Stories from Friday, October 8, 2021

Dr. Christine Bean is a 2000 graduate of Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Bean is a veterinarian at the Lake View Veterinary Services where she practices mixed animal medicine. The Iowa Veterinary Medical Association Executive Board meets at least three times a year and is comprised of 22 members from 20 districts in Iowa. A board member is elected as a representative by the members of his/her district and serves a two-year term...

Storm Lake United and Buena Vista Regional Medical Center continue Sassy Saturdays being held this October in Storm Lake. You will have the opportunity to save big on three more Saturdays:  October 9th, 16th, and 23rd.  Take advantage of great deals and specials while supporting a worthy cause.  ...

Jones Nursery turned into a seasonal playground last weekend for the Pumpkin Patch celebration. Young visitors enjoyed a corn play box, petting zoo with goats, pigs and chickens, and other fun activities. Proceeds from the event help the BVRMC Foundation. / Photos by Dana Larsen...

Imagine a family of six people coming to your house. They knock on the door. They look tired, frail, dirty and very hungry. They are desperate. Two of the six people are under six years old. Their clothes are rags and their shoes are barely still on their feet. ...

Like some people these days, I worry about a common meeting ground, for folks who differ quite a bit on culture, politics, and the usual topics. For those who felt discouraged by technology failing to unite us, I happened to find an article on the Clubhouse app. ...

Every day when the alarm goes off and I peel open an eyelid, and take stock of which body parts hurt/decline to work today, I am sorely tempted to call it a career and go back to sleep. But I can’t. Because of #@%*! Chuck Grassley. Grassley is 387 years old, and he got out of bed and went to work this morning. And probably ran 400 miles and did a thousand pushups and fed chickens or something first...

The Artisans Road Trip will return this weekend - Saturday, October 9 - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, October 10 - noon to 5 p.m. The Artisans Road Trip is a free, self-guided studio tour in northwest Iowa held annually on the second weekend in October, featuring many northwest Iowa artisans who work in a variety of mediums...

Lizard Lake Wildlife Area’s resurgence began 10 years ago, when the 270-acre shallow lake was drained to rid itself of an unwanted carp population and to get vegetation established as a way to improve its poor water quality. “Our driver is water quality and as far as that project is concerned, it has been hugely successful,” said Clint Maddix, wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. ...

Buena Vista County leaders continue to work towards alternatives to continue contributing to some area non-profits after a state crackdown on counties donating to outside agencies. The county is still working with Elderbridge Agency on Aging, hoping to arrange a 28E agreement to allow for funding to be delivered. Issues remain with the paperwork from Elderbridge, but the county expects the situation to be resolved soon...

Storm Lake Mayor Mike Porsch on Monday proclaimed this week as Fire Prevention Awareness Week in the city. The proclamation reminds residents to examine their homes for fire hazards that can be eliminated, to ensure that smoke alarms are working properly and are located on every level of the home and near kitchens and each bedroom, that families have a plan for exiting homes in case of fire and a designated meeting point away from the home. ...

Storm Lake St. Mary’s 5th and 6th graders went on a canoe trip and conducted a pond study at Gabrielson Park in Sioux Rapids October 1. Buena Vista County Naturalist Katie Struss hosted the environmental education opportunity. /SM Schools photo

The Buena Vista Regional Medical Center Fitness & Health Center will be offering an Indoor Pickleball League with two season options. Early Season will be held from October 18-December 10, 2021. Late Season is January 10 – March 4, 2022. With two indoor courts and flexible schedules, games last an average of 15-20 minutes with single and double options. ...

The brilliant fall color in our landscapes is a magical transformation that happens each year. And the science behind it is just as intriguing. Each fall as the days shorten our deciduous trees and shrubs begin this transformation. The plants produce less of the chlorophyll that gives leaves their normal green color. The existing chlorophyll starts breaking down, revealing the underlying pigments of yellow, red or orange...

State Treasurer Michael L. Fitzgerald recently awarded a $529 College Savings Iowa contribution to the Brostad family of Storm Lake as part of the 2021 College Savings Iowa Child Care Giveaway. Two-year-old Emma, who attends Ready, Set, Grow, was randomly drawn as the Northwest region winner...

The Storm Lake High School band marched to first place in 4A competition during the Carroll Band Day festival. / SL Music Boosters photo

July 23, 1960 - September 9, 2021

October 2, 1965 - August 27, 2021

STORM LAKE - Following a national search, Buena Vista University (BVU) director of athletics, Scott Brown, has announced that Sean White will be named the next head coach of the BVU wrestling program.   White, who's been the program's acting head coach since August, has been with the program these last seven seasons as the top assistant. During that time, he helped coach 13 regional placewinners, two national qualifiers, one All-American (NWCA) and 10 Scholar All-Americans. ...

WAVERLY - A day of personal records sends the Buena Vista men's cross country team to a fifth place finish on Saturday at the Huston Invite in Waverly. For the first time in 10 years the Beavers had six members under 28 minutes, leading the team to its best finish of the fall season...

WAVERLY - Less than one minute separated Buena Vista University's top runners at the Wartburg Invite on Saturday, leading to a season best seventh place finish. Three top 32 times earns the Beavers a team total of 183 points, just one back of Mount Mercy, but 17 clear of Clarke College...

