LAKE CITY — Deb Lightner, of Lohrville, calls it her ah-ha moment. While she was well-acquainted with Stewart Memorial Community Hospital through her 12 years of service on the hospital board, it became personal when a good friend received care at SMCH. “My friend received a survey ...
POCAHONTAS — Auctioneering is more than just a job to Rick Winegarden. It’s in his blood. Winegarden, of Pocahontas, learned all he needed about the job from his father, who was also an auctioneer. “I went to auctioneer school in Mason City, but most of the experience comes from ...
Originally from Lytton, Joan Meyer first moved to Fort Dodge back in 1982 after graduating college, and it didn’t take long for her to become an active member in the community of Fort Dodge. Now she works at Cornwell, Frideres, Maher & Associates PLC as an accountant. She also teaches ...
LAURENS — Back in 1976, Clarence Siepker moved to Laurens for a new business opportunity. The Mallard native, who learned to be an auto mechanic when he was in college, learned a garage was for sale and decided to purchase it. More than 40 years later, Siepker still owns Siepker Auto ...
LAKE CITY — Jeff Redenius had enough to worry about as final exams loomed during his senior year at Central College in Pella. As he studied for his tests, however, the Lake City native suddenly felt like a knife was plunging into his chest. “It was so intense I couldn’t take a deep ...
HUMBOLDT — When Cheryl Rhead served on Humboldt’s city council in the mid-1990s, a lack of housing was seen as the city’s biggest barrier to growth. “Housing was very limited at that time,” she recalled. “It was a collaboration between people in our community that wanted to see us ...
SAC CITY — Sometime in October of this year, Shirley Phillips will be attending a ribbon cutting for the last 40 mile section of U.S. Highway 20 to be completed as a four-lane route. It will be the final link in an Iowa four-lane highway that’s been her passion and much of her life’s ...
ROCKWELL CITY — Rusty Farrington doesn’t just build a toolbox to hold a small part of his collection of lovingly cared for hand tools. Farrington creates, instead, a finely crafted work of art. Each chisel has a slot with an internal divider to protect it from its neighbor. Planes ...
Tim Flaherty, the Fort Dodge Hy-Vee store director who became known in and out of the grocery store for his infectious smile and selfless attitude, passed away on Monday. He was 50. Flaherty, a Fort Dodge native, was hospitalized last week after suffering a heart attack and experiencing ...
WEBSTER CITY — A long-overdue polish began in April on a junk-filled building that is a rough diamond on Webster City’s main street. The former Elks Club building, 604 Second St., is the first project that Local Initiative for Transformation WC LLC, or LIFT WC, will undertake. The new ...
From the playground equipment at H.C. Meriwether Park to the name itself, the Pleasant Valley Awareness Committee has made its mark in that segment of the Fort Dodge community. The park, located on 10th Avenue Southwest between Eighth and Ninth streets in Pleasant Valley, used to be known as ...
ROCKWELL CITY — When Lowell Stoolman served as Rockwell City’s chief of police, he didn’t mind speaking to local groups like the Rotary Club, but he wasn’t looking for one more job to do, either. “The Rotary Club regularly asked me to speak about topics like finger printing to ...
Fort Dodge public and parochial schools and Iowa Central Community College have canceled classes for today. The Lord’s Cupboard Community Food Pantry will be closed today due to expected bad weather.
The Advent Vespers Service at St. Mark's Episcopal church for tonight (5:30 p.m. on Dec. 15) has been canceled due to the severe weather predictions.
• The 2020 Blanden Arts Festival scheduled for June 13 has been canceled. • The church safety seminar scheduled for March 28 at the Iowa Central Community College East campus has been postponed until further notice. • The Moose Lodge Easter Egg hunt scheduled for April 11 at Dodger ...
U.S. Air Force Airman Allison M. Waychoff, of Fort Dodge, graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas. The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, ...
U.S. Air Force Air National Guard Airman 1st Class Michael Sapp graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas. The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core ...
SPENCER — Jeremy Parsons stood before the media last July to make an announcement he never expected to have to make in all of his years in the fair industry. There would be no Clay County Fair in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Clay County Fair has been in existence since 1917 ... ...
EAGLE GROVE — As the city of Eagle Grove prepares for the impacts of Prestage Foods of Iowa’s $300 million pork plant, it has turned to new leadership in Bryce Davis, the Wright County economic development director largely responsible for recruiting Prestage to the area. Davis, a native ...
