Stories from Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Oct. 5, 1959 -- Jan. 15, 2013 Lane L. Townsend, age 53, of Spirit Lake, passed away Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, at his home in Spirit Lake. He was born on Oct. 5, 1959, in Fort Dodge to Craig and Sheila Burch Townsend. Lane graduated from Marina High School in Huntington Beach, Calif., in 1979. He worked for many years at the Furniture Outlet and E.L.M. He enjoyed spending his spare time watching baseball and football...

May 15, 1947 -- Jan. 11, 2013 Lynn Dean Davis, son of Milton L. Davis and Lucille M. Wogen Davis, was born on May 15, 1947, in Estherville. His early childhood years were spent in Estherville and he moved to Spirit Lake in 1963, and graduated in 1965. ...

President Ronald Reagan was beginning his first term and singer Justin Timberlake was a newborn baby when a handful of creative Lakes Area residents broke out the brooms, swept out cabin fever and launched what is now known as the University of Okoboji Winter Games...

Sometimes, metropolitan cities and warmer climates are too much of a draw for a newly-minted doctor with a completed residency in hand. "We wanted to find a place like this that was warm and we looked and looked," Dr. John Leupold admits from his office in Spirit Lake. ...

Internet dating, it can be a dangerous, yet beneficial, tool. I'm sure many people across the world have found themselves in a similar situation to Manti Te'o. The Notre Dame football star received a lot of attention early on in the college football season when he played through the apparent losses of his grandmother and girlfriend. Last week, an investigative report by Deadspin revealed the girlfriend never existed...

It is an honor to serve you in the legislature. Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, served as the first day of the 85th General Assembly. On that day, I took the oath of office to serve as your State Representative for the next two legislative sessions. This is a responsibility I do not take lightly. I will do my best to represent the issues, stances and values of the people of House District 2...

Beginning in 2014, citizens born after Dec. 1, 1964, will be required to have a "REAL" ID to enter federal buildings, nuclear power plants and to board planes. Starting in 2017, anyone born before Dec. 1, 1964, will be required to have a "Real" ID to perform any of the aforementioned tasks...

Spirit Lake Fire Chief Dave Kollasch said an electrical short is responsible for damage to the lower level of a resort eight-plex Thursday morning on the north end of Highway 86. His department was paged at 9:21 a.m. Thursday to Cutty's Resort, which is less than a mile south of the Highway 9 and 86 intersection near Spirit Lake. Smoke was coming from the lower level of a rental unit on the southeast end of the Cutty's campus...

Clinging to a three-point lead entering the fourth quarter, Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire put away North Union with a 13-5 scoring run to finish off a 43-32 victory in a grind-it-out Cornbelt Conference dogfight Friday, Jan. 18 in Graettinger...

Okoboji couldn't figure out a way to stop fifth-ranked (Class 2A) Sheldon or get anything going offensively against them in a 73-29 road loss Friday, Jan. 18 in Siouxland Conference boys basketball play. "Sheldon's every bit as good as advertised," said Okoboji coach Ryan Paulsen. "They're a very complete team that scores in a bunch of ways and are very good defensively. We just had troubles at both ends with them."...

Okoboji put Sheldon away in the final minute of overtime to finish off a 62-57 road victory Friday, Jan. 18 in Siouxland Conference girls basketball play. The Pioneers went on an 8-3 scoring run in the extra session to put the game out of reach. "I really thought that they were just playing with no fear," said Okoboji coach Abby Goodlaxson. ...

Harris-Lake Park kept its stronghold on first place with a 59-14 victory over Corwith-Wesley-LuVerne Friday, Jan. 18 in Cornbelt Conference girls basketball action. The Wolves put together their best defensive performance of the season after holding the Panthers to five points or less in every quarter. CWL finished a dreadful 6 of 42 from the field for 14 percent...

Eighth-ranked (Class 1A) Harris-Lake Park used a suffocating defense to limit Corwith-Wesley-LuVerne to just 15 points in the first three quarters of an eventual 72-30 win Friday, Jan. 18 in Cornbelt Conference boys basketball play. "I thought defensively we played really well," said Harris-Lake Park coach Jeff Sohn. ...

Eighth-ranked (Class 3A) Spirit Lake was firing on all cylinders from the opening tip in a 75-18 victory over Storm Lake Friday, Jan. 18 in Lakes Conference girls basketball play. The Indians (9-5 overall, 6-3 in the Lakes) proved to be a tough defensive assignment for the Tornadoes, shooting 54 percent from the field (26 of 48) and drilling 9 of 20 shots from 3-point range. They assisted 20 of the 26 baskets and all 12 players that suited up scored...

Entering the game averaging just 2.5 points per game, sophomore Trevor Smith literally put Spirit Lake on his back in the final 20 minutes of a 62-58 overtime victory over rival Storm Lake Friday, Jan. 18 in a Lakes Conference thriller. Smith was in a zone the entire second half, scoring all 16 of his points and draining the game-tying 3-point dagger with 1:03 left in the fourth quarter. ...

