HARLAN (Sept. 27) -- Members of the 1979 Harlan Community fall softball team - the last of its kind at HCHS - will be honored prior to Friday’s Homecoming game at Merrill Field, along with former coaches Russ Gallinger and Sue Fowler. Forty years ago, the 1979 Cyclonettes had an undefeated regular season.

 CRESTON (Sept. 24) -- Claiming a trio of top-three individuals combined, the Harlan Community girls won their fourth team title of the year and the boys earned their best finish so far (second) in Tuesday’s Creston Cross Country Invitational held at Southwestern Community College. The Cyclone girls were led by Lucy Borkowski’s second-place run in 20:27 while Kaia Bieker placed third in 20:44.

 NEOLA (Sept. 24) -- Eight runners from AHSTW and IKM-Manning earned individual top-20 medals at Tuesday’s Tri-Center Cross Country Invite held at the Quail Run Golf Course. Top-ranked (1A) Logan-Magnolia won the girls team title with a score of 42 while Sergeant Bluff-Luton edged ninth-ranked (1A) AHSTW by a point (50-51) for second place and No.

 GLIDDEN (Sept. 20) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton football team evened its record at 2-2 overall and 1-1 in 8-Player, District 8 with a 43-20 win at Glidden-Ralston last Friday night. Exira-EHK junior quarterback Tyler Petersen threw five touchdown passes on the night, completing 12-of-24 throws for 183 yards with one interception.

HARLAN -- Homecoming royalty was crowned Friday, Sept. 27 at Harlan Community High School.  

    HARLAN – Pioneer Park in Harlan soon will become the home of a StoryWalk® feature, where park-goers can read books through a series of signs spread out throughout the park.    StoryWalk® is a series of signs featuring sequential spreads from a children’s picture book, and those signs are spread throughout the park allowing readers to follow along with a posted story by walking.

    COUNTY -- Shelby County Public Health reminds all residents that it is time to prepare for the upcoming influenza season by getting vaccinated.    Influenza is a contagious disease that can lead to serious illness, including pneumonia. Even healthy people can get sick enough to miss work or school for a significant amount of time or even be hospitalized.

    HARLAN – Three Harlan Community High School students recently were honored in the Greater Omaha Council Bluffs Area Council on Youth Leadership Youth Salute as being outstanding leaders.    Justina Borgman, Lucy Borkowski and Bobbie Schechinger were recognized during an awards ceremony that was held September 15 at Bellevue University, complete with a leadership seminar presented the same day.

    REGIONAL -- Iowa’s pheasant hunters should expect to find a similar number of birds as last year, with the exception of south central and southeast Iowa, where the pheasant population decline was more significant.    In Shelby County, pheasant numbers are higher than a year ago, but quail, partridge and cottontail numbers have decreased.    Based on the August roadside survey, Iowa’s statewide average is 17 pheasants per 30 mile route, dow