January 09, 2025

Throwback Thursday - Jan. 9, 2024

By Mandy McDowell
Curtiss Bird, 6, of Creston, puts finishing touches on his family of snow people. Bird was sculpting his family likeness Wednesday afternoon near his home on North Vine Street.

Curtiss Bird, 6, of Creston, puts finishing touches on his family of snow people. Bird was sculpting his family likeness Wednesday afternoon near his home on North Vine Street. (CNA 1995 archived photo )

Today is Thursday, Jan. 9, the 9th day of the year. There are 356 days remaining in 2025. Below is a collection of news items found in the Creston News Advertiser for this week in history.

10 years ago (2015)

The Creston/O-M girls bowling team got back into the win column here Saturday with a 2299-2115 win over Harlan. The boys team fell to the Cyclones 2486-1740. Madison Hance led the way with a two-game series of 418, while three other Panther girls — Charley Parcher, Mackenzie McKinney and Ashley Knipfer — all bowled better than 300 for their series.

The person who made a threat against East Union Schools in Afton has been contained, according to Afton Police Chief John Coulter. Coulter said a valid threat made by an adult was received by Union County law enforcement and East Union School administration via phone messages approximately 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The school was never under lockdown today. ”The person does not live in Afton or Union County,” Coulter said.

City and county officials were recently notified that Seldin Company’s Lincoln School apartment project will not receive any money through the Community Development Block (CDBG) grant. Lincoln School was sold by the city to Seldin Company of Omaha, Nebraska, in August. The development company has plans to transform the building into senior housing with 16 rental units, adequate commmons and fitness areas. However, that sale was contingent on Seldin’s project either receiving the CDBG grant or Housing Tax Credit grant through Iowa Finance Authority.

20 years ago (2005)

Spurred by four individual champions, the Creston/Orient-Macksburg wrestling team finished Saturday’s Panther Invitational in first place with 200 points. Heading into the final round, Creston/O-M held a dominant 26-point lead over the competition. Three teams - Mount Ayr, Des Moines North-Hoover and Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln - were locked in a battle for second. The Panthers had seven wrestlers advance to the final round: Andrew Long (103), Quin Leith (119), Blake Miller (152) and Matt Williamson (160) winning their respective classes.

Southwestern Community College begins a series of promotions at Saturday’s men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader against Kirkwood. Throughout the month of January Southwestern will offer several incentives for fans to attend the games. At Saturday’s 2 p.m. doubleheader all fans 12 and under will receive a Spartans basketball T-shirt. Fans attending Wednesday’s 7 p.m. women’s game vs. Des Moines Area Community College will receive free popcorn.

The views in Creston today may be described as a bit surreal, with everything from individual blades of grass to entire vehicles encased in almost a quarter-inch of ice. Four members of the Creston Street Department started salting and sanding the roads at 2 a.m. ”Now we’re starting to see if we can plow some of it off,” said Harold Holliday, street department supervisor. Holliday said with more precipitation forecast for today, street department employees don’t plan on getting off work anytime soon. ”We’ll probably quit this evening and then it’s not supposed to do anything until tomorrow afternoon,” he said. Drivers in Union County have either been staying indoors, or taking things relatively slow, with no serious accidents to report.

30 years ago (1995)

GTE approved a $500 grant to the Creston Community Betterment Foundation toward the construction of the Area Arts and Wellness Center, which is nearing completion. The grant is an addition to the $5,000 given by GTE between 1990 and 1992 for the project.

Creston Motor Company announces the return of Mark Blazek as the full-time general manager. During college summer breaks, you found Mark back home working at Creston Motor Company. During the last year, he handled the international accounting for Windsor Industries in Colorado. Mark likes to golf and ski .. and of course would like to tell you about the Fords, Mercurys and Lincolns at Creston Motor Co.

Clarke of Osceola broke Winterset’s hold of the ‘A’ championship at the Panther Wrestling Invitational Saturday. The Indians snapped the Huskie’s three-year streak in this division with a 208-206 decision and then won the overall title with 82 points. The Panthers had one overall champion, senior Ryan Kinsella at 171. Creston tied with Adel-DeSoto-Minburn for fourth with 118 points.

40 years ago (1985)

A landscape architect from Iowa State University Extension Service recommends Creston keep its brick streets downtown, having the bricks relaid if the streets need to be improved. That was the conclusion of a letter read to the city council Tuesday night. The council has been studying how to improve downtown streets since early last year.

City workers were busy this morning clearing the streets from the three-inch snowfall. City and county maintenance officials called it a “routine winter snowfall” and experienced little difficulty in handling it.

Creston