Stories from Wednesday, January 2, 2019

A new open access study by leading scientists rebuts unfounded criticisms and reaffirms the need for effective outdoor cat control. According to researchers, coordinated critics have mounted a “misinformation campaign designed to purposefully fabricate doubt regarding the harmful impacts of outdoor cats and stymie policies that would remove outdoor cats from the landscape.”...

Well, we’re into the New Year, and 2018 is gone! What can you say but what a year with all kinds of ups and downs. Whether on the world, national or local level, the year was filled with tears of joy and sadness, with laughter and happiness, with words of comfort, anger and deception. I think that pretty much runs the gauntlet of emotions for 2018...

The middle part of the ice-fishing season will soon be here. There are things we do in the middle of the season that we don’t do earlier in the year. For more fishing success in the next few weeks, keep these ideas in mind. I was fishing for perch a couple of years ago in South Dakota with some friends. These guys are very good ice-anglers. As mid-day approached, the perch, as they often do, seemed to get a little finicky...

Although you don’t have to get your new 2019 fishing and hunting licenses until January, a lot of anglers and hunters get their licenses beginning in mid-December. When you do get your 2019 fishing/hunting license, you will find there has been a modest increase. The increase bumps licenses on average 17 percent. This includes all resident and non-resident fishing, hunting and trapping licenses and applicable stamps/tags...

"Hello, everyone. I'm Xavier Rhodes from the Minnesota Vikings. Everyone having a good day today in school? Are there any Vikings fans?" On cue, more than a dozen little hands shot up from the center of Mrs. McCabe's classroom on Friday, March 16, at Okoboji Elementary School in Milford. Two, seated in the front row, were completely decked out in Vikings gear...

After learning his spot at the state wrestling tournament was secure following a runner-up finish at the district tournament held in Inwood in early February, Okoboji's Blake Abrahamson felt a brief moment of excitement. That excitement quickly turned into concern as the 132-pound sophomore realized his twin brother Hunter would need to win a wrestle-back to keep his state tournament dreams alive...

Blue shirts and ribbons permeated northwest Iowa in mid-September, as area students and athletic teams remembered an MMCRU High School student who died after collapsing at the school in Marcus. Senior Natalee Henke — a popular student and Royals cheerleader — passed way after being taken by ambulance to Cherokee Hospital on the morning of Monday, Sept. 10. She was 18 years old...

The 2017 state track meet left a bad taste in the mouth of Okoboji hurdler Ethan Albright. As a sophomore, Albright flinched in the starting blocks of the 400-meter hurdles at Drake Stadium in Des Moines and was disqualified. This past spring, Albright entered the state meet seeking redemption...

Spirit Lake senior Kourtney Delperdang's high school cross country career came to an end in late October. The four-time state meet qualifier placed 18th in the Class 3A girls race, just missing out on the podium. "Our goal going in was to make the top 15 and get to the podium one last time," Spirit Lake coach Tim Heinitz said. ...

In 2016 — after 22 seasons and 375 career wins — Rick Reinking walked away from the game that has been at the core of his life since winning a county fair free throw contest in the third grade. Just two years after stepping off the hardwood for the last time, the former Irwin-Kirkman-Manilla and Spirit Lake High School girls basketball coach was inducted into the Iowa Girls Coaches Association Basketball Hall of Fame in early April...

In early June, the Okoboji girls golf team carded a combined score of 747 to place third overall at the Class 2A tourney held at Lake Panorama National Golf Course in Panora. The first girls golf team in school history to qualify for state — and the first golf team since 1976 — the Pioneers finished an historic season on a high note...

Four years had passed since Spirit Lake's 'Cardiac Kids' earned three straight one-run regional tournament victories to secure the softball team's first state tournament trip since 2006. While the area's cardiologists weren't waiting on standby after a pair of convincing wins in the first two rounds of the 2018 regional tournament, there were undoubtedly a few well-worn tickers in need of a checkup following a thrilling one-run Spirit Lake victory in the championship in mid-July...

Following one of the wackiest winters in recent memory, it only seemed fitting that Harris-Lake Park unexpectedly found itself atop the Class 1A standings after the opening round of the state golf tournament in Newton this past week. The Wolves were cooped up inside for much of the spring and didn't play a single home meet once winter finally left northwest Iowa for good. ...

Spirit Lake Park sent just two wrestlers to the 2018 state tournament in Des Moines, but neither disappointed, as juniors Kyler Rieck and Dakoda Powell each placed in the top five in Class 2A. Rieck placed second at 152 pounds and Powell placed fourth at 220...

This past year was yet another in a long line of memorable moments for Dickinson County sports-enthusiasts. A pair of grapplers got the year started with podium appearances at the high school state wrestling tournament. Boys and girls golf teams made historic postseason runs. A long-time girls basketball coach earned a spot in the Hall of Fame, and a softball team enjoyed a thrilling victory to qualify for the state tournament...