Stories from Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Chainsaw artist responds to a plea for a hospice patient

A wandering moose continues to make its way slowly and calmly through the region. Lanette Peterson spotted the animal strolling in a cornfield near C38 about four miles from Cherokee on Sunday. It had previously been seen in Osceola County, then followed the Little Sioux River to the Milford area. It was reported later outside Hartley and near Quimby. A school bus driver in the area reportedly spotted the animal Thursday and stopped so the children could take a look...

The Storm Lake community was able to finally witness a home rugby match after a five year absence. The Albatross of Storm Lake took on a combined team from Sioux Falls and Doane College on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Frank Starr Park. The Albatross have not had a home match in five years due to low numbers on the team. ...

St. Mary's Student Council hosted its first Haunted House - themed "The Last Bash" - at South School Saturday night. Long lines of visitors attended, for the mild, a children's festival with such events as pumpkin painting, and the wild, elaborate scary scenes set up throughout the dark, vacant school building. One resident of the haunted house delivers a baleful stare into a blood-stained restroom mirror. Startled visitors make a run for it. / Pilot photos by Dana Larsen...

According to AccuWeather's 2015-16 U.S. Winter Forecast, winter may start early in the region, but should overall be milder than usual, with some unusually warm temperatures causing midseason meltdowns as an intensifying El Niņo influences the weather pattern across the country...

Iowa Democratic Party Black Caucus Chair Rep. Ako AbdulSamad, a practicing Muslim, unloaded on western Iowa Rep. Steve King this week, after King was quoted in a Washington Post article as saying that he cannot find any examples of practicing Muslims who have assimilated into another culture...

It's been several years since pheasant hunters have been this excited. The results of the 2015 annual August Roadside Count brought forth the data that many of us were hoping for. The results showed a 37 percent increase statewide from the 2014 count, which is the highest count seen since 2007...

It is no secret to people who live in Storm Lake that this is an amazing and wonderfully diverse community. With that diversity comes a plethora of languages. As a city who is continually welcoming new populations, it is not a surprise that the need for interpreters is great but the availability of trained interpreters is small. ...

Jim Hass of Peterson has received national recognition for his historic preservation of pioneer structures in his hometown, his museum of historic artifacts - "Jim's History Barn" in Peterson, and his volunteer efforts in presenting educational programs in the schools of northwest Iowa...

It's that time of season when the world is plunged into darkness and hideous, frightening creatures roam the night endlessly searching for fresh blood. But enough about the presidential campaign. We're here to talk about Halloween. The national news has focused this season on a Connecticut school district that sought to ban a Halloween parade in their town, which the superintendent vaguely mumbling some PC mumbo-jumbo about how it violated diversity or cultures...

Some say that instant messaging and email are destroying our language. The patois of acronyms and emoticons is constantly evolving; text messaging is becoming a digital dialect that only those who use it frequently can understand. Sure, most of us know what some of them mean -- IMHO, BRB, TTFN and LOL - but there are new ones being coined every day, like IRL, DBEYR, ICYMI and STBY...

Since the beginning of time, existence was understood to be dependent on a symbiotic relationship with the environment. While this is still true today, many modern farm practices stress the land in the pursuit of reaching the needs of an ever-growing population. ...

'Bridge of Spies,' a Walt Disney Studios release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "some violence and brief strong language." Running time: 142 minutes. Three stars out of four.

The Edgar Winter Band will be performing at the Hard Rock on Friday, October 23 at 8 p.m. A prolific writer, Edgar's music encompasses many different genres, including rock, jazz, blues, and pop. From his critically acclaimed 1970 debut release, Entrance, he has demonstrated his unique style and ability to cross the genre lines and do the unexpected. ...

The Newell-Fonda football team kept its winning streak alive in the blowout win against District Woodbine on Friday. The Mustangs (8-0) saw Cole Wise dart for six touchdowns in 56-16 victory over the Tigers (2-6), pushing Newell-Fonda's winning streak to eight games in a row. Even though Wise scored all but three of Newell-Fonda's nine touchdowns, head coach Brian Wilken said the senior running back was just another cog in overall Mustang football machine...

