HARLAN – Eight Harlan Community High School speech students have qualified for state participation following outstanding performances at the district speech contest recently.    On February 25, the HCSD Individual Speech Team, under the direction of Ms.

    COUNTY – The crazy spring weather has wreaked havoc on the county’s gravel and dirt road systems, and hopes are that sunshine and warm temperatures this weekend will help the roads heal from a winter that hasn’t been particularly kind.    “Right now the roads are in tough shape,” Shelby County Engineer Dan Ahart said this week.  The two weeks of warm temperatures toward the end of February followed by rain, snow, ice, colder temperatures,

    CHICAGO, IL -- McKenna Boardman and Ellen Keast from Harlan Community High School Student Council joined thousands of other student leaders at a Leadership Experience and Development (LEAD) Conference in Chicago, IL on February 10-12.    LEAD Conferences offer experiential leadership skills development to students and advisers, and are a program of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), which also administers the

    HARLAN – Five individuals were arrested and charged with various drug-related crimes following a bust at a Harlan residence last week.    Shelby County Sheriff reports indicate that on Monday, Feb.

    STATE – The Iowa Department of Public Health Bureau of Health Statistics is taking steps to exchange any newborn birth certificate from May, 1993 to October, 2009, where the birth certificate is a small, wallet-sized card.    The newborn birth certificate wallet cards issued during this time period did not contain enough vital record information to be used for identification purposes, essentially making them less valuable for the purpose t

    HARLAN -- James Buwalda, 43, Harlan, died March 1 at Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan.    Buwalda was the owner of the Harlan Pizza Ranch and partner in the Denison Pizza Ranch.    Survivors include his parents, Jerry and Sharon Buwalda, of Sioux Falls, SD; brother Joel Buwalda of Sioux Falls; and sister Joy (Jerry) Steenhoek of Haywarden.    Services are pending at Pauley Jones Funeral Home in Harlan. 

    EARLING -- Lois Sibenaller, 84, Earling, died March 1 at Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs.    Survivors include her children Kay (Tom) Schechinger, Gary Sibenaller, Tammy (Toby) Hastert, Rhonda (Frank) Powers, Perry (Susie) Sibenaller, Mary Sibenaller, and other family members.    Visitation will be Friday, March 3 from 5-8 p.m., with family greeting friends from 6-8 p.m., and a wake service at 7 p.m. at St.

    MENIFEE, CA -- Marcelyn Jeanne Rexroth Lund, 88, Menifee, CA, formerly of Harlan and Blair, NE, died February 26 in Menifee.    Services will be held Tuesday, March 7 at 10:30 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Blair.  Visitation is Monday, March 6 from 6-8 p.m.

    OMAHA, NE -- Maxine May Kenkel, 76, Omaha, NE, died February 26 in Omaha.    Services will be held Saturday, March 4 at 10 a.m. at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Omaha.  Visitation is Friday, March 3 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.