Stories from Friday, March 20, 2009

The greens aren't quite green yet, but the fairways are fair enough for the 2009 season to begin at Spencer Municipal Golf Course. Course manager Brian Mohr and his staff began booking tee times and the year's first golfers will be allowed to start a round at noon Friday...

Funeral services for Esther Hermansen, 85 of Spencer, formerly of Ruthven, will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, March 30, 2009 at Bethany Lutheran Church of Spencer. Rev. Scott Meier and Rev. Dan Taylor will officiate the service. Interment will take place at 1:30 p.m., Friday at Lost Island Lutheran Cemetery in Ruthven...

DES MOINES -- Governor Chet Culver promoted Major General Ron Dardis, The Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard, to Lieutenant General Wednesday during a ceremony in the Governor's Office at the Iowa State Capitol. Dardis, who has served as The Adjutant General, of the Iowa National Guard since May 1999, will retire from the National Guard on March 26 and serve as the Executive Director of the Rebuild Iowa Office. ...

WASHINGTON- Senator Chuck Grassley today asked YouTube users for input on the health care reform debate as part of YouTube's Senator of the Week program. Grassley is this week's featured member on YouTube's program that promotes interaction between members of Congress and the constituents they represent...

Six Spencer High School students have been nominated to participate in the All-State Festival on the University of Northern Iowa campus in Cedar Falls on Monday, March 30. The SHS individual speech students set to perform and be recognized include, front row from left: Mary Krull in expository address, Sarah Dillard in improvisation and Liz Taylor in poetry. ...

The Spencer Community Schools Board of Education will convene its regular monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 24 in the board room of the central administrative offices, located at 23 E. Seventh St. The evening will begin with public hearings on the amended 2008-09 and the 2009-10 budgets. Approval of consent items, including minutes from the Feb. 19, Feb. 26 and March 9 board meetings, bills, open enrollment requests and personnel recommendations will then be sought...