Stories from Saturday, September 29, 2012

The newest addition to the Gary's on the River complex will host its open house today. The Bear, a coffee house and wine bar, opened its doors earlier this week, but will really showcase what it has to offer with drinks, food and live music this weekend...

The Spencer Community School Foundation, in partnership with Northwest Bank, will establish a pilot project this fall to provide Chromebooks for Spencer students. After much research of individual computing devices for students, Spencer Community Schools has determined that Google Chromebooks provide fast, intuitive, and easy-to-manage computing. With Northwest Bank's gift, students and teachers will have access to 90 Chromebooks for classroom use...

Larry Untiet, director of speech and drama at Spencer High School, noted the school district has received three new banners honoring the accomplishments of the large group speech students who have qualified for the Large Group "Super State" All-State of the Iowa High School Speech Association...

Is anyone else sick and tired of the ongoing apologetic nature of our national leaders? It seems as though we're constantly offering our apologies to other countries around the world for one thing or another. I'm sorry some whack-a-do made a film that upset the Muslim community...

The virtual world went all aflutter yesterday afternoon when a live Fox News feed of a Phoenix car chase turned deadly. The victim -- I'm going to call him a victim here, even though, had things ended differently, he would be called "suspect" -- was seen running from the allegedly carjacked vehicle when he stopped, pulled out a gun, and fired upon himself...

Funeral services for Mrs. Loretta Kruse, 84, of Royal, will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012, at Warner Funeral Home in Spencer. John Roberts will officiate the service. Visitation will take place starting at 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 1, at Warner Funeral Home in Spencer, with family present from 5-7 p.m...

Graveside services for Mrs. Edna Knudtson, 92, of Spencer, will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, at Riverside Cemetery in Spencer. Rev. Tonna Parsons will officiate the service. Burial will be at Riverside Cemetery. Mrs. Knudtson passed away Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, at St. Luke Lutheran Home in Spencer...

Graveside services for Mr. Robert E. Peterson, 86, of Spencer, formerly of Albert City, will be conducted at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, at Laurens Cemetery in Laurens. Rev. Jerry Witmus will officiate the service. Military services will be conducted by the Laurens VFW Post No. 3533...

During 2012 Farm Progress Show, Bayer CropScience, along with local retailers, will donate eight trees to community groups throughout the state. Northwest Iowa Soccer Club in Spencer will receive one of the Bayer CropScience trees in conjunction with MaxYield Cooperative...

The Festival of Trees will mix fun and fundraising Nov. 15-17. Sponsored by the Spencer Regional Healthcare Foundation, the festival features creative holiday displays throughout the community, a tour of homes, evening design show, children's event with Santa Claus and more. Specific details will be announced closer to the date...

Spencer will buzz with walkers today. Both the Brains Together for a Cure walk/run and the Northwest Iowa Substance Abuse Recovery Walk will take place through the city. The Brains Together for a Cure walk will follow the Fairview Elementary School walking trails. ...

What do many automotive products, batteries, cleaning products, pesticides, fluorescent bulbs and solvents have in common? They can all become household hazardous waste that should be handled with care. A new option is now available for that handling: the Northern Plains Regional Collection Center, located at the transfer station in Spencer...

In continuing the investigation of the beating death of 59-year-old Edward Kitto, Cody Millard, 21, of Spencer, has been charged with first degree murder. Millard was arrested at his place of employment by the Dickinson County Sheriff Thursday. He is being held on $250,000 bond...

Erin Olson is no stranger to task forces. She's been on several, and currently serves on the Teaching Standards and Teacher Evaluation Task Force, a group of 20 area education professionals that gathered on Sept. 19 to recommend ways to improve teaching standards and teacher evaluations for the 2013 legislative session...

Top-ranked Newell-Fonda poured in 36 points points in the first quarter alone, rolling on continuous clock for the rest of the way as they put a homecoming beating on GTRA, 69-8. Allowing just 11 points a game, the Mustangs boast 8-man's stingiest defense, and they set the tone against Friday, holding G-T/R-A to just 70 yards rushing and 63 yards passing...

Remsen-Union didn't waste any time jumping all over the Mavericks Friday night. Before the first quarter was over, Remsen-Union led 34-0 and strolled to a 54-12 victory over Clay Central-Everly in Royal on CC-E's homecoming. Remsen scored on two punt returns in the first half, and used its speed to break long runs to the endzone...

Manson-NW Webster won a back-and-forth game and overcame four lost fumbles to beat Sioux Central Friday night, 30-20. Fumbles were prevalent for both teams, 11 in all, with Sioux Central losing two and MNW losing four, including three in the third quarter...

Records can be misleading in football. Carroll entered Friday's game against Spencer at 1-4 on the year but were able to put together a solid all-around game and hand the visiting Tigers a 28-7 district loss Friday night. It's the second loss in a row for Spencer, who falls to 3-3 on the year and 2-2 in district play...

Carroll 28, Spencer 7 Bishop Heelan 45, Storm Lake 0 Glenwood 35, Sergeant Bluff-Luton 15 Le Mars 24, Denison-Schleswig 21 Atlantic 28, ADM, Adel 27 Creston-Orient-Macksburg 34, Harlan 14 Lewis Central 21, Perry 0 Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley 49, Sheldon 0...

An open letter to the National Football League: Wow, that was the most regrettable three weeks of NFL football that I can ever remember. Who would have thought replacement refs would nearly be the downfall of the entire brand and league? Oh, that's right, I did, check last month's column (I couldn't resist the mention). ...