Stories from Friday, April 19, 2019

The third annual O’Brien County Career Day will be held on April 26. All high school sophomores in the Sheldon, South O’Brien, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn and MMCRU school districts are invited to attend. The career day provides students with opportunities to explore manufacturing, healthcare, construction and agriculture careers right here in O’Brien County. ...

Dr. Casey Miller and Storm Lake Chiropractic rallied for flood victims in Nebraska and Iowa last Thursday. Together with local clients and businesses, they raised over $1,800, plus donations of food and necessities. A mix of raffles, business donations and client donations brought about the sum. Dr. Miller donated his entire day’s time, allowing clients to donate the value of their service to the cause...

Faith, Hope & Charity is still the same great facility Storm Lake knows, but with a different name. Following their 2018 merger with Hope Haven, they still serve 29 residents with a variety of disabilities and special needs. One of those kids is Brianna Tomlinson...

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City has announced that metal sensations In This Moment, Killswitch Engage and Clutch will perform as part of the Battery Park Tailgate Series on Thursday, July 18. Siouxland metal band SAUL will open the show beginning at 6 p.m...

Sanford Museum & Planetarium will be hosting an event about the stories and legends of Martin Treptow, a WWI hero who lived in Cherokee. The event starts on Saturday, May 4, and goes from 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Speaker, Bob Spurlock will present on his research of Martin Treptow’s life. ...

Hellboy is back and he’s got a dirty mouth and a man bun. The third film in the comic adaptation franchise has a new director, a new writer and a new look — led by a swashbuckling hellion who uses expletives and wears one of the most ridiculed hair styles in decades...

After a closed-session evaluation of Superintendent Stacey Cole Wednesday night, the board of education voted to offer Cole a three-year contract. The first year includes a salary of $190,339, up from $184,039, representing the same 3.75 percent salary increase as the other district administrators are receiving. Cole will still be considered to be in a two-year probationary period, in keeping with state policy...

The Storm Lake Public Library Board of Trustees will be holding a Community Forum on April 23, at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited to voice their concerns and suggestions regarding the library. The forum will be held in the main reading room.

Sue Brown was nominated and unanimously elected as president of the Prairie Lakes Area Education Association Board of Directors at this week’s board meeting, replacing Gary Astor, who is resigning from the position. Brown had been serving as vice president. ...

The Iowa Department of Education is expected to grant “conditional approval” for the Iowa Principal Leadership Academy, after an accreditation visit that was held in 2018. The Prairie Lakes AEA board was informed of the situation at a meeting this week...

Storm Lake will extend a deal for $1 building permits for new single-family home construction, after seeing some success with the incentive over the past year. Nine homes were built in the past year, which is as many as the previous three or four years combined, according to Mayor Mike Porsch. Council member Tyson Rice noted that while the city gives up permit funds, the community benefits as the property tax base is expanded...

The Storm Lake City Council has approved plans for Fiesta Latina, to be held Saturday, May 11 at Frank Starr Park, a location change from previous years. A noise variance, support from parks and public safety departments, and permission for food vending and inflatables and other attractions were green-lighted. ...

Buena Vista Community Theatre has selected the cast for the upcoming musical “Shrek.” Rehearsals start Monday, April 22nd, at the Roxy Theatre. Show dates are June 14-16 and 21-23. The cast includes: Shrek - Nate Titus Fiona - Liz Gregg Donkey - Andrew W. Wobbema...

Master Gardeners are passionate about serving their communities and sharing best gardening practices. They share their time and expertise as volunteers in the community. Master Gardeners spearhead community beautification projects, community gardens, youth education, local food events and much more...

As a further commitment to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, Storm Lake St. Mary’s High School chemistry students have been working on a real-world application of mixtures, solutions, freezing point depression and STEM careers that use these concepts...

Dewyne and Shirley Stucynski will be celebrating their 50th anniversary on April 26. They were married at Our Lady of Good Counsel church of Holstein. They have two daughters Joyce and Sheila and six grandchildren. They will celebrate with family on an upcoming weekend. / Photo Submitted...

Lenny and Carol McDonald of Storm Lake will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on April 26. They were married at DLGC church in Fonda. They will gather with their son and daughter; Todd and Christy McDonald of Lakeside and Heidi McDonald Farrell and Eric Edlin of Jackson, Mn. ...

Iowa law enforcement officials have announced they will conduct a Drug Impaired Driving specialized enforcement campaign throughout the state April 19 and 20. Drive High, Get an OWI is an intensified effort to fight drug-impaired driving in correlation with the 4/20 ‘holiday.’ Similar efforts are occurring across the region in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Up and down the highways of these states, officers will be arresting anyone caught driving impaired...

The Sulphur Springs window is being readied by Linda Struthers for the 2019 theme “Past Businesses on Main Street.” The new main display and windows for each county community are nearing completion. The society has enjoyed locating memorabilia for display, with Lucille Fitzsenry leading the effort for the research and creating the displays in the museum glass cases. ...

