News

By KENT THOMPSON
Humboldt County Secondary Roads will be receiving improvements according to the county’s five-year plan and action taken at Monday’s weekly meeting of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors.

Nearly 30 Humboldt High School students participated in district and state speech competitions during recent Saturdays. State I ratings included Short Film - "The Date" with Luke Sievers, Jacob Pedersen, Ryder Wickett, Sam Numedahl, Brody Paterson, Allison Lynch, and Nathan Kuehnast. Short Film - "The Return" with Aiden Christensen, Quinton Orr, and Eric Wittrock. The Ensemble Acting team scored a I rating with "Keeping Score, featuring Jayda Vitzthum, Grace Smith, Nora Carlson, and Lillian Holm. The Mime Group of Adalyn Lawman and Leah Johnson scored a I with their performance "The Ultimate Cure." Receiving a I rating and All-State Nomination was the Group Mime performance "Ritual of Friendship" with Chloe Carlson, Cassondra Ruzicka and Sydney Savery. Students also performed well at district speech. Read the full story in this week's Humboldt Independent, your trusted source for local news and sports.

Three Humboldt High School students, seniors Morgan Smith and Aneisha Sritharan and junior Lydia Witzke, were selected for the All-Iowa Honor Dance Team. The girls will be among 238 dancers representing 90 schools at this weekend's Iowa Girls' High School Basketball Tournament. The All-Iowa Honor Dance Team will perform during halftime of Saturday's 4A championship game, which begins at 1:30 p.m. and is being aired on Iowa PBS channel 11. All dance teams represented are members of the Iowa State Dance Team Association, and the dancers were chosen based on ability, attitude, dedication and leadership qualities. Five hundred twenty dancers auditioned virtually last fall.

The city of Humboldt reported some unfortunate news Tuesday, March 2. Both Trumpeter Swans, Fred and Wilma, the largest flying birds in North America, perished within a short time of each other. To find out more, we posed some questions to Humboldt Parks Director Clayton Vorland.

1. What was the extent of Fred’s injuries, how long was he at the raptor rehab near Carroll and what was the diagnosis? Evidently he wasn’t improving.
A: From what I was told is that it just looked like joint deterioration/arthritis of his knee joints. He was to the point he couldn’t get up and even if you picked him up, he wouldn’t stand and he would just fall back down. They tried to work with him to try and get him to stand up on his own but he was just not improving at all. He was taken to SOAR (Saving Our Avian Resources) on Dec. 31, 2020.

2. What time did you find out that he had died?
A: I was informed that Fred had been put down shortly after finding Wilma.

By KENT THOMPSON
A new contractor with a competitive bid price is expected to complete the long-awaited Highway 169 water main replacement project this coming construction season.
That was the word reported at the Humboldt City Council’s bi-monthly meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
ISG, the city's civil engineering firm, estimate of probable cost of the construction, which has become more complex over time, was $1,060,938. Work will include installation of new eight-inch water main, hydrant assembly, storm sewer, sanitary sewer and sub-drain assembly, curb and gutter, pavement removal and two-inch hot mix asphalt base, full depth patching and driveway construction, among other costs.
Bids received were a quote of $1,005,726.40 from Reding’s Gravel and Excavating Co. of Algona, and a bid of $807,254.70 from Brian Nettleton Excavating Inc. of Joice.

Winter/spring concert dates have been set by the Humboldt Community School District.
The first concerts will be held Thursday, March 4, at 7 p.m. with the middle school chorus in the auditorium and the high school choirs in the gym.
On Monday, March 8, fifth and sixth grade band will perform at 6 p.m. followed by the seventh and eighth grade bands at 7 p.m.
On Tuesday, March 9, the high school band will perform at 7 p.m.
Soundsations is scheduled for Saturday, March 27, at 7 p.m.
Concerts will be held virtually and a limited audience will be invited to attend in person. Every student will be able to have a limited number of spectators depending on what ensemble they are in.
Activities Director Greg Thomas said the pandemic has created challenges for everyone.

The 2021 Dance Team Clinic will be held Friday, Feb. 26, from 3-5 p.m. (no school that day) at the Humboldt High School gym. The performance will be between 5 and 5:30 p.m. during set time slots due to COVID-19.
Participants will learn a routine taught by Humboldt High School Dance Team members and their coed partners. This is for girls and boys grades preschool through eighth grade. All participants will receive a Dance Team Night t-shirt.
All participants must wear a mask. Participants are to wear black pants, shorts, or leggings to the clinic. All participants are to bring their own water bottle labeled with their name. There will be no snack this year.
Time slots for clinic performances are as follows: 5:01-5:04 p.m. preschool; 5:05-5:08 p.m. Kindergarten; 5:09-5:12 p.m. first and second grade; 5:13-5:16 p.m. boys perform; 5:17-5:20 p.m. third and fourth grade; and 5:21-5:24 p.m. fifth through eighth grade.

Humboldt County Conservation is considering future visions for Reasoner Dam and the Des Moines River in Humboldt County.
Do you have thoughts about how to move forward now that the dam has reached the end of its life in terms of materials and construction?
Join a Reasoner Dam public visioning meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, March 2 from 7-8:30 p.m.

By Phil Monson
Just how much change can the Humboldt Community School District and its staff and students handle in one year?
That was the big question Dr. Paul Numedahl, Humboldt High School Principal, asked during the Humboldt board of education meeting Monday night, Feb. 15.
Numedahl is among six new administrators who are in their first year in the district. Numedahl reported the district will implement a School Improvement Action Plan with its professional development during the 2021-22 school year.
Numedahl said the district will create Professional Learning Communities with an emphasis on improving student engagement and connectivity.
“We have looked at certain data sets, school attendance and school culture survey, along with informal conversations with students and staff. We asked ourselves ‘what should we be focusing on for school improvement?’ That’s the goal that really came out,” Numedahl said.

Fourth graders at Lu Verne Elementary School already have an idea of some career paths they might enjoy thanks to a career unit put together by their teacher Kristyn Olson, guidance counselor Courtney Fannon and Janie Eischen of the AEA.
After the spring shutdown due to COVID-19, some students were having difficulty getting motivated to learn again.
“We wanted to do something to bring meaning to every day life in school. Why is fourth grade important?” Olson said. “There are academic needs, but there are social needs we need to balance.”
Students researched careers and then conducted an interview with a professional in a given field. Read more about the project in this week's Humboldt Independent newspaper.