Stories from Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Anna and Lydia Brandt are your typical teenagers. The two sisters and best friends like to joke around and hang out with friends off the basketball court, but they're competitiveness and passion for the game quickly comes into focus the moment they step on the hardwood...

Getting to the top of the pedestal never comes easily. It takes hour upon hour of sacrifice and dedication and a burning desire to succeed. It's been four long years since the Harris-Lake Park boys basketball team has tasted that sweet smell of success, but the Wolves are hoping to get back to the front of the pack and bring home the program's sixth conference title behind a defensive-minded group of players...

GIRLS BASKETBALL THE SCORE: Harris-Lake Park 47, Graettinger-Terril 24 Tuesday, Jan. 4, in Terril MOMENT OF THE GAME: After throttling the Knights by 34 points in their first meeting, the Wolves pulled out an ugly 23-point victory to start the second half of their season...

Spirit Lake shot the ball like they were coming off a 17-day layoff, hitting on a season-low 12-of-51 field goals in a disheartening 53-40 loss to Western Christian Tuesday in a Lakes Conference girls basketball showdown between two of the favorites to compete for a league crown...

The Spirit Lake Park wrestling team boosted its perfect dual record to 8-0 Monday night with a couple of non-conference victories over Graettinger-Terril and Sioux Center. The Indians handed the Knights a 54-24 setback before taking down the host Warriors 46-27. Despite winning five of seven head-to-head matches, Graettinger-Terril fell to 7-5 on the season after dropping a 40-36 dual to Sioux Center...

When Chris Block's eighth grade language arts students drew names of heroes, few of the Spirit Lake youngsters realized they were just months away from video chatting with the CNN-award winners in their own classroom. Block began the project in October, working with her four sections of students, dividing the 25 CNN Heroes named in 2010 among her pupils...

"Slow, steady growth has been the defining feature in Iowa's population for more than a hundred years," says Gary Krob, coordinator of the State Library of Iowa's State Data Center program. "The data from Census 2010 continues to show just that." Those same census numbers show faster growth elsewhere, however, and Iowa will lose one of its five seats in U.S. House of Representatives as a result...

With a band called The Buzzards and a ballroom named The Chicken Inn, you could say the 2011 list of Iowa RockNRoll Hall of Fame inductees is for the birds. Actually, the selection process was more difficult than ever, according to Doris Welle, the executive director of the Iowa RockNRoll Music Association. The group came out with its list of Labor Day weekend honorees on Monday...

Call it "book whispering," or "page pairing," Val Karczewski, Lake Park Library director, will be the first to tell you Peg Gunderson has a special gift. After all, Karczewski notes, "you have to really know a person to match them with what they might want to read or watch."...

"Why is our mother good at everything?" My sister's voice is treading a fine line between awe and agitation as my mother does a post-strike curtsy on the bowling lane. As if my mother's beaming smile as she took her seat couldn't tell me of her reasons for gloating, I glance up at the scores...

Dear Editor, It's official! In 2010, World Bicycle Relief has distributed record numbers of bicycles, we've provided access to education for thousands of Zambian students and been named one of Barron's Top 25 Best Givers! Here's a quick recap: May 2010: Renowned international journalist Nicholas Kristof meets Abel, a 17-year-old AIDS orphan in Zimbabwe. ...

I've been mulling over something a very smart co-worker said to me this week: time is relative. It moves faster or slower depending on your age, your work load and enjoyment of whatever you're doing at the moment. If you are my approximate age and grew up on a farm, you probably remember how long summers used to last when you spent day after sweaty day walking beans or de-tasseling corn. The start of school (and an end to the 12-hour chore days) seemed to take forever...

A Piece of Work, Inc. is excited to announce that due to popular demand, Member Artist Avis Davis will be teaching another Watercolor Class beginning January 8. The Watercolor Class will consist of four two-hour sessions. Beginning Saturday, Jan. 8, the class will meet for four Saturday mornings (Jan. ...

June 8, 1932 - Dec. 28, 2010 Funeral services for Ray Yaw of Lake Park were held Friday, Dec. 31, 2010 at the United Methodist Church in Lake Park. Burial was at Silver Lake Cemetery in Lake Park. Ray Dean Yaw was born June 8, 1932, in Alta, the son of Russell and Evelyn (Carlson) Yaw. ...

June 23, 1924 - Dec. 27, 2010 Funeral services for Evelyn Wiese of Lake Park were held Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010 at the First Presbyterian Church in Lake Park. Burial was at Silver Lake Cemetery in Lake Park. Evelyn June Walker Wiese was born June 23, 1924, to Charles and Ethel Walker in Lake Park...

April 17, 1935 -- Dec. 25, 2010 Wayne L. Mittman, 75, of Muscatine, died on Saturday, Dec. 25, 2010, at Carrington Place, after a 10-year battle against Parkinson's Disease. A Celebration of Life Service was held on Tuesday, Dec. 28, at the Sweetland United Methodist Church. Rev. Jim Turner and Pastor Gertie Nichols will officiate the service. Private burial will take place in Greenwood Cemetery...

Feb. 14, 1930 -- Dec. 31, 2010 Virgil L. Rohlf, 80, of Ankeny died Friday, Dec. 31, 2010, at Mercy Medical Center. Mass of Christian Burial was held Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011, at Our Lady's Immaculate Heart Church in Ankeny. Private interment will be in Ankeny Memorial Gardens Cemetery...

July 27, 1925 -- Dec. 29, 2010 Funeral services for Gwen Noble, 85, were held on Jan. 3, 2011, at the Union Memorial Church in Milford. Gwen passed away peacefully in her home on Dec. 29 with her children at her side. Daughter of Hugh and Matilda (Neilly) Anderson, Gwen was born in Estherville on July 27, 1925. She graduated from Terril High School and AIB College in Des Moines. Gwen married the love of her life, Bob Noble, on Feb. 17, 1946, and they made their home on a farm west of Milford...

Dec. 3, 1920 - Dec. 27, 2010 Funeral services for Harold Campney of Arnolds Park were held Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010 at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Burial was at Lakeview Gardens in Spirit Lake. Harold Henry Campney, the son of Oliver and Mabel (Thompson) Campney, was born Dec. ...

July 9, 1918 -- Dec. 15, 2010 Annamarie Larson Olsen, 92, of Clarion passed away on Dec. 15, 2010 at CareAge of Clarion following a month-long illness. Funeral services, conducted by Rev. Ryan Lambert of Corvallis, Ore., will be held at the Ewing Funeral Home in Clarion at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 7, with a light lunch served at St. John's Catholic Church to follow. Interment will be at the Graceland Cemetery in Sioux City...