HARLAN – The City of Harlan has approved an agreement with LT Leon Associates, Inc., Des Moines, for the development of plans and specifications regarding a river access project near the Highway 44 bridge of the West Nishnabotna River.    At a cost of $13,000, the civil engineering firm will develop preliminary designs, complete all of the permitting process and develop final construction documents for the project.

    TENNANT -- Susan (Myers) Hulsebus was only three months old in 1964 when her family moved back to Shelby from Texas. Hulsebus has been told she “slept in a box on the floor of the car” during the family’s return trip to Iowa.        Hulsebus was born in Fort Hood, TX when her dad, Robert Myers, was stationed there in the Army.

    AVOCA -- Eugene and Cheryl Butcher of Avoca will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on August 1. They are planning a family dinner at their home in Avoca.    Their family includes Eugene Jr. and Sandy Butcher, Shari and Dale Kay, Christi and Ryan Zimmerman all of Avoca; nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
 

    KIMBALLTON -- Emery and Ruby Christoffersen of Kimballton will observe their 70th wedding anniversary on August 6. Their family includes Shirley Christoffersen, Urbandale; Carol and Kevin Forshier, Redfield, IA; the late David Christoffersen; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.    Emery is a retired farmer. Ruby is a retired school teacher.
 

 DALLAS CENTER (July 22) -- The better team ultimately may have won Wednesday’s Class 3A, Substate 8 baseball final in Dallas Center, but the score serves no justice to the competitive nature of the game. Trailing 4-2 since the end of the first inning, Harlan Community loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth but was unable to score against Dallas Center-Grimes ace pitcher Logan Smith. The momentum from that escape carried right i

 CARLISLE (July 21) -- The little things added up in a hurry against Harlan Community Tuesday night, turning a potentially closer game - or at least a longer one - into a quick three-inning affair. An error here, a bad call there, a base hit that barely eluded a Cyclone glove - something always seemed to keep Carlisle’s inning alive. Throw in the fact that the top-ranked Wildcats are a very talented and complete softball team and it all added

 HARLAN (July 20) -- The Harlan Community baseball team picked a great time to earn its first mercy-rule win of 2020. Breaking open a 4-2 game by scoring six runs in the bottom of the fourth, HCHS added three more in the fifth to finish off Denison-Schleswig 13-3 in a Class 3A district final at Jim Goeser Field Monday night. The third time was not a charm for the Monarchs, who lost two close decisions - 2-0 and 1-0 - to the Cyclones during the

 PORTSMOUTH -- Council Bluffs and Massena will play in the Iowa Western Baseball League Tournament title game on Sunday, July 27 (1:00 p.m.) in Portsmouth. The two teams punched their ticket to the final by winning semifinal games last week. Council Bluffs 9, Persia 1 - Alex Johnson had three hits, including a home run, and four other players had two hits as Council Bluffs beat Persia 9-1 on July 14.

 FONDA (July 20) -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton’s magical 2020 softball season fell one win shy of its ultimate goal on Monday night as the 9th-ranked Spartans lost to 2nd-ranked Newell-Fonda 10-0 in five innings in a Class 1A, Region 2 final. Exira-EHK found itself in a 6-0 hole after one inning and couldn’t recover as N-F eighth-grader Kierra Jungers pitched an abbreviated one-hit shutout with one walk and eight strikeouts.