Stories from Friday, March 28, 2014

FORT DODGE - The annual Twin Lakes Conference Art Day was held at Iowa Central Community College on Tuesday, and every conference school with an art program had at least one award winner. Alta-Aurelia's Paige Sivinski won the top award of "Best Artwork of Show" for the second year in a row. Paige won the award for her drawing entitled "Adicus" last year, and this year she won for her drawing entitled "Curious."...

Cherokee Area Economic Development Corporation's 19th Annual Cherokee County Recognition Banquet is this Saturday, March 29, at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Cherokee. There will be a Social Hour beginning at 5:30 p.m. with a Buffet Dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the Awards and Presentations at 7 p.m...

Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn's Dylan Spieler and South O'Brien's Bret Puhrmann, both seniors, were among the players recently selected for the War Eagle Conference All-Conference boys basketball team. Both players were unanimous first-team choices, as were Remsen Union's Tanner Hillebrands, Unity Christian's Connor Hoekstra, Trinity Christian's Greg Gritters,Gehlen Catholic's Colton Kniep and Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn's Blake Simons. ...

South O'Brien senior Rachel Struve was a unanimous selection to the War Eagle Conference first team All Conference girls' basketball team recently announced. Struve joined fellow seniors Lauren Hedlund of Hinton and Hannah Sitzmann of Gehlen Catholic as unanimous selections, along with junior Kassidy De Jong and sophomore Chandra Zomermaand, both of Unity Christian. ...

Cherokee Washington High School students will be participating in a College Fair on Wednesday April 2 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Western Iowa Tech Community College Conference Center, but the event is open to the public as well, and all are welcome to come out and visit with 30 colleges and representatives of the Armed Forces...

MARCUS -- Marcus Lumber is excited to announce the winner of its first ever "Ugly Bathroom Contest." Kristen Matgen of Remsen finally has a reason to be thankful for her Ugly bathroom, as she was crowned winner of the fun-filled contest on March 17th...

The Cherokee Music Boosters will be hosting their 18th annual "Tastes and Sounds" event on Monday, April 7, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Cherokee Western Iowa Tech Community College Conference Center. This is a fundraiser for the Cherokee Washington High School and Cherokee Middle School vocal and band programs...

Christensen Bros.Construction has announced its tentative work schedule for the replacement of the bridge located on River Road immediately adjacent to Cherokee County Conservation offices and High Country Salvage. Clearing and grubbing work is underway, with the date of bridge closing now delayed a couple of weeks and tentatively set for mid-April. The road will remain closed until project completion - which is estimated to be early July with the announced delay...

The Cherokee County Conservation Board recently finished building a larger cabin in the new addition of Martin's Access and they want everyone to come see it. An open house is scheuled from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 12. Seated next to the three smaller cabins, this new, larger cabin is far from roughing it. This two-story building features three bedrooms, six queen-size beds, bathroom with a shower, full kitchen, kitchen island, heating/cooling, and a sitting area...

All residents of the City of Cherokee are advised to look in Tuesday's Area Advertiser for the City of Cherokee Newsletter.

March 27 Lexi Henson of Cherokee March 28 Denny DeYoung of Quimby

ALTA - At a special meeting here Monday, the Aurelia and Alta school board members heard a proposal for a change in the duties of the Elementary and Middle School administrators. The proposed changes came from a Board committee and were the result of the impending retirement of Middle School Principal Ann Sandine at the end of the current school year. ...

At Tuesday's meeting of the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors, the Board received and reviewed bids from four contractors for bridge replacement projects L-150-73-18 and L-183-73-18. Bids were received from Christensen Brothers of Cherokee, Dixon Construction of Correctionville, Nelson & Rock Contracting of Onawa, and Gregg Construction of Sibley...

Brett and Allisa Friedrichsen of Holstein are happy to announce the birth of their baby boy, born on March 13, 2014. Lane Brian Friedrichsen was born at 5:30 p.m., and he weighed 7 lb. 6 oz. and measured 21 inches long. Lane was welcomed home by his big sister, Carli, and his big brother, Henry...

Chad and Katie Kline of Correctionville are pleased to announce the birth of their little girl, born at 5:08 p.m. on March 10, 2014. Ezabella Ann Kline weighed 6 lb. 1 oz, measured 20 inches long, and she was welcomed home by her two brothers, Dallas and Calvin, and her two sisters, Brooklyn and Alexandra. Grandparents are Lonnie and Lori Lawman of Livermore, Dave and Michelle Kline of Correctionville and Arthur Kellogg of Marcus...

Saundra Barrow of Cherokee is happy to announce the birth of a baby boy, born on March 11, 2014. Trenton Dominiq Barrow was born at 5:38 p.m., weighed 8 lb. 4 oz. and measured 21 1/2 inches long. He was welcomed home by his big brother, Treyshaun, and his big sister, Sonrie. Grandparents are Debra Yeary of Ponca City, Oklahoma and Floyd and Sandra Ailey of Nardin, Oklahoma...

Sydney Morton and Derek Dunn, both of Cherokee, happily announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Sydney,the daughter of Frank and Jan Morton,is a 2009 graduate of Washington High School and a 2012 graduate of Creighton University, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology. ...

Dr. Autumn Bartel and Dr. Bradley Shobe were united in marriage December 14, 2013, at The Cathedral Basilica in St. Augustine, Florida. The parents of the bride are Dale and Linda Bartel of Cherokee, and the parents of the groom are Mark and Deborah Shobe of Birmingham, Michigan and Beth Shobe of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan...

Dawn Henke and Mike Sonksen, both of North Mankato, Minnesota, are happy to announce their engagement and upcoming marriage. Dawn is the daughter of Robert and Carolyn Henke of Cleghorn and is a graduate of Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn High School. She is currently employed by Limited Brands and works as a manager at Victoria's Secret...

Regan Henkel, the daughter of Kendall and Sharon Henkel of Aurelia, and Michael Greene, son of Kevin and Dawn Greene of Cherokee, announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Regan is a 2011 graduate of Aurelia High School and a 2013 graduate of Des Moines Area Community College, where she earned an Associates degree in Applied Science in Management. She is currently employed at Community State Bank in Ankeny...

Every 13 minutes, someone dies on America's roads, amounting to more than 40,000 deaths consistently each year. Traffic crashes are the leading killer of people ages 1-34, and the real calamity here is how complacent our nation has become about these very preventable tragedies...