OAKLAND (April 1) -- IKM-Manning sophomore Alexa Ahrenholtz tied her personal best with a first-place leap of five feet in the high jump here Monday, helping the Wolves finish second out of 11 teams at the Riverside Lady Dawgs Invitational. Ahrenholtz, who also soared over the five-foot bar indoors at Storm Lake last month, contributed to three place-winning relays as well, including a gold medal in the distance medley relay along with Mya Ir

    WESTPHALIA -- Betty Specht, 77, Westphalia, died Thursday, April 4 at Elm Crest Retirement Community in Harlan.    Services will be held at a later date.    Specht is survived by grandson Tristan Specht of East Earl, PA; siblings Leona “Jonsey” Klein of Westphalia and Leo “Spike” (Alice) Kloewer of Harlan; nieces and nephews.    Pauley Jones Funeral Home in Harlan is in charge of arrangements.

    HARLAN -- Orrin D. Plagmann, 82, Harlan, died April 6 at Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan.    Services will be held Wednesday, April 10 at 11 a.m. at Pauley Jones Funeral Home in Harlan with burial in the Harlan Cemetery.  Visitation is Wednesday from 9-11 a.m.

    DENISON -- Richard Brodersen, 75, died Monday, April 1 at his home near Denison.  Services will be held Thursday, April 11 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Denison with burial following in the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Cemetery.  Visitation is Wednesday, April 10 from 4-7 p.m. with a prayer service at 6 p.m.

    HARLAN -- Phyllis Ann Monahan, 76, Harlan, died April 3 at Elm Crest Retirement Community.    Services will be held Friday, April 12 at 11 a.m. at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Harlan with burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Portsmouth.  A wake service will be held Thursday, April 11 at 7 p.m. at Pauley Jones Funeral Home in Harlan.  Visitation is Thursday from 5-8 p.m.

    HANCOCK -- Carla Annette Johnk, 58, Hancock, died April 4 at her home.    Services were held Monday, April 8 at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Walnut with burial in the Lincoln Township Cemetery at Walnut at a later date.

    HARLAN -- The Harlan Community High School Drama Department will present the play Getting Sara Married this weekend in the HCHS auditorium.    The play will be performed on Saturday, April 13 at 7 p.m. and again on Sunday, April 14 at 2 p.m.  Doors will open an hour before each performance.    Sara Hastings is an unmarried lawyer in her mid-30s, much too busy to get involved in romance.

    HARLAN -- Harlan HOSA (Future Health Professionals) students attended the State HOSA Leadership Conference March 17-19 in Des Moines and competed well, qualifying for the national event held in June.  Students competed in Medical Math, Health Career Photography, and Community Awareness and came away with top honors.    Rachel Anderson received fifth place in Medical Math test.  Justina Borgman and Ashley Sonderman both entered Health Caree

    COUNTY – Shelby County property owners should have received in the mail last week notification of property assessment changes, Shelby County Assessor Tony Buman said.    On average, the county as a whole is seeing a five percent assessment increase, with much of Harlan receiving around a 10 percent increase on residential properties.    “Based on sales, the county median for residential properties indicates the county as a whole is a littl