ron Hometowner serving the communities of Akron, IA and Westfield, IA with Local News, Sports and What's Happening in the community. Designed by River City Digital Design www.rivercd.com
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February 13, 2008 What's Happening? School board to meet The Akron-Westfield school board of directors will meet Monday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m. in the board room at the school. Anyone is welcome to attend. Congratulatory reception The Akron Hometowner is hosting a congratulatory reception for reporter Julie Ann Madden Thursday, Feb. 21, 9-11 a.m., at the office. The reception is in honor the reporting award she received at the newspaper convention. (See story at right.) Farm & Home Show The Farm & Home Show sponsored by The Akron Area Chamber of Commerce is March 1 and 2 at the school. Watch next week for more information. Council meetings The Akron City Council has returned to the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month to hold their meeting. The next meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 26, followed by March 11 and 25. The meetings are held at City Hall at 7 p.m. and are open to the public. Valentine Winner Dottie and Dennis Oleson of Akron are the winners of The Hometowner’s Valentine Contest.
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The Akron Hometowner 712.568.2208 110 Reed St., PO Box 797 Akron, IA 51001
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Hometowner wins 100th award Best Ad designers include Taylor-Mortensen, Kjar The Akron Hometowner brought home 16 awards from the Iowa Newspaper Association’s 2008 Better Newspaper Contest, which was held during an Awards Banquet Feb. 7 - 8 in Des Moines. The Akron Hometowner placed second in both General Excellence and the Best of Class- advertising in the Weeklies Class 2 Division for newspapers with circulations between 1,401 and 2,399. The Hometowner has a circulation of 1,485. “This year we moved up a class due to our growing circulation. We competed with larger newspapers in this class. I am very happy with the awards we received considering we are one of the smallest papers in this division,” Publisher Dodie Hook said. This was the fourth year in a row that The Akron Hometowner received the General Excellence Award. This award is given to the top three point-getters in the contest in each circulation division. In the Weeklies Class 2 Division, the Adel Dallas County News was the first place winner with 39 points; The Akron Hometowner was second with 30 points and the Fayette Leader placed third with 28 points. This was the third time The Akron Hometowner received the Best of Class-Advertising Award. Receiving first place in this was the Sac City Sun, and third place was awarded to the Fayette Leader. Reporter Julie Ann Madden was the recipient of the “Skip” Weber Investigative Reporting Award (see article at right); Graphic Artist Karen Taylor-Mortensen received first place in the Best Ad Designer category and Erica Kjar received second place in this category. The Akron Hometowner also received the following awards: • Coverage of Agriculture, third place; • Community Service, second place. This was for the coverage of Union County zoning. • Best Use of Graphics, third place; • Best Ad featuring grocery- food-entertainment, third place; Akron Community Theatre ad. • Best Ad featuring furniture, furnishings, appliances or hardware, first place; Koala-T Printing ad. • Best Ad featuring automotive, boats, aircraft, tires, gasoline, etc., third place; Capital Car Wash ad. • Best Ad, Series or Section featuring the promotion of a newspaper, first place; “Where Do You Read Your Akron Hometowner” ad. • Best Advertising Series or Campaign featuring any service or merchandise, third place; Street Vibrations ads. • Best Agricultural Advertising, second and third places; Farmer’s Coop Society and Garst ads. • Best Circulation-Carrier Promotion, second place. The Akron Hometowner editorial staff includes Julie Ann Madden, general assignment news reporter; Hank Krause, sports writer; Ben Banks and Patti Ericson, sports photographers; Amy Adix and Ruth Salvatierra, news correspondents; and columnists: Amy Adix, Deanna Boe, Pat Clark, Marge Elliott, Mary Lou Klemme, Jay Miller, Wanda Philips, and Peggy Searls. The Akron Hometowner’s Advertising-Composition Department includes ad designers-graphic artists Karen Taylor-Mortensen, Erica Kjar and Jessica Horton. The office manager is Nancy Enstrom and proofreaders are Pat Clark and Peggy Searls. In the Mail Department are Eleanor Bouwman, Char Hodnefield and Cody Morey. The local newspaper was begun by Dodie and Joe Hook of Akron in December 2001. In the last five years of eligibility to compete in the contest, The Akron Hometowner has brought home a total of 102 awards from the Iowa Newspaper Foundation’s Better Newspaper Contest. The Le Mars Daily Sentinel also placed second in both the General Excellence and Best of Class-Advertising categories in their Dailies Class I Division, with circulations of 9,999 and less. The newspaper with the most points overall, the Des Moines Register, was named the INF’s 2008 Newspaper of the Year. It had accumulated 91 points. Madden receives Harrison Weber Reporting Award Each year for the
past nine years, the Iowa Newspaper Foundation has awarded a prestigious
investigative reporting award as part of its annual the Better Newspaper
Contest. One award is
Oh the excitement! Tyler Schneider gets the pin against Manson-Northwest Webster which clinches the Westerners’ victory in the first round of the regional team dual competition causing teammates and fans to jump to their feet!
