Stories from Sunday, October 15, 2017

"My colleagues and friends would tell you I'm unfailingly in celebration of Iowa," said Michelle Johnson, retired Air Force Academy superintendent and the NBA’s new senior vice president and head of referee operations, in a December 2013 interview with the Daily Reporter. "... The values I've learned in Iowa have prevailed throughout all of that."...

NEW YORK — The NBA announced Thursday that retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Michelle D. Johnson, the first woman to lead the United States Air Force Academy, has been named senior vice president and head of referee operations. Johnson, a Spencer High School graduate, will begin her new position on Monday...

Half of the third-grade students at Fairview Elementary welcomed their grandparents to the classroom on Friday afternoon. The other half of the third-grade class will welcome their grandparents on Friday, Oct. 20. The students prepared songs, poetry and crafts as part of the celebration for Grandparents and Special Friends Day...

Clay Central-Everly High School recently received its ACT profile which gives an overall picture of how the district ranks nationwide and statewide on the college-entrance exam. Clay Central-Everly School District had nine students compared to the state of Iowa which had 23,306 students who took the ACT in 2017. Two-thirds of Iowa students compared to 60 percent of students nationally took the exam...

The Spencer Rotary Club has started collecting books for the 2017 Rotary Book Sale between Wednesday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 5, at the Clay County Fair and Events Center. The 26th annual book sale is expected to feature approximately 30,000 used books ranging from fictional classics to romance novels and nonfiction selections to rare first editions...

Saturday's dreary, rainy weather did not stop local trick-or-treaters from collecting candy and getting a few frights at this year's Halloween Hike at Scharnberg Park just outside of Everly. The children could hardly contain their excitement as they waited for the hike to begin. Halloween may be one of the few times of year when you can see Donald Trump, skeletons and witches competing for goodies with princesses and princes. Many of the children showed a brave attitude by entering the haunted houses that were set up to provide a scare. (Above) Mario and Yoshi took a break from fighting Bowser rummaging through a cauldron to take their favorite candy treats. (Photo by Colin Van Westen)

The Artisan Road Trip is a set of exhibits featuring local artists stretching from Spirit Lake to Storm Lake. This year 31artists participated in the program. Saturday and Sunday afternoon artists Glenda Drennen, watercolor, Patricia Johnson, watercolor, Karen Ruddy, multi-discipline, and Perry Polson, wood, all displayed works and visited Arts on Grand in Spencer. (Photos by Colin Van Westen)

The second annual PetOberfest fundraiser for People for Pets animal shelter raised approximately $25,000 Saturday night to support their mission to rescue and rehabilitate homeless dogs and cats and place them in loving forever homes. The event which took place at the Spencer Community Theatre featured live music, german-style food and a bar filled with wine and beer. The night was capped off with a live auction and a silent auction which gave away prizes to the highest bidder.

CrossFit Spencer hosted 100 athletes from four states Saturday during a local competition of the Festivus Games which took place at CrossFit gyms across the globe Saturday. Above, novice female competitors are pictured doing rows and wall balls in tandem. One member of a two-person team had to row until their teammate dropped their medicine ball. The two would then switch, attempting to rack up as many reps of each in the allotted time. (Below), a female competitor tries to squeeze out a final rep on a 205-pound dead lift. Spectators gathered on bleachers underneath a canopy to handle Saturday’s rain while they took in the competition. A tent with over 20 national and local vendors as well as a food truck were also on site. (Photos by Nate Shaughnessy)

STORM LAKE — It’s not so much what you say, as how you say it. That was one of the conclusions of a Diversity Forum at Buena Vista University Wednesday night, where a panel of students shared personal stories of discrimination for a standing-room only crowd of students, faculty and community members...

COUNCIL BLUFFS — The Tiger girls swim team dove into its final invitational of the regular season Saturday, competing against four other squads at the Melissa Fender Invitational hosted by Lewis Central. Lewis Central and Atlantic rose to the top of the field, taking the top two spots with team score of 291.5 and 282.5 respectively...

FORT DODGE — Sioux Central simply needed to win one of its two final regular season games against either three-win Fort Dodge St. Edmond week eight or one-win North Union in week nine to lock up the runner-up spot in Class A District 2. The Rebels opted to take care of business as soon as possible, demolishing St. ...

ROYAL — Back-to-back muffed punts by Kingsley-Pierson in the first quarter set Clay Central-Everly up for an early score Friday night, but the Panthers aggressively overcame their mistakes in a 73-20 hammering of the Mavs. “We came out and were playing pretty good. ...

