Stories from Thursday, December 12, 2013

Ruth Pingrey of Sac City, 93, passed away Saturday, December 7, 2013 at her home. Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m., Friday, December 13, 2013 at the United Methodist Church in Sac City, and visitation will be held from 6 -8 p.m. today at the Farber and Otteman Funeral Home in Sac City...

Brrrr.... It's December. That's what the calendar says and it looks like it outside. It's a busy month so if you need a break, head down to the library. It's decorated for the holidays and has lots of nooks and crannies to hide away in for some quiet time. Here's what's going on as we head towards the new year...

We stand and applaud all the hearty, creative souls who participated in Cherokee's "Wonderful World of Christmas Parade" last week in beautiful downtown Cherokee. With freezing temperatures hovering near the single digits and a brisk north wind, the annual Parade still attracted 35 beautiful lighted floats and/or vehicles (and some colorful participants!), along with hundreds of appreciative onlookers to Downtown Cherokee's designated Entertainment & Cultural District...

ALTA - Terri Zimmerman, the Athletic Director at Alta-Aurelia High School, has been selected as the Nortwest District High School Athletic Director of the Year by the Iowa High School Athletic Directors' Association. Zimmerman has been a physical education teacher with the Alta and Alta-Aurelia School Districts for the past 30 years and has served as the athletic director for eight years...

WHITING - The Ridge View girls were victorious over their conterparts from Whiting, 51-36, in Western Valley Conference basketball action here last week. The victorious Raptors were paced by Lexi Johnson, with 14 points, and Jadyn Mohr, who scored 12. Emily Egger and Emily Brosamle each scored seven. Rachel Boyle paced the Raptor rebounders with eight, and Mohr grabbed seven. Johnson totaled seven steals to lead that category...

HOLSTEIN - The Ridge View girls hosted West Monona in Western Valley Conference basketball action on Tuesday and the Raptors came away with a 45-20 win, leading the game from start to finish. Lexi Johnson and Anna Davis shared leading scorer honors for Ridge View, with each scoring 12 points. Coach Tyler Phelan said the senior Davis has been getting better at attacking the hoop which is going to lead to easier buckets for her as the season continues."...

LeMARS - The Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn girls hung on through a high-scoring first quarter against LeMars Gehlen here on Friday, trailing the Lady Jays, 23-22, when that quarter ended. Gehlen out-scored MMC 12-3 in the second quarter, though, and continued to add to their lead, finishing with a 64-43 win over the Lady Eagles...

LE MARS - The Le Mars Gehlen Catholic boys broke open a close game in the 3rd quarter against Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn here on Friday on their way to a 91-56 win over the Eagles. Dylan Spieler led the MMC attack with 17 points and 16 rebounds, while Reece Jackson chipped in with 14 points. Ben Specht and Isaiah Petersen tallied six rebounds apiece...

ALTA - The Alta-Aurelia boys basketball team pulled out a hard-fought 54-53 win here on Friday over Hull Trinity Christian in a non-conference game. Ross Friedrich led the Warriors in scoring with 15 points, and he also had three rebounds and dished out three assists. Jayden VanBerkum was also in double figures, accounting for 10 points, while Zach Sliferet just missed, scoring nine points for Alta-Aurelia. Greg Gritters had 24 points for Trinity Christian...

ALTA - The Alta-Aurelia boys won their third straight game here on Tuesday with a 51-46 win over Sioux Central. Ross Friedrich had an outstanding game in leading the Warriors' offensive attack, scoring 26 points, including seven three-pointers, while also grabbing eight rebounds, dishing out three assists and having a couple of steals on the defensive end. Zach Sliefert added a dozen points for the Warriors...

ALTA - Sioux Central took the lead early and held it throughout the game as they defeated Alta-Aurelia, 58-35, in Twn Lakes Conference girls' basketball action here on Tuesday. Micah Barnes paced the Warriors scoring with 10 points, while fellow soph DJ Flores chipped in with eight points for Alta-Aurelia, which shot only 22% from the field...

