March 2021

Thu
04
Mar

County looks at additional paving in 2021


The county is looking at adding to five paving projects already set for this summer, by adding sizeable sections of County Road C-20, north and west of Bode and east of Livermore. Submitted photo.

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.

Thu
04
Mar

Speech students excel in competitions


Nearly 30 Humboldt High School students have participated in district and state group speech competitions recently. Humboldt Independent photo.

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.

Thu
04
Mar

Three named to All-Iowa Honor Dance Team


Humboldt High School students, Morgan Smith, senior; Lydia Witzke, junior; and Aneisha Sritharan, senior, were selected for the All-Iowa Honor Dance Team. The performance by the All-Iowa Honor Dance Team will take place during the 4A girls’ basketball championship game Saturday, March 6. (Game time is 1:30 p.m.) The halftime performance will be aired on Iowa PBS at approximately 2 p.m.

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.

Wed
03
Mar

Humboldt's Trumpeters depart together


Humboldt's pair of Trumpeter Swans spread their wings and departed this world Tuesday afternoon, according to Humboldt Parks Director Clayton Vorland. The pair were at separate locations, the male at the SOAR Raptor Center near Carroll, and the female on the pond in Humboldt. Fred (left) and Wilma (right) are pictured in May 2015. Humboldt Independent file photo.

Humboldt Parks Director Clayton Vorland said the city was heartbroken Tuesday afternoon to find out both Trumpeter Swans had died within a short time of one another. They graced the city ponds by the Highway 169 Bridge for the past 12 years. Vorland is hopeful the Iowa Department of Natural Resources can find at least one swan for the city.

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.

Wed
03
Mar
Tue
02
Mar

Cold shooting Wildcats fall in substate final, 64-48


Humboldt senior center Sam Fischer went around an Algona defender for a reverse layup in the second half of the Wildcats' 71-69 victory over the Bulldogs on Feb. 25 in Algona. The victory sent Humboldt into a substate final against Clear Lake on March 2, where the Lions ended Humboldt's season with a 64-48 victory. Humboldt finishes 15-8 overall. Independent photo.

A berth in next week's Class 3A state basketball tournament wasn't meant to be for the Humboldt Wildcat boys' basketball team tonight (March 2) as Humboldt fell to the Clear Lake Lions, 64-48 in a substate final in the Algona gym.

Carson Toebe scored 28 points, Andrew Formanek had 13 and Joe Faber added 12 to lead the Lions, who take a 22-2 record into next week's state tournament.

Humboldt finishes 15-8 overall. The Wildcats were led by Will Orness with 17 points. Caden Matson had 14 and Trevor Jacobson was next with seven.

Humboldt, advanced by beating Algona, 71-69 on Feb. 25 in Algona. Clear Lake, 21-2, defeated Spencer, 58-55 in Clear Lake on Feb. 25. Both schools split during the regular season with Humboldt winning back in December and Clear Lake topping the Wildcats on Jan. 22 in Clear Lake.

See full story in the Humboldt Independent. Subscribe today for print/digital access by selecting the link on this page to get started!

Tue
02
Mar

Wildcat girls place 3 on North Central All-Conference team


Kendal Clark (left), Bae Arnold (center) and Jori Hajek received North Central All-Conference basketball honors. Clark was a first team pick, Arnold second team and Hajek third team. They helped Humboldt to a runner-up finish in the NCC and establish a new school record for wins in a season in five-player basketball.

Humboldt’s 18 wins set school record

In a season where the Humboldt girls’ basketball team set a school record for five-player wins in a season and battled for upper division supremacy of the North Central Conference, the Wildcats had three players selected all-conference.

Seniors Kendal Clark, Bae Arnold and Jori Hajek earned post-season honors by the league’s coaches.

Clark was a unanimous first-team pick while Arnold was chosen second-team and Hajek third-team. They helped Humboldt compile an 18-5 overall record and an 11-3 record and runner-up finish in the North Central Conference.

Their selections were announced last week by Wildcat head coach Rodd Mooney, who completed his 20th season at the helm.

See full story in this week's Humboldt Independent with statistics and coach summary on the recently completed 2020-21 season.

Select the menu link on this page today to subscribe for digital/print access.

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