Stories from Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Louis Carstensen Oct. 12, 1916 - Oct. 27, 2009 Funeral services were held Oct. 30 at Concordia Lutheran Church in Lake Park for Louis Carstensen, 93, who passed away Oct. 27 at Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake

Feb. 12, 1912 - Oct. 10, 2009 Funeral services were held Oct. 13 at the First United Methodist Church in Royal Oak, Mich. for Genevieve Frances Dodt, 97, of Huntington Woods who passed away Oct. 10 at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Rev. John H. Hice officiated.

Nov. 8, 1918 - Oct. 23, 2009 Funeral mass was held Oct. 26 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Spirit Lake for Frances M. Svoboda, 90, of Spirit Lake, formerly of Lakefield, Minn., who passed away Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, at the Milford Nursing Center.

Dec. 4, 1908 - Oct. 27, 2009 A memorial service was held Oct. 31 at the Lodi Good Samaritan Center for former Dickinson County resident Marie D. White, 100, who passed away Oct. 27 at the Good Samaritan Center in Lodi, Wisc.

Jan. 3, 1912 - Oct. 27, 2009 Funeral services were held Nov. 2 at the Schuchert Funeral Home in Spirit Lake for Dorothy R. Greene, 97, of Spirit Lake, who passed away Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009, at Hilltop Care Center in Spirit Lake.

Feb. 2, 1945 - Oct. 22, 2009 Memorial services were held Oct. 28 in Tennessee for Gerald "Page" J. Wolford, 64, who passed away suddenly Oct. 22 in Lebanon, Tenn. Gerald J. Wolford was born Feb. 2, 1945 in Portland, Ore. Two years later he moved with his family to Spencer, where he grew up. Known to family and friends as Jerry, he was an entertainer and music industry professional throughout his adult life...

Debra Ingvall of Estherville and Mike and Diane Ingvall of Fostoria announce the engagement of their daughter Tobi Ingvall of Spirit Lake to Tim Goodell, son of Bruce and Jeri Goodell of Lake Park.

Claude and Shirley Timmins of Okoboji will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary on Nov. 4, 2009. They were married in Waukegan, Ill, in 1945. The Timmins, originally from Estherville, reside at 1700 Country Club Dr, Villa 8 Okoboji 51355.

Big brother, William, is proud to announce the birth of Adrian Dale Struthers born Oct. 4, 2009 at 4:25 p.m. He was born at RAF Lakenheath Hospital, England to parents Tom and Megan Struthers weighing in at 8 pounds and measuring 19 inches long.

A school assignment was to write a tribute for Veteran's Day. This was written by Rachel Petrik of Ft. Myers, Fla. She is the 15-year-old granddaughter of Rocky and Evonne Duhn of Spirit Lake.

The Pearson Lakes Art Center will host an exhibit featuring the photography of Ray Tysdal Oct. 30 - Feb. 6, 2010 in the John and Karen Goodenow Gallery.

On Tuesday, Nov. 3 at approximately 12:57 a.m., Spirit Lake Police were advised of a theft that had just occurred at Hy-Vee in Spirit Lake. Officers were advised that two young males left the store with two cases of beer without paying for them.

Milford's library dog Grant may not have the fame of Dewey the library cat, but it's coming. This summer, the Milford Memorial Library launched a Tales with Tails program, urging children to read to the therapy dog as a nonjudgmental listener.

Justice, freedom and love. Laura Tinker, a sophomore at Spirit Lake High school, can sum up the themes of the three one-act plays that will be presented by the Spirit Lake Drama Department in three simple words. Thomas Higgins, language arts and drama instructor at Spirit Lake, notes three very different themes for each production.

As I began plotting possible coverage topics for this week's column, I kept landing on the theme of roadkill. I fought it, as I know this is not the most glamorous form of insight to offer. Still, it tends to be an overriding theme in my life right now.

When Governor Culver announced his across-the-board budget cuts last month, it was no question that education was going to take a hard hit. In Dickinson County, nearly $1.3 million was cut from local districts' budgets as a result of the decision. A few weeks after the announcement, after school board meetings and budget work sessions, area school districts have created action plans to deal with the budget crunch.

Dickinson County Emergency Management services are preparing for the onslaught of winter weather with a new delivery system unveiled late this summer.

The Harris-Lake Park volleyball team battled with Class 1A No. 8 Alta for the entire match but couldn't hold on to the lead in any of the three games, suffering a season-ending 25-22, 25-22, 25-20 setback in the semifinal round of the Class 1A regional volleyball tournament Friday, Oct. 30 in Hartley...

The Graettinger/Terril football team quickly set the tone in a 8-player playoff opener, scoring on seven of eight first-half drives, en route to a 62-25 road victory over Woodbine Wednesday, Oct. 28 in the substate round of postseason play. Junior running back Nate Howard stole the show for the Knights, rushing for six touchdowns and 252 yards on 11 carries and returning a kickoff 61 yards for a score. Howard amassed 338 all-purpose yards and scored on three runs of 50 yards or more...

Don't sleep on the Graettinger/Terril football team. North Sentral Kossuth, undefeated and ranked second in their respective class, found out what can happen if you do, getting totally outplayed by the Knights from start to finish en route to suffering its first loss of the season by a 35-22 margin in the first round of the 8-player football playoffs Monday, Nov. 2 in Swea City...

The Spirit Lake girls' cross country team once again proved what the true meaning of the word "team" is, using the strength of two top-40 and five top-70 performers to finish sixth overall in Class 2A at the 2009 Iowa State Cross Country Championships Saturday, Oct. 31 at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park in Fort Dodge...

Flying slightly under the radar after dropping from the top spot in the rankings late in the season, the Spirit Lake boys' cross country team emphatically made it known who is the top team in state, accomplishing a rare feat by locking up their second consecutive Class 2A state championship behind the strength of top-10 performances from Alec Baldwin and Will Norris at the 2009 Iowa State Cross Country Championships Saturday, Oct. 31 at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park in Fort Dodge...