Stories from Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Brrr! Iowa is the windiest place I have ever lived, and I have resided in thirteen different countries and five states (my previous career warranted the locations). Admittedly, Iowa is pretty and rural and relatively quiet with wide expanses of roads. But the wind…it comes whipping down the plains!...

For about six years, Donald Trump led a bogus challenge to the legitimacy of the presidency of Barack Obama, questioning where Obama was born. Democrats rightly criticized Trump’s birtherism, not only because the assertion of Obama being born in Kenya is absurd, but also because challenging the legitimacy of the democratic process potentially damages that process...

Gary W. Brink of Cherokee, age 65 , formerly of California, passed away on Friday, January 13, 2017, at the Accura Healthcare Center in Cherokee. Gary is the brother-in-law and brother of Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Veit of Cherokee. His death was as the result of issues related to his Frontal Temporal Dementia.  Gary had been a resident of the nursing home for almost five years, and he received thoughtful and compassionate care the entire time he was there. ...

Floyd Zimmer of Cherokee, age 91, passed away Thursday, January 12, 2017, at Accura Healthcare Center in Cherokee. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, January 18th at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Cherokee, with Father Dan Guenther officiating, and burial will be at Maryhill Visitation Cemetery, rural Cherokee, with military graveside rites conducted by Cherokee VFW Post #2253 and the Quimby American Legion Post...

Jason Sammons, 43, rural Storm Lake, was killed, and a 23-year-old woman injured after a semi that Sammons was driving fell off of Interstate 229 in Sioux Falls, S.D., onto Minnesota Avenue just before 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning. The Department of Public Safety says a 2017 International semi was traveling northbound on Interstate 229 nearing the Minnesota Avenue bridge just before 4:30 a.m. when it went off the road and hit the guard rail...

Jim Adamson, one of the organizers of the Cherokee Jazz and Blues Festival, informed the Chronicle Times recently that there might be an unexpected addition to the activities slated for the CJBF weekend. Last week, he emailed a confirmation of that addition...

Coming off a win earlier in the week, the Cherokee boys basketball team looked to keep momentum rolling hosting #1 (2A) Hull Western Christian Friday night, but the Wolfpack were able to derail the Braves by a score of 81-44. The Braves controlled the tempo of the game early on, with five players scoring in the quarter, but HWC led 17-14...

LE MARS - The Cherokee Braves notched a first, second, and four thirds at the rugged Le Mars Wrestling Invitational here Saturday, won by Sibley-Ocheyedan with 256 team points. West Sioux was second with 172, followed by Le Mars 166, Cherokee 159, Sioux City North 133, AHSTW-Adel 144, Sioux Center 109.5, Hinton 97, Sheldon-Siuth O’Brien 73, South Sioux City 66, Sioux City West 49...

HOLSTEIN - The Cherokee wrestling Braves continued to show improvement, posting a 2-1 match record at a quadrangular meet here last week. The Braves beat host Ridge View 60-15, and Woodbury Central 43-27, and lost 37-34 to Pocahontas Area. Cherokee triple winners during the night were Mason Hill, Tyler Zeimen, and Treighton Schubert...

The undefeated 11-0 Cherokee Washington High girls had the tough task of hosting third ranked (2A) Hull Western Christian last Friday night in Cherokee and the Wolfpack's size and length proved too much as they beat Cherokee, 88-75. The well-coached Wolfpack’s height and defensive acuity shut down Cherokee’s explosive perimeter game and nullified any inside advantage...

ESTHERVILLE - The Estherville WaTanYe is hosting a tailgate from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, for the Cherokee versus E-LC girls and boys basketball games. A walking taco will be served, along with bar and bottle of water for $6, with proceeds benefiting WaTanYe, a local service organization that provides donations to local libraries and scholarships for E-LC students...

HARTLEY - The Alta-Aurelia boys shut our Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in the second quarter and went on to post a decisive 63-29 win over the Hawks in non-conference basketball action here on Saturday. The Warriors’ Carson Kruger had a double-double to lead A-A, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. while Alex Snyder also scored 11, and Jaden Henrichs added 10 for the Warriors, who improved their season mark to 9-1 with the victory...

AKRON - The Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen-Union varsity boys dropped a 71-57 War Eagle Conference basketball game to host Akron-Westfield Friday night. Two Royals - Chris Schmid and Jerome Holmes - each scored in double figures, Schmid with 13 points and Holmes with 12...

AKRON - The traditionally strong Akron-Westfield girls pounded out a convincing 74-19 win here Friday over the Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen-Union girls. The Royals, who were only able to muster a total of eight points over the final three quarters, were led in scoring by Aspen Woodall, who netted five points...

The South O’Brien boys played a couple of close basketball games over the weekend. On Friday, the Wolverines lost by a narrow one point margin, 46-45, to the Le Mars Gehlen Jays. Carson Louscher scored 16 to lead SOS, while Jackson Louscher added 11 points and John Weaver chipped in with eight. Jackson Louscher and Case Moermond each had six rebounds for South O’Brien, and Drew Faust had five boards...

Ridge View wrestled at Saturday’s Western Valley Conference Tournament, and three Raptors wrestlers made it to the finals in their weight class. At 152, Lance Else wrestled Wyatt Schoenherr from West Monona in the semi-finals, a match that he had lost by fall earlier in the season, and Else won the match, 2-1, to make it to the finals, where he fell to his opponent...

HOLSTEIN - The Ridge View boys took on Odebolt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove in Western Valley Conference basketball action here Friday and the Raptors came out victorious, 50-39. “I thought we had a great team effort.  I was real happy with the way we shared the ball and made the extra pass.  Plus, I thought we showed some patience offensively,” commented Ridge View coach Dale Tokheim...

So many teams, coaches, athletes and characters come and go. Names and accomplishments we forget and should not. Positive things bare repeating. And, by golly, I have found a plethora of positive in old newspaper articles, scrapbooks and from an occasional flashback...

The lineup for the Northwest Iowa Musicians group will have a change when they perform at The Copper Cup Friday night, January 20th - the opening night of the 2017 Cherokee Jazz & Blues Festival. Steve Smith, the NWIM’s usual keyboardist, is not able to perform with the group that evening, but the band has arranged for a “ fill-in” with some pretty impressive musical credentials...

Headlining this year's Big Band Dance at the Cherokee Jazz and Blues Festival will again be The Mearl Lake Orchestra, who have performed at CJBF several times. The Mearl Lake Orchestra has enjoyed the opportunity to provide great music in the "big band" style for the dancing public for close to 80 years, beginning in the mid 1930's and continuing to the present day, with the current 11 member orchestra...

A team meeting and sign up for anyone interested in participating in a youth target shooting team and their parents will be held at the Cherokee Middle School on Sunday, Jan. 22 at 2p.m. Questions about requirements, costs, and fund raising will be answered at that time...