Stories from Wednesday, September 7, 2016

An annual celebration at the Grand Meadow Heritage Center, 6306 D Ave, rural Washta, occurs Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 10 and 11. 8 to 9:30 a.m. - breakfast 9 a.m. - log cabin vendors open 9 a.m. - McNeil family band 9 a.m. - petting zoo and pony rides open...

MILFORD - The Cherokee Braves made the trip north last Friday with hopes of winning their first game of the young football season. Even though the Braves started strong, a time of possession dominating the third quarter for Okoboji gave the Pioneers a big advantage and an eventual 25-12 victory over the Braves...

SLOAN - Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen-Union fell to Westwood, 53-14, in a non district football game here Friday, as the Royals were held to just 108 yards from scrimmage by a tough Rebel defense. Junior Tristen Olsen completed 7 of 13 pass attempts for the Royals, good for 82 yards and one TD, a 32-yarder to Connor Sand. Olsen also had one of his aerials intercepted...

HOLSTEIN - The Ridge View football team posted a 13-6 non-district win over Odebolt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove here on Friday to finish the non-district portion of their schedule with a 1-1 record. Raptors' quarterback Tyler Wingert completed six of 15 pass attempts for 94 yards, including a 10 yard touchdown to Jake Mitchell, and he also has one of his attempts intercepted...

PAULLINA - South O'Brien lost a good football battle with Sheldon here Friday night by a final score of 28-14. The Orabs scored two touchdowns within the last four minutes of the first quarter - one on a one yard run and the other on a 33 yard pass - to jump to a 14 -- 0 lead...

LAKE PARK - It was a long trip Friday night for the River Valley Wolverines as they traveled to Lake Park for a non-district football game with Harris-Lake Park, and it was a long night once they got there, as H-LP rumbled to a resounding 74-0 triumph...

ALTA - The Sioux Central Rebels defeated Alta-Aurelia Friday night in a non-district football matchup. The loss dropped the Warriors' season record to 1-1. Skylar Solko completed 8 of 12 pass attempts for 197 yards and one touchdown, a nine-yarder to Jared Weiland, for Alta-Aurelia, and he also had one pass intercepted. ...

SIOUX RAPIDS - The Alta-Aurelia volleyball team improved their match record to 3-0 with a 3-0 win here over Sioux Central last Thursday. The Warriors won by game scores of 25-16, 25-15, 25-15. Annika Patton dished out 42 assists on the night for Alta-Aurelia, while Erin Lockin and Laney Stanton each had 14 kills and Lauren Rohwer added 12. Rohwer also had five ace serves and Lockin had three...

Washington High School students are eagerly preparing for this year's Homecoming. The theme this year is "Some wish for it...We work for it. SMALL TOWN, BIG DREAMS". The student council is hoping to have more community involvement this year and has asked local businesses to get in the spirit by painting their windows, sidewalks, entering a float in the parade, or any other ways they think to get ready for Homecoming...

A fund-raiser to help defray vast medical expenses is under way in Cherokee to benefit the Damon Miller family of Des Moines. Miller is a Cherokee native and a Cherokee Washington High graduate who excelled in multiple sports for the Braves. He is the son of Doug and Julie Miller of Cherokee...

Here is the updated list of vendors and the items that will be available for sale during the Cherokee Area Farmers Market under the canopy at the depot (119 South 4th Street) from 4 to 6 p.m. this Thursday, Sept. 8. This will be the fifteenth market of the 2016 market season...

Ken and Janie Todd of Quimby will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Sunday, September 11th. The couple met in Texas while Ken was serving in the Army, and they were married at the United Methodist Church in Quimby on September 11, 1966. The couple have farmed east of Quimby for the past 50 years , and they have four children and 10 grandchildren...

Peter Ciampa and Tim Sears are seeing a different America than is being portrayed daily on TV news. Rather than a country filled with anger and mistrust, the recent college graduates have experienced warmth and generosity on their cross country bicycle trip, which started from Freeport, Maine, just north of Portland, with the goal of reaching Portland, Oregon...

On Saturday, Sept. 10, the Sanford Museum Association will present a program titled ' Korea, Then and Now', by Bob Hoogeveen, at the Sanford Museum at 7:30 p.m. Hoogeveen spent 16 months in Korea as a U.S. Marine during the Korean War. In 2010, he along with other Korean War veterans, returned to Korea at the invitation of the South Korean government...

This Friday's Chamber Coffee, at 9:30 a.m., will be hosted by Cherokee Specialty Care (the former Cherokee Villa) at 1011 North Roosevelt.

The Sanford Museum artist for September is Candace Camling, a professional children's book illustrator who works from her home in Des Moines. Some of her illustrations will be on display in the East Gallery during September. Camling works as a freelance illustrator who is commissioned by book publishers for works by children's book writers. She works in a variety of media...

Darlene M. Wiersema of Cherokee, 69, passed away Tuesday morning, September 6, 2016 at Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City. Funeral arrangements are pending at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee,

We were repeatedly perplexed and disheartened by the Sioux City media a few weeks ago regarding their coverage of an attempted murder/suicide in Sioux City. For inexplicable reasons, the television, radio and newspaper reports of the crime persisted in almost making the scene of the crime the lead, rather than the tragic fact that a man shot and injured his girlfriend and then killed himself with the same gun...

I am writing this on September 1st which is definitely a holiday in the Freking-Smith household. For us, it is the first day of Fall which means lots of great things are coming: Bath and Body Works Leaves Scented Candles, pumpkin shaped Reese's, Halloween movies (her favorite/my least favorite being "Halloweentown"), leaves changing colors, Halloween, and, of course, sweater weather. However, we have some new things to add to that list of Fall happiness...