Stories from Thursday, February 16, 2017

UnityPoint Clinic® Family Health Center has been awarded the highest level of recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient-Centered Medical Home for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated care and long-term, participative relationships. Providers who practice at the clinic include: Jason Huisenga, D.O., Lisa Shepherd, M.D., Joan Niles, M.D. and Timothy Daniels, M.D...

Williams & Company, P.C., is pleased to announce the admittance of Aaron Prewitt, CPA, as shareholder in their full-service certified public accounting firm. Aaron joined the firm as a tax season intern in the Spencer office in 2006. He continued to advance with the firm in the Sheldon office becoming a manager in 2008...

Commercial manure applicators and confinement site manure applicators who primarily handle, haul or land apply dry or solid manure should plan to attend the dry manure applicator certification workshop scheduled in Buena Vista County at 824 Flindt Drive, Storm Lake on February 22 at 1 p.m. Please call 712-732-5056 or email [email protected] by February 20th to register for this workshop...

The Buena Vista County Soil & Water Conservation District was honored to present the Jerry and Jeanine Meyer family with two windbreak awards. They received the Iowa Izaak Walton League Windbreak Award and the Buena Vista County Soil & Water Conservation District Windbreak of the Year Award. Jeanine Meyer resides north of Alta in Elk Township. They were chosen for the awards because of the number of rows planted and the care they have taken with the windbreak since planting it in 2004...

Theft On the evening of Monday, February 13, at approximately 6:25 p.m., the Storm Lake Police Department was dispatched to the Walgreens Store located at 800 Lake Avenue in reference to a theft. Upon arrival of police they met with staff who alleged that a 13 year old female of Storm Lake attempted to remove approximately $5 in merchandise from the store without paying for it...

April 5, 1918 - February 12, 2017

March 3, 1936 - February 11, 2017

August 29, 1944 - February 12, 2017

June 9, 1947 - February 10, 2017

Storm Lake St. Mary’s High School senior parents are organizing a Community Impact fundraising event at Storm Lake’s Pizza Ranch to support St. Mary’s After Prom Wednesday, Feb. 22 from 5-8 p.m. St. Mary’s High School senior students will serve customers and bus tables. Pizza Ranch will donate 10 percent of sales and all tip jar contributions to the after prom event. The After Prom event provides a safe supervised environment for students...

The 16th Annual Father/Daughter Dance will be held on Saturday, March 4th, from 7 - 9:30 p.m. at the Storm Lake Elementary School. Fathers, grandfathers, father figures and their daughters of all ages are invited to spend a memorable evening together...

During the local Catholic Schools Week celebration, Storm Lake St. Mary’s School reached out to the community and invited them in to their buildings. They made deliveries of home baked cookies to their partners earlier in the week to thank them for their support. ...

In cooperation with Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Homes, Sliefert Funeral Homes, Mahaney Funeral Home and UnityPoint Hospice, they will be sponsoring a seven week grief support group program beginning Monday, March 6, at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home, 1615 W. Milwaukee, in Storm Lake. Brad Smith, a funeral director and certified bereavement facilitator with 30 years of grief counseling experience, will be conducting the group...

The sold out crowd at The Clausen Center in Holstein was thrice blessed by The Lettermen’s performance last Saturday. Not only were they treated to the legendary three-part harmony; they also got to hear a considerable array of old favorites in addition to a few new offerings. Couple these with the fellows’ unfeigned affability and you had the makings of a grand night...

Alta’s Allen Jahde landed this northern pike, at over 37 inches and 11+pounds, to qualify for the Iowa Master Angler’s Award. The 73 year old said he has been fishing for almost all of his life. He caught the whopper on West Lake Okoboji, using a chub, and said it didn’t go easy. “Considering it’s winter, it put up a pretty good fight, taking off and coming back. It probably took five minutes to reel it in.”...

Ida Grove writer Kim Claussen has released her debut romance novel, “Till Tomorrow.” It is available now at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. The story: Struggling to maintain her families’ privacy, Katie Salem escapes her small, hometown in search of the comfort of anonymity for the summer with her two kids. ...

Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum recording artist Styx will perform at the Tyson Events Center on Wednesday, March 29th at 7:30 p.m., featuring special guest John Waite. Tickets are available at the Tyson Events Center Box Office, online at TysonCenter.com, or by calling 800-514-ETIX. Tickets start at just $29 – no ticket over $69!...

