Stories from Wednesday, August 10, 2011

"She's just a great person and is very well respected and we're glad to have her back home," said Spirit Lake superintendent Dr. Smith. "With her experience and Coach Skog stepping down, they have a pretty special relationship between the two, I think it'll be nice to have Rachel pick up where he left off and that's going to be something right up her alley. It was just nice timing and we're excited to have her in the district in a lot of ways."...

With choppy waters and an excursion boat as the backdrop, U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota brought passion and an assortment of iPads in her effort to wrangle last-minute support for Saturday's Iowa Straw Poll. She is one of six candidates to reserve space at the all-day event marked by music and food in Ames. Registration by iPad Tuesday afternoon assured her supporters in the Arnolds Park audience a straw poll ticket...

It's a badge of honor for baked goods and a perk for produce: Spirit Lake Mayor Blain Andera has proclaimed Saturday, Aug. 13, as the Lakes Area Farmers Market Day. The honor coincides with the 12th annual National Farmers Market week which began on Aug. 7...

The Spirit Lake City Council will hold off on a proposal to renovate the police station as part of a plan to focus on city hall. High costs and limited space prompted the council to nix the idea of combining police station and city hall at an Aug. 2 meeting. The total cost was believed to be in the range of $3 million...

Here we go again. A year ago at this time, the Iowa Hawkeyes football team was saddled with ungodly expectations and a slew of returning seniors on both sides of the ball. Three-year quarterback Ricky Stanzi and record breaking wide receiver Derrel Johnson-Koulianos were leading the charge on offense with soon-to-be NFL first rounder Adrian Clayborn, Christian Ballard and Karl Klug creating a wall on defense. ...

The $1.1 million dollar field turf project by the Spirit Lake School District is nearing completion. Ground work at Hafer Field and the Spirit Lake Sports Complex started in late May and has lasted slightly over two months for the turf and track renovations with the Indians practicing for the first time on the new playing surface on Monday morning...

HONORABLE MENTION Infield -- Paige Krause (Spirit Lake). Outfield -- Alli Gerking (Spirit Lake). CLASS 2A FIRST TEAM Pitcher -- Paige Compton (Durant-Bennett); Faith Schmidt (Emmetsburg); Kelsey Lough (Jesup); Tiffany Housh (Missouri Valley); Kaitlyn Caston (West Burlington). ...

Trailing 4-2 in the fifth inning, the Small Schools West exploded for seven runs and was able to hold on for a 10-8 win to take third place in the 35th annual Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association all-star series on Sunday, Aug. 7. The Small Schools East was able to chase starter Jared Shoning with four runs in the sixth to pull within one and had the tying run on base in the seventh before Ethan Westphal of Martensdale St. Mary's struck out the final two hitters...

The 143rd edition of the Jackson County Fair hosted the traditional Saturday night of racing at the historic Jackson Speedway for the six classes of cars. The evening's races were part of Hall of Fame Night at the speedway, and were co-sponsored by Tri-County Implement and Bank Midwest of Jackson...

A couple of things stand out about the Michelle Bachmann campaign. It's organized. News organizations had plenty of notice about her appearance Tuesday in Arnolds Park. There were accommodations for camera crews and radio stations when we got there...

The scores kept going lower and lower during the final round. By the end of the day, Kirby Pettitt had a new tournament record and the title of 2011 Northwest Amateur champion. Pettitt, a Carroll native and redshirt junior at Colorado State, shot a combined 7-under-par over the two final rounds on Sunday, Aug. ...

The Okoboji Booster Club and the Okoboji High School Athletic Department will be holding their Fall Sports Preview Night for the 2011-2012 school year on Thursday, Aug. 18, at the high school. The football team will scrimmage from 5 to 5:30 p.m., followed by the volleyball team from 5:45 to 6:15 p.m., and all fall sports teams will be introduced. ...

The 2011 Spirit Lake Fall Sports Kickoff is set for Friday, Aug. 19 during the Indians' football season-opener against Cherokee. The event will feature an unveiling of the brand new Spirit Lake Sports Complex, with a barbecue meal sponsored by Pure Fishing from 5-6:30 p.m. with the football kickoff set for 7 p.m...

With all the hot weather lately, you may be looking for something cool to do. Heading out in the middle of the night to watch the Perseid meteor shower may be just the thing for you. From now until mid-August, the Perseids will be a pretty impressive shower of "shooting stars"...

Building on the success of last year's inaugural event, Haley Isder, gallery director of A Piece of Work, Inc., hopes the second annual Chalkstock, on Saturday, Aug. 13, will see even more artists. Merging the ideas of a chalk festival with Woodstock, artists come to display their talents on the sidewalk with a soundtrack of 60s music in the background...

As another summer fades, a valuable but sometimes misunderstood Lakes area institution has completed another year, its 77th. The Okoboji Lakes Bible & Missionary Conference ended last Sunday. The "Bible thumpers" have left the building. The Conference is an inconvenient blessing for our area. ...

June 23, 1915 -- Aug. 2, 2011 Earl Thompson, age 96, of Okoboji, passed away Tuesday, August 2, 2011, at the Milford Nursing Center in Milford. He was born on June 23, 1915, in Spirit Lake to Walter and Mildred (Johnson) Thompson. Earl was united in marriage to Maxine Weaver on June 23, 1934, at Pikes Point State Park. Maxine passed away on Nov. 6, 1999...

June 11, 1910 -- July 26, 2011 A celebration of life for Ina Anderson, 101, of Milford was held Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011, at Good News Community Church in Okoboji. Ina Eva Lisa Mary Carlson Anderson was born June 11, 1910, to Gus and Barbara Carlson on their homestead near Williston, N.D. Gus was a tailor and Barbara was his faithful partner...

Blain and Kris Andera of Spirit Lake are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Miranda, to Michael Wahl, son of John and Laurie Wahl of Rockwell City. Miranda is employed at McAtee Tire in Marshalltown. Mike is the owner of Elite Property Management...