Leaders of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance have statistical evidence that their work in economic development is paying off. Those figures show that wages have increased by 15.5 percent in Fort Dodge and Webster County over the last five years, according to Kelly Halsted, the ...
Crossroads Mall in Fort Dodge is under new ownership and it has a new manager. The transition was announced Jan. 12. That’s when it was revealed that three firms from Great Neck, New York, had purchased the mall from J. Herzog & Sons, of Denver, Colorado. Those three firms are Namdar ...
CLARION — In turning a marketing profile on its head, the Purple Ribbon Beef brand was created to ensure a family’s legacy. For over four generations, the Hunter family of Clarion has been in the cattle business, explained Ashley Recknor, co-owner of Purple Ribbon Beef. “We have ...
DES MOINES — Call it a win-win. Farmers access a new market and add more sources of revenue into their business, while cutting the time and cost of marketing. On the flip side, consumers enjoy convenient, year-round access to hundreds of food choices directly from Iowa farmers. It’s all ...
PANORA — Corn isn’t unique to Iowa, but the corn grown on the Hafner farm near Panora is — starting with the production system and ending with an array of stone-ground products from corn meal to polenta to grits. “We’re organic and non-GMO,” said Jeff Hafner, 49, who runs Early ...
The construction of Rock Island Clean Line’s proposed 3,500-megawatt high voltage, direct current electrical transmission line — running through 16 counties in Iowa — was halted this past year due primarily to opposition to the proposed project from landowners in Iowa and Illinois, the ...
VINCENT — Have you ever wondered what makes all of the data and research from Answer Plots possible? The Winfield United Answer Plot Operations Center, located in Vincent, is home to specialized equipment used to execute the Answer Plot program’s research, according to Winfield United. ...
Iowa remains one of the top contenders in the nation in terms of wind energy production, according to John Boorman, vice president of the Iowa Wind Energy Association. “We are number three, behind Texas and Oklahoma,” said Boorman. Boorman said Iowa supplies the power grid with 7,000 ...
OCHEYEDAN — A new feed mill that comes online this month at the Cooperative Farmer’s Elevator in Ocheyedan will bring jobs and improved efficiency to the area. The $26 million feed mill is considered one of the largest in the state, and is expected to bring new life not only to elevator ...
RALSTON — It’s one thing to use biodiesel in an individual farmer’s fleet of farm equipment and trucks. It’s another to use it in a massive fleet of vehicles. For Des Moines-based Ruan Transportation, the decision to use biodiesel from the Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group (REG), LLC ...
Growing up in the country surrounded by farmers, Marji Guyler-Alaniz watched cornstalks bend in the breeze and heard cattle lowing. Her grandparents farmed, and she understood firsthand the importance of agriculture. Still today her uncle and cousins operate a farm in north-central Iowa ...
Taking into consideration their members’ concerns on top issues affecting corn growers, the Iowa Corn Growers Association is taking those concerns to elected officials both on the state and federal levels, once again, in 2020. According to the ICGA, it starts at the grassroots level, where ...
Ag Processing Inc. (AGP) secures their company’s efficiency and growth with reinvesting efforts throughout all of their facilities, as well as new plants that have recently become operational within the last few years. AGP is the largest cooperative soybean processing company in the world ...
EMMETSBURG — From planning and design to maintenance and repair and everything in between, Ag Property Solutions (APS) works closely with livestock producers, providing customers with innovative and customized solutions for their construction and facility needs. APS was founded in January ...
As Mike Crouthamel’s business, Farmer’s Grain Systems, grew, he had no choice but to find a new place to suit that growth. Crouthamel had been looking for a place to build not only to accommodate his growing business, but to a location that would provide his business with a better ...
OCHEYEDAN — Cooperative Farmer’s Elevator (CFE) took a $26 million chance a few years ago to start construction on what would be one of the largest concrete feed mills in the state. Company officials said that investment in the mill, their patrons and their trade area was a good ...
HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt Veterinary Clinic is practically unrecognizable these days after an extensive renovation and expansion that was recently completed. Owners of the practice, Dr. Aubrey Cordray and her husband Kevin Cordray decided to make the changes in order to accommodate their ...
IOWA FALLS — “Everyone within our business is a leader,” reflects Noel Williams, chief operating officer at Iowa Select Farms. “What they do and how they operate influences others and for us as a company to be successful, everyone must uphold SelectCare.” This year, Iowa Select ...