Around Town

AROUND TOWN

By MARY CULLEN

The Nature Tots program was held on Wednesday morning, Sept. 14, at Storm Lake Public Library with Buena Vista Conservationist Katie Struss. The children learned about monarch butterflies and put tags on them with Katie’s help. The butterflies fly to Mexico where people look for the tags. Last year, 200 Monarchs were tagged and six were found.

Nature Tots is held for preschoolers at the library at 10:30 a.m. on the second Wednesday morning of every month. Next month the theme is bats.

AROUND TOWN

By MARY CULLEN

The Little Tornado Academy, the before and after school program, had a special guest on Friday afternoon. Lesa Turnquist, fitness instructor, from the Fitness and Health Center came and did fitness activities with the LTA students. Alexa Razo (picture) is running through the obstacle course.

AROUND TOWN

By MARY CULLEN

For my birthday this year, my kids gave me tickets to see world famous singer-songwriter Adele in Chicago in July! The Times’ readers may recall that they gave me Paul McCartney tickets three years ago. What great gifts!

AROUND TOWN

By MARY CULLEN

This summer, recent PAC graduate Parker Aden submitted a video entry into PlayStation’s “Road to Greatness” contest, which asks players to tell why their giant semi full of consoles and not yet released video games should come to their town.

Parker’s story was simple – it’d be the most exciting thing to happen in Pocahontas in quite some time.

AROUND TOWN

By MARY CULLEN

AROUND TOWN

By MARY CULLEN

Have you been hunting for Pokemon yet in the new Pokemon Go craze? The Storm Lake Police Department released several safety tips to keep you safe during your hunt.

1. Look up – be aware of your surroundings. Are you about to step into traffic? Are you going to crash into someone or something?

2. It is very easy for any stranger to know your gathering spots. Make sure you go with a group and that younger kids tell parents or another adult where they’re going.

AROUND TOWN

By MARY CULLEN

“Juggling Jeff” Koziatek performed at the Storm Lake Public Library on Wednesday, July 20, for many children and their parents.

Jeff, from St. Louis, Mo., is a nationally recognized and award-winning speaker, life coach, performer and producer. He speaks on values and topics such as teamwork, leadership, self worth and pursuit of passion. As a performer and producer, he has managed national touring acts and produced award winning films.

By MARY CULLEN

After 37 years, Candy Clough of Storm Lake has retired from teaching piano lessons.

“I started teaching piano lessons when my son was one year old; he is now 38,” Candy explained. “As a young mother, teaching was a perfect job. I could mold my schedule around my own children’s activities and also work at home.

By MARY CULLEN

The second annual Newell car show was held Saturday, June 18. Twenty-seven cars and three motorcycles were featured and the Newell Café sold smoked turkey legs, chips and drinks. The cars ranged from several 1914 cars, a 1957 Ford F100, 1968 and 2004 Mustangs, 1979 Trans Am, 2008 Corvette and a 1998 Blazer that owner Kyle Klink called his “beater.” There was even a Camaro pace car from the Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 1982, the 66th running of the race.

By MARY CULLEN

Since I grew up in The Princess City of Pocahontas, it was upsetting to me to see my town misspelled on a highway sign by Highways 3 and 71.

The DOT people are not the first to have trouble spelling my town. Several years ago, I noticed two different misspellings of Pocahontas at exhibits at the State Historical Museum of Iowa in Des Moines. Director Mary Cownie responded to my letter that the two mistakes would be rectified. Let’s hope the DOT fixes its sign, also.