News Center newsletter

The Iowa Holstein Association will hold its annual meeting and convention at the Empty Nest Winery Saturday, February 26, beginning with a 6 p.m. social hour. The banquet and awards will take place at 7 p.m.

Guest speaker will be Waukon High School graduate Parker Hesse, who played tight end for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League this past season and will share his perspective on how his motivation to play football correlates to the dairy farmer. Tickets can be reserved by contacting Lynnette Lyons at 563-419-1256 or by email at lyonsdl@acegroup.cc.
 

As part of its Live & Learn: enriching lives through monthly learning series, Robey Memorial Library in Waukon is offering a presentation on the Villisca Axe Murders of 1912 with Dr. Edgar Epperly Thursday, February 24 at 5:30 p.m. in the library’s lower level Community Room.

Sometime during the dark early morning of June 10, 1912, a person or persons unknown bludgeoned to death Josiah B. Moore, his wife, Sara, their children, Herman, Katherine, Boyd and Paul, and two overnight guests, Lena and Ina Stillinger. The sensational crime led to nearly ten years of investigations and trials and the formation of the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Dr. Epperly, the foremost authority on Iowa’s worst mass murder, spent over 60 years interviewing eyewitnesses and key figures in the Villisca murder case in addition to examining historical records connected to the crime. He began his research in 1955 as a student in Cedar Falls.

Students from the Waukon High School Speech program were among those who participated in the Large Group State Speech Contest hosted by Decorah High School Saturday, February 5. A total of four performances from Waukon High School (pictured in the surrounding photos) advanced to that State Contest after earning Division I ratings awarded at the District Contest held January 22 at Cascade High School.

The four State performances included a Group Mime entitled “Only 2 to Tango” and performed by Alaina Gebel, Chase Boydston and Ethan Hooten. This performance received a Division I rating and also received an All-State nomination to advance on to the All-State Large Group Speech Festival scheduled for this Saturday, February 19 in Ames.

The Kee High School Large Group Speech program participated in the State Contest held Saturday, February 5 at Decorah High School. Four Kee performances had advanced to the State Contest after receiving Division I ratings at the District Contest held January 22 at Cascade High School, with each of those four performances also receiving Division I ratings at the State Contest.

Kee’s four State Contest performances (all of which are pictured in the surrounding photos) included the following:

The Kee High School Speech program will be hosting a Dinner Theatre Saturday, March 5 at TJ Hunter’s Banquet Hall on Main Street in Lansing. Doors open at 5 p.m. with serving beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets are now on sale and will be sold through February 22 - no tickets will be sold after this date. Tickets may be purchased from a Kee High School speech member (some of which are pictured in the surrounding photos) or from the Kee High School office by calling 563-538-4201. There is limited seating of 200 maximum. No tickets will be sold at the door.

The evening will consist of an elegant dining experience offering a buffet meal of barbeque chicken, smoked pork loin, party potatoes, corn, Oreo fluff and a dinner roll along with a dessert bar. Entertainment for the night will be performances from the Kee High School large group speech teams and a sneak peek from the upcoming musical production of “Little Shop of Horrors”.
 

The Waukon girls basketball team had both its regular season schedule and its 2021-2022 overall season brought to a close this past week, posting differing results in two games played by the Lady Indians. The Tribe first closed out its regular season and Northeast Iowa Conference slate with a 72-54 home triumph over Charles City at home Tuesday, February 8 before being dealt an end to its overall season with a first-round Class 3A Regional Tournament loss at home to West Delaware Saturday, February 12 by a 58-33 final result.

That first-round regional tournament loss ends the bucket Tribe’s 2021-2022 campaign with a 12-9 overall season record that includes a 6-4 mark in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play that placed the Lady Indians third in the six-team final NEIC standings. West Delaware’s win advanced the Hawks on to a Wednesday, February 16 regional semifinals match-up at sixth-rated Center Point-Urbana.

The Waukon bowling teams had another busy week this past week, competing in another pair of events to close out their regular season dual meet schedule and recording a program sweep of both of their dual opponents in the process. The Indians first hosted Waterloo Columbus Tuesday, February 8 in a dual rescheduled from January 14, recording a sweep of the Sailors with a 2061-2008 victory for the girls followed by a 2771-1919 triumph for the Indian boys. The bowling Tribe then completed its regular season schedule with another sweep of North Iowa at home Friday, February 11, the Lady Indians starting things off with a 2075-1627 win and the Waukon boys doing likewise with a 2749-2665 victory.

The bowling Tribe was next scheduled to begin its postseason journey with the Class 1A State Qualifying Meet in Dubuque Tuesday, February 15. Details of that tournament route can be found on the Sports pages in the Wednesday, February 16, 2022 edition of The Standard.

Regan opens season grand finale in Des Moines this Thursday morning

The Waukon wrestling team had its largest representation in several seasons competing at the Class 2A District Tournament hosted by New Hampton High School, as four Indian grapplers took to the mat to try and extend their season to the final destination every high school wrestler strives for with a first- or second-place finish in their four-man weight bracket. Battling some of the top wrestlers in the area, and in some cases in the state of Iowa, only one of those four - the only one of that quartet who has ever advanced that far before in his career - was able to accomplish that task, as junior 126-pounder Jakob Regan wrestled his way to a runner-up finish to qualify for the Class 2A State Tournament for the second time in his career, having done so two seasons ago during his freshman year.

The Kee girls basketball team had both its regular season and its overall season come to a close within a few days of one another this past week, as the Lady Hawks ended their 2021-2022 campaign with a five-game streak outside the win column. The Kee girls first fell at home to Central Elkader, 37-29, Monday, February 7 in a game rescheduled from January 14 to bring their regular season schedule to completion. The Lady Hawks then both began and ended their Class 1A Regional Tournament trail Thursday, February 10 with a 45-24 loss at fellow Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) squad Turkey Valley in the opening round of postseason play.

Donna Mary Smith, 83, of Endicott, NY passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones February 3, 2022 after a brief battle with cancer. A Funeral Mass was celebrated February 8 at Church of the Holy Family, 3600 Phyllis Street, Endwell, NY. Entombment was in Riverhurst Cemetery, Endicott, NY.

Please consider donations to the Food Bank of the Southern Tier and designate that the funds go to Mother Teresa’s Food Pantry in Endicott, NY. Donations may be mailed to 388 Upper Oakwood Avenue, Elmira, NY 14903 or made on the website www.foodbankst.org.

Donna was predeceased by her loving husband, James W. Smith; her son, Jeffery J. Smith; her parents, Firmin and Margaret Erding; her brother, Charles Erding; and her brother-in-law, John Wolfe.