TOP STORIES OF 2008

Obama win headlines historic election year

By Russ Mitchell

Daily Reporter Staff

Why this story is N0. 4

Barack Obama's Iowa Caucus victory marked the start of an epic nomination process on Jan. 3 and gave him a boost that ultimately paid off in the Democratic nomination and a general election win.

But he was far from the only new face on the scene.

The Clay County Board of Supervisors and the Spencer School Board also saw transitions due to election results in 2008.

Campaigns at all levels of government mobilized hundreds of volunteers. The ensuing changes in leadership ranged from subtle to historic and are worthy of consideration at one of the top stories of 2008.

(AP Photo/Morry Gash) President-elect Barack Obama smiles during his acceptance speech at Grant Park in Chicago Tuesday night, Nov. 4, 2008.

Iowa is the place where party activists can give the nation a new candidate to consider.

Or they can deliver the decisive final blow to a presidential hopeful's campaign.

For Barack Obama, Iowa became a dramatic first step in a tough and successful nomination process.

OBAMA, HUCKABEE WIN ON CAUCUS NIGHT

Clay County Democrats helped Obama avoid an early stumble in Iowa. The U.S. Senator for Illinois received 40 percent support from Clay County Democratic caucus-goers. Hillary Clinton finished second in Clay County with 29.4 percent support. John Edwards was a close third with 27.1 percent support.

The 10.6 percent delegate margin in Clay County was Obama's largest in northwest Iowa -- he visited the city of Spencer twice in 2007 and established an office in the city for the nomination and general election campaigns.

Clay County Republicans were less of a national bellwether -- former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee outpaced his nearest competitor by a 2-to-1 margin for a comfortable win Jan. 3 in Clay County's precinct caucus.

Huckabee collected 264 votes for 38.7 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished with exactly half the vote total -- 132 -- for second place and 19.4 percent support. Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee finished third with 111 votes for 16.3 percent support.

The eventual nominee, U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, had. 99 votes for 14.5 percent support.

Both parties reported large turnouts on caucus night. Bob Whittenburg, who has served as the Clay County Democratic Party Chair since 2003, estimated turnout at 50 percent or more over the 2004 caucus attendance.

"Both campaigns worked really hard to turn people out -- and they came out," he said.

"We planned for 150-200 and we had 653 and 111 new people registered to be Republicans," Clay County Republican Party Chairman George Moriarty said. "It shows the enthusiasm for our party. If you just read the newspapers it makes it sound like no one is interested in being a Republican anymore. Well, this is the largest Republican gathering we've ever had in Clay County -- of any kind that I know of."

Obama's momentum continued into the early spring and caught the attention of the congressman serving western Iowa.

KING'S SPENCER VISIT DRAWS ATTENTION

Incumbent Steve King, a Kiron Republican seeking his fourth term, talked about the international climate during his own campaign announcement tour in Spencer.

King's comments regarding the possible implication of a Sen. Barack Obama presidency created a national stir. In a small portion of his comments during a joint interview at radio station KICD, King said:

"I will tell you that, if he is elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror."

The story was picked up by the Associated Press the evening of King's appearance in Spencer. Reports of the AP story as well as the "Breaking News" video, which appeared on The Daily Reporter Web site, quickly spread, generating a great deal of interest from national news sources.

Call's from CNN's political news department, as well as AP's Washington Bureau and the TV program Inside Edition, asked The Daily Reporter for an opportunity to use the footage. Segments of the national media coverage became available on the video sharing Web site YouTube.

King received some criticism for the remarks and used ensuing interview opportunities to make sure his comments were understood in full context. King continued his campaign during the course of 2008 and maintained the support of 6-of-10 voters in northwestern Iowa on Election Day.

LOCAL BOARDS WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Change wasn't exclusive to politics at the national level. Voters in the Spencer School District supported a pair of newcomers on Sept. 9.

Todd Korbitz and write-in candidate Marti Bomgaars had both soundly defeated one-term incumbent board members Dean Mechler and Les Zobrist.

Two months later, longtime Spencer businessman and four-term incumbent Del Brockshus was joined by newcomer Joe Skow on the Clay County Board of Supervisors.

The two county board seats drew four Republicans and two Democrats during the summer nomination process. Interest was high because of a rare opening on the board: Five-term board member Sylvia Schoer decided not to run in the 2008 election cycle. She was the first woman to ever serve on the Clay County Board of Supervisors. She was also the board's only Democrat.