So, you think YOU like to read? The top borrower of 2016 at the Storm Lake Public Library - who will remain anonymous - checked out 510 items over the 12-month period, valued at nearly $6,400. The most prolific patron beat out second place by just 13 items. The five top borrowers of the year all checked out more than 300 items...

One of the four finalist candidates for the presidency of Buena Vista University has withdrawn from consideration, according to a report by the student online newspaper, The Tack. The university has been searching for a new leader since current Fred Moore announced last September that he planned to step down this year for family reasons...

The Buena Vista University Dance Team will be performing at the Iowa Energy NBA developmental league game Thursday, Feb 23, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Game time is 7 p.m., and tickets are available now.

Average retail gasoline prices in Iowa have fallen 0.5 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.31 at the start of the week,slightly above the national average that has increased 1.4 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.27. Storm Lake gas had been stable at around $2.10 early this week, then jumped nine cents on Wednesday...

On the evening of Monday, February 13, at approximately 8 p.m. Storm Lake Police report they were involved in a short vehicular pursuit. Police report that an officer on patrol attempted to stop a vehicle in the 1700 block of Lake Avenue after observing the driver who was known to the officer as allegedly not having a valid driver’s license...

A mother and daughter strolled along the Awaysis Beach jetty Monday afternoon, taking advantage of a springlike day. The lake on one side of the jerry was thawed open, while the other side remained locked in ice. / Pilot photo by Dana Larsen

What a crazy winter we have had. Like a pendulum, the temperatures have been up and down. We’ve had more rain and ice than I can remember in a long time. When we get those rains and ice systems coming through, then I worry about how the upland game birds, wild animals and our songbirds will do. ...

Storm Lake St. Mary’s School will be holding Kindergarten Round Up for the 2017-18 school year March 2 at 6 p.m. and March 3 at 9 a.m. Parents and students can meet the teachers and staff and tour the St. Mary’s facilities. Those interested in a faith-based choice in education can contact the school at (712)732-4166 for more information. ...

Subcommittees are in full session. Subcommittees are the first step for a bill to become a law in the legislative process and the public is welcome to speak to their legislators about the policies addressed in the bill. I chaired one sub last week and served as a member on one other. ...

The signing of a White House memorandum on Jan. 24 by President Trump apparently clears the way for the Secretary of the Army to approve an easement that will green-light the completion of the last Dakota Access Pipeline segment under Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation in North Dakota. The pipeline crossing is on private land north of the reservation...

Seven Storm Lake High School choir members were selected to participate in the 56th Annual Northwest Iowa High School Honor Choir Festival held at Dordt College on Thursday, February 9. Thirty-four schools were represented in the 250-voice honor choir directed by John Flanery of Morningside College. Representing Storm Lake were Eve Thomas, Dalton Walker, Dustin Robinson, Nailea Valdivia, Kevin Thayer, Arwal Andrews, and Nang Khang...

Project bids were the main topic of Newell-Fonda’s February 13th meeting. Bids were reviewed concerning the construction of the track and football field project. A bid of $799,796.19 by Beck Excavating out of Spirit Lake was accepted. An alternative bid of $71,437.80 was also received. Funds for the project will come from the local option sales tax that is already built into the budget. Construction will begin when weather permits...

Results for home sales are in from the Iowa Association of Realtors® for 2016. Home sales and median home prices rose throughout the year according to the official yearly housing trends. 42,671 properties were sold in 2016 compared to 40,778 in 2015 in Iowa...

The City of Lakeside was presented with a petition against mandatory garbage collection Tuesday night, but City officials say residents are being stirred up prematurely and no decision has been made to go to such a system. The local garbage haulers, Kevin and Deanne Neuroth, presented the petition. ...

Trumpeter swans arrived at King’s Pointe Tuesday, joining the hundreds of Canada geese who have rested on the melting ice on their journey north, and some resident birds who have ridden out the winter on the lake. In recent years, the waterbird migration has arrived in Iowa earlier than normal, with patches of open water beckoning. / Photo by Hugh Perry...

What’s the width of a 1970’s concrete wall - five, six inches? That’s all that separates two of Storm Lake’s premier cultural facilities, the public library and Witter Gallery. Yet the heads of the two boards had to introduce themselves to each other this week, having not formally met before...