Stories from Friday, December 25, 2015

Creating better educated students for tomorrow is what Spencer's BEST aims to do. The after-school tutoring program at the Spencer Dream Center opened its doors two weeks ago to a handful students as a test run. While the after-school program is just getting started, Rev. Kevin Grimes, chair of the Spencer Dream Center Board, noted Spencer's BEST was always part of the original vision for the dream center...

Why This Is No. 4 Swede Erickson, just prior to Veteran's Day this year, received a medal from the French government for helping liberate the people of France from the Nazis. The Legion of Honor medal, created by Napoleon, was designed to recognize distinguished service to France. He shared his difficult WWII experiences for those reading to better understand what he and his comrades experienced. Need we say more...

Why is this No. 4 The outbreak of avian influenza began showing up throughout northwest Iowa, wreaking havoc on poultry and poultry-based product production. Bird populations were disposed of and egg prices jumped dramatically as a result of production issues. It took a toll economically, agriculturally and unemployment...

The Iowa Department of Education released the results of their new Iowa State Report Card last week, an online system that evaluates and rates each school based on performance on a required set of measures. Across all the schools in Iowa, 3 percent were labeled "Exceptional," 12 percent were labeled "High Performing," 35 percent were labeled "Commendable," 35 percent were rated "Acceptable," 12 percent were labeled "Needs Improvement" and 3 percent were labeled "Priority."...

For over 35 years, the Spencer Women of Today (SWOT) have spread holiday cheer in the annual "adoption" of residents at St. Luke Lutheran Home in Spencer. This Christmas season, SWOT members "adopted" 12 residents. Helen Leith, shown opening a gift above, is one of the 12 St. Luke Lutheran Home residents who received a special gift from the SWOT. (Photo submitted)

Between three and four days each week, Tessa, a German wire hair pointer, visits Tori Storm's behavioral education classroom with her handler, Jamie Krukow. Krukow is a teacher's assistant in the classroom, and Tessa works as a therapy dog with the students...

LifeServe Blood Center will award Paige Curry, a Spencer High School senior, a $750 scholarship for organizing and recruiting donors to a blood drive at the Spencer Middle School Monday. There were 26 first-time donors, 64 registered donors, 52 procedures with 56 units collected equating to 168 lives impacted. Thomas Rutt was recognized for being a 6-gallon donor...

Ruthven-Ayrshire and Graettinger-Terril schools schools were among the 97 districts to receive the latest round of Teacher Leadership and Compensation grants distributed by the state of Iowa. In total, 295 schools -- 88 percent of Iowa districts -- have been selected to implement the program...

A celebration of life service for Theodore Hoyt Cate, 91, of Spencer, will be conducted at a later date. Cate passed away Friday, Dec. 18, 2015, at Spencer Hospital. His body has been donated to the Mayo Clinic for Medical Research. Warner Funeral Home of Spencer is in charge of arrangements...

It's been a rough week and that's putting it mildly. And I don't want to linger on it except to wish all of those closest to Austin Roberts God's healing as they attempt to move forward from what I'm sure was almost a slow-motion week. I know it was for me, just never could seem to clear my head and function so I can't even imagine how his family, friends and classmates are feeling...

Dec. 11 -- Ricky Lamar Nelson, 56, Eagle Grove Judgment entry --- Dec. 13 -- Billy Shane Peterson, 37, Emmetsburg Consumption in public intoxication --- Hale Anton Seymour Hawley, 31, Spencer Judgment entry --- Dec. 14 -- Rachael Ann Schuller, 18, Carthage, South Dakota...

MILFORD -- Milford firefighters, the Dickinson County Sheriff's Office and the Iowa State Patrol were on hand Monday afternoon for a structure fire about one mile west of Emerson Bay Recreation Area. They were paged to the scene at 2:48 p.m. A passerby reported the fire. A smoke plume could be seen from the station...

Northwest Bank presented a check for $1,000 to benefit the Feed Our Children program in Spencer. The program provides food weekly to area children to ensure they have something to eat on the weekends. Northwest Bank agreed to match funds that were being raised by the Iowa Great Lakes Board of Realtors for this program. The Feed Our Children program is a community-based project, operated by Hope Reformed Church and Living Word Outreach Ministries, with neighbors helping neighbors and Northwest Bank is proud to be a part of this program. Northwest Bank representatives, along with local realtors, were on hand for the presentation to Feed Our Children coordinators. (Photo by Randy M. Cauthron)

Coming in at No. 4 on this year's countdown was the remarkable run of the Tiger girls cross country team. Coming off of a season that saw them fall just short of reaching state as a team in 2014, the Purple Wall found some mortar and smashed right through their regular season, dropping just two meets -- to ranked teams in 4A...

Clay Central-Everly athletics over the years, to be frank, have embodied the phrase ups and downs. There are glory days. There are gut-punching losses. There are winning streaks and losing streaks. There are trips to the winner's circle and spells in the cellar...

If you're unaware, I attended Clay Central-Everly High School, graduating in 2009. After a glance over to the feature story on this page and a little deductive reasoning, you can likely piece together I spent some time with the one and only Paul Wick...

BOONE -- In Iowa, land in public ownership is very limited. Public areas can only serve as islands of wildlife habitat in a landscape dominated by row crops and urban sprawl. As a result, fulfilling the habitat needs of the state's diverse wildlife species requires natural resources and wildlife habitat be reestablished and/or protected on private lands...

I have always had the hardest time deciding on my favorite bird. Sometimes I will say the black-capped chickadee because of its energy and spirit. Other times I think it is the goldfinch, as it is our state bird. And then again, I like the entire owl family due to their unique adaptations for survival (large eyes, silent flight, sharp talons). But at this time of year, when everyone decorates with red, how can I not mention the northern cardinal?...

Most open water anglers who fish from a boat wouldn't think of going out without a sonar unit, also known as a depth finder. That same thought is true with most ice anglers. A depth finder will help you catch more fish, and they are also much more than just a depth finder. Here's how...

It's hard to believe that this week is Christmas week. How quickly those weeks have gone since a year ago, and what a difference a year can make. A year ago we began ice fishing before Thanksgiving. We did about lose our ice during a warm-up stretch in December, but it held, and we ended up with a really long ice fishing season...

Oil producers, cattlemen, grain producers and other commodity producers are wrapped up in camaraderie play right now as they are all playing the same game and it is not very much fun. All these commodity producers are fighting the markets and somebody has to lose so the game can determine who wins. ...

Iowa Lakes Community College has been named to the 2016 Military Friendly Schools list by Victory Media Inc., the premier media entity for military personnel transitioning into civilian life. This award is given to colleges, universities and trade schools in the country that are doing the most to embrace America's military service members, veterans, and spouses as students and ensure their success on campus and after graduation...

Members of the Spencer Middle School Builder's Club executive board made a donation of $75 to the Spencer Police K-9 unit. Spencer Police Officer and handler Patrick Westfall and Mennox will use the gift toward food and reward toys for the police dog. (Photo by Randy M. Cauthron)

The combination of high water and wind is causing heavy erosion in Lakeside this season, both at private homes and public lake accesses. The DNR and Lake Preservation Association have been alerted to the situation. Lakeside resident Glenda Francis has documented the damage in a collection of photographs posted online via Shutterfly...