Stories from Wednesday, April 12, 2017

A late-October visit to Milton Cycle in Fostoria included a few vintage motorcycles and a classic misconception. U.S. Rep. Steve King was in a room where bikes outnumbered constituents by a 10-to-1 ratio, so it was going to draw some attention when a guy with a camera, recorder and notebook arrived...

I seem to find myself in this position more and more these days. There’s just so many things one could comment on in the public eye. Initially, I wanted to talk about the Pepsi commercial that recently got pulled. But that’s getting to be old news at this point. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the White House Press Secretary supplied the masses with a new fresh-off-the-griddle social faux pas as only Sean Spicer can...

Spirit Lake-Okoboji tennis teams surrendered just one match loss in a pair of season-opening meets with Lakes Conference foe Estherville Lincoln Central on Thursday. The SL-O girls blanked the Midgets 9-0 at home, while the boys won 8-1 in Estherville...

Spirit Lake played host to its annual co-ed invitational track meet on Tuesday, April 11, as the area's best track athletes gathered at Spirit Lake High School's Sheryl Maahs Track. Dickinson County teams ran well on the night, as the Spirit Lake boys won, the Spirit Lake Park girls placed second and the Okoboji boys and girls teams each placed third...

Spirit Lake golf squads took on Cherokee and Western Christian in Lakes Conference links action Tuesday night, as the Spirit Lake girls hosted the Braves and Wolfpack at Okoboji View and the boys traveled to Hull. The Spirit Lake girls won easily at home, carding a combined round of 195 to best runner-up Cherokee (235) and third-place Western Christian (236)...

Spirit Lake-Okoboji girls and boys tennis teams kept their undefeated records intact Tuesday night with decisive wins over Lakes Conference foe Storm Lake. The SL-O girls won 9-0 at home, while the boys won 8-1 on the road. The Spirit Lake-Okoboji girls tennis squad earned its second straight 9-0 win to start the season, backing up a sweep of Estherville Lincoln Central by sweeping the Tornadoes at Speier Park...

District Court Judge Don Courtney on Tuesday set a hearing to determine scheduling for an upcoming attempted murder trial. Lakes attorney Jack Bjornstad asked for a delay on behalf of Scott Sidles, who was scheduled to stand trial on May 16. Investigators think the 55-year-old fired his .22-caliber pistol in the direction of his neighbor "with the intent to cause the death of another person and not under circumstances which would justify his actions," according to trial information documents that charged him with attempted murder.. ...

In their first home meet of the season, Harris-Lake Park golfers hosted Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen-Union on Thursday afternoon at Silver Lake Country Club in Lake Park. The H-LP boys earned a nine-stroke victory, besting the Royals 170-179, while the girls fell 235-260...

While race officials have yet to release official results more than four days later, Harris-Lake Park and Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire track athletes did run at a meet hosted by Clay Central-Everly in Spencer on Friday. Unofficially, Harris-Lake Park placed seven events in the top five at the meet, including three first-place finishes...

Judge Don Courtney on Thursday set a trial date for the second of two people accused of holding a Wahpeton resident against his will. Jordaen Duhn is scheduled to stand trail at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 2, at the Dickinson County Courthouse. The 23-year-old Spencer woman is accused of helping 20-year-old Tanner Meysenburg with an alleged forced entry and robbery Feb. 20 at 1127 Lakeside Ave. in Wahpeton. An occupant at the apartment was transported against his will to Milford...

Former Cornbelt Conference rivals hit the links Tuesday afternoon, as Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire hosted Harris-Lake Park in a non-conference golf meet in Graettinger. The H-LP boys edged the Titans 173-174. The H-LP girls carded a 247 on the day. The GT/RA girls did not field a complete team...

Okoboji boys and girls track athletes produced five first-place finishes Friday at the Western Christian Invitational in Hull. The girls squad earned four of the top finishes on the day to place third overall. Magan Christopherson won the 1,500-meter run in 5 minutes, 7.39 seconds. Mari Stein won the 800-meter run in 2:31.19. Mia Meyer won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:13.03, and the distance medley team placed first with a time of 4:46.53...

Morningside College’s women’s golf team finished in first place by a 12-stroke margin at the Nebraska Wesleyan University Spring Invite held Thursday at Holmes Golf Course in Lincoln. The Mustangs finished with a team score of 339 for a 12-stroke cushion over College of Saint Mary, which carded a 351 to edge host Nebraska Wesleyan by one stroke for runner-up honors...

A former assistant coach at Storm Lake High School has been named the new men’s and women’s cross country coach for Iowa Lakes Community College, Director of Athletics Troy Larson announced Tuesday. While Jared Bruce served as assistant coach for Storm Lake High School from 2010-2014, he coached numerous all-conference runners and a 4x800 team that earned second place at state in 2010...

The Iowa Lakes baseball team took on Sioux Falls JV team in a doubleheader Thursday night, managing to get two wins. The Lakers won the first game by a mercy rule of 11-0 and winning the second game 8-1. In game one, Bo Lovdahl was first to get the Lakers on the board with a solo shot off the scoreboard. ...

