Stories from Monday, December 5, 2016

Judge David Lester on Friday denied Lee Christensen's bid to have his second-degree murder conviction overturned, saying "Christensen has not met his burden of proving juror bias in this case." The Estherville teenager will proceed to sentencing at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21 at the Emmet County Courthouse. Lester set the sentencing date in a ruling Monday afternoon...

Dickinson County Nature Center naturalist Charles Vigdal is asking people in the Iowa Great Lakes Area to look up. Vigdal will host the final Star Trekking event at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13, at the nature center. The program is designed to teach people about astronomical phenomenon and inspire them to explore the night sky...

Aug, 3, 1969 -- Nov. 20, 2016 A funeral service for Marcia Lyn Osberg, age 47, of Vesta, Minnesota and formerly of Spirit Lake, was held Monday, Nov. 28, 2016 at Grandview Baptist Church in Estherville. Burial was at Lakeview Gardens Cemetery in Spirit Lake...

May 2, 1966 -- Nov. 26, 2016 A funeral service for Sean D. Enfield, 50, of Arnolds Park, was held Friday, Dec. 2, 2016 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Milford. Burial was at Calvary Cemetery. Sean David Enfield, the son of Dannie and Jane Enfield, was born May 2, 1966 in Pratt, Kansas. He graduated from Storm Lake High School and later attended WIT College in Sioux City...

Self-help/spirituality/parenting "Shaken: Discovering Your True Identity in the Midst of Life's Storms" by Tim Tebow. " The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness In A Changing World" by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, & Douglas Abrams. "Love Warrior" by Glennon Doyle Melton...

The student of the month program allows faculty members to recognize students for outstanding performance in one or more of the following: academic excellence, special effort in the classroom activities, concern for learning, positive citizenship, hard work and/or other personal behavior, which enhances the general school and classroom atmosphere...

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources wants to remind Iowa schools and communities that free seedlings will be available to them again this spring through the DNR's Trees for Kids program. Each school building and community may order one free packet consisting of 200 bare-root seedlings, 50 each of four selected species. ...

The Spirit Lake High School's Key Club will host its second annual "Warm Hearts, Warm Hands" winter clothing drive for families in the Spirit Lake community. The club began collecting used coats, snow pants, boots, hats, gloves/mittens and scarves on Dec. ...

The Milford Memorial Library will host a craft party after school on Thursday, Dec. 8, at the library for students in preschool through fourth grade. The theme this month is "Christmas Crafts." People are invited to make small tinsel wreaths from 3:30-5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 9, at the library. All supplies are provided, but there will be limited amount...

Natalie Rosenberg's decision to plant more than 100 sunflowers in her garden this year paid off in more ways than one when she earned third place in the illustrative category at the Professional Photographers of Iowa Fall Convention recently in Des Moines...

For many, the holidays are a time of plenty, but others still struggle to get by amid the festivities. For those in need of assistance, several groups at Iowa Lakes Community College are organizing drives for food, clothing and bedding. The student senate on the Estherville campus is hosting a three-day food drive, with all donations given to the Emmet County Food Pantry. Donations can be dropped off or brought to the following home athletic events:...

Students who want to get ahead or catch up on classes with their four-year or community college will be interested in classes held over the holiday break at Iowa Lakes Community College. A variety of transferable course work is available with some classes beginning as early as Dec. 15, and additional classes start just after the first of the new year...

The first of Iowa's popular shotgun deer seasons is Dec. 3-7. when an expected 75,000 orange clad hunters head to the timber. That group will be followed by 50,000 hunters who prefer the Dec. 10-18 second gun season. Each contingent will also pack along thousands of antler-less tags to extend their time in the field. Fans of cold weather purchase about 40,000 tags for the Dec. 19 through Jan. 10 late muzzleloader season...

The Iowa Area Development Group (IADG), on behalf of Iowa's rural electric cooperatives, municipal utilities and independent telecommunication companies, honored seven distinguished Iowa companies with the Iowa Venture Award at a luncheon held in conjunction with the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives' annual meeting at the Sheraton West Des Moines...

The first of Iowa's two shotgun deer seasons opens on Dec. 3 and while optimism for a successful hunt is the primary focus, hunters are encouraged to brush up on safe hunting practices. Basic firearm rules are pretty straight forward: treat every firearm as though it were loaded; always point the muzzle in a safe direction; be sure of your target and what's beyond it; keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot...

The Iowa Navy Commodores visited the ROC Management to celebrate the company's new Right Size Storage units with a ribbon cutting. The business has storage units available for rent across the Iowa Great Lakes Area. ROC Management is located at 1601 Keokuk Avenue in Spirit Lake. For more information, call 712-336-8400 or visit rightsize-storage.com...

The Iowa Navy Commodores welcomed Andersen's Clean Sweep to the Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce with a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday, Nov. 23. The cleaning company is licensed and insured in the state of Iowa. Andersen's Clean Sweep charges $35 an hour. For more information, call 712-338-0001...

The 2017 Crop Advantage Series offers a unique opportunity for farmers and crop advisors to hear current research and crop production information from Iowa State University in their own backyard. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach specialists will travel to 14 locations around Iowa from Jan. ...

The Meals On Wheels "Angel Tree" will be displayed at Blink Marketing, 1701 Okoboji Ave., Milford, on Highway 71, during the holidays. This program was designed to bring in donations that will directly allocate to the "Meals on Wheels" local programs...

A Milford woman returned home at 903 K Avenue after visiting friends at Hawkeye Care Center to discover smoke billowing from her house Sunday afternoon. Milford Fire Chief Jim Carpenter said he was heading home from his son's house when he found the woman on her front lawn. He stopped and called 911...