Stories from Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holiday season, as well as the year's busiest travel weekend. Whether you're driving across the street or across the country to reach your Thanksgiving feast, it's imperative to wear your seat belt as you travel. Increased traffic brings an increased possibility of a traffic crash...

This past week, the Kiwanis Club of Spirit Lake had an ad in the papers requesting nominations for their Citizen of the Years Award. The local club was chartered Dec. 10, 1947, and introduced the Citizen of The Years Award in 1949. Berkley Bedell and I are the only living persons present both at the charter night and the first award night. So, I write with that history in mind...

  The relationship between the United States and China has been called the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century. I couldn't agree more. It's also the most complicated. Trade, economic development and technological innovation are just a few of the issues currently putting pressure on relations between our two nations. As the United States attempts to navigate the challenging dynamics at play, it's critical to approach these issues from a position of strength...

This Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2018, marked the 100 year anniversary of Armistice Day, which ended World War I. Just over 73 years ago, World War II officially came to an end, and for some, that too was over a lifetime ago. Only 496,777 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were still with us at the start of 2018, according to U.S. ...

This week, the Iowa Department of Revenue issued new income tax withholding tables for 2019 that will conform to tax cuts passed by the Iowa House last session. This means-paychecks will be bigger starting in January. This is because employers will reduce the amount of Iowa tax withheld from their employees' paychecks, resulting in increased take-home wages for Iowa workers...

Though I realize it's a bit of old news at this point, I find it impossible to ignore the passing of comic book titan Stan Lee. Moreover, I find it poetic he passed the day after Veterans Day. Many aren't aware, but Stan the Man (birth name Stanley Lieber) served in the Army during World War II — one of only a few men categorized as playwrights (another being Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. ...

Join us for our first Spirit Lake downtown window and tree lighting on Saturday, Nov. 24. The downtown businesses, city of Spirit Lake and Spirit Lake Chamber of Commerce have combined efforts to brighten up Spirit Lake this holiday season. The grand lighting event will occur at 5 p.m. The lights will continue to be lit for enjoyment through the holiday season...

In a recent Dickinson County News Letter to the Editor titled "Please Stay Away, Mr. President" the writer bemoans the fact President Trump went to Pittsburgh to pay his respects to the victims of the mass shooting. The first two paragraphs of the letter were dedicated to negative comments about President Trump making an appearance in Pittsburg. ...

Betty Matthews Jan. 4, 1930 — Nov. 13, 2018 Betty L. Matthews, known as "Grandma Betty," age 88, of Milford, and formerly of Terril and Sioux Rapids, died on Monday, Nov. 13, 2018, at the Milford Care Center in Milford. Private family funeral services were held on Friday, Nov. 16, the Sliefert Funeral in Sioux Rapids. Burial was at Lone Tree Cemetery in Sioux Rapids. The Sliefert Funeral Home in Sioux Rapids is in charge of the arrangements...

March 9, 1934 — Nov. 17, 2018 Carol Johnson, 84, of Spirit Lake passed away on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018, at Accura Healthcare of Spirit Lake. Funeral services for Carol will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21, at the Good News Community Church in Okoboji. ...

June 25, 1947 — Nov. 13, 2018 Donahue "Don" Edwin Jones, 71, passed away Nov. 13, 2018. Born June 25, 1947, in Worthington, Minnesota, he grew up and lived most of his life in Round Lake, Minnesota, and Okoboji. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he found his love for the Golden Gophers and Vikings...

May 21, 1953 — Nov. 16, 2018 Donald A. Kruse, 65, of Arnolds Park passed away unexpectedly at his residence on Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. A Funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Spirit Lake. Visitation was held Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, at the Schuchert-Lentz Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Arrangements are under the direction of the Schuchert-Lentz Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Online condolences may be sent to spiritlakefuneralhome.com...

Oct. 12, 1938 — Nov. 11, 2018 Lois A. Langfritz, 80, of Spirit Lake, formerly of Eldora, passed away Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018, at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines. Mass of Christian Burial was Friday, Nov. 16, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Eldora. Interment was at the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Eldora. A memorial has been established. The Anderson Funeral Homes of Conrad has been entrusted with arrangements. Online condolences may be sent to andersonfhs.com...