The Iowa Lakes women’s basketball team will be holding a clinic on Sunday, April 30 for girl’s grades K-12 at Iowa Lakes Community College Gymnasium, on the Estherville Campus. The first session will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for grades K-6 and the second session will be from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. for grades 7-12. The cost for the clinic will be $25 per kid, which will include a free clinic t-shirt and autographs from the athletes at the end of the clinic...

The Spirit Lake boys and Spirit Lake Park girls ran well at a two-day meet in Cherokee last week, as the boys placed fourth on Thursday and the girls placed fifth Friday at the Tomahawk Relays hosted by Washington High School. The boys earned a trio of top finishes, as Aidan Bauermeister won the 3,200-meter run in 10 minutes, 41.63 seconds, Zach Renken won the 400-meter hurdles in 57.04 seconds, and the 4x400-meter relay team won in 3:32.70...

Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire golfers dropped a pair of road meets to Alta-Aurelia on Thursday, as the boys lost 178-185 and the girls fell 198-271. The GT/RA boys were led by runner-up medalist Tyson Kruse, who carded a 44 on the day. Nole Bachmann, Brady Rosacker and Noah Flaherty each carded rounds of 47 for the Titans. Josh Petrich and Treyton Cacek each carded rounds of 50...

Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji soccer teams swept West Sioux during a road trip Thursday, April 6, as the girls and boys blanked the Falcons 3-0 and 2-0, respectively. Scoreless through one half, the SLP-O girls received a goal from senior Hazkhett Zeledon and two goals from junior Hannah Poolman to pull away for the win in Hawarden...

Hannah Butler earned medalist honors at a meet hosted by West Lyon on Thursday, April 6. The sophomore, who tied for sixth place at last year's state tournament, carded a 41 to edge West Lyon's Rebecka Riperda by two strokes. The Pioneers placed third overall with a combined score of 203...

Last Tuesday’s (April 4) informative meeting on curlyleaf pondweed held at the Rolling Oaks Barn was well attended with over 80 interested people there. As I sat through the presentation, I was pleased to see the positive information that came out of the meeting and also the positive attitude people had toward the situation...

It’s that time of year: The boat is being rigged, I’m putting fresh line on my reels, I’m calling friends to see if they have any good fishing reports, in short, I’m preparing for the open water fishing season. As I prepare, I have lots of memories, mostly good, about past early season fishing adventures. My recollection of the exact dates isn’t so good, but my memories of the events are fairly cloud-free. Here we go...

Everyone looks forward to spring and seeing familiar birds return from the south. Many people are getting outdoors with their binoculars and searching for sites to view waterfowl. It has been great to see large numbers of Snow Geese, Ruddy Ducks, Pintails, Goldeneyes, Hooded Mergansers and Buffleheads, some of whom have moved on. ...

Continuation of high quality sport fishing depends upon more anglers choosing to practice catch and release fishing. When landing a fish that you intend to release, it is important to handle it in such a way to reduce the chances for injury. If you use a net, consider using a knot free net...

Ordinarily, a slow moving vehicle at night in the Iowa countryside spotlighting deer, raccoons or coyotes would send Iowans to their phone, speed-dialing their local conservation officer, but in this case, it may be the officer doing the shining. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources annual spring spotlight survey is underway with Wildlife and Law Enforcement staff conducting nighttime counts of all furbearing animals, and white-tailed deer...

Last year, roughly 7,500 out of 1.6 million Iowa taxpayers helped boost wildlife conservation with donations to the Fish and Wildlife Fund on their state income tax form. Despite a steady increase in the total number of tax returns since 2009, the number of donations has stayed roughly the same since 2010...

Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire girls track athletes competed at a meet hosted by Southeast Valley in Gowrie on Tuesday, April 4. The Titans earned five top-two finishes at the Richard Ryan Relays. Returning state qualifier Toni Alesch won the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.07 seconds, and helped the 4x200-meter relay team of Ellie VohnEhwegen, Taylor Park and Emma Heinrichs to a first-place time of 1 minute, 55.78 seconds...

Harris-Lake Park golfers were in action Tuesday, April 4 at a meet hosted by Gehlen Catholic in Le Mars. The Wolves split on the day, as the H-LP boys won 171-219 and the girls fell 237-259 to the Lady Jays. Jordan Kyle earned the top individual finish for the boys, carding a 37 to take meet medalist honors. ...

Area track teams competed at a meet hosted by MOC-Floyd Valley on Tuesday, April 4. Athletes from Spirit Lake, Harris-Lake Park and Okoboji ran at the Dutch Relays held on the campus of Northwestern College in Orange City. The Spirit Lake boys took the top team honors in Class A, winning with a total of 133 points. Spirit Lake Park girls, Okoboji girls and Okoboji boys each placed third in their respective classes...

Spirit Lake boys and girls golfers hosted Jackson County Central on Tuesday, April 4 to open the spring golf season. The Indians split on the day, as the girls defeated the Huskies 194-214 and the boys fell 166-172. The Spirit Lake girls were led by runner-up medalist Marisa Weeks with a round of 44. Jackson County Central was led by medalist Abby Benson's round of 41...