ALTA - The Alta-Aurelia girls' basketball team won its first game of the season here on Friday, when they topped Trinity Christian by a 52-48 score. Sophomores Izzy Hinkeldey and Micah Barnes led the Warriors with 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Christena Hescke added eight points, Jenna Snyder seven, and Camryn Mork and DJ Flores six each for a well-balanced Warrior offense...

MANSON - The Alta-Aurelia Warriors and Ridge View Raptors were among the ten teams who competed in the annual Doug Wood Invitational Wretling Tournament here on Saturday, and both area teams finished in the Top Five, with Alta-Aurelia placing 3rd, edging out Ridge View...

1. Newell-Fonda; 2. Burlington-Notre Dame; 3. Colo-Nesco; 4. Lynnville-Sully; 5. Janesville; 6. Ar-We-Va; 7. Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton; 8. Central Lyon; 9. Murray; 10. Stanton 1. Hull Western Christian; 2. Iowa City Regina; 3. Manson-NW Webster;...

Josh and Katrina Harman of Cherokee are happy to announce the birth of their baby girl, born on December 6, 2013. Kianna Rose Harman was born at 7:09 a.m., weighed 6 lb. 12 oz., measured 18 1/2 inches long, and she was welcomed home by her big brothers, Trey and Jordan. Grandparents are Jim and Betty Harman and Mike and Tammy Brown...

Jamee Hunt and Ben Dittmer of Ida Grove are happy to announce the birth of their baby girl on December 6, 2013. Jaylynn Kay Dittmer was born at 8:59 a.m., weighed 8 lb. 11 oz. and measured 22 inches long. She was welcomed home by her big brother, Devin. Grandparents are Mark and Teresa Hunt of Holstein, Vince Dittmer of Quimby and the late Lynn Dittmer...

Adam Struck and Kelsey Bauer of Holstein are happy to announce the birth of their baby girl on December 5, 2013. Presley Jade Struck was born at 1:25 p.m., weighed 6 lb. 6 oz., and measured 19 inches long. She was welcomed home by her brothers, Jackson and Noah Struck, and her sister, Avery Lundt...

ALTA - The Alta and Aurelia School Boards met here on Monday for their monthly meeting. In this month's spotlight, pre-school teachers told the boards about special "hands-on" projects in which their students have been participating this fall. One of the class projects is learning about trees, and the other project concerns gardening and seed food...

Friday's Cherokee Chamber Coffee at 9:30 a.m. will be hosted by KCHE radio, 201 S. 5th St., and it will include an 'Ugly Sweater Contest' with prizes awarded to the people who wear the ugliest sweater.

The Iowa Department of Revenue announces implementation of the new Business Property Tax Credit, which is one of the components of the largest tax cut in Iowa history signed into law by Governor Brandstad on June 12, 2013. The 2013 Iowa Acts Senate File 295 provides a Business Property Tax Credit for certain commercial, industrial, and railroad properties. ...

Slips, trips, and falls are in the back of most minds this time of year due to the icy conditions that comes with the terrible winter weather. For mail carriers, newspaper-carriers and delivery persons, this time of year can result in serious injury as a result from suffering a fall. This is a good time to remind residents of Cherokee to why it's important to keep sidewalks clean and clear of snow and ice...

With the renewable energy industry barely into its infancy in the 1970s, Ken Hach started to envision a wide-spread use for wind and solar energy to generate electric power on a small scale. However, utility scale wind farms were far in the distant future...

Last week the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corporation presented Nichols Smokn' Barbecue of Aurelia with a check for $3,000. This was a forgivable loan from the CAEDC for new businesses, based on employment for creating jobs for small businesses promotion. ...

MARCUS - The Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn girls used a big third quarter to overcome Remsen-Union, 72-56, in basketball action here on Tuesday, but the Eagle boys came up short in their contest, dropping a close one to R-U by a score of 57-53. In the opener, Sarah Dreckman scored 20 points to lead MMC, but three of her teammates also scored in double figures - Brooklyn Treinen and Ashley Hurd, who each scored 14 points, and Alison Meehan, who chipped in with 10...