Having contributed as a staff writer at the Spencer Daily Reporter for just shy of a year, Seth Boyes joined the Dickinson County News staff in March of 2017. In his first week at the DCN, Seth covered a train derailment near Graettinger. The tankers carrying ethanol burst into flames. Seth's photo of the event won first place for Best Breaking News photo at the 2018 Iowa Newspaper Association Convention and Trade Show in February. He won a second Best Breaking News Photo award for a shot of the fire at Zippers Gentlemen's Club that April, and also won awards for Master Columnist and Best Blog. Boyes graduated from Iowa State University in 2009 with a degree in Integrated Studio Arts. His original cartoons run regularly in the Spencer Daily Reporter and the DCN. Both he and his wife Janet hail from Clear Lake and have come to expect summers to be full of the hustle and bustle of tourists and visitors.

The natural solution

Posted Tuesday, October 3, 2017, at 4:09 PM

With the local debate over curlyleaf pondweed swirling around, we at the DCN thought we might suggest the introduction of another species to eat the curlyleaf and keep the public's boat motors unclogged. Wasps have been considered as a solution to emerald ash borers. Asian beetles were used to kill off aphids. Why not introduce another species to the Iowa Great Lakes that can eat up the curlyleaf for us?