June 16, 1938 — Oct. 27, 2018 A funeral service for Marvin Jungjohan, age 80, of Port St. Lucie, Florida and formerly of Lake Park, was held Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, at First Presbyterian Church in Lake Park. Marvin Vern Jungjohan was born on a farm north of Lake Park on June 16, 1938. He was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith and attended school at Sioux Valley Minnesota...

April 26, 1948 — Aug. 20, 2018 Micheal "Dyno" Glenn Mennenga was born to Henry S. Mennenga and Jean A. (Osborn) Mennenga, April 26, 1948, in Marshalltown. He graduated from Gladbrook High School in 1966, enlisted in the Air Force and served in the Vietnam War. He passed away on Aug. 20, 2018, at Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake after losing his battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...

June 17, 1926 — Nov. 12, 2018 Richard (Dick) Olson, 92, of Milford, passed away peacefully on Monday, Nov. 12, 2018. Dick was born on June 17, 1926, on the family farm near Terril to Leon and Helen Olson. Dick attended and graduated from Lake Center High School...

Mitchell Clark McCombs, age 23, of Spirit Lake was charged with third-degree sexual assault, vandalism and serious assault at 3:28 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, in the 100 block of 27th Street in Spirit Lake. McCombs was booked into the Dickinson County Jail at 4:36 a.m. the same day on charges of assault with injury and fifth-degree criminal mischief. Bond was set at $10,000...

Winter is tough in northwest Iowa. Most of us are fortunate to have warm coats, boots and heated homes with stocked kitchen cupboards to help us weather the season. Unfortunately, each winter hundreds of homeless cats and dogs don't have it so well. ...

The Humane Society of Northwest Iowa is happy to announce the hiring of Arin Miller-Kohn, as the organization's director. "We were excited to offer Arin the position," Board President Laura Gregory said. "Arin has solid experience for this role. Not only does she have an animal science degree, she has significant experience in human resources and event planning. We believe she can help advance the care of not only the animals, but the people who love them as well."...

  U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director Amanda De Jong reminds Iowa producers who experienced losses from natural disasters during the 2017 and 2018 calendar years that they may be eligible for assistance through the Tree Assistance Program (TAP), Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) and Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP)...

The Milford Memorial Library will be closed Thursday, Nov. 22, and Friday, Nov. 23, for the Thanksgiving holiday. The library will be open from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24. Milford Memorial Library is hosting the Festival of Trees again this year for Milford’s Holiday Fantasy. On Saturday, Nov. 24, participants will be able to start setting up their trees for the Festival of Trees. This year the Festival of Trees is 5:30-7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, during Milford’s Holiday Fantasy...

There is an urgent need for families to provide safe, temporary homes for teens in Iowa's foster care system. Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) Foster Care and Adoption recruits and supports foster and adoptive families in 30 counties in western Iowa...

Hope Haven, Inc. of Rock Valley announces the launch of the new company logo and brand identity. "After reviewing our needs in digital marketing and assessing how our brand was being received, we decided that we needed to find new ways to connect to the next generation of client families, donors and employees," Hope Haven Chief Executive Officer Matt Buley said. "We wanted a simple look that new people could grasp and remember in a split-second."...

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Dickinson County will host a pest control operators continuing instruction course (CIC) for commercial pesticide applicators on Wednesday, Dec. 5. The registration fee is $60 on or before Nov. 28 and $70 after Nov. 28. To register or to obtain additional information about the CIC, contact Katie Goodell at the ISU Extension and Outreach Dickinson County office at 712-336-3488...

William C. Wetzeler, President of The State Bank is pleased to announce Travis Cooke has joined their staff as Vice President in Spirit Lake. Travis’s responsibilities will include agricultural and commercial lending. Travis is originally from Spencer and is a graduate of Iowa Lakes Community College and the Omega Credit School. ...

The Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation once again recognized great achievement by local businesses recently at the organization’s annual Business Recognition Luncheon at the Clay County Regional Events Center in Spencer. Winners of this year’s Business Recognition awards are:...

Two free, fun family events are coming up over the holidays at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. A new "Hike Lakeside" series encourages the public to explore Lakeside grounds. It will kick off with an inaugural hike at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 23 — just in time to burn off some of those extra Thanksgiving calories. The hike will be led by Kelli Gallagher, naturalist and Lakeside Green AmeriCorps volunteer...

