March 19, 2026
Local NewsState & NationalPublic Notices

Remember when...

By Mandy McDowell
Five senior wrestlers were honored at the Creston wrestling banquet Sunday night in the high school commons. Posing with their senior plaques are front row from left: Ryan Oshel, Kasey Downing and Matt Champman. Back row: Hycin Thatcher and Doug Stevens.

Five senior wrestlers were honored at the Creston wrestling banquet Sunday night in the high school commons. Posing with their senior plaques are front row from left: Ryan Oshel, Kasey Downing and Matt Champman. Back row: Hycin Thatcher and Doug Stevens. (CNA 1994 archived photo)

Maybe you were there when it happened or read about it the first time around, but some things are just worth repeating.

Today is Thursday, March 19, 2026. There are 287 days remaining in the year. Here’s what the CNA reported on this week in history. Do you remember?

Five years ago (2021)

The Parks and Recreation board met 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the site of Lexi’s Puppy Patch. Jeremy Rounds and Angie Wegsheid, the parents of the late Alexis Rounds, appeared before the board to suggest sites for the dog park to be build in her honor. The board agreed to place the tentative location of the dog park near the baseball field on Spillway Road.

Senator Joni Ernst visited at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday the MATURA center at 210 Russell St. in Creston. WIC Program Director Karla Hynes guided the senator as they talked to visitors and members of the staff.

Twenty five boys for Creston track and field made their varsity debuts Tuesday night in Clarinda, gaining valuable experience to open the season against the southern half of the Hawkeye 10. The meet, while not having much weight in the conference race, was an opportunity early in the season for Clarinda, Shenandoah, Glenwood, Red Oak and Creston to get its team involved as much as possible to see what each athlete could do.

10 year ago (2016)

Jerry Shields of Murray was honored Sunday as 2016 Middle School Athletic Director of the Year for the State of Iowa and the 2016 Southwest District AD of the Year. The award presentation was part of the Iowa High School Athletic Directors Association’s State Convention held at The Marriott in Coralville. Shields grew up and still lives in Grand River, graduating from Grand Valley High School in 1978. He graduated from Graceland University in January 1983.

Even though the Creston girls track team graduated several seniors from last year’s team with multiple state meet medals, head coach Clay Arnold has reason to be optimistic for the 2016 season. Arnold’s Panthers have been slowed by several nagging injuries during the early part of the season, but he knows if his team gets healthy, it has the potential to be the deepest team he’s had in his coaching career.

Briar Cliff head men’s basketball coach Nic Nelson infiltrated Southwest Iowa Wednesday and made the return trip to Sioux City having signed a pair of all-state players to his Charger squad for the 2016-17 season. Nodaway Valley all-time leading scorer Jackson Lamb put pen to paper Wednesday morning before Diagonal senior Jacob Taylor made it official Wednesday afternoon.

15 years ago (2011)

Things really got started about 6 p.m. Tuesday. At about 5:45 p.m. the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Union County and surrounding counties. Even before the warning was issued, storm spotters had been dispatched from the Creston Fire Department.

Creston/O-M’s seven qualifiers in this year’s state wrestling tournament, including five new first-timers, stretched the program’s total number of state wrestlers to 99 over 50 years of wrestling.

The third and final legislative coffee of the current session took place Saturday morning at the Restored Creston Depot. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Red Oak, Rep. Joel Fry, R-Osceola, and Rep. Cecil Dolecheck, R-Mount Ayr, were all present. After reporting recent activity in the House and Senate, several constituents got involved in discussion about a recently passed bill in the House that the Senate is set to vote upon. Last week, the House passed HF 589 by a vote of 66-27. The bill would target individuals who approach crop or animal facilities on false pretenses for the purpose of making audio or visual recordings.

20 years ago (2006)

All students and faculty were evacuated from Creston High School Thursday morning after administrators discovered a handwritten note stating the school “would be blown up on March 23, 2006, at 11 a.m.,” according to a Creston Police Department press release. A 16-year-old was charged by police for making the threat.

The 2005-06 season didn’t finish how the Creston boys basketball team would have liked. The corps of seven seniors had one goal since second grade - to win a state title. Those hopes came crashing down in Thursday’s one-point loss in the semifinals to Harlan. The seniors’ prep careers came to an end with a second-straight one-point loss in Saturday’s consolation finals. Despite the heartbreaking finish, the seniors molded a legacy as one of the best teams in school history. The fourth-place finish was Creston’s fourth-best campaign of all time. In addition, the group earned back-to-back state appearances for only the third time in school history.

Creston