April 29, 2025
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Throwback Thursday

Stories compiled by Katie Wray, CNA newsroom clerk

Pat Pokorny was awarded the Spirit of St. Malachy award in 2016 on behalf of the Rectory Rerun volunteers and gave an acceptance speech during the St. Malachy Gala held at Creston's Supertel. The award is given each year by the St. Malachy Board of Directors to a person, family or group who shows the support and tradition of the school and its faith. About $66,000 was donated during the annual gala and auction. (CNA file photo)

Today is March 11, the 70th day of the year. There are 295 days left left in 2021. Below are news items from the Creston News Advertiser for this week in history.

5 years ago

The 2016 annual “Jam the Gym” event, the main event of TWIRP BIRP week at Creston High School, featured a new dance coach, new routines, a “mother-daughter” dance, a co-ed dance, a seniors’ dance, two routines by the Little Peppers, Little Salts and a few dances by the Southwestern Community College Dazzlers. Peg Eblen, CHS teacher stated, “One of the new things is the Salt and Pepper sponsor, Kalian Smith. She teaches dance at Leslie’s (Dance Emporium), and this is her first year.” After the dance routines, Curtis Palmer was crowned the TWIRP BIRP king, ushering in the evening dance. The other King candidates were Kyle Fenton, Cameron Leith, Cooper McDermott and Miguel Villegas.

Creston/O-M junior Chase Shiltz was named to the Des Moines Register’s All-Iowa Elite Wrestling Team. The two-time state champ, who was a state runner-up as a freshman, was honored at the All-Iowa banquet at the Iowa Events Center. Shiltz was 45-1 with 31 pins and bonus points in 43 of his 46 matches. His only loss was in Kansas City to a nationally-ranked wrestler from Missouri in his second appearance of the season coming off a broken hand suffered during the football playoffs.

15 years ago

Mindy Clark and Cari Hoeman became the new owners of what was called Curves, after moving to Creston with their fiancés T.J. and Todd Stalker. They purchased the business from Tim and Betty Stalker. They felt it would be a great chance to work together and become part of the community.

Senior members of the Creston girls basketball team were honored during their annual banquet. The six seniors of 2006 were: Jaimie Stofferahn, Brittney Auten, Heather Birchard, Caitlin Sprague, Brittany Riley and Ashley Hartsook. Their coach, Tim Sauer, expressed sorrow stating that the senior class was really going to be missed, but he felt they had passed the torch on successfully so the remainder of the team would be ready the following year.

From smoky bars to the grocery store, in just a short span of two years, the controversy that erupted in the Iowa Legislature’s 2006 session due to the Iowa Lottery installing around 6,700 “TouchPlay” betting machines in convenience stores, restaurants, taverns and other outlets statewide was notable. Many Iowans bitterly complained they couldn’t buy a loaf of bread or a gallon of gasoline without being exposed to casino-style gambling, and legislators responded by yanking every machine throughout the state in an unprecedented move. TouchPlay machines had become a big part of Iowa’s landscape, however, committees in both Iowa Legislative chambers drafted bills that would ban all of these machines. The machines even caused a huge problem locally. From July 2005 to February 2006, a total of $586,469 was wagered using TouchPlay machines on betting in Creston at seven of the city’s 12 locations of TouchPlay.

25 years ago

After a series of delays and problems with a contractor, E911 slowly crawled toward some kind of completion. The original start-up date was supposed to be July 1, 1995, but a new future target date could not be set. The board in charge was calling for a public vote to approve another 25¢ in addition to the $1 telephone surcharge already in place. All but 300 of the 66,000 customers in the E911 system could reach their county’s dispatch center by calling 911, but were encouraged to use the current emergency numbers instead, as the 911 base was for training only.

Although unwilling at first to end her marriage, Princess Diana finally agreed to a divorce from Prince Charles February 28, but she was demanding a $45.6 million settlement, twice the amount Buckingham Palace was planning on offering her. The princess rejected an offer of $22.8 million, telling friends: “The price of a deal with me is a lot higher.”

Green Valley Chemical declared championship of the Creston Park and Recreation men’s recreational basketball league. Members of the team included Cory Latham, Rod West, Randy Ehm, Paul Goldsmith, Brett Lauer, Ron Riley, Chad Mahan and Steve Crittenden.

55 years ago

The Rev. William W. Richardson of Macksburg decided he was going to ride horseback from Omaha, Nebraska, to Baltimore, Maryland, in observance of the bicentennial of American Methodism. He wanted to emulate the old-time circuit riders who brought the Christian faith to America’s out-of-the-way and most rural communities. While leading his horse “Traveler I” near Dwight, Illinois, it was frightened by a train whistle and jumped into the path of a truck and was killed. Richardson said he could have another horse brought from Conesville to continue his ride, but he was so severely impacted by the accident and the death of his beloved horse, that he chose not to continue on.

Girl Scout troop 285 met in the Coast to Coast store window for a song session lead by Kathy Blazek and Sharlene Sears. Emily Bjorn displayed her penny collection, Becky Tallmon showed off her napkin collection and Mrs. Don Shelton passed out camp folders and badges. Treats were served by Debra Faber, and Mrs. Shelton, Mrs. Harry Byar and Mrs. Don Martin furnished transportation for the 30 girls.