T’WOLVES WIN
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Southwest Valley featured balanced scoring in a 59-48 win over Clarinda Thursday. For more on the Timberwolves, see SPORTS, page 1S. >>
This week’s “5 minutes” feature is with Amber Tate, Creston school nurse. For more with Tate, see page 8A. >>
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016
Area teams win trophies at John Glenn, the state dance competition 1st American to orbit Earth, dies at age 95
CNA photo by RYAN KRONBERG
Members of the Creston Peppers dance team perform during at Wells Fargo Arena Saturday during halftime of the Creston and Lenox boys basketball game. The Peppers received three Division-I ratings and received a third-place trophy for Small School co-ed.
By SCOTT VICKER
CNA managing editor svicker@crestonnews.com
DES MOINES – The Creston Salts and Peppers, Creston color guard Mount Ayr Sparks and Southwestern Community College Dazzlers dance teams all brought home top-five trophies from the Iowa State Dance and Drill Team Association team championships at Wells Fargo Arena last week. The high school team championships, which included 15 different categories, took place Dec. 1-2, with the college championships completed Saturday.
The Creston Peppers competed in three events – lights, jazz and co-ed with the Peppers – receiving Division-I ratings in all three events. That made the team eligible for topfive trophies in each event. The Salts and Peppers finished third in the Small School co-ed category, earning a trophy. “Co-ed routine is always fun because you just never know from one minute to the next between the girls really wanting to dance and the guys kind of wanting to dance but kind of embarrassed but kind of wanting to do good,” said Kalian Smith, Creston Peppers coach. “We did several lifts, which
just wows the audience to watch the kids do them.” One lift in the routine was known as the flying eagle, which was an assisted straddle jump for the girl, but her partner tosses her into the air and catches her by the legs as she rolls forward, grabs her partner’s legs and then comes out. “It’s this really cool thing and each time we’ve performed it, someone in the audience that’s watched has screamed because it seriously looks like they’re going to drop the girls,” Smith said. “But it’s really fun to do.” The Creston Peppers consists of 17 girls, each with a partner for the co-
“EACH time we’ve performed it, someone in the audience that’s watched has screamed because it seriously looks like they’re going to drop the girls.”
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KALIAN SMITH
Creston Peppers coach about the flying eagle lift
ed routine. The Peppers will perform their Christmas routine during Tuesday’s varsity boys home DANCE | 2A
WASHINGTON (AP) — John Glenn, whose 1962 flight as the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth made him an all-American hero and propelled him to a long career in the U.S. Senate, died Thursday. The last survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts was 95. Glenn died at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he was hospitalized for more than a week, said Hank Wilson, c o m m u - Glenn nications director for the John Glenn School of Public Affairs. John Herschel Glenn Jr. had two major career paths that often intersected: flying and politics, and he soared in both. Before he gained fame orbiting the world he was a fighter pilot in two wars, and as a test pilot he set a transcontinental speed record. He later served 24 years in the Senate from Ohio. A rare setback was a failed 1984 run for the Democratic presidential nomination. His long political career enabled him to return to space in the shuttle Discovery at age 77 in 1998, a cosmic victory lap that he relished and turned into a teachable mo-
ment about growing old. He holds the record for the oldest person in space. More than anything, Glenn was the ultimate and uniquely American space hero: a combat veteran with an easy smile, a strong marriage of 70 years and nerves of steel. Schools, a space center and the Columbus airport were named after him. So were children. The Soviet Union leaped ahead in space exploration by putting the Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit in 1957, and then launched the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in a 108-minute orbital flight on April 12, 1961. After two suborbital flights by Alan Shepard Jr. and Gus Grissom, it was up to Glenn to be the first American to orbit the Earth. “Godspeed, John Glenn,” fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter radioed just before Glenn thundered off a Cape Canaveral launch pad, now a National Historic Landmark, to a place America had never been. At the time of that Feb. 20, 1962, flight, Glenn was 40 years old. With the all-business phrase, “Roger, the clock is operating, we’re underway,” Glenn radioed to Earth as he started his 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds in space. Years later, he explained he said that because he didn’t feel like he had lifted off and it was the only way he knew he had launched.
Christmas basket
The 2016 Union County Christmas Basket Fund campaign is underway. This year’s fund goal is $17,500 and organizers are gearing up for another successful campaign. Last year, 214 baskets serving 841 people were distributed. Residents of care centers in Creston and Afton received fruit and Kleenex. Baskets include meat, canned goods – donated through efforts of Boy Scouts and school and community projects – and certificates redeemable at local supermarkets for perishable foods. Contributions may be sent to: Christmas Basket Fund, P.O. Box 126, Creston, IA 50801, or dropped off at the Creston News Advertiser, 503 W. Adams St. All contributions will be published in the Creston News Advertiser’s weekly progress report, listed by name or “friend,” as desired. Previous total: $1,222.75 Mr. and Mrs. James Baker – in memory of Harry, Patty BASKET | 2A
CNA photo by KELSEY HAUGEN
‘God’s Favorite:’ Southwestern Community College students Dawn Roach of Bedford, left, and Gabe Esser of Winterset
read lines together while auditioning for comedy play “God’s Favorite” Thursday afternoon at the Performing Arts Center in Creston. “God’s Favorite” will be the SWCC drama club’s spring play.
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