Start December with the Milford Commercial Club and Holiday Fantasy Weekend. The Milford Community Center will be buzzing with activity as the annual soup-and-chili feed returns. Serving begins at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1. The soup and chili are free, and attendees may vote for their favorite recipes — winners in each category lay claim to a traveling trophy. Remember to support the local Girl Scouts who will be selling desserts at the event...

SLHS Key Club leadership team members Emery Groen, Emily Werner and Devin Linn taught at Mrs. Klein's Fall Academy class called "You Can All Make A Difference." The focus was on gratitude and respect. Students participated in many lessons and activities that brought these words into their personal, academic and social lives. ...

Spirit Lake Middle School students raised over $15,000 for their fall fundraiser "Ready, Set, Give." The $15,127.97 collected as cash donations surpassed this year's goal. The proceeds from the fundraiser will be used by SLMS Partners In Education (PIE) to fund teacher requests for things like field trips, science experiments, learning tools and much more. First on the list is an upgrade to several drinking fountains at the school to make them capable of filling water bottles...

Benjamin Franklin thought the turkey was a more respectable bird than the bald eagle. It’s a myth that he wanted the national bird to be a turkey but rather that he was not pleased with the choice of the eagle and thought the depiction looked like a turkey...

The fall has been very busy but very successful for the Spirit Lake vocal music department. Ten Spirit Lake students auditioned for the Iowa All State Chorus on Oct. 20 and six students were accepted, which is the highest number since 1996. Accepted (from left) are Max Miller, Faith Nielsen, Nate Walsh, Anna Fuelberth, Sarah Weber and Max Bower. ...

Over 90,000 women educators from 17 countries are members of the professional honorary Delta Kappa Gamma Society International. Their mission is to promote professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education. The 15 members of the Area 12 Chi Chapter includes current, retired, or honorary women educators from Clay, Dickinson, Emmet and Palo Alto counties who meet six times between the months of September and April. ...

Bill Pankonin's EXIT Realty Upper Midwest was named "Region of the Year" for the second time at EXIT Realty Corp. International's 2018 annual convention held recently in Washington, D.C. EXIT Realty Upper Midwest is comprised of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois and represents a population of more than 30 million.  Pankonin joined EXIT Realty in 2005 as a franchise owner and, within a few short months, expanded to regional ownership...

Milford Commercial Club and Creative Photography are pleased to announce the Milford Business Trick-or-Treat costume contest winners. Willi Rabel, the sleeping sheriff, received the most Facebook votes for first place. Madelyn Hoss, the squirrel, finished second and Jeremiah Venteicher's Mickey Mouse costume finished third. Each family will receive a 5 X 7 print of their winner courtesy of Creative Photography plus $10 in Milford bucks...

Integrity Real Estate is happy to announce Kahley Gethmann as an addition to their professional staff. Kahley is proud to be born and raised in Spencer. Some of her best memories are growing up in small town Iowa and spending summers on Lake Okoboji at her family home. After graduating from Spencer High School in 2005, she went to obtain a bachelors degree from the University of Iowa in communication and human relations...

Experts of various kinds were working to get a pulse on Silver Lake's health in the early months of 2018. Now, the diagnostic testing is complete, and the surrounding community of Lake Park must weigh its options. Representatives of Wenck Engineering presented data and possible courses of action to the Lake Park community Wednesday evening in the Lake Park Community Center. ...

State Representative John Wills has taken on a new leadership role in the Iowa Republican party. The Spirit Lake resident officially became the party's majority whip after an in-house election Nov. 9. The new session will begin Jan. 14, but Wills said his new position took effect immediately. The role comes approximately four years after Wills was first elected to the Iowa House of Representatives...

A Sioux City surgeon's story of how God put his medical mission team in a position to save a trio of Tanzanian students severely injured in a deadly bus accident kept students at a local high school riveted. In this two part-series, Dr. Steve Meyer shares not only his experiences, but how he felt a greater power working to save the Miracle Kids of Tanzania. ...

Spirit Lake's Payton Ahrenstorff competed in the Iowa Girls Coaches Association Senior All-Star Classic held Saturday, Nov. 17, in Carroll, Iowa. Ahrenstorff was the defensive specialist for the Cyclones, coached by Carroll High School's Kelly Shulz...

The Spirit Lake girls basketball team opened the 2018-19 season Monday with a 20-point road win over Sioux Central. The Indians defeated the Rebels 50-30 in Sioux Rapids. Spirit Lake jumped out to a 10-3 lead after one quarter and extended its advantage to 25-15 at the half...