MASON CITY — The Iowa Lakes men’s and women’s cross-country teams traveled to Mason City, Iowa on Friday to run in the Trent Smith Invitational. The women ran a 5k course that was flat throughout the race. Sophomore Jadin Bezdicek led the way for the women once again, finishing in a time of 23:09. Sophomore Chelsea Cave was right behind, finishing in a time of 25:28...

SIOUX CITY — CMBA Architects, with an office in Spencer, received an Outstanding Project award for excellence in educational facility design in the fall 2017 edition of Learning by Design, the premier source for education design innovation and excellence. The Dakota Valley High School, North Sioux City, South Dakota, has been recognized for its architectural and interior design, and for having benchmark-type attributes worthy of imitation...

Sacred Heart Catholic School announced registration for 2-year-old child care is open. The program will be starting in January upon completion of the new Early Childhood Center. Each child needs to be two the first day they start child care at Sacred Heart and can start at any point during the year as long as space allows. ...

AMES — Paige Curry, of Spencer, has received the Ruth G. English Scholarship from the Iowa State University College of Human Sciences for the 2017-18 school year. Curry is studying dietetics in at Iowa State.

Students in the surgical technology and medical assistant programs at Iowa Lakes Community College in Spencer are planning an open house this month to help promote the medical profession. “Anyone considering a career in surgical technology or allied health is encouraged to attend,” said Jodi Bents, a sophomore in the surgical technology program. Members of the public are also invited...

The Clay Central-Everly Marching Mavericks participated in the 69th Annual Algona Band Day on Saturday, Sept. 30. There were 55 junior and senior high students in attendance for the street competition. CC-E placed second in the 1A High School Class division. The drum major leading the band was senior Ben McClain, color guard was led by sponsor Kristina Maaland with instrumental music director Lori Key. (Photo submitted)

The city of Spencer ADA Council would like to thank the following individuals and organizations for their help with our “ADA: Let’s Get Practical” event held in Spencer from Oct. 9-12. Renaissance Initiative Grant from the city of Spencer, Clay County Community Foundation, Spencer Municipal Utilities, Sister’s Cafe, Spencer Community Schools, Fareway, Sacred Heart Catholic Church and School, Iowa Great Lakes Lutheran School, Clay County Fair, Hy-Noon Kiwanis, Spencer Rotary Club, Bill Campbell, Nancy Naeve, Steve and Marti Bomgaars, Kirby Schmidt, Leann Jacobsen, Hope Haven, Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Iowa Workforce Development, Farmers Bank, More 104.9 radio, Hot 100 radio, The Daily Reporter and thank you to anyone we have forgotten to list here. ...

The rural residents of Clay County do not want to live in an industrial wind installation. They do not want to live with the extra noise day and night, do not want to be subjected to shadow strobing within their homes. They do not want to lose the ability for efficient aerial application on their crops, do not want heavy machinery driven over the tiles that if broken would impact many farms and not just the farm that is leased...

So let me get this straight, earlier in the week, the NFL told the players they “should” stand for the national anthem. Jerry Jones put on the black cowboy hat and played the “wink-wink” bad guy, telling his Dallas players they will not take a knee during the national anthem or they would not play...

In life, there are times and experiences we all feel hopeless. The specifics vary for each of us, but the end result is the same. Be it a death of a parent, a bit of news from the doctor we weren’t prepared to hear or an unexpected bill we aren’t sure we can pay, we all arrive at the same place...

SPIRIT LAKE — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is watching Big Spirit Lake after a resident found a single juvenile zebra mussel attached to a rock in the southwest side of the lake on Sept. 23. Biologists at the DNR’s Boone research facility also found a single larval zebra mussel in a water sample collected from Big Spirit Lake in August. The DNR collects water samples and deploys settlement samplers in lakes across the state each summer to monitor for the invasive zebra mussel...

As anglers and sportsmen, we’re worth an awful lot to the nation, and we vote all the time with our dollars.We aren’t voting for a specific candidate, but we’re casting more than our lines. We’re casting a vote for stewardship of our natural resources, which are very much under fire in the fight for a balanced budget, which is elevated in a polarized national election cycle...

As we get farther into the autumn period, the weather gets a little cooler. It’s generally not bitterly cold this time of year, and in fact the weather can be beautiful. That’s what makes fishing such a good thing this time of year. However, there are some days when it does get pretty chilly, and eventually it’s going to get cold. ...

My goodness, here we are approaching the middle of October and our (north zone) real duck and Canada goose seasons opened on Oct. 14 with duck running through Dec. 3 and the goose season running through Jan. 1. After Oct. 31, the Canada goose daily limit goes to three birds...