Westerners defeat Manson but fall to Central Lyon at dual team tournament The Akron-Westfield wrestling team headed to Sioux Central Feb. 5 to compete in the regional team dual tournament for an opportunity to compete at the state dual team tournament in Cedar Rapids. The Westerners faced eighth ranked Manson-Northwest Webster in the first round and fifth ranked Central Lyon in the second round. A-W defeated the unbeaten Manson-Northwest Webster team, 42-33. This defeat was considered an upset by many because of their 27-0 record and they had beaten the Westerners earlier in the season, 38-30. The Manson dual started with the 135 pound division with Cody Reed who lost by fall. Nick Hoffman followed at 140 with a 10-9 decision in his favor. Fourth ranked Brody Verschoor was defeated at 145 by Manson’s seventh ranked wrestler, 7-2. Following Verschoor’s loss, the Westerners came back with five wins in a row: Braxton Bursell, 152, pinned his opponent; second ranked Joe Sievert, 160, won by fall; eighth ranked Chad Morehead, 171, won by decision, 6-2; second ranked John Sievert, 189, won by fall; and tenth ranked David Hecht, 215, won by fall. Other scores in order: Zach Langley, Hwt, lost by fall; the Westerners were open at 103; Alex Waterbury, 112, won by pin. At this point the Westerners were up 36-33 with one match left: Tyler Schneider at 130. Everything was left up to the 130 match-up as to which team was going home. If Schneider lost by fall, the Westerners would lose, win by decision they tie, and win by fall they win. The exciting match ended in the first period as Schneider pinned his opponent giving the Westerners the victory and sending his teammates and the fans jumping for joy. The victory also sent the Westerners to the next round to face Central Lyon, who beat Pocahontas, 66-6, in their first match. Unfortunately the outcome of this match for the Westerners wasn’t favorable and ended their dual season. This match began at 140 with Nick Hoffman who lost by fall and Brody Verschoor at 145 suffered his second loss of the night by a 16-6 major decision. Braxton Bursell at 152 pulled off an upset by defeating second ranked Dylan Reynolds, 7-4. It was only the second loss for Reynolds in the season. In other matches: Joe Sievert, 160, won, 7-2; Chad Morehead, 171, lost, 5-1 to top ranked Jordan Gacke; John Sievert, 189, won by pin; David Hecht, 215, lost, 7-5. Central Lyon won at heavyweight, 112, 119, and 135 as well as a forfeit at 103. Two more wins were recorded by the Westerners. One was at 125 where Josh Taylor pinned his opponent and the other at 130 where Tyler Schneider won, 10-0 in a major decision. The Westerners ended the season with a 21-6 record.
A-W girls’ season comes to an end by Hank Krause The Akron-Westfield girls basketball season came to an abrupt end as they faced their old nemesis the Hinton Blackhawks. Saturday, Feb. 9 proved to be a disastrous day as Hinton completely destroyed the Westerners 60-18 in tournament play. It’s been said that good pitching will stop good hitting or you can score but defense wins games. Well defense won this contest. A-W, who beat Hinton 58-45, on Feb. 1 just couldn’t begin to cope with the 1-3-1 zone defense that Hinton put up. For all practical purposes the game was really over early as the Blackhawks raced to a 19-2 first quarter lead. The second quarter wasn’t much better as Hinton added to the onslaught by holding A-W to one three point field goal. Hinton lead at half 34-5. I know it’s hard to believe but it happened. A-W got one shot at the bucket as they couldn’t go inside and were forced to shoot from long range. Hinton grabbed the rebound and got the ball out and were off to the races. Hinton kept the pressure on in the second half and things stayed about the same. A-W could only score 10 points in the second half as the Blackhawks controlled the tempo as well the outcome. A-W’s shooting was horrendous as they shot six for 45 which included one of 25 from three point range or 13 percent for the night. A-W, however, completed a fine 15-7 season. Five seniors will graduate, Shelby Johnson, Mackenzie Heyl, Laura Kleihauer, Kayla Smith, and Laura Willer. A good nucleus of returners will come back next year to do things all over again. Now it’s off to track, golf and softball.
A-W nipped by West Sioux by Hank Krause The Akron-Westfield boys were on the road again to Hawarden West Sioux for the final regular season game of 2007-08. A-W lost a close one 48-45. Tuesday, Feb. 5 wasn’t a good night but it was close. A-W had their chances but not this time. West Sioux came out launching their famous three pointers and they did connect. Jerod Reinking cashed on three bombs from long distance in the first quarter to give WS a 15-12 first quarter lead. They sort of live by the three but it’s impressive to see. WS opened the lead to 30-21 at halftime as A-W had trouble getting the ball inside and this really hurt A-W’s game. A-W started the second half in a cold state but finally got the ball inside to Michael Oetken. A-W cut WS’s 10 point lead down to seven 34-27. Mike Harris canned two three pointers from the corner plus Justin Koch hit from underneath to narrow it to 38-36. WS’s Johnny Strong hit a three to give WS a 41-36 lead but Chris Carlson countered with a three to make it 41-39. Oekten made two free throws to cut the lead again to one 44-43. A-W stayed within one but Jesse Ratzsch drove the base line to give WS a 48-45 lead. Derek Appley had a desperation last second shot that was on line but a little short. WS had seven or eight three pointers which is the margins. A-W ends the regular season with a fine 16-5 record. Not bad for a couple of seniors, two juniors, a bunch of sophomores and two freshmen. |
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given to a daily paper and one award is given to a weekly paper. The
Harrison “Skip” Weber Investigative Reporting Award was named in honor of
Weber because of his dedication and devotion to the newspaper association
and industry in general. He was a 39-year news director for the Iowa Daily
Press Association, which was renamed the Iowa Newspaper Association in
1983. A lifetime Des Moines resident and 1955 Drake University graduate,
Weber was well-known throughout the state as a journalist. He helped found
the Iowa Freedom of Information Council in 1975. Weber passed away in
2000. This year’s recipients of the Harrison “Skip” Weber Investigative
Reporting Award were The Akron Hometowner’s Julie Ann Madden and The Des
Moines Register’s Clark Kauffman. Madden received the award for her
in-depth reporting on the Gorilla project. “We are all proud of Julie for
receiving this award. It’s a great accomplishment for a small weekly to
receive this,” Publisher Dodie Hook said. Madden and her husband, Jason,
live and farm in rural Akron. Madden has two daughters, Aranda Geiger, a
senior at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, S.D.; and Heidi
Geiger, a freshman at Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville.
