AVOCA -- Friday night’s football contest between the Vikings and Westwood (Sloan) included a fundraiser for an AHSTW student fighting a rare form of cancer.    Charley Falkena is battling PTLD, or Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disease, which affects transplant patients.  The cancer will typically show itself within the first few years after the transplant takes place.

    REGIONAL – You’ll definitely feel them before you see them.  Those little black bugs which seem to have more teeth than they do body, swarming through the air in the early fall evenings just before dark, causing distress for anyone who may be gardening, attending a ball game or just out for a walk.       And that ferocious bite they have!       The past week has been the worst, as the warmer weather has brought them out of hiding, albeit a

    DES MOINES -- Claire Rowden and Rob Larson both of West Des Moines will marry on September 28 in a ceremony at the Shattering Silence Sculpture on the west grounds of the Iowa Judicial Building in Des Moines.    Parents of the couple are Bob and Rhonda Rowden, Iowa City; and Jeff and Shelli Larson, Harlan.

    COUNCIL BLUFFS -- Former Shelby County residents Leonard L. and Celine Kay of Council Bluffs will mark their 50th wedding anniversary today, September 20. They plan to celebrate by going out to dinner with their family.    The Kays reside at 22427 Highway 6, Council Bluffs, IA 51503-5901.

    OMAHA -- Leo and Marj Kramer of Omaha will observe their 60th wedding anniversary on September 26. They will celebrate their anniversary with a Mass at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Omaha on September 28 and also a dinner with family and friends.      They have two children; Paul and Therese Kramer, Omaha; and Marci and Jerry Carroll, Omaha.

 AVOCA (Sept. 13) -- The AHSTW football team was defeated by Westwood 21-7 in non-district action Friday night, falling to 1-2 on the season. The Vikings scored their only touchdown on a six-yard pass from Blake Holst to Michael Shiffer. Denver Pauley led the Viking offense with 111 rushing yards on 18 carries and Shiffer had 14 tackles on defense.

 MISSOURI VALLEY (Sept.

 SHENANDOAH (Sept.

 HARLAN (Sept. 13) -- After opening the season with two straight games on the road, the Harlan Community football team will finally play under the lights of historic Merrill Field Friday night in a 7 p.m. non-district contest against Carroll Public. Both teams are 1-1 overall. HCHS will be looking to play with “intensity and consistency,” according to interim head coach Todd Bladt, following two games that have sometimes lacked those traits.