. ...

Several area wrestlers placed either first or second in Saturday's Sectional Tournament action to qualify for their respective Disticts this Saturday. In Class 1A, Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn qualified six grapplers to Districts after competing in the Rock Rapids Sectional, and Ridge View featured four wrestlers qualifying for Districts after competing in the Manson NW Webster Sectional...

NEWELL - The Alta-Aurelia boys dropped a Twin Lakes Conference basketball contest, 61-44, to host Newell-Fonda on Friday, as they missed a lot of shots against a tough, physical Mustang team. No Warriors scored in double figures, as Zach Sliefert led the team in scoring with nine points and Jason Van Berkum and Titus Letzring each scored seven. Letzring was in double figures in rebounding, though, as he grabbed 12 rebounds. Mitchel McDonald had 11 boards, and Letzring also blocked two shots...

NEWELL - The Alta-Aurelia girls had the unenviable task Friday of facing the state's top- ranked (Class 1A) team - on that team's home court, no less, and the end results were fairly predictable. Though the Warriors tried their best, #1-ranked Newell-Fonda stormed to an early lead, holding a 25-2 lead at the end of the first quarter, and extending that lead to 53-6 at the half. ...

REMSEN - The Alta-Aurelia girls bounced back from a Friday trouncing at the hands of #1-ranked Newell-Fonda to play a good game against Remsen St. Mary's. In a game that was close all the way. The Hawks edged the Warriors, 65-59, but they needed an extra period to accomplish the feat...

LeMARS - The Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn boys traveled to LeMars to take on Gehlen Catholic (15-3) in War Eagle Conference basketball Friday, and though the Eagles fell to the Jays. 67-45, MMC coach Mark Fisher saw some positives in the Eagles' performance...

LE MARS - A poor 3rd quarter cost the Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn girls as they dropped a 51-44 War Eagle Conference game to host Gehlen Catholic here on Friday. The game was pretty even throughout and was tied at the half, 22-22, but Gehlen outscored MMC by 11 points in the 3rd quarter, and that was the difference. ...

The River Valley Wolverines boys' basketball team got two big wins last week. The first game was an away game played on Thursday, January 24th, against Kingsley-Pierson. The boys were up at half 33-27, and won the game 60-52. It was the fifth win of the season for the Wolverines...

The Cherokee Community Schools will be holding Kindergarten Round-Up on Feb. 28 and March 1. All children who will be five years old by Sept. 15, 2013 are eligible to attend. There will be two session each day. You may register your child for either a morning time, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., or an afternoon time, 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m...

SHELDON - At its annual Northwest Iowa Community College partners meeting in Sheldon on January 23, 2012, Northwest Iowa Economic Development heard an update from Rock Island Clean Line officials regarding their proposed wind energy transmission line project slated to begin in O'Brien County and impact several area counties, including Cherokee...

The Cherokee Sanford Museum Association will present "George Drouillard: Hunter, Interpreter, and Sign Talker for Lewis and Clark" with Darrel Draper on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. This program is sponsored by Humanities Iowa. Drouillard, half French and half Shawnee Indian, was the most valuable member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. ...

First Cooperative Association and Purina Animal Nutrition LLC will be sponsoring Pork Quality Assurance PLUS (PQA PLUS) and Transport Quality Assurance (TQA) Certification training sessions on Feb. 20 at the FCA Corporate Office in Cherokee. The PQA PLUS training session will start at 12:45 p.m. sharp to 2:45 p.m. The TQA session will start at 3 p.m. to approximately 5 p.m...

Beginning on Feb. 8-10 and again on Feb. 14-16, the Cherokee Community Theater will present "Doubt: A Parable" at the Cherokee Community Center. This Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award play by John Patrick Shanley is under the direction of Andy Lynn, who also portrays Father Flynn, along with Jacquelyn Courtright, who portrays Sister Aloysius...