The Sioux Central football team took a blow to its District playoff hopes in the loss to West Sioux, Hawarden on Friday. The Rebels (4-4) fell victim to five passing touchdowns from Falcons quarterback Porter Hummel in the 46-12 defeat to fall even with Woodbury Central in the standings...

Buena Vista quarterback Tory Beger passed for more than 300 yards, including a late game-tying 84-yard touchdown to TJ Lint, but the Beavers came up on the short end of a heartbreaking, 41-34, overtime road loss at Luther on Saturday afternoon. "We had too many mental mistakes on the field," BVU head coach Jay Anderson said. "We do a great job in practice, but it isn't translating on Saturday. It's has to be an choice by each of our 11 guys on the field."...

The Storm Lake volleyball team struggled to find consistency on the court during the Lakes Conference tournament on Saturday. The Tornadoes (4-22) dropped its first match to Cherokee in two sets, 21-9 and 21-19. From there, Storm Lake went on to lose to Spirit Lake (21-7 and 21-13) and Estherville Lincoln Central (21-15 and 21-13) in two sets. The Tornadoes capped off the tournament with a two set loss to Emmetsburg, 21-17 and 21-13...

The Alta-Aurelia cross country team raced in the Twin Lakes Conference meet on Saturday in Lake City. The Warrior boys placed third overall with 75 points, which was 35 behind first place Pocahontas Area. The Lady Warriors were sixth with 145 points, 101 points behind first place Southeast Valley...

Men's Soccer The Buena Vista men's soccer team played with one of the top teams in the Iowa Conference on Saturday, but came up just short against the University of Dubuque, as the Spartans scored four second half goals for a 4-0 victory. Despite being shutout in shots, 13-0, in the first half, the Beaver defense was able to keep the Spartans (10-3-1, 4-1 IIAC) off the scoreboard. ...

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach -- Buena Vista County partnered with third grade classrooms in Buena Vista County to provide exposure and education about various safety issues on Thursday, October 8th at the Allee Research Farm near Newell. A day-long event called "Safety Day" allowed approximately 150 students the opportunity to learn from experts and engage in hands-on safety education sessions reported Nichol Kleespies, 4-H Youth Outreach Educator...

Every fall, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach county offices across the state collect 4-H youth registration numbers to gauge the impact of 4-H Youth Development programs on Iowa's 510,000 school-age youth. Initial numbers indicate the Iowa 4-H Program continues to provide quality youth development to about 1 in 5 Iowa young people...

Mel Fisher's fourth grade class recently read about the 805 million people who experience hunger in our world and they decided to do something about it by donating extra food they had at home. Over the course of the week they collected food and were able to donate 70 pounds of food on Friday, World Food Day, to the local food pantry. They are happy to know their donation will help the community, and especially kids in their school. / Photos submitted...

Fight leads to multiple charges On the afternoon of Friday, October 16, at approximately 1:34 p.m., the Storm Lake Police Department was dispatched to the 400 block of East 6th Street in reference to a reported fight. Upon arrival of police they located a Fernando Veliz, age 20, and a Jasmine Miles, age 22, both of Storm Lake...

October 26, 1920 - October 16, 2015

November 3, 1930 - October 16, 2015

May 4, 1944 - October 15, 2015

Do you enjoy trying different craft beers? Why not brew your own? Come see what simple equipment and ingredients you need to brew your own high quality beer. Bruce Hinkeldey of Alta will be at The Meeting Place in Galva on Tuesday, November 17th at 7 p.m. to share home brewing tips, talk about beer brewing equipment, and explain how easy and fun it is to brew beer using an extract kit. Men and women ages 21 and older are invited to attend this one-hour educational program and sampling event!...

Mark Your Calendar! Local artist Marilyn Vashti Koth of Galva, will share her artistic talents with the public at The Meeting Place on Friday, November 20th from 1 to 4 p.m. Marilyn is an accomplished decorative painter and world traveler, and she wants to give back to the community by teaching this water color painting class...