Stories from Saturday, November 7, 2015

Services for Amos Christensen, 85, of Spencer, will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Royal. Rev. Deb Mechler will officiate the service. Visitation will be conducted beginning 3 p.m. Friday, with the family present from 5-7 p.m., at Warner Funeral Home in Spencer...

Services are pending for Bill Sackett, 81, of Okoboji, who passed away Friday, Nov. 6, 2015, at Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake. Warner Funeral Home of Spencer is in charge of arrangements.

STORM LAKE -- Trees may be more valuable than residents expected. At a Storm Lake City Council study session this week, local leaders huddled with a Department of Natural Resources expert, who told them that every dollar spent on planting trees returns $2 in tangible benefits to a community. According to her research:...

Second-graders starred in the first Storm Lake Elementary "Informance" of the year, performing songs of patriotism, honoring veterans in the full-house crowd, and lofting signs to celebrate the many cultures and native languages that make up the Storm Lake community. The next event will be Dec. 8 with third-graders.

SPIRIT LAKE -- Spirit Lake Police Chief Jeff Hanson estimates between $60,000 and $75,000 worth of merchandise may have been recovered following the search of a Spirit Lake apartment Nov. 1. A Nov. 12 preliminary hearing has been set at the Dickinson County Courthouse for 20-year-old Travis Sterling Johnson and 21-year-old Chayton Takoda Quail. Spirit Lake investigators say they were living at an apartment in the 2700 block of Keokuk Avenue where numerous stolen items were located...

SHELDON -- RISE Ministries, the organization behind the Christian music festival RiseFest, announced the first artists on the 2016 lineup. Grammy-nominated, Dove Award-winning Newsboys will be RiseFest 2016's Friday night headliner. Returning after a record-setting performance last year, Newsboys are back to offer the same energetic show on the festival's opening night. ...

It happened again recently. We had a great plan for catching fish and the fish just didn't get with the program that we were presenting. We changed our program completely and caught'em, caught'em good. Here are the details. We were on Lake Winnibigoshish in north central Minnesota. ...

As October gives way to November social media, fishing forums, local fishing supply stores and water cooler chatter is abuzz with ice anglers anticipating their first trip out on the "hard water." Iowa offers anglers plenty of opportunities to get out and experience great early ice fishing. ...

Winter is fast approaching and I know many just dread this time of year. As for myself I love it. The more cold, snow and ice mean more birds at the feeders. Winter can be a difficult time for birds. The days are short and nights are long and cold. The natural food supply has been consumed or is hidden by snow. Most insects are dead or dormant...

SPIRIT LAKE -- Yes, we've had warmer temperatures, but hard water anglers are getting the itch and praying for that first real cold snap that puts a good coating of ice on the bays and kick starts the ice fishing season. Want to get even more fired up? Then mark Saturday, Nov. 14, on your calendar for the fourth annual Shop with the Pros 2015 at Kabele's Trading Post in Spirit Lake. Thane and Tanya Johnson, owners, are excited to offer this special day for all those interested in ice fishing...

Last Monday, the Clay County Regional Events Center hosted its largest dinner audience ever, according to a staff member at the facility. Those gathered weren't present for a fair event, or a Chamber gala or even a presidential candidate. No, those in attendance, who enjoyed a nice evening of food and music, were there to hear from Rev. Tommy Barnett who was in town to talk about the mission of the Spencer Dream Center...

STORM LAKE -- Leaders of the Iowa Lakes Corridor Corporation and Storm Lake United made presentations to the Storm Lake City Council this week. Dick Drahota, chairperson for a local campaign on behalf of the corridor, noted that the organization has had 114 entrepreneurial clients, 29 businesses, 138 created jobs and $5.7 million in business investment to show for its efforts. Five new businesses have been recruited between 2013 and 2015...

Habitat for Humanity's northwest Iowa affiliate is looking for a family to benefit from its upcoming home construction project, set to begin once the ground thaws next spring. Families that are interested in applying can do so by downloading the application on www.nwiowahabitat.com. Applications are due by Nov. 30...

EVERLY -- Representatives with The Anderson's Corporation office in Everly reported Friday that some time between 7:20 p.m. Thursday and 7:20 a.m. Friday, someone forced a window open and entered the business. The burglary complaint, filed with the Clay County Sheriff's Office, suggested that while the window was damaged, no items inside were discovered missing at the time of the report...

Work on the Community Housing Initiatives Southern Pointe Apartments, located east of the Holiday Inn Express, will begin soon after the city finishes closing the property and turns it over to CHI at the beginning of next week. Southern Pointe will consist of 30 units of affordable multi-family housing and is a CHI project meant to address housing needs in the community. ...

A new book explores and celebrates early residents of Clay and Dickinson counties, who the author calls "the children of pioneers." Author Michael Luick-Thrams will be in Spencer to present his book, as well as programming about pioneer-era northwest Iowa, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, at the Spencer Public Library in conjunction with a mobile exhibit, "At Home in the Heartland: Forgotten Stories of How Iowans Got to Be 'Us."...

Den recognition, finishes among the best at worlds firefighter competition For years, Todd Krukow has been serving Clay County as a volunteer firefighter in Dickens, responding when called to a variety emergencies -- many of which place physical and mental demands on those charged with aiding the public...

Remember when the Colin Kaepernick led 49ers were just four points shy of winning a Super Bowl? The young quarterback raced past Green Bay and came back against Atlanta to reach the big game, and after the power outage, he (along with plenty of help from the rest of the tea obviously) nearly stole a Lombardi Trophy...

NEWELL -- Without two injured senior leaders, Newell-Fonda dominated Colo-Nesco Friday night in the 8-man state playoff quarterfinal. "It was the battle up front that was the key," Mustang football coach Brian Wilken said. "Our offensive and defensive lines opened up holes for us when we had to make plays."...

This fall opened with a couple of question marks for the Spencer's girls swim team. After two straight seasons with perfect dual records, how would the Tigers handle a change at the helm as Amie Lawrence took over the program? Furthermore, how well would the team be able to replace the athleticism of current Kansas Jayhawk swimmer Taylor Sieperda and additional standout Emma Dau who is starting her first season of D-1 basketball at Wisconsin-Milwaukee this year -- two swimmers with fingerprints on eight of Spencer's 11 available records?. ...