Stories from Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The animals have been groomed, pies have been baked and the photography exhibits have been framed for the annual Dickinson County Fair. The annual showcase is set to get underway Friday, July 19. The fair has a long and colorful history in Spirit Lake dating back to the early 1900s. ...

May 9, 1927 -- July 9, 2013 A funeral service for Charles "Skeeter" Lawrence was held on Saturday, July 13, 2013, at First Presbyterian Church in Lake Park. Interment was at Silver Lake Cemetery. Charles Eldon Lawrence, better known to his many friends as "Skeeter," was born May 9, 1927 to Paul and Mary (Nicholas) Lawrence on the family farm four miles northwest of Lake Park. He graduated from Lake Park High School in 1944. In 1946, he married the love of his life, Marcella (Sally) Lenz...

March 5, 1945 -- July 10, 2013 E. Mike Dobbins, 68, of East Peoria, Ill, formerly of Normal, Ill., passed away peacefully on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, at OSF Saint Francis Hospital in Peoria after suffering a cerebral aneurysm. His memory will be honored by the many, many hearts he touched as a longtime educator...

Nov. 2, 1947 -- June 9, 2013 A memorial service for Guy Hugunin will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 20, at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Milford. Guy Jackson Hugunin III (also known as P.T. Gustan), 65, passed away at home in Placitas, New Mexico, on Sunday morning, June 9, 2013. Guy was born in Sioux City on Nov. 2, 1947, to Guy Jackson Hugunin, Jr. and Ora Belle (Boardman) Hugunin...

Oct. 4, 1923 -- July 11, 2013 John Samuel Holtze has gone to The Lord after a long illness on July 11, 2013. John was born on Oct. 4, 1923 to Harry and Ruth Holtze in Sioux City. He graduated from Central High School in Sioux City and attended Iowa State University for one year where he joined the SAE Fraternity, before receiving his appointment to West Point Military Academy...

June 20, 1936 -- July 11, 2013 Margo Jean Brockmeyer, age 77, of Spirit Lake and formerly of Lost Island Lake/Ruthven, passed away Thursday, July 11, 2013, at the Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls, S. D. She was born on June 20, 1936 in Spirit Lake to Leo and Jesse (Poyzer) Happe...

May 29, 1922 -- July 11, 2013 Nancy Nilsen Blair was born in Bergen, Norway on May 29, 1922 to Agnes and Ingval Nilsen. She lived in Chicago and Estherville before moving to Lake Park where she spent most of her life. She was married to John Irvie Blair on Sept. 17, 1942 in Jacksonville, Fla. John was deployed to Europe the following day and Nancy returned to Lake Park to wait three years for his return from service...

Oct. 4,1940 -- July 12, 2013 Rita Alexander, 72, St. Joseph, Mo. died Friday, July 12, 2013 at Heartland Regional Medical Center. She was born Oct. 4, 1940 to Magnus John and Susan (Birosh) Albers in Minneapolis. Rita attended Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis...

Aug. 7, 1929 -- July 9, 2013 A funeral service for Roger Smith, age 83, of Milford was held Saturday, July 13 at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Milford. Burial will be at Fairview Cemetery in Terril. Roger Eugene Smith was born Aug. 7, 1929 to Russell Smith and Marian Johnson Smith in Spencer. He grew up in Cedar Falls and Spencer. Roger graduated from Spencer High School in 1948. As a young boy Roger spent most of his time as a farm hand working first for his Uncle Gus and Aunt Marge Johanson...

More than 500 sky lanterns will give a special glow to twilight over Lake Park on July 18. The second annual Sky Lantern Celebration is set to take place at the Lake Park Care Center beginning at 9:30 p.m. Partnering with the center are Lake Park Utilities and the Prairie Rehabilitation Services...

Northern Iowa Die Casting in Lake Park will soon add 18 new jobs as part of a $2.7 million, 12,600 square foot expansion. The addition will accommodate the growth of a local company that was founded in 1938. Northern Iowa Die Casting manufactures, assembles, and paints aluminum and zinc die castings for original equipment manufacturers. ...

Construction workers began tearing into the Okoboji City Hall parking lot Friday, July 12. The government building just south of McDonald's is in the midst of project that will produce a new retaining wall, parking lot surface and fencing. "(The parking lot) was getting old and starting to give way, it was basically falling apart," said Okoboji City Manager Dennis Daly. "It was time for something new."...

Spirit Lake's youngest pedestrians should have safer travels to start the 2014-15 school year. The City of Spirit Lake is in the early stages of a construction project to add sidewalk along Hill Avenue just north of 36th Street. The addition will allow for a direct connection to the elementary, middle and high schools...

