Stories from Friday, May 7, 2021

The Alta City Council considered city road repair projects at the May 3rd meeting. If approved, the estimated cost would be $25,712. Doug Standerwick, sales and project estimator at Bargen, Incorporated, presented proposals to the council. He recommends having a seal coat substance known as RePlay applied to the streets to extend the life of the pavement. He explained that Replay stops water penetration and has the potential to extend the life of highways, streets and parking lots...

It was late summer 2020, and I was painting and doing maintenance on my old 1880’s farmhouse when a friend asked a simple question, “Would you like to do an art show? My simple answer, YES! And then, another artist asked. And this is what happened! It was perfect. Yes, it was that slight hint of hope, a suggestion – a nudge to get the Rocking M Farm Store concept launched...

Texas-style bluesman Rocky Athas will be in concert at Byron’s in Pomeroy Sunday, May 9, starting at 5 p.m. Rocky, known by critics and fans as The Texas Tornado, The Malice from Dallas, The Young Eric Clapton and The Last Great Bluesbreaker Guitarist, possesses an arsenal of punishing guitar riffs and catchy hooks that have opened every door. From his first solo album at Willie Nelson’s studio with multi-Grammy winning producer, Jim Gaines, to recording with Buddy Miles and SRV’s Double Trouble to Glenn Hughes, Joe Walsh and John Mayall, Rocky has a blues rock pedigree that reads like a Who’s Who of musicians. ...

The Extreme Bull Riding Tour will be coming to the Buena Vista County Fair, Friday, July 9. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and is included with fair admission. Since 1997 the Double S Bull Company has been touring the Extreme Bull Riding competition, entertaining audiences across the Midwest. Based in Sidney, Iowa, the show is the largest and most-awarded of its type in the midwest. About 30 bull riders take part in the tour each year...

The Gary & Dani Show return to Innspiration Wines & Vines at Linn Grove,  Sunday, May 30. Showtime is 5:30 p.m. Gari & Dani are a duet from Sioux City, performing music from the ’50s to the present. Their good-times show offer guitars, harmonica, percussion, and a few jokes thrown in for good measure...

Live entertainment is back at the Hard Rock Resort in Sioux City, after a year with the stage quiet. Regional favorite The Pork Tornadoes will appear June 4, 8 p.m. Tickets for the “beard pop” cover band are $15. David Allan Coe will follow June 5, 8 p.m. Tickets start at $30. The country outlaw singer-songwriter has scored hits with the likes of “The Ride,” “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” and “Longhaired Redneck.”...

Storm Lake man Rahim Esquibel was given a five-year suspended sentence and probation for a domestic abuse assault crime, despite the Buena Vista County Attorney’s argument for a prison term. Judge Charles Borth passed down the sentence May 3. Esquibel, 26, was arrested by Storm Lake Police in May, 2020 for a third offense domestic abuse incident against a female victim. ...

The Iowa Department of Public Health this week confirmed the first known cases of the COVID-19 variant, SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 - known informally as “India variant” for where it was first detected. There are no cases of the variant in Buena Vista County, according to county Public Health Director Julie Sather. Health officials are still learning about the characteristics of this strain...

After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey reintroduced the $93 trillion Green New Deal recently, western Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra spoke out against Washington politicians “attempting to force burdensome regulation on Iowa farmers.” Feenstra said he is a cosponsor of two proposals that he feel would be a more practical approach to environmental issues...

Storm Lake second grade teacher Kathryn Loew recently donated books her students had made to Kim Zimmerman for the elementary library collection. The students wrote about insects and each had to draw pictures and research their insect. Each book includes the work of four or five student authors. ...

Buena Vista University students collectively earned 30 awards at the 2021 Society for Collegiate Journalists National Contest. The following local students placed in the contest: Isabel Haas of Storm Lake earned first place in Radio News Package for “Immigration and the Iowa Caucus.” Haas graduated from BVU in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in digital media...

The Turn Around Dance & Gymnastics competitive dance team, the TTA Lightning, closed their season by competing in the Spotlight Dance Cup in Kansas City Missouri this past weekend. The following are the results of this competition. The TTA Lightning dance team is coached by Lexie Landis. ...

May is National Foster Care Month. This is a time to celebrate the families who are making a life-changing impact for Iowa children and teens, and it is also a time to raise awareness for kids who urgently need safe temporary foster homes or forever adoptive families...

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig this week commented on the Iowa Crop Progress and Condition report released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The report is released weekly from April through November. “The weather over the past several days provided a great window for farmers to plant,” said Secretary Naig. ...

May 16, 1933 - April 28, 2021

Iowans who want to see or hear the emergence of the 17-year periodical cicada will need to go on a road trip. While this fascinating, long-lived insect will indeed emerge this year, it will do so only in select parts of the Midwest and the east coast. The closest place for Iowans will be northern Indiana, according to Donald Lewis, professor and extension entomologist at Iowa State University...

The nation’s leading experts in the field of farm management, rural appraisal and ag consulting gathered in Las Vegas this week at their Spring Executive Council meeting and annual business planning session. Dennis Reyman (back row, second from left), AFM, ARA and partner at Stalcup Ag in Storm Lake, serves as president of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, the nation’s largest professional association for rural property land experts. ...

April 30th marked the 110th and presumably final day of the legislative session. But, we’re not done. Additional debate is tentatively scheduled for this coming week which may or may not bring the session to a close. Legislators do not receive “per diem” payments for days of session after the 110 days, so there will be additional incentive to get things done...

Mayor Mike Porsch officially proclaimed Storm Lake Proud week during a city council meeting this week. Clean-up and improvements will be taking place throughout the community May 15-22. “The appearance of the community reflects the quality of life,” Porsch said, asking people to be mindful of cleaning up their own properties, encouraging others to do so, and taking part in community projects like park and beach cleaning...

Curt Reis has been appointed as the new Buena Vista County Recorder. He was sworn in Monday during a county board of supervisors meeting, and assumed the position immediately. He replaces Shari O’Bannon, who retired midterm at the end of April after serving for more than 30 years...

Life looks so much different than it did two months ago in so many ways. The sun shines more. The grass is green. People look relieved. They are laughing. They are smiling and you can see their smiles! People are starting to live and love life. The last year has been hard. I see my memories pop up on Facebook of how life looked last year at this time and I feel a sense of relief that we are making our way back to “normal” or finding our “new normal.”...

For a conservative Iowa Republican, challenging Chuck Grassley would be like Boo Boo fist-fighting Yogi Bear for a picnic basket. But State Senator Jim Carlin thinks that the GOP living legend may be vulnerable for the first time. Grassley has been in Congress since 1974 - the year Nixon resigned in the Watergate scandal, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record, and Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles” hit the big screen...

Storm Lake’s longtime Community Service Officer, Pom Kavan, has been named Grand Marshal for The Big Parade - fitting 2021’s theme: A Salute to Hometown Heroes.  Kavan was hired as Storm Lake’s Community Service Officer in 1994, following a two-year period as a paraprofessional for Storm Lake Community School District. ...

President Joe Biden is pushing for free universal preschool and affordable child care for all, but local officials note that money is not the only obstacle to realizing such lofty goals. “We don’t currently have the infrastructure to handle 3s and 4s but if it was fully funded, then we would welcome the challenge of figuring out the infrastructure piece for sure,” Storm Lake Superintendent of Schools Stacey Cole says of the president’s preschool-for-all proposal...

LAKE CITY - The Newell-Fonda, Alta-Aurelia, Sioux Central and Storm Lake St. Mary’s track and field teams competed in the Twin Lakes Conference Meet on Tuesday. On the boys side Newell-Fonda placed second with 90 points, Alta-Aurelia placed fifth with 69 points, Sioux Central came in eighth with 52 points and St. Mary’s got 12th with two points. Pocahontas Area won the meet with 166 points...

STORM LAKE - The Storm Lake track and field teams hosted the Tornado Relays on Monday. The boys placed eighth with 23 points while MOC-Floyd Valley won the meet with 129 points. In the individual events Jailen Hansen won the 200 meter dash at 23.12 seconds and the long jump with a leap of 21-08.5...