Stories from Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Spirit Lake native Jeff Backerman and Sarah Teremi of Lansing, Mich., along with their parents, are excited to announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Jeff and Sarah both work at Big Ten Network in Chicago. Jeff works in the studio and Sarah is a producer. Their wedding will be held June 30 in Lansing, Mich...

Kimberly Hanson, a graduate of Buena Vista University, is to be married to Bob Solko, a graduate of University of South Dakota. Kimberly Hanson is the daughter of Patricia Thomas and the late Mr. Chris Thomas. She is a bar code analyst for Pure Fishing in Spirit Lake. Bob Solko, the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Solko of Lake Andes, S.D., is a utilities engineer for 3M in Brookings, S.D. A May 26 wedding is planned in Arnolds Park...

April 3, 1932 -- Jan. 23, 2012 Lenus "Leny" Edward Thelen, age 79, of Carroll passed away at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Mass of the Christian Burial was held Friday, Jan. 27 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Carroll with Rev. ...

March 29, 1921 -- Feb. 3, 2012 Kathlyn Johnson, 90, of Arnolds Park, passed away Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, at Hilltop Care Center in Spirit Lake. She was born on March 29, 1921, in Palmer, Iowa, to Josiah and Eva Moore. Kathy graduated from Akron high School in 1939, and the University of Northern Iowa, with a teaching degree. She was united in marriage to Laurel Johnson on July 4, 1944, in Kanawha, Iowa. Kathy taught for several years...

Oct. 9, 1922 -- Jan. 29, 2012 Eugene "Gene" F. Watters, age 89, of Indianola and formerly of Sanborn died on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, at the Westview of Indianola Care Center at Indianola. Funeral services will be held at a later date. Eugene Forrest Watters, the son of Forrest and Mae (Niswander) Watters, was born in Sanborn, Iowa, on Oct. 9, 1922. He lived his youth and received his education at the Sanborn Community School, graduating with the Class of 1940...

Nov. 4, 1924 -- Jan. 31, 2012 A funeral service for Elizabeth Giefer , 87, of Okoboji was held Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, at St. Mary's Catholic Church. Burial was at Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery in Jackson, Minn. Elizabeth Maxine Giefer was born Nov. 4, 1924, in Salem, S. D., the daughter of Fred and Florence (Gill) Roling...

Aug. 12, 1921 -- Jan. 27, 2012 Bonnie Beth (Meyer) Porter, age 90 of Spirit Lake, formally of Missouri Valley passed away Friday, January 27, 2012 at Lakes Regional Health Care in Spirit Lake. A Mass of Christian Burial was held Tuesday, Jan. 31, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Missouri Valley. The Rev. Mike Berner officiated. Burial was at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Missouri Valley...

Sept. 28, 1923 -- Jan. 25, 2012 A funeral service for Betty Wright, 88, of Arnolds Park was held Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, at Calvary United Methodist Church in Arnolds Park. Burial was at Okoboji Cemetery in Arnolds Park. Betty Wright was born Sept. 28, 1923, the daughter of Guy and Mabel (Harris) Bumgarner in Numa, Iowa. She was raised and educated in Numa...

March 21, 1930 -- Jan. 2, 2012 
Little did we know on the morning of Jan. 2, 2012, God was going to call Dad home. It breaks our hearts to lose him, however, he has not gone alone. A part of us has gone with him. Dad has left us with peaceful memories and though we cannot be with him, he will always be in our hearts. ...

In Jackie Richey and Mark Slattery's world, game days begin in all 50 states and encroachment penalties come from the close quarters they share in an RV they call home. The couple has only been married three years, but they are getting plenty of milage out of their relationship. ...

Football season may be done 'til next fall, but that should give you no reason to cry. There is still one sport that is nearly as attention grabbing as the NFL, the National Basketball Association. They are in the threshold of a compact and very exciting season...

Well, we all heard President Obama's "State of the Union" speech. Or should I say, we heard his campaign speech for the Union's state in 2013. Nothing was said about the state that our country is presently in. Our President is currently too busy flying around the country either sliding in right ahead of the GOP campaigners or following up right behind them so he can undermine their campaign contentions. ...

On Thursday, Feb. 2, House Republicans announced targets for the Fiscal Year 2013 budget. House Republicans have proposed a budget that is honest, transparent, and sustainable. The budget does not spend more than the state takes in, and will provide for priority services in the areas of education, health and human services, and public safety. It also does not use one-time money to balance the budget and it does not purposefully underfund commitments like the property tax credits...

One of the oldest parks in Spirit Lake may soon be undergoing a number of drastic improvements. Discussion centers around Memorial Park, located just off of Lake Street near East Lake Okoboji. A master plan for the park was reviewed at a recent city council meeting with input from the parks and recreation committee. ...

Four more players from the Spirit Lake football program will be continuing their football careers at the next level after inking letters of intent on National Signing Day. The Indians are reaping the rewards of a run to the Class 2A state championship game and record-breaking season in which they set a new school wins record and secured the first back-to-back playoff berths in school history...

Few people outside the Okoboji wrestling room knew what was going to happen after the team's subpar performance at last week's Siouxland Conference Championships, but the Pioneers rose to the occasion in a big way with a runner-up team finish at the Class 1A Sectional Tournament Saturday, Feb. 4 in Milford...

Class 2A No. 6 Spirit Lake Park went 5-1 in the championship round and finished with three more champions than any other team, allowing the Indians to squeak past host Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley by half a point for the team title at the Class 2A Sectional Tournament Saturday, Feb. 4 in Rock Valley...

Spirit Lake went into the Spencer Fieldhouse and came away with a doubleheader sweep over Lakes Conference rival Spencer Tuesday night to stay in third place with one game remaining. The Indians won the boys game 51-42 to improve to 12-7 overall and 8-5 in league play...

Harris-Lake Park went through a bit of a dry spell in the first half, but the Wolves seemed to flip a switch defensively late in the third quarter en route to a resounding 63-24 victory over Ventura that capped off a perfect 20-0 regular season 12-0 Cornbelt Conference campaign...

The Spirit Lake Park wrestling team pulled out all of the stops in the finals of a Class 2A regional dual with Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley and came away with a state dual berth after disposing of the Nighthawks 41-26 Tuesday at Sheldon High School. The Indians won five consecutive matches from 113 to 138 pounds to put away BH/RV. ...