November 2012

This past Sunday at 11 a.m., the country took time to remember our veterans and thank them for their sacrifice and service. This is the second week of the “Cook of the Week” column’s salute to Veterans Organizations. This week we are spotlighting the Humboldt County American Legion Posts and their related organizations. The American Legion was chartered by congress in 1919, as an organization focused on service to veterans, service members and communities. The nation’s largest wartime veterans’ service organization, the American Legion is committed to mentoring youth and sponsorship of wholesome programs in our communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security, and continued devotion to service members and veterans. Today there are over 2.4 million members in 14,000 posts worldwide. Also founded in 1919, and now at almost one million members from all walks of life, the Auxiliary administers hundreds of volunteer programs.

Humboldt pounds Charles City for 3A-3 title, 37-6 HUMBOLDT – Letdown? Not the Humboldt High football team, which had plenty to play for last week. Not only did the Wildcats stay focused on the task at hand, they did it in dominating fashion with a 37-6 drubbing of the Charles City Comets in a regular season finale at Mason Maach Field in Humboldt on Oct. 19. The Wildcats came out swinging and took it to the Comets early, building up a 30-0 halftime lead, and never looked back as they wrapped up the Class 3A District 3 championship and the No. 1 seed in the opening round of this week’s state playoffs. While Humboldt and Clear Lake finish with identical 5-1 district records, the Wildcats secured the top spot by virtue of their 26-10 victory over the Lions back on Sept. 21 in Humboldt. Humboldt hosted Newton (5-4), the fourth-place team from District 4 while Clear Lake, the No. 2 seed, hosted the District No.

On April 10, 1980, Humboldt County REC began day one of not having a lost time accident. Now, over one million employee work hours later, the electric cooperative celebrated with a recognition dinner Oct. 23, honoring present and past employees for their accomplishments. The streak has enduring during the tenure of three general managers, several board presidents and numerous employee safety directors. Through it all, one constant has been an emphasis on safety, REC present and past officials said at the celebration. REC General Manager Steve Long said the cooperative has built a culture of safety over the years. “The key elements are supervision, education and training, along with work rules and proper equipment,” the general manager said. “A lot of what we do today was started back in 1980. We’re still concerned about reliability, quality of service, commitment to the members and commitment to safety.

Election night 2012 went pretty much as expected in Humboldt County, with few contested races and few surprises. It was a good night for Republicans as Mitt Romney and Steve King outpolled their Democratic challengers for president and U.S. representative. Romney defeated President Barack Obama in Humboldt County, 3,099 to 1,967. He won by a similar percentage in Kossuth County. Statewide, Obama had the edge, outpolling Romney by nearly 85,000 votes, putting Iowa’s six electoral votes in the president’s column. King topped challenger Christie Vilsack in newly drawn U.S. Senate District 4, which includes portions of northern, western and central Iowa. King tallied 2,958 votes in Humboldt County to Vilsack’s 1,978, according to the unofficial totals. Statewide, King received 53 percent of the vote, just under 200,000, while Vilsack received 168,323. State Rep.