Okoboji opened the season with a narrow win over Siouxland Conference rival Boyden-Hull on Tuesday. The 13th-ranked (3A) Pioneers topped the Comets 52-47 in Milford. The Pioneers got out to a slow start in the opening stanza, as Boyden-Hull scored six of its 10 points from the charity stripe to take a one-point lead after one...

Spirit Lake dropped its home-opener to top-ranked (1A) Newell-Fonda on Tuesday night. The Indians fell 49-31 to the Mustangs. "We played a really good basketball team in Newell-Fonda," Spirit Lake coach Naet Hoaglund said. "They were the more aggressive team in the first half, which made us play faster than we would have liked. ...

In so many cases, the fall sets up the early ice bite. At the very least, what happens as the lake freezes sets the course for the beginning of winter. There are variables each winter that influence the location of where we find walleyes at early ice. Some of the outcomes of some of these variables can be predicted ahead while other outcomes are figured out after the fact...

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Polk County Conservation Board, City of Des Moines, Polk Soil & Water Conservation District, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship – Division of Soil Conservation, and other partners started working in 2008 to improve habitat and water quality at Easter Lake on the southeast edge of Des Moines...

We were fishing largemouth bass on a lake in Minnesota this late October. It was a beautiful day and the thought never entered my mind that this could be the last trip of the year. Since then the weather has cooled noticeably, and there has been ice on the ponds here in north Iowa for several days...

On Thursday, Nov. 8, I attended the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club’s annual fall club meeting at Godfather’s Pizza in Spencer. Designated as DNR Night, fisheries biologists, district law enforcement and local conservation officers spent the evening giving the 100 or so members updates on their areas of expertise. ...

Harris-Lake Park senior Brianne Ihnen recently signed her letter of intent to play volleyball and softball at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Worthington, Minnesota. Ihnen had 94 kills, 36 aces, 33 digs and 24 blocks for the Wolves' volleyball team this past season. She finished the 2018 softball season with a .388 batting average. .537 slugging percentage, .438 on base percentage, 26 hits, seven doubles, a home run and 15 RBIs...

Spirit Lake senior Mikia Kriener recently signed her letter of intent to play volleyball at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This past season, Kriener was earned First Team All-Lakes Conference and Academic All-State honors for the Indians. ...

Spirit Lake senior Mason McCaffery recently signed his letter of intent to compete in track and field and cross country at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minnesota. McCaffery helped lead the Spirit Lake track team to back-to-back Lakes Conference championships each of the past two seasons. ...

Spirit Lake senior Kyler Rieck recently signed his letter of intent to wrestle for Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minnesota. Rieck is a two-time state tournament medalist. He reached the Class 2A semifinals as a 138-pound freshman, finishing fourth. ...

Okoboji senior Hannah Butler recently signed her letter of intent to golf for Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. Butler is a three-time state tournament qualifier for the Pioneers. Butler earned the highest individual finish of her career this past season and led the Pioneers to a third-place team finish at the Class 2A IGHSAU State Golf Tournament at Lake Panorama National Golf Course in Panora. ...

Spirit Lake senior Owen Coburn recently signed his letter of intent to play basketball at South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota. Coburn, a 6-10 forward, led the Lakes Conference in scoring for the second straight season in 2017-18. ...

Spirit Lake senior Payton Ahrenstorff recently signed her letter of intent to play volleyball for the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. This past season, Ahrenstorff — a libero — picked up 588 digs to become the school's all-time digs leader (1,642). ...

Weekend snow preserved a trail of tire tracks for authorities to follow after a Nebraska man caused $14,000 in property damage along Hill Avenue Sunday evening. The Spirit Lake Police Department was called to the corner of Hill Avenue and 12th Street at approximately 7:41 p.m. that night, after a report of a single vehicle accident. But that wasn't where 36-year-old Joseph Thomas Burmood of Kennard, Nebraska, had stopped. His White 2006 GMC Sierra was about two blocks to the north...

Dickinson County football teams sported a combined record of 12-16 this season. For their efforts, a total of 31 area athletes earned postseason awards. One earned all-state recognition. --- INDIVIDUAL AWARDS Ben Steffens, Sr. — IPSWA Second Team All-State, First Team All-District, Academic All-State, Academic All-District...