Stories from Friday, July 1, 2016

This newspaper does not often praise newspapers not affiliated with the company that owns the Chronicle Times. However, we were pleased to see that the Des Moines Register contacted a number of people in Cherokee County to get their input regarding the situation at the abandoned meat packing plant just south of Cherokee that is under lease by Tyson Foods...

Arin Miller, the daughter of Mike and Kim Miller of Milford, and Emmett Kohn, the son of Marty and Melissa Kohn of Cherokee, are proud to announce their engagement. Arin is employed at the Spirit Lake Hy-Vee as the Human Resource Manager, and Emmett is a United Parcel Service driver for the Spencer UPS...

At its June 28 meeting, the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors reappointed Dean Schmidt as Cherokee County zoning administrator for a six-month term. The position has traditionally been an annual appointment made on Jan. 1, but it was decided when Schmidt was reappointed that the position would only be appointed for a six-month term to allow for the potential use of Brandon Billings, then an assistant county engineer, as the zoning administrator starting in July in the event that Billings became certified as engineer.. ...

Retiring Cherokee Library Director Mary Jo Ruppert gave a final report to the Cherokee City Council on June 28, before introducing the new director, Zach Freking-Smith. "I feel I'm leaving the facility in pretty good shape physically. I know I'm leaving it in good shape financially," Ruppert said...

ALTA- Monday night, at a Special School Board Meeting here, the primary topic was the proposed construction of new running tracks in each district. Each district had proposed replacing their school's outdated running track, which are decades old and in need of repair, with the hope and anticipation that new tracks will increase the probability of Alta and Aurelia hosting High School (Alta) and Middle School (Aurelia) track meets, and Monday, each board approved a 28E Agreement for the project. ...

Blunt language critical of Tyson Foods' obstruction of local economic development is drawing attention from beyond Cherokee County. On Wednesday, June 29, a reporter from the Des Moines Register met with public officials, economic development professionals and other prominent local citizens at the abandoned meat processing plant just south of Cherokee to hear statements regarding Tyson Foods' refusal to give up its lease on the Cherokee property to a competing business...

Quad County Corn Processors, a 14.5 million bushel corn processing biorefinery in Galva, and CoBank, a $107 billion cooperative bank, recently donated matching funds to three area organizations as part of CoBank's renewal of "Sharing Success for 2016" program. A total of $10,000 was donated to the organizations in June for their projects...

Cherokee State Bank recently awarded scholarships to several area high school graduating seniors. The scholarship money is disbursed from trusts set up for that purpose.

PETERSON - The Alta-Aurelia softball team made some defensive adjustments to Sioux Central's initial "small game" approach during the Twin Lakes Conference rivals' contest here Monday, and the Warriors went on to a 16-5 win, boosting their overall season mark to 20-7...

1. Wilton; 2. Clear Lake; 3. New Hampton; 4. Treynor; 5. Roland-Story; 6. Van Meter; 7. Hinton; 8. Northeast, Goose Lake; 9. Monticellol 10. Cascade, West Dubuque Cherokee Washington is among the other teams receiving votes 1. Newman Catholic (Mason City); 2. Don Bosco (Gilbertville); 3, West Sioux (Hawarden); 4. Lawton-Bronson; 5. Alburnett; 6. North Linn; 7. Coon Rapids-Bayard; 8. Jesup; 9. Martensdale- St. Mary's; 10. Akron-Westfield...

The dates and times for high school athletic physicals have been set by the Cherokee Regional Medical Center. Physicals will be from 5 p.m. - 7p.m. at the following locations on the dates indicated. If students need forms, they are in the WHS Central Office...

More than 27,000 athletes from across the country converged in Central Florida last week to pass, set and spike during the 43rd annual AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball Championships, including a group of Siouxland athletes. The eight-day event has held the title of largest volleyball event in the world since 2012, when the 16U Club division set the current Guinness Book of World Records mark. ...

On June 12th, several high school wrestlers from northwest Iowa traveled to Orlando, Florida to compete in the Disney Duals. Alta-Aurelia wrestler Skylar Solko competed in the 145 lb weight class and went 11-3, finishing in 4th place overall. Also placing for Team Iowa (White) were Nathan Krueger of Manson Northwest Webster, who placed 4th at 182 lbs., and Tim Butcher, also of Manson Northwest Webster, who won the heavyweight championship, going 14-0...

GALVA- The Ridge View softball team hosted a very talented Westwood team here Monday, and they came away witha 1-0 loss to the Rebels. Ridge View Coach Scott Phelps stated, "It was a good ball game as both pitchers threw very well. Ridge View totaled two hits (by Kinxey Dutler and Emerson Else) and Westwood had three for the game. ...

On Thursday June 23rd, the Ridge View baseball team defeated Maple Valley/Anthon-Oto, 11-1, in six innings, behind the two-hit pitching of Alex Pickhinke. At the plate, Colt Wandrey clubbed a 2-run home run, Kyle Schiernbeck had three doubles, David Tiefenthaler had two doubles and Jake Mitchell had three hits, as the Raptors collected 13 hits as a team...

ALTA - In the championship game of the Alta-Aurelia softball tournament here on Saturday June 25th, the ranked River Valley girls rallied from a 3-0 deficit to the host Alta-Aurelia team, scoring nine runs in the 4th inning and defeating the Warriors, 13-3 in five innings. ...

The Cherokee Braves traveled to Marcus Saturday for a non conference baseball doubleheader with the young Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen Union team, and the Braves came away with two wins, 13-2 in five innings and breaking open a 6-5 game with a 13-run 6th inning to triumph 20-6 in the other contest...

The Cherokee Braves traveled to LeMars Monday night and the Bulldogs were able to put up eight runs on the Braves and slow down the Cherokee baseball team, which had won their last seven games in a row. The Braves came out with junior pitcher Trey Valentine, who had a 3-0 record coming into the game. Valentine only gave up three hits, but he also walked six batters while the Braves' defense committed four errors in the first four innings...

The Hinton Blackhawks visited Paullina on Monday June 20th and took care of business in the 7th inning to win, 10-4, over South O'Brien in softball action. South O'Brien had taken the lead, 4-3, with two runs 6th inning, but the 7th inning proved disastrous for the Wolverines as Hinton cashed in six runs on four hits, two walks, a hit batter, and a Wolverine error...

The Washington High School varsity softball team had a rough weekend of games against some quality opponents. In a tournament at Spencer, the Braves faced number one ranked Akron-Westfield, and six runs in the top of the 3rd inning opened things up for the Westerners. ...

The media elites of America and Europe, as well as the political elites from those regions, are in denial about the message delivered by the people of Britain through the vote to leave the European Union. Media pundits have sought out voters who have recanted their support for what has been informally labeled "Brexit" (a contraction of British Exit). The existence of such people is presented as justification of repeating the vote in hopes that the British people have come to their senses...