No. 4 Feature Story

Curiel's art-inspired vision building area's skill sets

By Kris Todd

Daily Reporter Staff

Why this story is N0. 4

Clay County's growing art community received a boost when Louis "Tony" Curiel chose to establish the Curiel/Reynolds School of Visual Arts in a former Spencer school building. Today, this neon glass artisan is attempting to inspire, educate and appeal to a wide range of interests within his business' walls.

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Louis "Tony" Curiel was mentored by several "substantial and influential people" during his student days at Rio Hondo Community College in California. The noted neon-glass blowing craftsman is returning that favor today at the Curiel/Reynolds School of Visual Arts.

Even though the 58-year-old could have set up his school's studios anywhere in the world, he chose to establish them in Spencer. Curiel purchased the former Reynolds School building for $170,507 from the Spencer Community School District. His facility's grand opening was marked with a July 20 celebration.

Curiel's business, which features different areas for different expertise, hosts lab spaces for ceramics, jewelry and watch making, neon and lamp working, painting and drawing. The school building's former auditorium also houses a gallery used to display students' handiworks.

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"My vision was to have the availability to do different types of workshops. Not as a full-time educational facility, but more of doing workshops in the community to teach people a new expertise," Curiel said.

"Success, I think, is more directed toward the ability to get involved with the area," he added. "I know that Spencer, per se, can't support an art school. I realized that when I moved here. My intention is, and was, to bring more people to the area: And that's happening in students and in other working artisans."

A neon glass worker is born

Curiel, who enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years during the Vietnam War, switched his music major to an art-based concentration after being told by his Rio Hondo Community College music instructor Willametta Spencer, "Mr. Curiel, your glasswork is better than your musicianship." It was also at the California school that his "pretty good base" was fostered during the early 1970s by many "substantial and influential people" who served as instructors.

Curiel, who focuses primarily on neon, illuminated and plasma glasswork today, moved from California to Omaha in 1973. In addition to helping lay the groundwork for the Artists' Cooperative Gallery in Omaha, he operated a glass studio in the historic Old Market area of the Nebraska city for 20 years.

(Photos by Kris Todd) Louis "Tony" Curiel, director of the Curiel/Reynolds School of Visual Arts in Spencer, works on a neon runner for a friend's bakery in downtown Detroit. [Order this photo]

"Percival Roach, the individual who started the first shop there, and I, are still friends. He started the British import shop in 1967 or '68. His wife was the head of the dance department at Creighton University," Curiel recalled.

"We became friends and later shared a studio together. He was a metal worker and I was the glass person; it was named Curiel Glass.

We were on the corner of (South) 11th (Street) and Harney (Street)."

When the area's current riverfront development began taking shape, the shop Curiel was based in was sold and turned into a parking lot.

Following a car accident in which he spent nine months in the hospital and was not expected to survive, Curiel moved to the unincorporated town of Anderson in southwest Iowa for one year before moving to Michigan in 1991. After setting up a shop with friend Paul Klawitter, Curiel spent the next 15 years launching glass shops in the Michigan towns of Grass Lake, Ann Arbor and Detroit, as well as working as a vendor for Ford Motor Company and as an instructor with a Florida-based company.

"I worked with them teaching concepts of illuminate gases and on a neon program that's still in existence with Chris Nordin, who's affiliated with the University of Michigan-Dearborn ... and with the Henry Ford Museum," Curiel said.

The Plymouth, Mich.-based glass worker relocated to Spencer, in part, due to the prompting of Dean Torreson, Spencer's former city manager.

"Dean was a creative guy and he had a lot of good ideas. We got to be friends," Curiel said. "...Since moving here, I really have developed an insight into where I can direct people when they come to this area. There will be more people coming: It's inevitable."

Curiel/Reynolds School of Visual Arts takes shape

A ceramic block, a file, a blow hose and a small hot-wire cutter are the tools of Curiel's trade.

"You learn as you go along. Nobody teaches you that," he said.

"I can bend any sign," Curiel added. "And I've got total respect for anybody who's a neon sign cutter, doing channel letters or whatever they do. Because it is definitely a technique that has to be developed. It just doesn't happen overnight. I also think every neon person should be trained as a sign person first because that gives them a respect for the medium. It also gives them the training that they need to put together a good unit that'll pump and evacuate."

Of his son John, who works at the Curiel/Reynolds School of Visual Arts, Curiel said, "We work a lot of hours around here. You'll see the lights on late at night and early in the morning. ... I try to put in a good 12 hours a day, and that's usually seven days a week. But that's pretty common among most glass people because of the demanding nature of the material."