STORM LAKE - The Buena Vista University volleyball team came out a little slow at the start of the match but it quickly found its groove midway through the opening set and rolled from there to a 3-0 sweep against Bethany Lutheran at home on Tuesday...

Alta-Aurelia will be looking to pick up their second straight win this week as the rest of the area teams are will try to comeback after losses last Friday. 0-6 Storm Lake will host 4-2 Fort Dodge tonight at 7 p.m. Fort Dodge has lost two straight, first a 14-41 loss to Webster City, and a 0-28 shutout at the hands of Spencer last week. ...

CHEROKEE - The Storm Lake cross country team traveled to Cherokee for a meet on Tuesday. The boys team took sixth place while MOC-Floyd Valley won the meet. Sophomore Luiz Martinez paced the Tornadoes with a fourth place finish in a time of 17:28.83 while senior Tyler Moon took eighth place at 17:56.37. Senior Matt Lenzmeier placed 30th at 18:46.80, senior Dylan Sliefert came in 49th at 20:18.42 and freshman Tyler Bauer took 50th at 20:24.92...

LAKE CITY - The Alta-Aurelia, Sioux Central and Ridge View cross country teams ran in the South Central Calhoun invitational on Tuesday. On the boys side the Rebels placed fourth, the Warriors came in ninth and the Raptors got 10th out of 12 teams while Ogden won the meet...

STORM LAKE - The Storm Lake volleyball team got outplayed in a 0-3 loss to 2A #5-ranked Western Christian at home on Tuesday evening. The Tornadoes offense never got going throughout the night. They scored the first point in the first set for a 1-0 lead but that was the only lead they would have on the night as the Wolfpack cruised to a 25-13 win in the first set, 25-4 win in the second and 25-8 win in the third...

STORM LAKE - The Storm Lake St. Mary’s volleyball team split a pair of matches at their home triangular on Monday evening. In their first match they quickly dealt with Whiting, taking a 25-11 win in the first set before winning the second 25-13 to win the match 2-0...

ALTA - The Alta-Aurelia volleyball team took a 3-1 win over Pocahontas Area at home on Tuesday evening. The Warriors fought hard for a 25-21 win in the first set before dropping the second set 22-25. They picked up their game hard in the third set though to take a 25-11 win before securing the match win with a 25-17 win in the fourth...

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and several other GOP governors met in Texas on Wednesday to discuss immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border and call for changes to federal immigration policy. “Joe Biden has done absolutely nothing to confront this self-inflicted crisis,” Reynolds told Texas reporters, referring to rising rates of illegal border crossings...

Rep. Cindy Axne told reporters Monday that her comments were “completely misconstrued” in an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight. In a segment of the show last week, host Tucker Carlson criticized a recording of Axne speaking at a Zoom event. In the clip Carlson aired, Axne spoke about “anti-vaxxer crazies” responding to mask mandates at schools before speaking briefly about “the Christian Right.”...

Iowa State University recently dedicated its new Student Innovation Center, a highly flexible, technology-rich campus hub for project-based learning, entrepreneurship and multidisciplinary collaboration. The facility provides space for students, faculty and staff to share ideas, experiment and create new products...

SALUD Multicultural Health Coalition will be hosting a Candidate Forum for the public on Wednesday, October 13, 5-7 p.m. at the Storm Lake Elementary School gymnasium, 1810 Hyland Drive. Candidates for mayor, city council and school board in Storm Lake will participate...

The state Public Defender’s Office is proposing to locate a public defense attorney in Storm Lake for the first time. Fewer and fewer private attorneys are willing to take on court-appointed defense roles for the amount the state pays, Assistant State Public Defender Kurt Swaim told the Buena Vista County Board of Supervisors recently...

Storm Lake United will receive an additional $6,600, after CEO Lee Dutfield approached the city council Monday to request additional funding. The agency receives $30,000 from the city’s general fund for fiscal 2021, plus 20 percent of city hotel/motel tax revenue aimed at tourism advertising efforts, which was estimated at $56,000 at the time of budgeting. The hotel/motel share has turned out to be over $5,000 less than that amount, according to Dutfield...

Storm Lake Police officers and supporters took part in a ribbon-cutting Wednesday to dedicate the Operation Hoop Dreams project, a basketball court built adjacent to the police station. Last year, while middle schoolers were attending classes at the high school during the pandemic, officers would play catch with them after school in Seneca Park, and learned that the youth wanted to play basketball, but had no place to play in the central part of town. ...

A decision on a $350 million Platinum Crush soybean processing plant will have to wait for a few more weeks. During a meeting Tuesday, Buena Vista County Supervisors tabled a zoning decision for the 440-acre site between Storm Lake and Alta for a third straight week...

Will flu activity rise as mask use and social distancing wane?

Ambitious Linn Grove Dam restoration plan aims to turn a disaster into ecotourism attraction

Storm Lake 0, Fort Dodge 42 Alta-Aurelia 36, North Union 20 Newell-Fonda 49, Glidden-Ralston 7 Sioux Central 8, Western Christian 21 Ridge View 41, Emmetsburg 14