BRIDAL SECTION
ICCAC VICTORY
What will the wedding hair trends be for 2015? Local beauticians Gretchen Baker of Salon G and MaKenzi Vonk of Reflections Beauty and Tanning Salon in Creston make their predictions in our bridal section on pages 6 and 7A.
The Southwestern Spartans men’s basketball team opened ICCAC play Wednesday evening with a 7064 win over Ellsworth. Jaylon Smith led the Spartans with 25 points. More in SPORTS, page 10A. >>
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2015
ALL BOARDED UP
Creston wrestling boards still on walls — more to come? By BAILEY POOLMAN CNA staff reporter
bpoolman@crestonnews.com
Boards depicting the historical success of Creston’s wrestling program are still up in the athletic hallway at Creston High School, despite recent controversy. The boards are four-feetwide by eight-feet-tall black composite material with red stenciled lettering (see photo, right). The boards include every CHS wrestler who placed at state, from four-time champion Jake Marlin to the many state qualifiers. The boards were installed roughly a couple weeks ago, according to Jeff Bevins, Creston athletic director. Issue Before the boards were installed, acknowledgment of wrestling champions included the 2007 individual tournament and dual tournament championship team in the Bevins gym and first-place champions in the CHS commons area. There are also team champions for each sport McDermott at Creston High School displayed in the gym. “There’s really nothing out there that shows anything other than the first place (champions),” Bevins said. “There’s a first time for everything.” Steve McDermott, Creston and Prescott superintendent, said one of the main concerns he has received was the size of the boards. “Once they were installed, everybody realized how large they were,” McDermott said. “The actual size, they just took up more space than anticipated.”
SWCC to purchase new $150K shuttle for activities By BAILEY POOLMAN
CNA staff reporter bpoolman@crestonnews.com
CNA photo by BAILEY POOLMAN
These boards, made of black composite material with red lettering, hang in the athletic hallway at Creston High School. The boards cover all individual wrestling champions.
Another issue that was present, according to McDermott, was the lack of fairness. “They’re very sharp, they look nice. I think the issue now is fairness for all programs,” McDermott said. McDermott said he has worked with building administrators and Darrell Frain, Creston/Orient-Macksburg head wrestling coach, and they have made good headway. “We’re hoping to go ahead and build on that idea,” McDermott said. “We feel like we’re in a better place today.” History The boards have been in the works more than a year, thanks to coaches and Creston High School students. “There was a group over a year ago that decided to pursue this idea,” McDermott said. “The coaches worked
with the EAST (environmental and spatial technology) program, and then the students kind of took it from there.” EAST students fundraised to purchase the materials, then created the boards. They got permission by Creston School Board members to put the boards on the walls, but did not do it right away. The boards sat in a pile for a long time. Eventually they were screwed into the walls in the high school’s athletic hallway, just beyond the gym entrances, by the wrestling team’s supporters, which includes parents. Changes Currently, the plan is to continue with the idea of the record boards with other sports and activities. “We’re also looking at
considering how to do some similar boards for other activities, so we are the same across the board,” McDermott said. McDermott mentioned suggestions of consolidating boards to make room for those dedicated to other activities. He also suggested moving some of the wrestling boards into the wrestling room at the high school. “I like them, but I also like that we’re going to include a lot of our individual sports,” Bevins said. Another issue is the material the boards are made out of. There is an investigation into if the materials are combustible. If they are not, the plan is to continue with the idea of creating more record boards. However, if they are, a change of material might be in order.
Southwestern Community College Board of Directors unanimously approved the purchase of an activities shuttle during their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. The bus, a needed addition to the SWCC fleet, will carry 35 people and cost more than $150,000 from a sales representative out of Dexter. “We’ve been looking at this for probably two years,” said Tom Lesan, SWCC vice president of economic development. “With the starting up of the new activities, with larger numbers of partici- Lesan pants ... than I anticipated, we are running into a lot of conflicts.” In January, February and March, there are 17 conflicts between different scheduled athletic and organization activities. Vehicles are rented through a company in Arispe to make up for any conflicts; however, the cost to rent is Lorensen $1,400, which adds up to approximately $24,000 if used for all 17 conflicts. “It’s going to positively affect our athletes, and further than that, all our activities on campus,” said Todd Lorensen, SWCC athletic director and head men’s basketball coach. “It’s just going to give us more flexibility and help us treat our students in a much better fashion.” Shuttle “Our proposal right now is to keep the current bus, to keep the current shuttle and to add a 35-passenger shuttle, at least to get us till summer of 2015,” Lesan said. The approved shuttle was bid by Master’s Transportation Inc., out of Dexter for $157,980. It is a 2015 Ford F-650, and is already built. The other bid was for a shuttle costing $161,124 from Colonial Bus Company out of Monrovia, Md. The shuttle has storage space for any sports or music equipment that does not take away from seating. The cost will come out of the college’s transportation fund. Please see SWCC, Page 2
CNA photos by SARAH BROWN
Hay bale fire: Creston Firefighter Ray Ott hoses down hay bales during a fire Wednesday
on the property of Jerry Young of Shannon City. Creston Fire Department reported approximately 100 hay bales were on fire upon arrival. The cause is still under investigation. Read the full report on page 3A.
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