Did you see that the Marcus Junction picture was labeled “ribbon cutting” and should have been “ground breaking”?
Monday the Cherokee girls’ basketball team won over Davenport Assumption at State with a 63-43 win. Cherokee went on to play West Lyon Thursday afternoon where they lost 52 to 39.
Tuesday was the day to vote on the bond issue that MMCRU (MMC) School was proposing for $20 million dollars. The first tax levy rate on the ballot was supported with 68% voting “yes”. The second question on the ballot was asking for approval of $18 million to fund a new elementary school, high school upgrades, and reconfigured parking lot that 69% of the voters approved. “Yes” votes were 711 and there were 320 “no” votes.
The third question on the ballot was for a $2.1 million bond to fund a daycare facility that would be added to the elementary school. This was approved with a 60% voter approval.
Now that the bond has passed, homeowners could be expecting a $15.25 per month per $100,000 valuation increase. Taxes on agricultural property will go up to $4.92 per acre per year on the assessed value. Only MMC property owners will pay the tax increase from this bond issue. Voters of the neighboring Remsen-Union school district did not vote on this bond issue.
MMC has spent thousands of dollars to keep the heating system working as well as there has been a lot of plumbing issues in these buildings constructed in 1962 and 1954. Construction could begin the spring of 2022 and will take about two years. The elementary school would be finished for the second semester of the 2022-2023 school year.
Tuesday at 2:15 there was a send-off for MMCRU girls’ basketball team as they won over Westwood (53-43). They played the Westwood team on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at West High gym in Sioux City and won the game that enabled them to go to State. They went to State with a 21-2 score.
What an exciting send-off the communities had for MMCRU! Supt. Barkel began to thank, from a long list, those people who were responsible for many things making the send-off possible.
MMCRU played #3 Exira-EHK in the first round Class 1A state tourney play at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on 4 p.m., Wednesday (March 3). The Exira team only had 8 players on their squad. The Royals led (10 to 9) in the first quarter but Exira had two-three pointers late in the first half to give Exira a 30-21 lead over the Royals as they headed for the locker rooms.
The third quarter saw the Royals coming back full strength with Dreckman’s shooting to own a 24-13 advantage now having a 45 to 43 lead with eight minutes to go. Then the score was tied at 49 with four minutes and 20 seconds left in the 4th quarter. 2:44 minutes left had Exira leading 52-49. Then it was 1:47 left with still Exira leading 52-49. Then it came down to free throws with Exira making the necessary free throws. With 34.8 seconds to go, Exira led 58 to 52. Royals added 3 more points and Exira added 2 more points as these seconds were ticking away. The buzzer went off with Exira winning with 60 to 55 as the final score. Only 5 points, but it wasn’t going to happen!
No matter what the result was, we are PROUD of our MMCRU girls! You did your best and remember, there is always another time to show your talent!
I was able to see most of these games at home. Two of the nights, I watched games (re-runs from that day) until after midnight.
The game that Newell-Fonda played Kingsley-Pierson, was the fastest moving game I had seen! The first quarter, NF had a score that otherwise would have been a final number over KP. KP never did catch up with NF who won 87- 47. All of the other games at State never had such a high score for the first quarter.
Saturday I watched Unity Christian vs West Lyon play. At half time, they were 23 to 18 with West Lyon in the lead. West Lyon, just as the half-time buzzer was going off, had sent a ball toward the basket. The ball went two times around the rim and then_went in. In the second half, Unity Christian came alive and kept West Lyon down to only 8 points and gained 30 points for themselves. The 4th quarter saw both teams tied at 29 to 29. The final score was 48 to 31 with Unity Christian winning. In the first two quarters, West Lyon shot 47% from the field but in the second half, West Lyon only converted 3 times from 26 attempted shots. At one point in time, Unity Christian was only shooting 24% from the field. (Unity Christian was one of the two games the Royals lost to in regular play with a score of 47 to 58.)
Newell-Fonda played Bishop Garrigan at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. NF wasn’t as fast as they had been in the previous Kingsley-Pierson game. The first half was 33 for NF and 20 for Bishop. There were a lot of fouls in this game. The final score would have been more than 66 (NF) to 52 (Bishop) if there hadn’t been as many free throws missed. It was the game that closed the State games for 2021. From Monday to Saturday, it was a week of teams showing that it paid to work hard to get to where they were.
There was about 2 minutes left of the last game when my phone was ringing. When it needs charging, there is no light. I picked up the “dark” phone and said, “I’m at a ball game and can’t be disturbed to whoever you are that is calling.” Because the phone was almost dead, I couldn’t know who had called. Afterwards I asked Zachary if he knew who had called. “Yah, it was Jesse. He needed to borrow 3 eggs.” Then Bethany said he had called her and she had already given him the eggs. (I tried calling him afterward to apologize for not answering his call but didn’t get any answer.)
The MMCRU High School Choir that was supposed to have been on Thursday, March 4, was postponed until Monday, March 8 due to the Royals going to Des Moines. That is also the Marcus City Council meeting on the same night. I will be busy that night!
A lady from Conn. sent the following complaint in to a newspaper: Electricians and others often refer to connectors in general as “male” or “female”. For example, a plug with prongs at the end of an electrical cord is called a male connector, and a wall socket with holes is called a female connector. Wile the analogy is obvious, I don’t think the terms “male” and ‘Female” are appropriate. These are not living things. Why not simply “plugs” and “sockets”?
The answer she was given was: I’m glad to hear you express what I’ve privately thought myself. I believe its time for this annoying sexual reference to stop. It’s not cute.
Keep those in your thoughts and prayers that are experiencing loneliness, losing a loved one to death, or health problems. This COVID-19 has changed so many people’s lives and for some not for the best. Count your blessings.
I will leave you with this quote from Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American politician: “It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.”