Stories from Monday, May 16, 2016

For those who cannot, in good conscience, vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump (and there are likely to be millions of such voters in November) there are other options. There is no need to sacrifice the right to vote for other offices on the November ballot. The presidential choice can be left blank, a name can be written in or a third party candidate can be chosen...

Janet Olson of Marysville, Washington, 67, a Cherokee native, passed away on March 13, 2016. Janie was born in Cherokee on June 5, 1948, to Ben and Edith Olson. May we remember this wonderful woman well. She loved to play games, build bonds, give bear hugs, curse on occasion, and share in love. She was independent and strong. Her love for the wonders of Deception Pass will be with us always...

At the May 10 meeting of the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors, assistant county engineer Brandon Billings was asked about a possibility being discussed elsewhere in the state of reducing flooding by designing bridges to hold back water over a 24-hour-period...

The most important things in Zach Freking-Smith's life he found in the Rod Library at the University of Northern Iowa when he was a UNI student working at the library. The 2010 graduate of Burlington High School, in southeast Iowa, had originally entered UNI to study computer/speech/teaching but when he began working at the Rod Library, that reaffirmed and strengthened a love he has always had for libraries...

Kaely Hummel, a student at Washington High School in Cherokee, was recognized by Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds for her outstanding academic achievement at the 14th Annual Governo's Scholar Recognition ceremony on May 1 at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines...

POCAHONTAS - The Alta-Aurelia Girls' Golf team scored a 188 - 233 - 237 win over the Storm Lake St. Mary's and Pocahontas Area teams, respectively, in recent play here. West Bend-Mallard also played, but did not have enough golfers to qualify for team scoring...

IDA GROVE - No area schools won team titles at the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet in Ida Grove Thursday, but several athletes from those schools qualified to compete at this weekend's State Track Meet in Des Moines. Cherokee's Evan Wharton won the 100 Meter Dash in a time of 11.49 to punch his ticket to State, and he'll be joined to fellow first place finishers Joe Highes of Alta-Aurelia in the 400 Meters (51.32) and the Alta-Aurelia Girls' Sprint and Distance Medley Relay teams. ...

HOLSTEIN - The Ridge View boys' track team won the Team title at Thursday's Class 1A State Qualifying meet, run on the Russ Kraai Track here. The Raptors scored 146 points as a team, with Lawton-Bronson finishing second with 122 points and Logan-Magnolia 3rd, with 104 points. River Valley scored 16 points and finished 11th...