News

Six years ago, Cindy and Keith Edge planted a variety of fruit trees on their 40-acre acreage northwest of Humboldt. Now it’s time to start enjoying the fruits of their labor.
Edge recently announced she is retiring from her position as Principal of St. Mary School in Humboldt after 11 years as Principal, 22 years at St. Mary School and a total of 27 years working in Catholic schools. Her last contract day at St. Mary School is June 30.
“I will miss working with the children, staff and families. Being passionate about children my whole life, I hope to be able to read books to our grandchildren. I’m looking forward to working in our garden and with all of the fruit trees. Being able to raise our own food is pretty amazing,” Edge said.
Read about her life and her history in education in this week's Humboldt Independent, your trusted source for local news and sports.

By KENT THOMPSON
It’s a bit of a family tradition for Jennifer Rolland and Rich Shimon. The two have been raising cattle on their farm south of Livermore for the past 15 years, but livestock, and in particular, feeding cattle, goes far back in their pasts and even farther in that of their families.
“It gets in your blood,” Shimon said about the desire to have some hoofs to care for.
“I’ve always loved cattle and I knew it was something I wanted to come back to some day,” Rolland said.
Read more about their story and see more photos in this week's Salute to Beef Producers supplement. See advertisements and other stories related to the beef industry and the Humboldt County Cattlemen's organization.

By KENT THOMPSON
One action item led to some discussion of additional street work, spring clean up nuisance enforcement at Monday’s Humboldt City Council meeting.
The lone item of business outside of consent agenda items (financial reporting and liquor license permits), was a resolution to approve a payment to Nettleton Excavating of Clear Lake for work on the Highway 169 water main project, which is currently underway.
The Council unanimously approved a payment of $127,376.95 to Nettleton for work completed to date.
Work started from the Park Shop on 3rd Avenue North and has continued across the highway with casings and pipe. Most of the expense so far has been for equipment mobilization, driveway removal, water hydrant assembly and removal, subgrade preparation, excavation and eight-inch water main replacement. Read more about this story in this week's Humboldt Independent. Subscribe by clicking on the link above.

By KENT THOMPSON
The Humboldt County Conservation Board is excited to move forward with changes/improvements to the Joe Reasoner Dam.
That was the word from the five-member board during its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 21.
The board heard from Mimi Wagner, senior environmental scientist and landscape architect with Stantec, an international firm that has Iowa headquarters in Des Moines.
Wagner went over the Humboldt Dam – Des Moines River Visioning Survey that Wagner shared with the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on April 12.
Wagner emphasized while the survey is not a vote, and only represents the opinions and preferences of the 175 people who completed the survey, it does provide indications of what the public is looking for and how different segments want different actions and outcomes.
She said 175 responses for a county our size is outstanding.

The Humboldt High School National Honor Society induction ceremony was held on Friday, April 23, in the HHS gym. Current NHS members were invited along with parents and the new inductees.
Serving as Master of Ceremonies was Quinton Orr. Guest speakers were Sydney Savery (Character), Aneisha Sritharan (Leadership), Leah Manz (Scholarship) and Emily Zaugg (Service).
HHS Principal Dr. Paul Numedahl congratulated the inductees and challenged them to keep an eye to the future and continue practicing character, leadership, scholarship and service.

Humboldt County positive cases for the novel coronavirus have dropped precipitously during the past two weeks, with only seven new cases reported in the county between April 6 and April 26.
According to the Humboldt County Public Health website, the Iowa Department of Public Health and Humboldt County Public Health identified two additional cases in the county late last week and both patients were in the 61-80 age range. One additional new case was reported Monday in an adult age 81 or older. Humboldt County's positivity rate has declined to 1 percent. According to state statistics, Humboldt County has the 24th lowest number of COVID-19 cases in the state, since the virus arrived over a year ago.

The city of Clare has announced a boil order beginning at 6 p.m. today (Thursday, April 22) until further notice. Citizens in the town of Clare are advised to boil water before using it for cooking or drinking due to the painting project going on at the Clare Water Tower. People needing more information may contact the Clare City Hall at (515) 546-6272.

By KENT THOMPSON
Monday’s Humboldt City Council meeting featured a double-dose of feel good energy.
Three individuals were recognized for community service.
Humboldt Police Officers Erin Bennett and Amber Williams were honored by Police Chief Joel Sanders for their life-saving heroics on the night of Jan. 16, 2021, when they were called to the Humboldt home of Kyle Kluender. The officers provided life-saving measures and Kluender survived and has made a full recovery. Officers Bennett and Williams were recognized with a pin and will be given a certificate of commendation for their actions.
Community service of a different sort was recognized through a project by Aaron Boleyn, a 17-year-old Humboldt High School junior.

The Humboldt Rotary Club will host the Rotary Top 20 Honors Banquet on Wednesday, May 5, at 6:15 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in Humboldt.
The banquet honors the top 20 academic seniors at Humboldt High School each year. Students and their parents are invited.
Featured speaker this year will be Al Kerns of the Ed Thomas Family Foundation.
Al Kerns began his teaching and coaching career in January of 1978 at Hudson for one semester. He then began teaching and coaching at Parkersburg. He continued his career as an educator with Parkersburg, and later, Aplington-Parkersburg Schools, until his retirement in 2014. He has kept in contact with young people through curriculum sales, speaking opportunities, the Ed Thomas Legacy Leadership Academy, and as an Instructional Coach at Aplington-Parkersburg.

Fundraising efforts are underway to help pay for a new horse stall barn at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds.
Demolition of the century-old horse barn took place last fall. It will be replaced by a 60’ by 120’ enclosed building with 16’ high sidewalls.
The old horse stable had room for about 20 horses. The building had a leaky roof and was in need of many repairs and updates. There will be 30 horse stalls in the new building.
The new horse stalls have been pre-manufactured and are ready to be installed once the building is up. The horse barn will have rubber flooring between stalls and down the middle.
Stalls are rented out by harness race enthusiasts for the entire year. The Humboldt County Fair harness race track is known as one of the best in the state. Harness races are slated for the following dates: June 19, July 3-4, July 17-18, Aug. 7-8, Aug. 21-22, Aug. 28-29, Sept. 11-12, and Sept. 25.