Stories from Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Patrick John Kirby, 71, of Cherokee, passed away Thursday, June 8, 2017 at Mercy Hospice in Johnston, Iowa. Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 15, 2017 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Waterville, Minn. Father Michael Ince will officiate. ...

Thomas Burtness Grundman, loving husband, father, grandfather, conservationist, accomplished builder, Iowa State Cyclones fan and airplane pilot, died in his sleep on June 8th, 2017 at the perfect age of 93. Tom was born on May 30, 1924 in Pella, Iowa to a German father, Ralph Spencer Grundman, and Norwegian mother , Katherine Elvina (Burtness) Grundman.  As a boy, Tom enjoyed playing in the woods on his family’s dairy farm, swimming in the local gravel pit, riding his Welsh pony Brownie to school, listening to “Little Orphan Annie” and J”ack Armstrong” on the radio, and playing hoop - and - stick, which concluded with his knocking out his four front teeth. ...

After starting 0-2 in the Lakes Conference, the Cherokee Braves baseball team had two very important games last week with a trip to LeMars and a home game against Spencer. The Braves beat rated LeMars, 5-3 , on Wednesday, then came home on Friday and beat to top Spencer by the score of 5-1...

The Cherokee Braves played in the LeMars Invitational on Friday June 9th.  The Braves split on the day losing to the 1A Powerhouse Akron-Westfield 14-0 then turning around to beat the Hinton Blackhawks 8-2. In the short Akron-Westfield game, the Braves struggled defensively behind pitcher Teagan Slaughter, who took over after Lindsay Williams was hit by a pitch in her first at bat.  The Braves only had two hits in the 3 - inning contest with the Slaughter sisters each having one.  The Braves gave up 10 hits to the powerful Westerners. . ...

The Summer Reading Program is well underway! I am writing this at the end of week one and, boy howdy, I am exhausted! I am so glad that I am, though. This week, at our Wednesday program, we had over 70 people in the Sanford Museum for Steve Couch and his messy, super fun science program. Let’s try to break that number this Wednesday when Habitat for Humanity comes to talk about what they do in their part to build a better world...

While the nation’s attention is focused on the probe into Russia’s influence on our elections, senate Republicans are working out details of a health care bill, details they are not sharing with the public or even their Democratic colleagues. After attempting to repeal Obamacare and replace it with an extremely unpopular alternative, the Republicans are now attempting to sneak a bill through without debate, relying on their narrow majority in the senate to send the proposal to the Congressional Budget Office as swiftly as possible, bypassing public scrutiny.. ...

The 2017 Abu Bekr Shrine Circus is coming to Cherokee, sponsored by Cherokee Shrine Club. The 3-ring circus will perform twice at the Cherokee Fair Grounds, with the first performance beginning at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 25 and the second performance at 6 p.m. that same day...

The Centers Against Abuse & Sexual Assault, Centers of Hope (CAASA), has a new Cherokee County Sexual Assault Advocate - Amber Pelsor. CAASA, is a non-profit agency that provides free and confidential services to victims of sexual assault. CAASA provides services in Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Emmet, Ida, Lyon, Monona, O'Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Sac, Sioux, and Woodbury Counties...

ISG Services, Chief Project Inspector, Cole Kruizenga appeared at the Tuesday, June 6, 2017 O’Brien County Board of Supervisors meeting to review Dakota Access Pipeline’s (DAPL) construction inspection activities on the largely completed 30-inch diameter Bakken Pipeline project and to explain what remains to be finished...

The Ridge View softball team continued to show progress and improvement as the season moves along.  Monday night, they defeated Lawton-Bronson by the score of 11-1 in six innings.  Picking up the win on the mound for the Raptors was Katie Brinkman, who threw all six innings, giving up no earned runs on three hits, walking one and striking out four. ...

On Monday June 5th the South O’Brien Softball team took on the Blackhawks of Hinton and things were going very well through the first 4 innings of play, as the Wolverines held a 4-0 advantage. In the top of the 5th Hinton scored 5 runs off of 3 hits and 3 costly South O’Brien errors. ...