On this day in 1981, George Jones won three times in the 16th Academy Of Country Music awards at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium.
Jones took Top Male Vocalist, and “He Stopped Loving Her Today”–written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman–recieves Song and Single Record of the Year.
Listen to it here!
A challenge was accepted and, in the end, overcome as the Statesmen women’s golf team repeated as champions at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships Tuesday and Wednesday.
#20 William Penn was first out of seven teams with a two-round score of 634 (317-317) at the par-72 Blue Top Ridge Golf Course. Grand View threatened, trailing by just eight strokes after the first round, but the navy and gold pulled away from the field to secure its second-straight berth to the NAIA National Championships. The event will be held May 12-15 at Savannah Quarters Country Club in Pooler, Ga.
WPU will seek to improve upon last year’s impressive 15th-place showing.
Also for the second year in a row, Demi Coertze topped the 35-player field to become league championship medalist. The junior posted a 153 (77-76) to win by two strokes.
Maggie Yang and Alexandria Eckenrod were named to the all-tournament team as well by finishing in the top five. Yang was third at 156 (77-79), while Eckenrod tied for fifth at 160 (79-81).
The Oskaloosa Girls’ Tennis team’s quest for a perfect season came to a screeching halt last night with a 9-2 loss to Pella. The Indians were down 4-2 after singles and things were looking pretty bleak after a set of doubles until we turned things around and made a final charge. For 15 minutes or so, it really looked like the Indians were going to win 4 of 5 doubles matches and take the meet 6-5.
Osky lost 4 tough tie-breakers, however, and ended up losing all of the doubles. Coach Josh Bandstra was very impressed with the way the girls hung in there and didn’t give up. Pella added a couple of tough freshmen at the 1 & 2 spots. They will definitely be the team to beat in the Little Hawkeye Conference the next 3 or 4 years, according to Bandstra.
The Indians will have another shot at them in a different format this Saturday at the Pella Invitational and at the Conference Tournament. Bethany Rowley and Asli Bayram got the two wins for Oskaloosa.
William Penn seniors had their research — ranging from applied computer science to sociology — on display at the William Penn PAC Tuesday.
Seventy-five seniors had 85 exhibits on display for the Annual Research and Creative Arts Symposium held on the PAC basketball courts.
Seniors take a Practicum course to learn how to do research and prepare papers for professional endeavors, Professor of Biochemistry Dr. Jim North said.
“The new thing this year is Applied Computer Science,” North said. Applied Computer Science is a new division this year, he added.
Students conducted research in a number of fields and prepared poster displays of their research results. Students conducted research in a number of fields — applied computer science, biology, exercise science, business, sociology, psychology and human services, North said.
“I’m happy with the quality of the presentations,” North said.
Students, faculty and staff have displayed a lot of interest in the research, he added. Danielle Breon, who is studying applied computer science, teamed up with a partner to do “A Study on How Scratch can help STEM Integration in the Classroom.”
“I took three groups of elementary students and taught it to them to see how they like it,” Breon said.
For more on this story, check out today’s Oskaloosa Herald.
The Oskaloosa Brand Leadership Team is proceeding with city rebranding efforts to make Oskaloosa a tourist destination and to draw more people downtown.
Brand Leadership Team members held a press conference Tuesday morning at the Oskaloosa Chamber and Development Group offices to allay concerns that some people have about the effort.
The Oskaloosa Brand Development team has been working with community development expert Roger Brooks and his team at Roger Brooks International on an action plan since September 2014.
Brooks made an action plan presentation at William Penn University in February that featured a make-over of the city square and the redevelopment of the downtown. Those ideas have stirred concerns with some people.
There is a Save the Osky Bandstand & Square page on Facebook that has been established by people who have been concerned that the city square bandstand would be removed.
“We are not tearing down the bandstand,” BLT member Beth Danowsky said.
“That was never an option,” Oskaloosa Main Street Director Karen Hafner said.
Brooks suggested that the bandstand be moved to the west side of the square to make space for a splash pad/ice skating area and a stage on the east side of the square for concerts.
Some feel the process has been done in secret.
“Throughout the process, we worked hard to get the word out,” BLT member Cathy Stahl said.
