NEWS

Knee high by the Fourth of July

Dick Eversmeyer of Oelwein decides to check and see if that old axiom is true and discovers it's actually over knee high. This corn field is located northeast of Oelwein and seems to uphold the claim by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that 81 percent of Iowa's corn crop is in good or excellent condition at this stage. USDA projects the second-largest corn planting acreage since 1946, after 2007. Early stages of planting were similar to last year’s conditions. According to a U.S. Grains Council report, even though low temperatures and frequent precipitation slowed planting in early May, warmer dryer conditions eventually returned, allowing farmers to make accelerated progress in late May. U.S. corn producers planted an estimated 87 million acres, up 1 percent from 2008. U.S. soybean farmers reached a historic high, increasing planting nearly 2 percent from 2008, with 77.5 million acres planted. Together, U.S. corn and soybean producers worked steadfastly to plant a total 164.5 million acres, an increase of nearly 3 percent.

More Fun for the Fourth

OELWEIN - Oelwein's 4th of July Celebration Committee members Kim Haar- President, Arthur Medberry- Vice President, Deb Medberry- Treasurer, and Tina Haar(Lewis)- Secretary have put some of the finishing touches on Oelwein's celebration.

Black bear returns to natural habitat

CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) - A black bear apparently looking for love has made his way back to a natural habitat after several weeks of roaming Iowa and Illinois.

Building a bridge

Minnowa Const. Inc of Harmony, Minn., started the deck replacement at the Huntzinger Bridge, north of West Union, on Friday, June 26.

Indee’s Mary O’Loughlin is second team all-stater

DES MOINES-Senior midfielder Mary O’Loughlin of Independence landed a spot on the Class 1A girls’ all-state soccer second team which was released this week by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Basketball camp is set to commence Tuesday

The Oelwein girls’ basketball camp, for players entering grades 4-8, will be held Tuesday-Thursday, July 7-9, from 9-11:30 a.m. each day.

Oelwein pounds out a sweep over Crestwood

The bats were booming once again for the Oelwein baseball team Tuesday, as the Huskies swept a Northeast Iowa Conference twinbill from the Crestwood Cadets, 12-6 and 14-4 in six innings.

Tourney is set to start Friday

GILBERTVILLE-Play gets under way on Friday in the Gilbertville Don Bosco Invitational softball tournament.

  Jack Talks Back

  By Jack Swanson