Stories from Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Larry Fitzgerald Jr. glanced up to watch himself on the Raymond James Stadium Jumbotron as he galloped toward the end zone. With Senior gazing from the press box, Junior sprinted away from the vaunted Pittsburgh secondary like a gazelle on the Masai Mara sprints away from a lion to give Arizona its first lead of the game late in the fourth quarter...

The Kingsley-Pierson wrestling team split a pair of dual matches on Monday night in Marcus in its final tune-up for Saturday's wrestling sectionals. The Panthers defeated Sioux Central 42-36 and dropped a 45-28 decision to MMC. Aside from the forfeit victories K-P gave away due to empty weight classes, K-P coach Jay Warren said the team wrestled very well...

With 24 points, Briana Schaeuble passed the 1,000 career points milestone Saturday night as Kingsley-Pierson defeated West Harrison 51-33 in Western Valley Conference tournament action. "I came off [the court] towards the end of the game, [Coach Goodwin] put the JV in, and Mr. Wiese told me 'Congratulations,'" Schaeuble said...

A great second half wasn't enough for the Lady Jays Monday night as Sergeant Bluff-Luton handed the hosts a 53-47 loss. "We had a great second half, we did a lot of really good things," Gehlen Catholic coach Marty Kurth said. "We just dug ourselves a hole in the first half."...

Remsen St. Mary's dropped a 72-28 decision on the road at West Sioux Monday. The Falcons rolled to a 27-12 lead by the half and continued to pour in points in the second half while holding off the Hawks' offense. Mercedees Ricke and Emma Krier each scored eight points to lead RSM. Brielle Biezuns chipped in six points...

By Bethany Kroeze Sports Editor Spalding Catholic may be just 6-11 on the season with a meager 1-5 War Eagle Conference record, but any of their opponents will attest that when the Spartans get hot beyond the 3-point arc, they are quite the handful...

Akron-Westfield evened its War Eagle Conference record to 4-4 with a 74-55 win over Spalding Catholic Friday night in Akron. "I thought we got off to a quick start," A-W coach Todd Colt said. "We haven't been doing that [lately], so that was a plus."...

A Le Mars couple was named 2008 Citizens of the Year at the Le Mars Area Chamber Annual Dinner Saturday evening. Mike and Cheryl Wells were presented with the honor, recognizing their work in the community at Wells' Dairy Inc. as an employer and with The Living Center and The Guest House as places for assistance for life's challenges...

Plymouth County's landfill won't be open Saturdays, as least until April. Why? Landfill Manager Mark Kunkel said it's the same thing that's affecting everybody else: the economy. "The economy has got everything slowed down so far we're only bringing in $75 on Saturdays. We general would have 50-60 customers. Now we're down to 15 or 20," he said...

Representative Chuck Soderberg and Senator Randy Feenstra will take part in three legislative forums this Saturday, Feb. 7. The first will be at 8 a.m. at the Education Service Center, 940 Lincoln St. S.W. in Le Mars and is sponsored by the Le Mars Community Shool Board of Education. While it may be possible for a majority of the LCS board of education to be present, no action will be taken by the board...

Valentine's Day will be a little bit sweeter as P.A.L.S. Inc. is holding a Valentine's candy sale fundraiser. P.A.L.S. (Plymouth Alternative Living Center) is a community center for persons with disabilities and is located at Weidler Community Center...

The Royal T III movie theater and the American Legion Club are two of the buildings which might be getting some front renovation work. They are two of six businesses that contacted the Le Mars Chamber of Commerce saying they wished to do renovations to their building...

Plymouth County Attorney Darin Raymond was appointed to the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) recently. Raymond was sworn in for the board along with several others from across Iowa. ISAC is a nonprofit corporation of county officials from the 99 counties in Iowa. The group promotes effective and responsible county government for Iowa...

Inside the Plymouth County engineer "sign shop" one will find several road signs faded from the sun, ripped apart by the wind, scratched by passing vehicles, vandalized with paint, sprayed with bullet holes or a combination of the above. But these signs are not at the end of their road...

George F. Stastny, 80, of Merrill, died Friday, Jan. 30, 2009, at Indian Hills Nursing & Rehab Center in Sioux City, following a lengthy illness. George F. Stastny was born Feb. 12, 1928, the son of Frank and Mary (Janacek) Stastny. George grew up on a farm in Liberty Township in Plymouth County and attended Liberty Consolidated School at rural Merrill. He attended Westmar College in Le Mars and graduated from Ames College (now Iowa State University) as an electrical engineer in 1948...

With all of the horrid news about the economy that we are bombarded with nearly every day, it's nice to have some good economic news to report. At the Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner meeting on Saturday, Nor-Am Cold Storage was recognized as the Business of the Year. ...