Through the support from many generous donors who have contributed to the Buena Vista Regional Healthcare Foundation, the purchase of the latest technology for Buena Vista Regional Medical Center’s Laboratory Department has been made possible. An Ortho VISION Blood Bank Analyzer has been purchased at a cost of $91,500. ...

Week 14 of this session is finished and lawmakers are heading home to celebrate the Easter holiday. We are scheduled to adjourn in about two weeks, but most people would like to make a run for the finish line next week. This will be difficult, but it is possible. We have an agreement with the Senate on how much money the State will spend next year, so that is a big step. Budget chairs will most likely reach agreements on individual budgets yet this week...

Public Safety is frequently one of the top things that Iowans identify as something the Legislature needs to address. We have taken this topic seriously, passing many bills this session that will keep students, motorists, and senior citizens safe across our state...

The Storm Lake Police Department K9 Unit has received a generous donation of a “Buddy Bag” for their police K9 Ozzy and his handler Officer Mitch McDonald. A “Buddy Bag” is a canine specific emergency medical kit. The buddy bag was created by the K9 Defender Fund, a non-profit organization that provides medical kits to K9 Teams throughout the nation...

The Sioux Rapids Area Historical Association will offer a Dailey Family Pioneer Cemetery Tour, Sunday, April 28, highlighting what is believed to be the oldest cemetery in Buena Vista County. A brief informational presentation will be held at the historical museum. Buses will leave from there at 3 p.m. for a ride to the cemetery locations...

On Monday, July 29, Buena Vista University will host the DCI Shoreline Classic, a Drum Corps International Tour event in which Open Class drum corps perform and compete as they vie for top honors just a week later at the 2019 Drum Corps International World Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana. ...

On the afternoon of Wednesday, April 17, at approximately 12:39 p.m. the Storm Lake Police Department was dispatched to the intersection of West Milwaukee Avenue and Vestal Street in reference to a report of a small child falling out of a school bus...

The Storm Lake High School Building & Trades class has received a reprieve - for the second time in less than a year. The program is completing a home building project on the last lot it has available in an agreement with the city. Discussion has touched on the prospect of folding the program into the local Habitat for Humanity program so students could still learn about construction skills, but no longer be able to earn class credits or progress toward an Iowa Central Community College degree as the class now offers.. ...

After considering four different proposals, the Storm Lake Board of Education voted Wednesday night to pursue its “Plan B” for a second attempt at a bond issue to build a new Early Childhood building. The plan calls for the same pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade structure that was narrowly defeated in the first election attempt last December, but now divided into three phases over a number of years in hopes of reducing tax impact...

Storm Lake Police arrested the victim of two separate 2017 and 2018 violent crimes after he allegedly pointed a gun at people outside Walmart, following what police say was an altercation involving illegal drugs. Christian Eberle, age 21 of Laurens, allegedly pointed a 9mm semi-automatic weapon with an attached green laser sight. Police were called to respond to the incident shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday...

POCAHONTAS - A total of 12 schools took part in the Girls Pocahontas Relays on Tuesday night. Alta-Aurelia competed in Class A, while Sioux Central and Newell-Fonda took part in Class B. The Warriors took fourth in A, and the Rebels were third in B and the Mustangs fourth...

GRAETTINGER - The St. Mary’s girls golf team was on the road on Tuesday night against Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Aryshire. Neither team had enough golfers to field an overall team score. St. Mary’s lone golfer Jordan Hewett shot a 60 on the afternoon. GTRA’s Lauren Josephson got the medalist spot with a score of 57 as teammate Madison Peterson shot a 58...

IDA GROVE - It was a night of some hard competition for the Alta-Aurelia, Ridge View and St. Mary’s boys track teams on Tuesday night at the OA-BCIG Boys Invitational. The Warriors settled for fifth, Raptors eighth and Panthers ninth. Bishop Heelan won the meet...

STORM LAKE - The Storm Lake boys golf team was able to bounce back from Monday night’s dual loss to take a triangular meet against Alta-Aurelia and Ridge View. The green and white had a 189, RV 208 and Alta-Aurelia 213. “I was worried about how we would come out as a team. I was worried we would come out and carry our frustration over from our last meet at Newell,” SL Coach Andrew Zinn said. “I was glad we came out with some fire and played well!”...

SPIRIT LAKE - The Storm Lake track teams were able to get back out and running on Tuesday night as they took part in the Sheryl Maahs Relays. The Tornado girls took a third place finish with 107 points as they trailed behind first place Spencer and second place Spirit Lake. The green and white boys settled for a sixth place tie with 36 points...

First, the bank tried to lock them out. Then, the Sheriff's Office knocked on their door. Turns out, their landlord of three years hadn't been paying the mortgage, even as she collected the rent checks. "What?!" Alta tenant Cynthia Larson replied in disbelief...