“Nothing has been decided,” Oskaloosa City Manager Michael Schrock Jr. said. Any sort of changes to the city square would be a decision for the city council, he added.
“Our job as a community is to bring ideas to policy makers,” Schrock said.
After Brooks’ Feb. 27 presentation, many people stepped forward to volunteer, Danowsky said.
Main Street President Josh Buckingham said that there is wide support for the rebranding effort. The effort has support from 40 different businesses as well as the city of Oskaloosa and Mahaska County. The $80,000 cost of the effort so far has been divided among those 40 businesses as well as a Main Street Challenge Grant, he said.
“It shows potential investors that we are investing in downtown,” Schrock said.
Redeveloping downtown Oskaloosa will take a private-public partnership, Schrock added.
“This has brought all of the community together,” Hafner said. There were more than 1,500 people who answered Brooks’ online survey at the beginning of the process — that is more than anywhere else Brooks has worked, she added.
“It was a true collaboration” between Oskaloosa residents and the Roger Brooks team, Stahl said of the action plan process.
The action plan is not just about redeveloping downtown, Stahl said. There were topics such as the need for signs around the community to direct people to places.
“We made sure it fits our community,” she said of the plan.
What’s next in the process?
The action plan will be reviewed and input will be sent back to Brooks’ organization. A final draft will be sent and people can review it.
Schrock encouraged people to read the plan and tell officials what they like and do not like about it.
“My door is open every day of the week,” Schrock said.
The Brand Leadership Team also is working on a way-finding signage system for the community.
Story by Duane Nollen
The Oskaloosa boys’ golf team host the Oskaloosa Invitational yesterday, and it was a great day for golf and resulted in great scores. Williamsburg was the team champion at 317, followed by Norwalk, Pella, Grinnell, and Oskaloosa to round out the top five. Osky was led by Spencer Tucker’s 76, which allowed him to finish in a tie for second in the meet. The boys’ golf team will be back in action on Thursday at The Preserve at Lake Rathbun for another invitational.
The Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont girls’ track and field team was in action yesterday as well at the Chariton Invitational. Creston dominated en route to the team title, with Davis County far behind in second. Clarke finished third, Knoxville finished in fourth, Centerville in fifth, Interstate-35 in sixth, EBF in seventh, and Chariton in eighth.
The best performance for the Rockets came in the long jump, where Emma Bunnell finished second and Sadie Baugher finished third. The Rockets will try to get healthy after dealing with some injuries and illnesses. They’ll next be in competition at the Pella Tulip Time Relays on Thursday.
The Oskaloosa boys’ track and field team got back in action after the Drake Relays last week, competing at the Davis County Relays. It was a hotly contested meet, with Albia coming out on top with 131 points, followed by Mount Pleasant with 123. Osky finished third with 117 points, and Davis County was fourth behind them with 100 points in the seven team field.
Oskaloosa had a quartet of winners from the meet. Spencer DeJong won the 3200 meter run, Jack Moore took the top spot in the high jump, Skylar DeJong got the win in the 1600 meter run, and Austin Reed got the win in the 400 meter hurdles.
Next up is the conference meet for the Osky boys, which takes place at Pella Christian next Monday.
The Oskaloosa girls’ track and field team was also in action, but they were in Grinnell for the Tiger Relays. Osky finished in 6th place, as Pella ran away with the team trophy and Grinnell finished as a distant second.
Sienna DeJong had the best finish of the night, finishing in second in the 3000 meter run.
The Osky girls have one more tune up before the conference meet at Pella Christian on Monday, and that is at the Pella Tulip Time Relays on Thursday.
Today in 1984, “Mama He’s Crazy” from The Judds entered the charts. The song eventually would become The Judds First #1 hit.
Listen To It Here!
Lady Antebellum are getting ready to kick off the North American leg of their “Wheels Up 2015 Tour”, this Friday (5/1) at a show in Lubbock, Texas.
To make sure everything was just right for their trek, Lady A just held a tour rehearsal on Friday at a Large warehouse in Nashville. The trio took to the fully assembled stage to give members of their team and the media a taste of the new tour.
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