The veteran, educator and glass worker indicated he's worked out a deal with the Spencer school district to house a foundry its students will also be able to use. Curiel said his plans include constructing another building south of his school to house a hot shop, a cold shop, a blacksmithing area and a fabrication area.

The neon glass turner is also among the people working to build an artist base within Spencer. Besides being instrumental in recruiting Anthony Vodraska, a pottery artist, and Anita Gilbert, a ceramicist, to the area, Curiel reported he's lobbying Des Moines sculptor John Brommel and Perry children's book authors Tom Owens and Diana Helmer to also relocate here. Curiel's recruitment goal was also augmented during his recent illuminated piece display and presentation at the Glass Art Society's 38th Annual Conference in Portland, Ore., where over 1,700 international glass-arts artists, students, educators and collectors gathered.

The ongoing student, meanwhile, does not refer to himself as an artist.

"My feeling about a person who calls himself an artist is he's a little oblivious to blowing his own horn," Curiel said. "There are a lot of people in the glass community. If you're an artisan or an artist, I think that determination has to be made by your peers and also by your constituency, the people who purchase your work."

No. 4 Sports Story

Spencer wrestlers turn in banner year

Lakes Conference champions!

By Randy M. Cauthron

Managing Editor

Why this

story is NO. 4

Of all the teams in the area, Spencer's wrestling squad turned in one of the most consistently successful performances in 2008. The Tigers won their first outright Lakes Conference dual title this decade and added to the feat with a clean sweep of the conference after winning the league tournament. Spencer ultimately finished 17-5 in duals last year and has started off the 2008-09 season with an unbeaten mark. The Tigers won three tournaments last year and have finished out '08 with two more tournament titles before the New Year. Added to its team success, Spencer sent seven wrestlers to the 2008 state wrestling tournament. Tyler Kacmarynski capped off the highly successful campaign with a fourth-place performance -- the Tigers' best finish in three years. Spencer's highly productive year on the wrestling mat has made the Tigers the No. 4 story of 2008.

It was quite a week for the Spencer Tiger wrestling program.

Just 72 hours after completing an unbeaten season in Lakes Conference dual action, the Tigers returned to the mat Friday at the Spencer Fieldhouse where they claimed the team's first Lakes Conference Tournament title in 10 years.

Spencer's achievement was made possible by 12 wrestlers placing in the top three of their respective weight classes, including eight wrestlers finishing either first or second. As a team, the Tigers compiled 237.5 team points, 58 better than its the next closest competitor, Spirit Lake Park.

"It feels great," Tiger head coach Dave Schaefer said following the tournament championship announcement. "We began the season making these things that we wanted to accomplish. This is really a great accomplishment for these kids."

Looking at the place winners, and the fact that the team had eight wrestlers in the finals, Schaefer acknowledged, "That's pretty amazing. Last year we had 10 kids in the top three, this year we had 12. That was the difference. And, we had four thirds on top of that … we told the kids that everyone had to contribute."

He added, "A good team picks one another up. That was important today."

The Tigers wasted no time establishing their home mat dominance in the first round. Twelve of the 14 Tiger wrestlers advanced to the semifinals, 10 recorded first period falls, and seven grapplers needed less than a minute to pin their opponent.

Matmen capture Lakes dual title

By Randy M. Cauthron

Managing Editor

It's been a long time coming, and Tuesday night, the Spencer Tigers ended the wait for hungry wrestling fans.

A pair of lopsided wins in a make-up dual at Estherville -- against the Midgets and Cherokee -- proved anti-climatic but provided Spencer with its first outright Lakes mat title in over a decade.

"It was a good night for the Tigers," said head coach Dave Schaefer. "There were a lot of forfeits, but we wrestled pretty darn good in the matches we wrestled in. We only lost two varsity matches tonight."

Spencer rolled past Cherokee, 69-12, then finished the Lakes Conference dual season with a 74-0 victory over the host Midgets.

"We were disappointed to share the Lakes title last year, but thrilled to have a share of it. Nobody expected us to be there. This year, I still don't think anybody expected much from us. That says a lot about the kids -- to win the Lakes Conference -- and the hard work they put in in the room," said Schaefer.

Against Cherokee, Spencer benefited from seven Brave forfeits, and four falls in less than a minute.

In the nightcap, Spencer would produce seven falls and sweep all 14 weight classes.