Despite holding a 6-4 advantage in head-to-head matches, ninth-ranked Spirit Lake Park still couldn't get past No. 10 Spencer due to four open weight classes in a 48-33 dual loss that wrapped up the Lakes Conference regular season title for the Tigers Thursday, Jan. 17 at the Spencer Fieldhouse...

Wrestling with a lineup that featured three open weight classes, Okoboji did just enough to lock up a runner-up finish in the Siouxland Conference with a double dual split with MOC-Floyd Valley and regular season champion Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley Thursday, Jan. 17 in Milford...

Eighth-ranked (Class 3A) Spirit Lake fired in a season-high nine 3-pointers for the second consecutive night on the way to downing Sibley-Ocheyedan 59-50 Saturday, Jan. 19 in a non-conference girls basketball showdown in Sibley. "We think that's something that's a strength," said Spirit Lake coach Rick Reinking. "We don't mind shooting 3s at all if that's what they're going to make us do and we think that we have a number of really good 3-point shooters."...

Spirit Lake motored ahead of Sibley-Ocheyedan by 17 points to start the game en route to a resounding 56-32 victory Saturday, Jan. 19 in non-conference boys basketball action. "Anytime you hold an opponent to zero points in a quarter, you have to be pleased with your effort and execution," said Spirit Lake coach Nate Loenser. ...

Okoboji used its defense to put away a five-point game entering the fourth quarter, coming up with a decisive 16-6 run on the way to a 47-32 victory over Emmetsburg Monday, Jan. 21 on the road. The Pioneers capitalized with some clutch play on both ends of the court down the stretch from Abby Taylor and Emily Wintz after squandering a 22-14 halftime advantage in the third quarter. Taylor and Wintz combined for 30 points and nine steals...

Okoboji scratched and clawed to stay in the contest after a rough second quarter, but just couldn't come away with the go-ahead basket with the game on the line in a 48-46 setback to Emmetsburg Monday, Jan. 21 in a non-conference boys basketball showdown...

Faced with a 36-31 halftime deficit, fifth-ranked (Class 1A) Harris-Lake Park came out refocused and with a renewed energy level in the second half, surging to a 74-54 victory over Trinity Christian after going on a 27-12 scoring spurt in which they knocked down five 3-pointers Monday, Jan. 21 in Lake Park...

Four Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire wrestlers earned podium spots at the 43rd annual Herb Irgens Invitational held Friday and Saturday at OA-BCIG High School. Twin brothers Landan and Levi Paulsen were two of four individual champions for seventh-ranked (Class 1A) Woodbury Central, which won the 24-team event with 212.5 points. ...

Taylor Cody and Kaleb Vanderpool both finished as place winners for Okoboji at the 43rd annual Herb Irgens Invitational Friday and Saturday at OA-BCIG High School. The Pioneers ended up 16th out of 24 teams with 68 points, but they could've turned a solid day into a phenomenal performance after seven wrestlers finished one victory away from placing...

Harris-Lake Park easily topped Trinity Christian 66-36 in a Class 1A regional girls basketball tournament preview Monday, Jan. 21 in Lake Park. A balanced lineup and solid effort on the offensive boards allowed the Wolves to lead by double digits for all but seven minutes of the game...

Three of the four Dickinson County schools learned that they will be hosting games when the regional girls basketball tournament pairings were released for all five classes Monday by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. No. 8 Spirit Lake avoided two of the best teams in Class 3A -- No. 2 MOC-Floyd Valley and No. 3 Estherville Lincoln Central -- after being placed in Region 2. The Dutch were placed in Region 1 and Midgets will vie for a state berth in Region 3...

Senior Doug Miner and junior Zach Skopec both impressively wrestled their way to individual championships at the prestigious Herb Irgens Invitational Friday and Saturday in Ida Grove. On the strength of four top-three performances, which included third place showings from juniors Kenten Murray and David Trucksess, the No. ...

Spirit Lake ramped it up a notch defensively in the second and third quarters on the way to pulling out a 66-46 victory over Cherokee Tuesday in Lakes Conference girls basketball action. The eighth-ranked (Class 2A) Indians took the Braves out of their set offense with a 1-2-2 zone press, forcing 17 of Cherokee's 23 turnovers during that stretch...

Spirit Lake put together one of its most complete games of the season, surging past Cherokee for a 75-38 victory Tuesday night in Lakes Conference boys basketball play. The Indians scored over 19 points in each of the first three quarters and limited the Braves to single digits in the first and fourth stanzas...

Mike Street can only shrug when reporters ask him why Iowans still revere his son, Chris. The University of Iowa basketball program has seen plenty of good players over the past two decades, Chris Street's still-proud father says. Some were bigger. Others were faster...