Stories from Thursday, July 2, 2015

People have short memories regarding presidential election year news coverage. At least the news pundits who make pronouncements about what is happening in the campaign process have short memories (except me, of course). The punditry goes from one "common wisdom" pronouncement to the other, with little reflection about how wrong their shared views were in the recent past...

CUSHING - The third annual Uncle Ben 5K Run/Walk, sponsored by Pedersen Duct Cleaning, is slated to be held here on Saturday, August 15, at 9 a.m. Each of the last two years, nearly 250 participants have shown up for the event, doubling the size of this small town in Woodbury County as they raised almost $20,000 for local elementary schools...

Dawn Mentzer, the CEO of the six-county Rolling Hills Community Services Region, was present at the Tuesday Cherokee County Board of Supervisors meeting to discuss the first year of regionalized mental health services. Mentzer presented a report on the accomplishments and the remaining challenges in providing mental health services to the citizens of the region...

School Boards across the state will hold elections on Sept. 8, with the filing of nomination papers with board secretaries taking place between July 6 and July 30. Nomination petition forms can be picked up during regular business hours at the school board secretaries'Äô offices...

The Cherokee County Fair will again be serving as a sponsor for the Bill Riley Talent Search this year. The local talent contest will take place at the Cherokee County Fairgrounds on the last day of this year's fair, Sunday July 19, at 1 p.m. Prizes will be awarded to the top three places in each age group Sprouts (ages 2- 12) and Seniors (age 13-21), and the winner in each group will advance to perform at the Iowa State Fair...

Pinterest enthusiasts, bakers, gardeners, photographers and crafters pick up your Cherokee County Fair book today! Family Craft Entry information can be found at all the county libraries, the extension office, and the banks in the city of Cherokee. If you prefer, you can find the information you need at www.cherokeecountyfair.org, under the "family crafts" department...

Deadline for the July 15th Cherokee Trails 5k Glow Run/Walk is approaching. If you want to be guaranteed a t-shirt, the deadline is Thursday, July 2nd. Registration forms are available at Cherokee City Hall. The $15 fee includes the shirt, with a $10 fee for the race/walk only. This is the second run/walk fundraiser for the trail,and last year's was a huge success and lots of fun!...

Katie Johnson and David Westphal of Meriden are the proud parents of a baby girl, born on June 23, 2015. Ava Ariel Westphal was born at 7:06 a.m., weighed 7 lb. 7 oz., measured 21 inches long, and was welcomed home by her four big sisters - Emily, Autumn, Chloe and Alli...

Ryan and Jennifer Radke of Aurelia are happy to announce the birth of their first child, a girl. Lila Jean Radke was born at 9:24 a.m. on June 24, 2015, and she weighed 6 lb. 15 oz. and measured 19 inches long. Grandparents are Doug and Barb Radke of Aurelia and Marvin and Jane Keitges of Jackson, Nebraska...

Willis and Angela Carver of Cherokee are happy to announce the birth of their baby boy, born on June 25, 2015. Easten Richard Carver was born at 7:06 a.m., weighed 9 lb. 8 oz., measured 22 inches long, and was welcomed home by his big brothers, Greysen and Colten. Grandparents are Steve and Aimee Rupp of Cherokee and Greg and Jiil Carver of Marcus...

Grant and Tara Thorson of Meriden are proud to announce the birth of their baby girl, born on June 27, 2015. Olivia Jo Thorson was born at 9:36 a.m., weighed 8 lb. 4 oz., measured 19 1/2 inches long, and was welcomed home by her big brother, Levi. Grandparents are Lori Thorson of Cherokee, Clair and Lynn Thorson of Spirit Lake, and Ken and Mary Leusink of Hull. Great grandmothers are Marlene Thorson of Armstrong and Lois Eggerth of Sioux City...

Farmers living on the four miles of Hawkeye Highway east of Cherokee were greatly pleased a few weeks ago when announcement was made that the highway was to be brought to a permanent grade. It would connect with the good roads leading to Aurelia, attract travel, and increase the value of the farms...

Governor Terry Branstad decided to close two of the four mental health institutes in Iowa as a cost saving move. If Cherokee had been one of them, we would have certainly been opposed to that decision. Cherokee is not one of the two chosen by the governor in a seemingly arbitrary manner...

1.Highland 2.Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 3.Central Springs 4.IKM-Manning 5.Fort Dodge St.Edmond 6.Pella Christian 7.Wapello 8.BCLUW 9.North Union 10.Durant 11.Iowa City Regina 12.Cascade 13.Treynor 14.Lawton-Bronson 15.Des Moines Christian Dropped Out: Alta/Aurelia (14), Ogden (15)...

1.Cascade, Western Dubuque;2.Wilton;3.Beckman Catholic, Dyersville;4.Columbus Catholic,Waterloo;5.South Winneshiek; 6.Clear Lake;7.Hinton;8.New Hampton;9.Monticello;10. Ogden Others: Des Moines Christian, Treynor, Hampton-Dumont, Alburnett,Northeast,Goose Lake...

HOLSTEIN - With the exception of a loss to Carroll Kuemper Catholic,the Ridge View baseball team put together another pretty good week on the diamond, winning three of four contests. Of the 7-3 loss to Kuemper, Ridge View coach Shannon Tesch commented, "We made too many defensive mistakes that cost us too many runs."...

Ridge View continued its up-and-down season, losing to Kingsley-Pierson by the score of 5-2 in Western Valley Conference softball action Tuesday. Taking the loss on the mound was Katie Davidson, who threw all seven innings, giving up nine hits and three earned runs, walking one and striking out two...

SLOAN - The Ridge View Softball team traveled to Sloan to take on a very good Westwood team on Monday night, and the Raptors came out on top, winning by the score of 9-1. Picking up the win on the mound for the Raptors was Katie Davidson, who threw all seven innings and gave up one earned run on seven hits while walking nobody and striking out 2...

The Ridge View softball team ran into a highly- ranked Woodbury Central team Friday and battled all night, but the Raptors came out on the short end. It was a good game from both sides as it was a well played game but Ridge View was defeated 4-0. Taking the loss on the mound was Katie Davidson, who threw six innings and gave up four runs on four hits. Ridge View got only four hits as well, by Bailey Winterhof, Kyra Hoffman, Kaylee Blenner and Emily Egger...

Monday night the Wolverines started their week with a road trip to Hawarden to play West Sioux in a War Eagle Conference game. It was a defensive battle the first three innings of play, with neither team able to score a run. The Wolverines had a runner in scoring position in the third but had a couple hard hit balls right at the Falcons' defenders. ...