Marilyn Maye has to laugh when she uses the phrase "57 years" to talk about her relationship with The Inn at Okoboji. "I don't think anybody has worked any one place for that long," she says. Her "Okoboji group," wouldn't have it any other way. Maye returns with three nights of performances -- July 21 and July 23-24. Meals are served each night starting at 5:30 p.m. The performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Lakeview Room...

This weekend at the 11-under baseball tournament, our son, Krew, broke is leg during a game. We would like to say thank you to the first responders, paramedics and Spirit Lake Indians 11-under team and coaches for the awesome care he received prior to leaving the field. Our family is so impressed by Chris I. & Coach Petersen and many others who helped to keep us all calm during this awful time...

Megan Lamison, 18, Spirit Lake, was charged with operating while intoxicated, possession of drug paraphernalia, consumption of alcohol by a minor, and failure to obey a stop sign at 1:40 a.m. Friday, July 12, at Center Lake Drive and 25th Street in Spirit Lake...

The Milford Commercial Club has a fundraiser that will be tough to "bleat." The group's inaugural Goating Fundraiser begins at 8 a.m. Friday, July 19, and continues through 5 p.m. Friday, July 26. During that time, Milford area residents can pay $10 ($15 if the sender wants to remain anonymous) to have a goat placed on the front lawn of a Milford friend or friendly rival. It takes $20 to have the goat removed and transported to another location in town...

Mediacom announced that it will provide statewide television coverage for the upcoming Iowa Girls High School Softball Championship games. Iowans will be able to tune-in on cable television and watch Mediacom's live coverage of all five championship games to be played Friday, July 26...

Spirit Lake couldn't slow down a smoking hot Sioux City East team that stretched its winning streak to eight games with a pair of non-conference doubleheader victories Wednesday, July 10 in Sioux City. The Black Raiders captured a 10-0 win in five innings in game one and pulled out an 8-0 victory in the nightcap against the Indians...

Harris-Lake Park equaled South O'Brien with a monstrous day at the plate, even though the Wolves couldn't come up with enough timely hits to cap off the home portion of their schedule on a winning note, falling 11-5 Thursday, July 11 in Lake Park. "We left 12 runners on base, which has kind of been the story of our season," said Harris-Lake Park coach Jared Rahe. "I actually thought we played a pretty good baseball game. They just hit the ball a little better than we did."...

Iowa Lakes Community College wrestling coach Cody Alesch has put his time in around the area to find some local talent on the mat. 2013 Spencer High School graduate John Christopherson was the first signing. He will be wrestling at 125 pounds for the Lakers. Christopherson was a four-time state qualifier and three-time state place winner with 150 career wins...

Okoboji never got much of a rhythm going in a season-ending 7-1 setback to Emmetsburg in the opening round of the Class 2A district baseball tournament Saturday, July 13 in Spirit Lake. The Pioneers were held hitless until there were two outs in the fifth inning and had two runners thrown out at home plate while a pair of young arms got knocked around on the mound by an athletic and experienced E-Hawk lineup...

An action-packed night of racing took place with 84 cars running on AGCO Employee Night at Jackson Speedway Saturday night, July 13, sponsored by GCC Concrete, Jackson Sports and AGCO. With racing in eight classes, the Miniakota Microsprints jump-started a full evening on the one-sixth mile oval. ...

What started out as a dream for 76 teams from Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, turned into a reality this past weekend for the Okoboji ninth grade girls basketball team as they won the Pacesetter Great Four-State Championship at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn...

Blaze Alesch hit a walk-off double to propel Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire to an exciting 2-1 victory over Alta-Aurelia in the quarterfinal round of the Class 1A District 2 baseball tournament Tuesday night in Alta. Alesch was also brilliant on the hill, tossing a three-hitter and striking out 10 batters en route to the mound win...

As if the return of ace pitcher Brandon Stoll wasn't enough, Reece Salmon ignited Spirit Lake in a big way as well with a two-run first-inning home run that propelled his team to a 17-6 dismantling of Emmetsburg in the semifinals of the Class 2A District 2 baseball tournament Tuesday at Indian Field...

Steve Cannon had a pretty clearcut goal when he first masterminded the Million Dollar Marathon -- a 4,000-mile relay across America to raise money for cancer awareness and research -- as he wanted to organize an event that was both inspirational and motivational to better educate the public about the disease...

Spirit Lake Republican Bill Northey on Saturday confirmed plans to run for a third term as Iowa Secretary of Agriculture. The Spirit Lake Republican made the announcement at the seventh "Bill's BBQ Bash," his annual campaign fundraiser at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines...