JCT-02-15-2024

Serving Colfax

Mingo

Baxter

Western Jasper County

All-State Bound It’s dance time

Baxter’s readers theatre speech team is selected to perform at the Iowa High School Speech Association’s Large Group All-State Festival for the second year in a row

By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune

The readers theatre group from Baxter is once again headed to All-State. Seniors Grant Anderegg and Bri Winfield, sophomore Callie Cross and freshmen Max Handorf and Avery Wonders are a part of the team who was one of only 10 teams selected to perform at the Iowa High School Speech Association’s Large Group All-State Festival Feb. 17 at Iowa State University’s Scheman Building.

“It is really good to get nominated for AllState but it is even better to be selected to perform,” Baxter Speech Coach Chris Smith said. “It is the best of the best for the year.”

Ending on a high note was a welcome finale to the season after a rough start. Weather and busy schedules left the team short on time to prepare for its first competition.

“This season was such a roller coaster ride. We weren’t able to start as soon as we normally would have. There were a lot of 6 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday wake-ups to come in. Literally right before districts they had only put it together twice,” Smith said. “There was a lot of ‘Should we continue, should we not?’ because of the snow storms hitting us and not being able to practice.”

Winfield agreed, especially with having

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

By Christopher Braunschweig

The gym was full dancers getting groovy at the Baxter Dance Team’s annual show Feb. 11

Rural Colfax couple say Jasper County is wasting its money relocating their fence for a stretch of road they allege no longer exists – but it’s more complicated than that

Mary and Gary Adams have lived in their log cabin at the end of a dead-end road in rural Colfax for almost 40 years. Five acres of land contain their home, several fruit trees, a gazebo, a shed with chest-high stacks of firewood outside and a sloped pasture where the horses and colts used to roam. They call it paradise.

landlocked 20-acre parcel.

For as long as the Adams lived there the hilly road leading to their property has stopped dead in its tracks shortly past their driveway. Now they have been told by Jasper County officials that the road will need to be maintained and extended past their property to grant access to an adjacent,

But Mary, 73, and Gary, 76, are adamant that there is no road left to maintain, only a small path along the edge of their eastern fence line. The rest of it, they said, has eroded away to a nearby creek, creating 75-foot ravines in some areas. The road base can’t even be seen with all the grass and trees grown over it.

To them, it is baffling how anyone can come to their property and say there is still a county road there. That is an argument the Adams brought with them to the board of supervisors meeting on Feb. 6 at the county courthouse in order to oppose a request to accept quotes for a fence relocation. Their fence.

Jasper County Engineer Michael Frietsch told supervisors there is about 300 feet of fence down the middle of the county right-of-way at West 124th Street North. He said a county resident, later identified as Chris Cook, wants access to his landlocked parcel. Frietsch said the fence needs to be moved.

All three newspapers received a total of 30 top-three finishes at annual INA ceremony

The Newton News, Jasper County Tribune and PCM Explorer received 30 top-three placements — including 11 first-place plaques — for its reporting, beat coverage and photography during the 2024 Iowa Newspaper Association Awards Ceremony on Feb. 8 at the Marriott hotel in downtown Des Moines. This years Iowa Better Newspaper Contests had more than 2,875 entries and were judged by the Illinois Press Association.

Newton News received a total of 10 top-three placements in the Class IV, Multi-Day category, including first place for: Coverage of Business, Coverage of Courts and Crime and Best Sports Feature Photo for sports editor Troy Hyde’s image of the Lynnville-Sully football team’s reaction to the win over AHSTW in 2022.

Second place finishes were awarded to Newton News for Best Sports Section, Best News Feature Photo for Christopher Braunschweig and Best Sports Story for Hyde. Third place finishes were awarded for Best Photo Story, Best News Feature Photo and Best Series by Braunschweig and Best Sports Feature Story for Hyde.

“I am extremely proud of our staff and the hard work we have put in which resulted in being honored with almost a dozen first place finishes at the INA awards,” editor Jamee A. Pierson said. “It always feels great to be recognized by fellow journalists for what is our passion – working to keep the local public informed.” Jasper County Tribune received a total of eight top-three placements in the Class I, Weekly category, including first place for: Best Sports Section,

Jasper County Tribune

Associate

editor Christopher Braunschweig, editor Jamee A. Pierson and sports

editor Troy Hyde show the first place awards the trio received Feb. 8 at the 2024

Jasper County Tribune Staff

Jasper County Tribune

Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune

Sophomore Max Handorf stands in the center of the peformance by the Baxter readers theatre team. The team was selected to perform at All-State Feb. 17 at Iowa State University.

Jasper County Tribune

“So that way we can reinstate a path through that Level B,” Friestch said before presenting two quotes to the board of supervisors, the lowest bid of which came from R&R Fencing & Supply for a little more than $6,100, but the engineer recommended the higher bid of $9,500 from Wagner Custom Fencing.

Despite the county engineer recommending the higher quote, supervisors were ultimately in favor of the lower bid. Either way, Mary and Gary were very much against the relocation. Before putting the matter to a vote, supervisors opened the discussion to the public. The couple didn’t hide their frustrations.

“I would like to know what the purpose of this is. What is the need for county funds to be spent on this when there is no road there,” Mary said.

Supervisor Brandon Talsma said, “There is a road there.”

“There is no road there,” she argued. “You have been out. He has been out; the road engineer has been out. They said they could not put a road in there.”

However, Talsma argued the road has never been officially vacated, and there has been no legal documentation proving so. The board of supervisors chair said he and several secondary roads employees combed through mountains and mountains of paperwork trying to find some form of road vacation form.

“That stretch of road has never been vacated,” Talsma said.

Mary then questioned if the county will take care not to damage the berm they paid for. According to an easement agreement obtained by Newton News, the Adams participated in a federal program in 1986 to construct a soil conservation drainage tile on the boundary line of their property and an adjoining property.

The easement agreement was sent by mail by then Jasper County Recorder Nancy Potter. When the soil erosion project was completed in June 1986, aerial photographs were taken of the property three months later, showing the road ending where it ends today: outside the home of Mary and Gary Adams.

The couple said there is not enough space for a vehicle to pass through on the small stretch of land that — at one point in time — might have been a ditch of or the very edge of the West 124th Street North. Mary said she and her husband use a lawnmower to keep a small path along the fence line in order to maintain it.

“That is all the width there is,” she said. “Even if you take the fence out, the other side falls all the way along. There are wash out areas that are in the roadway. There are huge oak trees and other trees. There are trees all along the other side. If you take those out we’re going to have a wash out area.”

Talsma said the county isn’t altering the road, but supervisors are simply going back and reestablishing the pathway as a Level B road, which is what it “should have been maintained as over the years.” But Mary was persistent that no vehicle would be able to pass along the sand berm without filling in dirt.

Frietsch said, “Once we move the fence then we will determine an alignment for the path to get back there through the Level B.”

Gary argued he and his wife have gone to the federal, state and county governments looking for maps and plans that say there is a road that goes beyond their property and connects to the other side of West 124th Street North. Most maps, including those found on Google, do not identify them as connected.

Talsma later pointed out that a large

Give

Christopher Braunschweig/Jasper County Tribune

Gary and Mary Adams, of rural Colfax, walk along the fence line of their property, which will be moved to make way for the construction of a Level B road that was left unmaintained for several decades. Supervisors argue Jasper County could be liable for failure to maintain if the road is not extended to grant access to another property owner’s 20-acre parcel.

portion of West 124th Street North was, indeed, vacated. From what he could find, there has been no documentation that states that Level B stretch to Cook is property was vacated. If it hasn’t been vacated, then it is still a road, he said.

While the county likely would not go so far as to connect the two pieces of road, the top half’s southern point would be extended to meet Cook’s property. Talsma alleged the county’s maps are not legally binding documents, rather it is the resolutions that either create or vacate a road.

“In this specific situation, there’s been no documentation provided that shows that stretch of road was vacated when the rest of it to the south was,” he said. “There are clear meeting minutes, resolution numbers stating that the road to the south of your guys’ property line has been vacated.”

The Adams alleged the county is deciding to spend money moving a fence just to allow one person — property owner Chris Cook — access to his land for hunting. But the couple allege he does have access to the property, particularly because he owns the 40 acres to the south of the 20-acre parcel.

Prior to the issues currently facing the county and the Adams, the couple claim they were neighborly with Cook and granted him informal access to his land through their land, but no legal easement was established. Gary said he even built a gate on the south end of his fence line to allow Cook to enter his property.

Mary alleged Cook has two other access points to the property and would thus make the road extension and fence relocation unnecessary. She also claimed when Cook purchased the property he would have needed to get legal access in order to get the loan from the bank.

“You say none of these maps or anything make any difference, but the bank had to use something to determine he had no access, except for where they gave it to him,” Mary said. “Now, he also has opened up access on the other corner on the south side of his property with the help of the county.”

Mary alleged Cook is trying to get access to the west side of the property, too.

Neither the county nor the property owners were going to win the argument, or have the other side agree to what they say. But Mary pressed on, saying she lived in the area for 50 years, pays her taxes and is a good citizen who correctly addressed the erosion near her property.

“I used my own money and funds to improve my property,” she said. “It’s a beautiful place. I love it. I bought it. My property dead-ended on my property. It did not go through. It has been that way forever. There is a (Level) A road before you get to the B road, it has not been maintained the 50 years

I been there.”

Talsma said they did find an agreement between secondary roads, the federal government and the Soil and Water Conservation district to allow the erosion mitigation project to take place. Frietsch said the project did not change the disposition of the right-of-way, just the drainage easement across it.

Also, Frietsch later spoke to the maintenance of the 100 to 150 feet of Level A road that is still left before it switches over to Level B.

“So we just stop short of that because there’s really no driveways or houses anywhere beyond that, so it doesn’t make sense to continue any further than the last driveway is typically what we do,” Friestch said. “Once this fence is moved and we get in there, we’ll clear those trees out where that A and B is at.”

Talsma tried to put the conversation back on track, saying the western access isn’t the county’s concern. Rather the county is more concerned it has a Level B road that was supposed to be maintained as such but has not been for some time. He said the county could be liable for impeding access to one’s property.

“That’s what the issue is,” Talsma said.

Mary responded, “He has access to that property in two different places.”

“It doesn’t matter. If it has not been vacated it’s still supposed to be a road.”

Talsma and Frietsch suggested their main motivation is corrective maintenance, to maintain the roads as they should have been maintained for the past several years. Level B roads, they said, may get bladed once a year by secondary roads crews, but Mary said there is no ability to blade it, saying the path is too narrow.

“There is no width there for a vehicle to drive down there,” she said.

Frietsch, again, said when the fence has been moved then secondary roads can make the road. Mary asked if the county would be obligated to build a turnaround on the dead-end road for safety reasons. Talsma said the county is not legally obligated to provide turnarounds.

Although Talsma was pushing back on a lot of points made by the Adams, he said if they have documentation that clearly states the 300-foot stretch of road has been vacated, then to please provide it to the board of supervisors. Until then, the board has to operate under the premise that it is Level B county road.

“All the records thus far back up that claim,” Talsma said. “…The concern is the county is at legal … obligation of

impeding someone’s ability to be able to access their property because of a failure to maintain the road to the status it is supposed to be maintained at.”

Mary said, “Although it has been not done for 40 years.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

Talsma said in order to vacate a road it requires the consent of all surrounding landowners, because if not the county could be creating a situation to where a landowner does not have the ability to access their property. He guarantees that is why the 300 feet of road was not vacated with the rest of the southern stretch.

“Because that’s exactly what it was going to do,” he said. “That’s why it didn’t get vacated then. That’s why we have stretches of Level B and Level C all over the county that still haven’t been vacated … What do you want us to do? You’re telling me that road has been vacated.”

Yet all the evidence uncovered by county officials points to the road still being classified as a road. Again, Talsma welcomed documentation stating it is vacated. Nothing would make him happier and the county engineer happier, he said, to learn that stretch of road has been vacated.

Frietsch explained the county will clear out the shrubs and trees as need be to at least get a 10- to 12-foot-wide path to Cook’s property line.

“We will find the path of least resistance in that 40 foot of right-of-way that we have to get a 10- to 12-foot lane back to him,” Frietsch said.

Mary said, “Which will be toward our side because we have maintained it.”

“Yup.”

“So what if you can’t get that without putting a whole bunch of fill in?”

“Then we’ll have to bring some dirt in.”

If the county ignores this access issue, Talsma claimed the county could be met with a lawsuit over failure to maintain.

Supervisor Denny Stevenson suggested the Adams get nearby property owners to sign forms to officially abate the road. Mary was doubtful Cook would sign it because he benefits from the extended road. Stevenson said he understood what the couple is saying, but the county has to correct its error.

“We gotta do what we gotta do, even though you don’t like it,” he said.

Talsma agreed, and he was also receptive to the idea of acquiring signatures from landowners. Mary claimed Cook is friends with Talsma, and that the supervisors chair knows he will not sign it. Talsma said he doesn’t know that for sure and that he tries not to talk to him about it.

Still, Mary criticized the county for what she felt was a waste of money. Stevenson said she was not listening to the board of supervisors and that they were all just talking in circles. He does not disagree with the Adams family, and he would love not to spend the money on the fence relocation.

“But it’s where we’re at now because of whatever mistakes were made in the past,” Stevenson said. “I’m sorry, but just because you want it doesn’t make it so. We have to follow certain procedures and that’s what we have to do. And you’re not hearing us. We’d love to be able to do it.”

Talsma reasoned it goes beyond just this particular situation.

“The county has spent a lot of time and a lot of money having to go back and fix mistakes from years past,” he said. “It’s not that we want to. It’s oftentimes we have to go back and we have to spend money, time and resources to fixing mistakes from the past.”

three new members to the group.

“Grant, him and I have been doing readers theatre together for the past three years. I wanted him to be in it and be a leader with me. We then did a bunch of improv during speech class and I saw what everyone’s abilities were and decided these were the people that I wanted to be in it and they wanted to be in it, too,” Winfield said. “I was worried about how much senior large group season would end but this is up there with one of the best I have had. I am very proud of everyone.”

The category typically has teams performing for 20 to 25 minutes and is similar to a play. The teams cannot wear costumes but they do have their scripts and can choreograph their movements.

Smith said at the beginning of the year he meets with a more “seasoned” student to talk about potential scripts. Having paid attention to the winning performance at All-State last year, the team decided to take on a new genre for this season.

“We found a script on it earlier this school year. We wanted

teen

to try something different because last year we did comedy and last year we were able to make it to All-State performing,” Winfield said. “I wanted to take it to a more serious type of readers theater.”

The team took on the heavy topics of mental health and teen suicide, bringing awareness to the ever-present subject matter. It was definitely a departure from the previous year’s light-hearted laughs routine.

With the team selected and scripts in hand, preparation started for the year. While

Smith gave his feedback to the group, he said they were also great at letting each other know where they could improve or make changes.

“They do a good job of coaching each other,” Smith said. “It is one thing to get it from the coach but then when their peers are saying the same thing they might want to pay more mind to it.”

The team received a I rating at districts and state competitions, then were notified they were selected not only for AllState but also to perform at the

Awards

Coverage of Government and Politics, Coverage of Agriculture, Best News Feature Story for Braunschweig’s article about a local pencil collector breaking the Guinness World Record and Best Sports Story for Hyde’s article on Colfax-Mingo wrestler Emma Cook.

Second place finishes were awarded for Jasper County Tribune for Coverage of Business and Best Sports Photo. Hyde

also received a third place award for Best Sports Feature Photo.

The JCT was also eligible for General Excellence, an award for the top three newspapers in each category. The newspaper came in second and was only two points behind the first place finisher.

Braunschweig said, “I couldn’t be more proud of my colleagues for showing up strong at the INA Awards. As community journalists, it is not our goal to earn awards, but rather inform our readers and tell important stories. But it’s wonderful to be recognized for our hard work and the thousands of words

festival. At All-State, teams can earn critic’s choice recognition, giving teams an extra boost when performing for their peers.

“Right now they are prepping and hoping to get things ready to go to hopefully get critic’s choice,” Smith said.

“That day they will have a more seasoned judge and she’ll get to pick only one readers theater to have critic’s choice. That school then gets to take the state banner for that category, kind of a traveling trophy.”

While bringing home the

banner would be the ultimate prize, the team is excited to get to perform and see performances at the festival.

“I think I’m most excited to see how fun it can be and see all of the people that did such an amazing job during the season,” Cross said. “I am glad I got to do a readers theatre with Bri because she is such a great leader, she has such a creative mind and she makes it fun.”

Both freshmen are looking forward to experiencing AllState for the first time.

“I am excited going to AllState because I am a freshman and I am excited to see what it is all about,” Handorf said. “I have heard from Bri and Grant that it is a lot different than district and state because there are all of these kids that are really into speech.”

While there, they can watch performances from other schools in a variety of categories, maybe sparking an interest in something new for next year.

“I think what I am most excited about is seeing what it is like because I’m also a freshman,” Wonders said. “I am excited to see people that are performing at the top of their category, what they are doing and think about ways to improve myself.”

we put to print.”

PCM Explorer received a total of 10 top-three placements in the Class I, Weekly category, including first place for: Coverage of Business, Best Sports Feature Story for Hyde’s article about the retirement of PCM basketball coaches Fred Lorensen and Joel Grier and Best Series for Braunschweig’s articles about the Jasper County EMS enhancement program and the struggles of volunteerism.

Second place finishes were awarded to the PCM Explorer for Best Sports Section, Coverage of Government and

Baxter engagement report release

Martens & Company, CPA, LLC today released on agreed-upon procedures engagement report on the City of Baxter, Iowa for the period July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.

The agreed-upon procedures engagement was performed pursuant to Chapter 11.6 of the Code of Iowa.

Martens & Company, CPA, LLC reported three findings re-

lated to the receipt and disbursement of taxpayer funds. They are found of pages 8 and 9 of this report. The findings address issues such as segregation of duties, business transactions and certi-

Politics and Coverage of Agriculture, and Best Sports Story, Best Sports Feature Story and Best Sports Columnist for Hyde. A third place finish was also awarded for Best Sports Photo for Hyde. PCM Explorer was also up for General Excellence and finished third, four points out of first.

“I don’t do this job for awards, but it’s nice to be recognized,” Hyde said. “We as a staff did some great work this past year and it’s great to be recognized for the hard work we put in. I think our entire team did an awesome job of keeping our readers informed.”

fied budget.

Two of the three findings discussed above is repeated from the prior view. The City Council has fiduciary responsibility to provide oversight of the City’s operation and financial transactions. Oversight is typically

defined as the “watchful and responsible care governing body exercises in it fiduciary capacity.” A copy of the agree-upon procedures report is available for review on the Auditor of State’s website at https://auditor.iowa. gov/audit-reports.

Publisher Dan Goetz

Jamee A. Pierson Shaw Media

Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune

Members of the Baxter readers theatre team perform their piece, which has a focus of mental health and

suicide and bringing awareness to the issues.

Troy Hyde/Jasper County Tribune

Troy Hyde’s third place Best Sports Feature Photo of the Colfax-Mingo volleyball team.

Christopher Braunschweig/Jasper County Tribune

Christopher Braunschweig’s first place Best News Feature Story on local pencil collector Aaron Bartholmey breaking the Guinness World Record.

Five area wrestlers punch tickets to state tournament

Colfax-Mingo’s McGill dominates on way to district championship

Jasper County Tribune

PLEASANTVILLE — John Mc-

Gill has been on a mission all season long.

After earning his first state medal last season, the only thing left for McGill in his final prep year is to climb to the very top of the podium.

Nothing McGill did on Feb. 10 changed his goals or plans. And another dominant day on the mat pushed him to his third state tournament.

McGill was the only Tigerhawk to clinch a state berth as Colfax-Mingo’s eight wrestlers scored 64 points at the Class 1A District 8 tournament.

West Branch’s 13 wrestlers scored 206 points to win the district championship.

Host Pleasantville was second with 152 and the rest of the top five was North Mahaska (124), Baxter (105) and Iowa City Regina (82.5).

Colfax-Mingo finished sixth and the remaining field included

Sigourney-Keota (62), English Valleys/Tri-County (46), Van Buren (41), Pekin (29) and Lone Tree (18).

McGill, who is ranked second at 165 pounds, improved to 40-1 on the season with a 2-0 day. He earned the top seed in the state tournament and will have a firstround bye.

After a first-round bye on Feb. 10, he opened districts with a pin and then defeated sixth-ranked Cooper Gates of West Branch, 11-2, in the finals.

McGill’s only loss was a 7-6 decision early in the season.

He’s now won 35 straight matches and scored bonus points in 29 of them — not including the forfeits.

The win in the finals was the 164th victory of McGill’s career. He finished sixth last year at 160.

Half of the Tigerhawks’ eight wrestlers finished in the top four. The top two finishers in each weight class in each 1A district advanced to state.

Cason Fitch (120) and Teagan Dybevik (285) went a combined 6-2 with six pins but each took third in their weights.

Bolts advance four, take fourth at districts

PLEASANTVILLE — Aiden McFadden became the Bolts’ first-ever state wrestling qualifier as a freshman four seasons ago.

Since then, the Baxter boys’ wrestling team has added another qualifier to the bucket each year, and the Bolts will have a program-record four grapplers in this year’s state tournament.

Callyn Bishop joins McFadden as a three-time state qualifier and the duo will be joined by two-time state qualifiers Ayden Beck and Ruger Kincaid.

Bishop and Beck both advanced to the state tournament as Class 1A District 8 champions on Feb. 10, while Kincaid and McFadden finished second.

Four of the Bolts’ eight wrestlers will compete in this year’s Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships and those eight grapplers finished fourth as a team with 105 points.

West Branch’s 13 wrestlers scored 206 points to win the district championship.

Host Pleasantville was second with 152 and the rest of the top five was North Mahaska (124), Baxter (105) and Iowa City Regina (82.5).

Colfax-Mingo finished sixth and the remaining field included Sigourney-Keota (62), English Valleys/Tri-County (46), Van

Buren (41), Pekin (29) and Lone Tree (18). Beck (41-3) had the most impressive day for the Bolts. The eighth-ranked wrestler at 120 pounds was 2-0 with two pins. One of those pins came in the finals against 10thranked Lincoln Edwards (26-5) of West Branch.

Beck was a state qualifier at 113 in 3A for Dallas Center-Grimes last season. Bishop (39-5) won the district title at 175. He was 3-0 with two pins and a win by major decision. Kincaid (32-15) returns the state tournament after a 2-1 day at 150. He won once by pin and once by a 15-5 major decision. Kincaid finished 1-2 at 120 at last year’s state tournament.

McFadden, who is ranked 12th at 285 and won three matches at state last season, returns to the state tournament after going 2-1 with two first-period pins.

He spent 1 minute, 3 seconds on the mat in those wins.

The loss for McFadden (40-7) was a 14-3 defeat against No. 5 Logan Wright of West Branch.

The other four Bolts in the district tournament were Alex Dille (113) Koltin Hurd (132), Jack Anderson (144) and Skyler Stoll (157).

Third-quarter surge pushes Baxter boys past C-M

By Troy Hyde Sports Editor

COLFAX — Not even a strong shooting night from Baxter’s Eli Dee could get the Colfax-Mingo boys’ basketball team to get out of its zone defense on Feb. 2.

But without Dee’s big scoring night, the Bolts do not spoil the Tigerhawks’ Senior Night.

On a night when points were hard to come by, Dee’s 22 points and five made 3-pointers led Baxter to a 50-43 non-conference road win.

“We know that based on our numbers, playing a zone of some kind is probably what most teams will do against us,” Baxter head boys basketball coach Zach Hasselbrink said. “We couldn’t get the other guys outside of Eli going. That means they stayed in the zone and it made it tough for us all night.”

There were five lead changes and four ties in the first half. Baxter led 6-5 after one quarter after scoring the final three points of the frame.

The Bolts held the biggest lead of the first half after Dee’s second 3 of the night made it 12-7.

A 6-0 run by C-M later pushed the Tigerhawks to the lead. Joe Earles made a sharp cut to the hoop and converted the layup to start the stretch. Harrison Rhone then hit a fadeaway and Brandon Kite scored inside.

Baxter went into halftime with an 1817 lead following a Ben Richardson 3.

“We had the same energy last night against a 10-win Sigourney team and had that game within grasp, too,” Colfax-Mingo head boys basketball coach Mike Hunsberger said. “They are learning what the level of energy is they have to bring to every minute of the game. That’s magnetic on the team. It’s what we wanted all season, and we wished we would have seen it earlier, but we are starting to see it.”

There were only two lead changes in the second half as Baxter slowly grabbed control.

Earles scored early in the third to put C-M back in front 19-18, but a 9-0 run by the Bolts pushed them back to the lead at 27-19.

The run featured a bucket inside and a 3 by Dee. He made another 3 later that answered five straight points from C-M’s Cael Bracewell. And the lead stayed at six following baskets by Baxter’s Cainan Travis and Earles.

A runner by Dee helped Baxter maintain its six-point lead after three.

“A win is a win. We’ll take it,” said Dee, who was 5-of-11 from 3 in the game. “We’ve had trouble with the zone so I needed to try to shoot us out of it. Last game I was 0-for-6. They went down tonight.”

The Bolts’ largest lead of the game was 41-28 and it came after a basket by Perrin Sulzle and a 3 and layup by Dee.

Bracewell did his best to keep C-M in the game. His triple and putback trimmed the margin to 10 twice and then he made 1-of-2 from the free-throw line following a technical foul. Another 3 shortly after that got the Tigerhawks back to within six.

“They are playing hard,” Hunsberger said. “That’s what we ask for and they can hold their heads high and know we were in both of those games against good teams.”

Both teams missed six free throws in the game but ultimately the Bolts stayed in front because they were 7-of-9 from the foul line in the fourth and Richardson was 5-of-6 in the final minute.

Colfax-Mingo (5-14) was 4-of-8 from the foul line in the fourth and the closest it got down the stretch was five following a trey by Kite.

“We’d love to say we made all of our free throws, but we definitely made big ones late,” Hasselbrink said. “We’ll continue to emphasize them, but it’s the big ones down the stretch that can really matter and we made a lot of those.”

Neither team shot better than 32 percent from the floor. The Bolts were 6-of20 from 3 and 12-of-18 from the foul line, while the Tigerhawks made 5-of-21 and 8-of-14, respectively.

“I told them in a huddle after our first

six shots didn’t fall that I don’t know if we could have drawn it up any better,” Hasselbrink said. “We were just missing great looks.

“Kudos to them. They did a nice job in the zone and covered up a lot of things and places we wanted to get the ball to. But, I thought we had too many good looks to not say we should have done a lot better. We found a way down the stretch.”

Dee led the Bolts (15-4) with 22 points and five rebounds and Treyton Travis finished with seven points, five rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks.

Richardson chipped in 11 points and three rebounds, Sulzle collected six points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two assists and Cainan Travis posted four points, eight boards and three assists. Stadan Vansice grabbed three rebounds.

Both teams held their opponent’s leading scorers to single digits. Treyton Travis is averaging 22.6 points per game this season, while Colfax-Mingo’s Rhone was held to nine points under his season average.

“I thought our defense was good. We knew who he was,” Dee said about Rhone. “We had a game plan for him. We did well in the first half and we were able to get some steals and layups off the press. That definitely helped us.”

Bracewell finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists to lead the Tigerhawks, while Earles chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Kite added eight points, nine boards and two assists and Rhone registered four points, two rebounds, five assists and three steals. Kaden Dalton grabbed four boards.

The low-scoring game was in part due to strong defense by both teams, according to Hunsberger. He also thought his squad had good stretches of offense.

“We ran the offense pretty well at times,” Hunsberger said. “We had some stale moments on offense, too, and maybe let some things bother us. We have to be more hard-nosed than that.”

Notes: There were four technical fouls called in the game, three against Baxter and one on Colfax-Mingo. “Between the two teams, there wasn’t much controversy. It was more friendly banter I think,” Hasselbrink said. “It was the refs versus the coaching staff. Regardless of all of that, I thought we played the game the right way and tried to figure out what they would allow and wouldn’t allow. With this crew, it was a short leash. You couldn’t say or do anything.” … Bracewell recently returned from a week-long absence and Earles missed the early part of the season due to an injury. But the Tigerhawks are still missing starters Jared Lewis and Elias Hostetter. ... Nine C-M seniors were recognized before the game — Bracewell, Earles, Kite, Hostetter, Lewis, Kaden Dalton, Konner Dalton, Austin Lane and Logan Exley.

Baxter 80, BCLUW 34 CONRAD — Four players scored in double figures, Sulzle posted a school-record worthy double-double and a big offensive night powered Baxter to an 8034 win over BCLUW on Feb. 5.

The Bolts scored their third-highest point total of the season following a 53 percent shooting night from the floor.

The victory completed an undefeated run through the Iowa Star Conference South Division this season. It was the second straight undefeated conference run for the Bolts.

Sulzle led the Bolts with 14 points and a school-record 20 rebounds, while Treyton Travis tallied a game-high 23 points and added four rebounds, two assists and seven steals.

Richardson registered 17 points, six rebounds and three steals, Dee chipped in 16 points and two boards and Cainan Travis posted eight points, three rebounds and two steals. Vansice swiped two steals.

The Bolts (12-0 in the conference) made over half of their shots from the floor despite hitting only 4-of-17 from 3. They were 10-of-16 from the foul line and committed only seven turnovers.

Jasper County Tribune

McGill Bishop Beck

Troy Hyde/Jasper County Tribune

Baxter senior Treyton Travis (2) blocks Colfax-Mingo senior Brandon Kite during the first half of a non-conference game in Colfax on Feb. 2. Travis had three blocks in the win and Kite grabbed nine rebounds in the loss.

C-M boys end regular season with pair of wins

HOWARD ST. CHRISTIAN CHURCH (Disciples of Christ)

Pastor Tom Burns Howard & Locust St., Colfax Office - 674-3746 Church Cell - 971-0569

SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Adult & Wired Word Adult Sunday school classes; 10 a.m. Fellowship Time;10:30 a.m. Worship, in person or online via YouTube

MONDAY - Tom’s day off

TUESDAY - 9:30 a.m. Coffee

Time/Fellowship; 2 p.m. Easy Yoga

WEDNESDAY - 3:30 p.m. After school elementary youth; 6:10 ChiRho and CYF youth supper/ youth group

THIRD SUNDAY of month

- Marathon Sunday includes elders, board, potluck and food pantry

FIRST MONDAY of monthWIC appointments

IRA UNITED CHURCH

Rev. Michael Omundson

THORNBURG — Three Tigerhawks scored in double figures, Joe Earles put in a season best for points, Brandon Kite grabbed 10 rebounds and the Colfax-Mingo boys’ basketball team blocked eight shots during a 67-38 road win over Tri-County on Feb. 6. Colfax-Mingo shot 59 percent from the floor and committed only nine turnovers during the South Iowa Cedar League game. Harrison Rhone led the Tigerhawks with 19 points, five rebounds, six steals and two blocks, Earles added 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists and three blocks and Cael Bracewell collected 13 points, five boards, seven assists, four steals and two blocks.

The Tigerhawks (7-16, 5-11 in the conference) made 6-of-10 from 3-point range and buried 9-of-13 from the free-throw line.

Brandon Kite registered nine points, 10 rebounds and two assists, Konner Dalton scored seven points and Kaden Dalton grabbed three rebounds. Colfax-Mingo swiped 14 steals.

The Trojans (1-22, 0-16) shot 26 percent from the floor, made 3-of-18 from 3 and turned the ball over 22 times. They connected on 13-of-18 from the foul line.

Levi Molyneux led Tri-County with 15 points, four rebounds and four steals and Brighton Wear grabbed 17 rebounds.

Colfax-Mingo won seven games this winter after winning eight combined the three previous seasons.

Colfax-Mingo 85, Twin Cedars 41 COLFAX — A career night from Bracewell, 11 made 3-pointers and a 30-piece from Rhone powered the Tigerhawks to an 85-41 non-conference home win over Twin Cedars on Feb. 9.

Colfax-Mingo led 22-10 after one quarter and outscored the Sabers 33-9 in the second before cruising in the final two quarters.

Bracewell led the hosts with a career-high 26 points and he added 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals and Rhone chipped in 32 points, three rebounds, two assists and seven steals.

Kite tallied 12 points, two rebounds and three assists, Earles registered six points, three boards, three steals and four blocks and Konner Dalton fin-

Church Schedules

SUNDAY - 9:30 a.m. Church service; 10:15 a.m. Sunday school (communion first Sunday)

METZ COMMUNITY CHURCH

3253 W. 62nd St. S., Newton Pastor David Rex 641-521-4354

SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Sunday school; 10:10 a.m. Worship Last Saturday of month - 8 a.m. Men’s Breakfast

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

Colfax Minister, Pastor Cody Dyer Church Office 674-4165

SUNDAY, Feb. 18 - 9 a.m. Fellowship; 9:15 a.m. Bible Education Classes; 10:25 a.m. Message by Pastor Cody Dye

TUESDAY, Feb. 20 - 3 p.m.

Women’s Prayer and coffee; 6:30 p.m. Women’s Bible Study

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 21 - 9 a.m. Busy Bee Quilters and Fresh Encounter Prayer; 5:45 p.m.

AWANA Family Meal; 6:25 p.m. AWANA Clubs

SACRED HEART CATHOLIC CHURCH Newton, Iowa

SATURDAY - 4 p.m. Mass SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Mass

COLFAX FIRST UNITED

METHODIST CHURCH

S. Locust & W. Division St. Office - 674-3782

Rev. Phil Dicks pastor

SUNDAY - 10:30 a.m. Sunday

School; Family Worship - Today is Food Pantry Sunday

HOPE ASSEMBLY OF GOD

126 E. Howard

Rev. Paul Avery, pastor Church: 674-3700

SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Sunday school; 10 a.m. Worship; 6 p.m. Evening services

WEDNESDAY - 6 p.m. Bible study

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

CATHOLIC CHURCH

302 E. Howard St., Colfax Fr. Ron Hodges

515-674-3711

SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Mass

DAILY MASS - 8 a.m.

MINGO UNITED

METHODIST CHURCH

Rev. Phil Dicks

515-689-4926

ished with six points, three rebounds and four steals. Austin Lane scored three points. The Tigerhawks shot 56.7 percent from the floor, made 11of-21 from 3 and connected on 6-of-9 from the foul line. They also swiped 20 steals and committed only seven turnovers.

Twin Cedars (6-11) was outscored 30-22 in the second half.

West Central Valley 59, Colfax-Mingo 46 COLFAX — The Tigerhawks couldn’t hold a first-quarter lead, got out-rebounded and turned the ball over 17 times during a 59-46 non-conference home loss to West Central Valley on Feb. 8. Colfax-Mingo led 16-5 after one but was outscored 22-13 in the second and 18-5 in the fourth.

Rhone led the Tigerhawks with 22 points, three rebounds and four steals, while Bracewell tallied 13 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Earles collected eight points, three boards and two assists, Kite grabbed 10 rebounds and Konner Dalton registered three points and three rebounds.

Colfax-Mingo shot 45 percent from the floor, made 5-of17 from 3 and connected on 3-of-7 from the foul line. The Tigerhawks lost the rebounding battle 28-23.

Landon Osberg led the Wildcats with 31 points and seven boards and Nate Gerling grabbed 11 rebounds.

West Central Valley (10-13) made 11-of-14 from the foul line and turned the ball over 10 times.

Sigourney 45, Colfax-Mingo 37 COLFAX — The Tigerhawks started fast against Sigourney, but a late surge by the Savages on Feb. 1 pushed the visitors to a 45-37 win in SICL play.

Colfax-Mingo led 13-7 after one, but the game was tied at 20-all at halftime. Sigourney won the third 9-7 and outscored the Tigerhawks 16-10 in the fourth.

Bracewell led the hosts with 13 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Kaden Dalton added eight points and five rebounds, Kite tallied seven points and eight boards and Earles collected seven rebounds and two assists. Rhone chipped in six points and two rebounds and Konner Dalton grabbed three boards.

SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Worship service (Sunday school not meeting at this time)

ASHTON CHAPEL

8887 W. 122nd St. N., Mingo

Pastors: Larry Craig & Mark Eddy

SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Sunday school; 10 a.m. Worship

BETHANY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 5627 N. 95th Ave. W., Baxter 641-227-3402

Pastor Chris Hayward

SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Sunday School (Sunday after Labor Day to second Sunday in May); 10 a.m. Sunday Worship. First Sunday communion. All are welcome. baxterbethanyucc.org

EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH BAXTER Mike Mclintock, Pastor SUNDAY - 9:15 a.m. Sunday School; 10 a.m. Worship; 6 p.m. Awanas

WEDNESDAYS - 1st & 3rd6:30 p.m. Mens Bible Study 2nd & 4th - 6:30 p.m. Men’s and Womens Bible Study

THURSDAYS 10 a.m. - Womens Bible Study

BAXTER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 218 S. Main, Baxter

Pastor Ben Spera Church: 641-227-3382

SUNDAY - 10 a.m. Worship

WEDNESDAY - 6 p.m. Bible Study

THIRD THURSDAY of month - 6:30 p.m. Theology on Tap at Bea’s Place on Main Street Check us out on Facebook and baxtercongregational.com

CORNERSTONE BIBLE FELLOWSHIP 1000 E. 12th St., Newton Rev. Josh Farver, pastor Phone 641-792-4650

SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Sunday school; 10:15 a.m. Worship WEDNESDAY - 6:30 p.m. Prayer Meeting and Bible Study; Youth Group

HERITAGE WORD OF LIFE

ASSEMBLY OF GOD 102 Second St. NW, Mitchellville Pastor Dave Adams 515-967-3330

SUNDAY - 9 a.m. Bible classes; 10 a.m. Worship service; 6 p.m. Evening service

WEDNESDAY - 7 p.m. Evening activities

LUTHERAN CHURCH OF HOPE

Troy Hyde/Jasper County Tribune

Colfax-Mingo senior Joe Earles (1) shoots over Baxter junior Cainan Travis during the first half of a Tigerhawks’ home game earlier this season.

Jasper County Tribune

Troy Hyde/Jasper County Tribune

Colfax-Mingo junior Harrison Rhone, right, guards Baxter’s Treyton Travis during a home game earlier this season. Rhone scored 32 points in a home win over Twin Cedars on Feb. 9. WINS | 7

Baxter girls make 16 treys in road win over Colfax-Mingo

By Troy Hyde Sports Editor

COLFAX — The all-time leading scorer for the Baxter girls’ basketball team led the Bolts to a season high in points on Feb. 2 during a non-conference road win over Colfax-Mingo.

The Bolts are shooting only 24 percent from 3-point range this season but made 16-of-29 to spoil the Tigerhawks’ Senior Night during a 64-18 win.

“That’s what we are used to. That’s our standard,” Baxter girls head basketball coach Kyle Krampe said.

“That’s what we will continue to work to get back to.”

Baxter made more shots from downtown than it did from inside the 3-point line. And the team’s best player, Emie Tuhn, led the way with an 8-of-13 performance.

Karlee Koehler returned to the Bolts’ starting lineup and got the team off to a strong start when she made her first two shots from the floor — both 3s.

Denver Sulzle added a trey to put the Bolts up 11-2 and then Tuhn canned a pair of triples later.

Baxter led 20-4 after one quarter as the Tigerhawks got buckets from Katelyn Steenhoek and Mallory Sipma.

Tuhn opened the second with another 3 and Sulzle drained back-to-back treys to push the advantage to 29-4.

“They’ve come a long ways. They’ve done a nice job of keeping their heads up and working hard,” Colfax-Mingo head girls basketball coach Phil Grant said. “We started flat tonight. I know we had four games in five days, but you still have to bring the energy. I thought the second half was better.”

Tuhn scored 10 of her game-high 31 points in the second. Sulzle made another 3 and was fouled later in the quarter as the Bolts led 44-6 at halftime.

Dakota Allen started the third with a bucket and then Steenhoek answered a Sulzle 3 to make it 47-11.

Tuhn connected on three treys in the frame before Dove Lopez got the crowd on their feet following a shot from long range on her Senior Night.

“We talked about it beforehand,” Grant said. “She passed one up in a recent game. She caught it and shot faked and then said she should have shot it. I told her she was open so take it. Then when she shot it tonight, I was like ‘just go in.’”

Baxter (3-16) outscored the Tigerhawks 12-10 in the third and led 56-16. The Bolts won the fourth 8-2 as Tuhn

made two more triples to cap her big night.

Tuhn finished with 31 points, seven assists and five steals. She now has a school-record 855 career points.

Sulzle scored a career-high 17 points on 5-of-6 from 3-point range.

Koehler’s first game in about a month featured six points and seven assists and Kendall Brummel finished with six points, six rebounds and six steals.

Lydia Pierce swiped two steals and Avery Wonders grabbed three rebounds.

The Bolts shot 52.4 percent from the floor, made 16-of-29 from 3 and connected on 4-of-8 from the free-throw line. Baxter was out-rebounded by the Tigerhawks 20-13.

“I thought they did an excellent job,” Krampe said. “You still have to make

shots even if you’re open and I thought we did a good job with that.”

Steenhoek led the Tigerhawks (0-22) with nine points, four rebounds and three assists.

Allen collected four points, three rebounds and two steals, Lopez chipped in three points, two assists and two steals and Sipma grabbed two boards and three steals.

Brooklyn Yanske, Macie Porter and Lexie Aller all grabbed two rebounds.

Colfax-Mingo shot 44.4 percent from the floor, made 2-of-4 from 3 and turned the ball over 36 times against Baxter’s full-court press.

BCLUW 45, Baxter 33 CONRAD — Baxter led by three at halftime, but BCLUW rallied in the sec-

Lynnville-Sully 55, Baxter 41

BAXTER — Lynnville-Sully had an advantage in almost every statistical category against Baxter on Feb. 3.

Logan Scafferi had 10 points to lead the Comets (4-16, 4-7) and Carter Gallentine added seven points and eight rebounds.

BCLUW shot 27 percent from the floor, made 3-of-20 from 3 and connected on 1-of-6 from the foul line.

Baxter led 25-15 after one quarter and outscored the Comets 20-6 in the second. The Bolts won the second half 35-13.

The 34 points was the second fewest total allowed this season by the Bolts.

The Class 1A No. 7 Hawks shot better from the floor, made more free throws and 3-pointers and out-rebounded the Bolts during a 55-41 non-conference road victory.

Lynnville-Sully started fast and finished strong in the win.

The Hawks led 16-7 after one quarter and outscored the Bolts 9-0 in the fourth.

Baxter had 17-15 advantages in both the second and third frames.

Lucas Sieck led the Hawks with 13 points and four rebounds. He was 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

The Hawks (19-1) shot 42.6 percent from the floor, made 9-of-21 from 3 and connected on 6-of-8 from the foul line. They out-rebounded the Bolts 33-27.

Baxter was led by Treyton Travis, who finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Dee added 13 points, two rebounds and two assists, Sulzle grabbed 10 boards and dished out three assists and Cainan Travis tallied six points and three boards.

Vansice registered three points and two rebounds and Richardson had two boards.

The Bolts shot 35 percent from the floor, made 5-of-18 from 3 and sunk only 4-of-11 from the foul line.

ond half for a 45-33 home win on Feb. 5.

The Bolts were plagued by 24 percent shooting from the floor and the Comets out-rebounded their visitors 40-16 in the Iowa Star Conference South Division matchup.

Tuhn led the Bolts with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists and Koehler tallied nine points, two assists and two steals.

Sulzle added three points, six rebounds and five steals, Hannah Huffaker grabbed four boards and Brummel scored three points.

Baxter (2-10 in the conference) was 9-of-38 from 3, shot 4-of-8 from the foul line and committed 17 turnovers.

BCLUW won the game despite shooting 2-of-15 from 3 because it made 11-of15 from the foul line.

Sydney Anderson led the Comets (138, 10-2) with 10 points, five rebounds and four steals.

The Bolts led 14-11 after one and both teams scored 10 points in the second. BCLUW won the third 12-3 and claimed the fourth 12-6.

AGWSR 35, Baxter 14

ACKLEY — A season-low for points, 31 turnovers and a tough shooting night plagued Baxter during a Class 1A Region 2 contest on Feb. 8.

The Bolts trailed by just four after one quarter but scored only eight points the rest of the way during a 35-14 season-ending loss to AGWSR.

The Cougars led 10-6 after one and outscored the Bolts 8-0 in the second, 10-4 in the third and 7-4 in the fourth to advance.

Tuhn led the Bolts with six points, while Huffaker and Sulzle each had three points and two rebounds.

Koehler grabbed five boards, Brummel finished with two rebounds and six steals, Rilynn Titus collected four rebounds and Wonders corralled three boards.

The Bolts shot 11.5 percent from the floor, made 3-of-16 from 3 and buried 5-of-11 from the foul line.

AGWSR got 15 points, 10 rebounds and eight steals from Trevyn Smith. It was the Cougars’ third straight win.

AGWSR shot 23.4 percent from the floor, missed all 18 attempts from 3 and connected on 13-of-24 from the foul line.

The Cougars (12-9) turned the ball over 23 times but swiped 21 steals and out-rebounded Baxter 38-20.

Next up for AGWSR was former conference rival BCLUW, which hosted the regional quarterfinal game Feb. 13.

Dominate

Continuedfrompage4

Fitch (37-7) was 3-1 with three pins. But he lost 10-8 in the semifinals to No. 10 Lincoln Edwards (26-5) of West Branch and couldn’t get a true-second wrestle back after Edwards fell to No. 8 Ayden Beck of Baxter in the finals. Dybevik (23-10) finished 3-1 with three first-period pins. Those three matches lasted all of 1 minute, 44 seconds.

But Dybevik fell short of a state berth after losing to No. 12 Aiden McFadden (40-7) of Baxter in the semifinals. He didn’t get a chance to wrestle back after McFadden fell to No. 5 Logan Wright of West Branch in the finals.

The Tigerhawks’ next best finisher was Donnie Baucom, who was fourth at 215. He finished 1-2 with one pin.

The other four Colfax-Mingo wrestlers were James Cherveny (132), Kyle Wood (150), Isaiah Baucom (175) and Allan Bregar (190). Isaiah Baucom went 1-2, while Cherveny and Bregar were 0-2 and Wood finished 0-1.

The Tigerhawks were open at 106, 113, 126, 138, 144 and 157.

McGill begins 1A competition at the Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships at 6 p.m. on Feb. 14 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Continuedfrompage4

Anderson (42-8) had the next best finish after taking third following a 2-2 day. He registered a 43-second pin but lost in the finals, 6-2, to No. 10 Zane Mullenix (43-5) of Pleasantville.

Anderson was forced to wrestle back for a true second. And he lost that bout 3-1 in SV-1. Hird was 1-2 at 132, while Dille was fourth despite going 0-2 at 113 and Stoll finished 0-2 at 157. The Bolts were open at 106, 126, 138, 165, 190 and 215.

The 1A portion of the state wrestling tournament begins at 6 p.m. on Feb. 14 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Troy Hyde/Jasper County Tribune

Baxter freshman Avery Wonders (5) catches the ball inside the lane as Colfax-Mingo freshman Macie Porter defends on Feb. 2 during their non-conference game in Colfax. The Bolts won 64-18.

Troy Hyde/ Jasper County Tribune

Baxter sophomore Eli Dee snags a pass from a teammate during the Bolts’ road game against Colfax-Mingo earlier this season.

Sports/Tax & Money

Turnovers plague C-M girls in season-ending losses

COLFAX — A tough shooting night and 37 turnovers plagued Colfax-Mingo in a non-conference home loss to West Central Valley on Feb. 8.

The Tigerhawks scored three points in the first half and two in the second during a 44-5 defeat.

The Wildcats led 9-0 after one quarter and outscored the Tigerhawks 25-3 in the second.

Dakota Allen had four points and three rebounds to lead the Tigerhawks, while Katelyn Steenhoek grabbed four rebounds and swiped two steals.

Dove Lopez, Macie Porter and Lexie Aller pulled down two boards.

Colfax-Mingo (0-22) shot 14.3 percent from the floor, made 0-of5 from 3-point range and hit 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Zoey Dickson led the Wildcats (11-10) with 11 points, Abbie Belden had eight points and five steals and Malia Fuller chipped in four points, five assists and three steals.

West Central Valley, which has won five out of its past six games, shot 35 percent from the floor and swiped 28 steals.

Interstate 35 61, Colfax-Mingo 13 TRURO — Colfax-Mingo ended its season on Feb. 10 following a 6113 road loss to Interstate 35 during a 2A Region 8 contest.

Colfax-Mingo senior Dove Lopez (20) guards Baxter’s Karlee

during a non-conference contest earlier this month.

The Tigerhawks got six points, four rebounds and two steals from Allen, but C-M was plagued by 34 turnovers and a 14 percent shooting night.

Steenhoek also tallied five points, three rebounds and two steals, Brooklyn Yanske grabbed four boards, Mallory Sipma had

The Tigerhawks shot 31 percent from the floor, made 6-of18 from 3 and buried 5-of-10 from the foul line.

Colfax-Mingo out-rebounded Sigourney 33-29 but turned the ball over 19 times.

The Savages had a tough shooting night but committed only seven turnovers. Sigourney (13-9, 10-7) was led by Issac Bruns’ 18 points,

How long

to hang on to your tax returns

As individuals attempt to more effectively organize their homes, they may come across a familiar pile of documents that they might hesitate to discard. Conventional wisdom has suggested taxpayers hold on to their tax returns for at least seven years. However, the Internal Revenue Service indicates that the seven-year timeline is not necessarily applicable to everyone. The IRS recommends taxpayers speak with their insurance company or creditors to see if they require account holders to hold on their tax records longer than the IRS. If they don’t, individuals can follow these guidelines, courtesy of the IRS.

1. Keep records for 3 years if situations (4), (5), and (6) below do not apply to you.

2. Keep records for 3 years from the date you filed your original return or 2 years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later, if you file a claim for credit or refund after you file your return.

3. Keep records for 7 years if you file a claim for a loss from worthless securities or bad debt deduction.

4. Keep records for 6 years if you do not report income that you should report, and it is more than 25 percent of the gross income shown on your return.

5. Keep records indefinitely if you do not file a return.

6. Keep records indefinitely if you file a fraudulent return.

7. Keep employment tax records for at least 4 years after the date that the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later.

These can serve as guidelines taxpayers can follow if they are attempting to declutter at home but don’t want to discard tax returns they might someday need. Taxpayers also can consult with their accountants or tax preparers for advice on how long to keep their returns. In addition, those who want to keep their returns can scan relevant return documents and then store them digitally on an external hard drive. This frees up space in a home and can calm any fears about discarding returns taxpayers may have.

Callyn Bishop

Baxter senior Callyn Bishop qualified for the state wrestling tournament for the third time in his career. He was 3-0 with two pins at districts in Pleasantville on Feb. 10. He takes a 39-5 record into the state meet.

two rebounds and Porter swiped two steals.

The Tigerhawks made 1-of-8 from 3 and buried 6-of-9 from the foul line.

Interstate 35 (7-12) advanced to the regional quarterfinals where it faced 2A No. 8 Nodaway Valley (183) on Feb. 13.

five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The visitors shot 31 percent from the floor, made 6-of-25 from 3 and hit 7-of-15 from the foul line.

North Mahaska 81, Colfax-Mingo 41 NEW SHARON — A 23-point night from Rhone was not enough as the Tigerhawks turned the ball over 20 times and struggled from the floor

during an 81-41 road loss on Jan. 30. Colfax-Mingo trailed 18-11 after one and was outscored 29-10 in the second and 34-20 in the final two periods in the SICL contest. Rhone added four rebounds and six steals to his 23 points. Earles had eight points and four boards, Bracewell tallied five points, three rebounds and two assists and Konner Dalton had three points and two boards.

Kite swiped three steals and Xavier

grabbed two rebounds.

Colfax-Mingo shot 28 percent from the floor, made 6-of21 from 3 and connected on 9-of-11 from the foul line.

North Mahaska (13-5, 11-4) made 11 treys and out-rebounded the Tigerhawks 43-18. Gabe Hora led four Warhawks in double figures with 18 points and Nolan Anderson had 11 points and nine boards.

Learn how to budget and save for big-ticket items

When faced with making a significant purchase, or even financing an unexpected emergency expense, consumers are tempted turn to credit to pay for the goods or services. While credit utilization maintains an important place in building a strong financial reputation, it can quickly put a person underwater financially, and interest fees can increase the price of big-ticket items by a significant amount.

The financial resource

The Motley Fool says American households carried a total of $17.1 trillion in debt as of the second quarter of 2023. A report from Equifax Canada indicated Canadian consumer debt rose to $2.32 trillion in 2023. Substantial consumer debt can limit financial flexibility, so individuals who are looking ahead to new vehicles or vacations or even home renovations can first try to save for such expenses in lieu of borrowing. Budgeting and saving may not lead to immediate gratification, but it can help consumers avoid debt and ultimately create more financial flexibility down the road.

• Know exactly what you have. Too often people take a casual approach to their finances. At any given time they may not know whether the money they’re making is actually cover-

ing all of the bills, and how much money, if any, is left over. Spend a few months cataloguing all credits and debits to your accounts. Pay attention to times of year when income is higher or when spending increases.

• Know your goal and price. Rayhons Financial, a financial services company, suggests identifying exactly how much you’ll need for a purchase. Estimate on the high side of expenses so as not to go over budget. Treat a big-ticket item just like a utility bill.

• Create a separate expense account. When all of your funds are together in one bank account, it is easier to spend the money on other purchases rather than the larger one in mind. Open a separate account and move your “extra” earnings into that

account to save for your large expense. Automating the savings by setting up an automatic deduction deposited into this account on payday can make savings even easier.

• Review your budget periodically. Figure out if there are areas where you can cut back and allocate more money to your overall savings or the special savings for the big-ticket item. For example, you may be able to downgrade to a more manageable mobile phone plan or dine out less frequently.

• Time the purchase right. In addition to only buying when you have the money saved, you can look

at the calendar to figure out the best time to make that purchase. Does your state or province offer a sales tax holiday? Some times of year you may get a bonus, tax refund or birthday gifts that can be earmarked for big-ticket items. Avoid purchasing big items during times when you must pay for other significant expenses, such as tuition, summer camp fees and insurance payments. Some simple financial planning can help people save and budget for big-ticket items more readily.

— Metro Creative

Troy Hyde/Jasper County Tribune

Koehler (2)

Jasper County Tribune

Woods