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Regan, Keeling, Lange and Egan earn wrestleback opportunities, join Stortz and Mitchell in third place

The Waukon boys wrestling team competed in its Class 2A District 7 Tournament at Osage Saturday, February 14, an event that offered the opportunity to extend the season for any wrestlers finishing within the top two of their weight class but also held the reality of an end to any wrestler’s season. In a tournament field loaded with at least a dozen wrestlers ranked within the top eight of their respective weight classes, including eight from a Decorah squad that had recently wrestled to a Team Dual State Tournament runner-up finish, the Indian matmen ended up advancing one wrestler to this season’s Class 2A State Tournament but had six others on the brink of qualification who all ended up in third place, all helping the mat Tribe to a third-place team finish in this year’s eight-team District Tournament field.

A second consecutive season of representation for the Waukon girls bowling program at the destination where every high school bowler and team longs to be provided some history of its own when sophomore Megan Huinker competed in the Class 1A Individual State Tournament Tuesday, February 10 at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo. Being the second consecutive Waukon girls bowler to compete in the season grand finale, after 2025 graduated senior Lauryn Howard made program history as the first Lady Indian to qualify for State Bowling last winter, Huinker created her own bit of history as she became the first Waukon girls bowler to bring home a State Tournament medal as a top-eight finisher at the event, bowling her way to a sixth-place finish among this season’s Class 1A bowling elite.

The Waukon girls basketball team both ended its regular season and began its postseason within two games this past week, with both of those contests being played against fellow former Northeast Iowa Conference opponents at home and both ending up in the win column. The Lady Indians wrapped up their regular season schedule with a 56-11 home triumph over Charles City Tuesday, February 10 and then opened their Class 3A Region 4 Tournament with a 56-46 victory at home over Oelwein Saturday, February 14.

Ash Wednesday: Remembering Who We Are

Today is Ash Wednesday. Christians around the world will pause in the middle of an ordinary week to do something very strange: receive a smudged cross of ashes on their foreheads and hear the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

I remember my first Ash Wednesday as a pastor. I was serving at a church with an elementary school, and that day we placed ashes on the foreheads of children during chapel. Speaking those words over so many precious, little faces was jarring. I didn’t like thinking that even they would one day return to dust.

To the Editor:

Last week the Senate Republicans passed the education bill out of committee, now going to the House for debate. In it, there is a 1.75% increase for public education. Inflation is 2.7%. Now the bill has to go to the House.

What does this mean?  This means that for another year, schools are going to have to do with less. If a school district gives raises just equal to inflation, there will be less for every other expense. Since other expenses (utilities, technology, paper, etc) have also risen 2.7%, something will have to be cut.

Starting teacher pay in Iowa for 2023-2024, was almost at the bottom (46th out of 51). Then the state mandated that over two years starting pay should increase to $50,000 but the state did not increase the per student allotment. Thus, even though pay for first-time teachers has increased, other expenses must be drastically cut, or class size has to be increased.

Deadlines/Dates
February 26: Deadline to apply for the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) Program
March 2: Deadline to apply for 2025 Livestock Indemnity Program

NRCS Highlights Innovation in Grazing: Virtual Fencing Offers New Solutions for Local Producers
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is encouraging local agricultural producers to explore the benefits of virtual fencing technology, an innovative approach designed to improve grazing systems and soil health. This cutting-edge technology offers a modern solution for managing livestock, providing flexibility and efficiency for today’s farmers.

Virtual fencing allows producers to create, move, and monitor grazing areas digitally, without the need for physical fences. This can lead to improved pasture management, better soil health, and increased operational efficiency. 

The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach dairy team has conducted a 2024 financial study examining the profitability of dairy milk production in Iowa. The findings are available in a new publication, “Profitability of Iowa Dairy Goat Production in 2024,” which can be downloaded from the ISU Extension Store.

Dairy goat producers are encouraged to review the findings and consider how they can use the data to strengthen decision-making and financial performance on their operations.

The study surveyed 16 Iowa dairy goat operations to determine the profitability of their farms. Like most industries, both higher-and-lower-profit producers were grouped by profit to benchmark their incomes and costs on a per milking doe basis. Additionally, many financial ratios were noted, along with their labor efficiencies, on a per-full-time-worker basis.

Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) has partnered with Senior Life Solutions to help older adults who are experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or other mental challenges often associated with aging. The new Senior Health Solutions program is located on the upper level of Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. 

Senior Life Solutions provides outpatient services designed to meet the unique needs of individuals (typically 65 and older) who could benefit from coping and communication skills to improve their mental health. The program offers group and individual therapy, psychiatric evaluation, and medication management. The Senior Life Solutions team includes a board-certified psychiatrist, licensed therapists, a registered nurse, and other professionals dedicated to the emotional well-being of the older adults in our community.

Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon began offering a monthly Pain Management Clinic to the area over a year ago, in October 2024. The demand keeps growing as do the days this service is available.

Shawn Blake, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, originally of Dorchester, began offering his services to provide relief for patients with chronic pain, in October 2024, just one day per month. That demand quickly grew to two days per month and now will be offered three days per month.

by Sue McMillan, Nurse Practitioner, VMH Waukon Medical Clinic
 
Recently the state of Iowa has the undesired statistic of the second highest cancer rate in the United States, (Kentucky is first).  All of us have been impacted by cancer, either personally or through someone we know.

What can we do to help prevent cancer? What can we do to detect cancer early and have a better outcome if diagnosed with cancer?

There are both prevention and screening measures that one can incorporate to help reduce mortality for many cancers.