Merrill singer part of regional-winning barbershop quartet
The Central State District Barbershop Convention held in Lawrence, Kansas last weekend had winning representation from northwest Iowa. Assorted Parts, part of the Siouxland Discovery Chorus, won the Seniors Quartet Championship, and one of the winning singers is a Merrill native, Jeff Neary.
Neary’s interest in barbershop singing began while he was in college.
Neary did other types of singing after college, and was asked several times by friends about joining the Siouxland Discovery Chorus. Neary rekindled his interest in barbershop during COVID.
He soon became a member of Assorted Parts, and sang at churches, sporting events, and other occasions, and eventually the group decided to enter a competition.
Although this was his first time at a competition, and having been nervous at first, Neary enjoyed the experience and enjoyed singing with Assorted Parts.
Neary says if you’re interested in picking up barbershop to give it time, and that the Siouxland Discovery Chorus meets every Monday in Sioux City. If you’re interested in hearing Assorted Parts, Neary says they’ll be performing at the Festival of Trees later next month.
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Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office presents quarterly report
During Tuesday’s Plymouth County Board of Supervisors meeting, Sheriff Jeff TeBrink presented quarterly reports to the Board from July through September of this year.
The Treasurer’s Report found that the Sheriff’s Office was down $7,321 from the previous quarter, with TeBrink citing a reduction in service fees as the main reason. 1,959 911 calls and 1,940 complaints were made to the Sheriff’s Office, and 582 ambulance calls and 143 fire calls were made throughout Plymouth County during the quarter. TeBrink says these numbers are average for this time of year. The Plymouth County Jail booked 296 inmates and released 303 inmates; the US Marshals housed 45 federal inmates and the Bureau of Prisons housed 4 inmates at the Jail from July through September.
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Orange City Area Health first in Northwest Iowa to install new surgical robot
Orange City Area Health has announced they’ve installed a new surgical robot that’s the first of it’s kind in northwest Iowa.
The da Vinci 5 Surgical Robot can be used for minimally-invasive surgical procedures for urology, gynecology, and general surgeries. In a press release, Dr. Dan Locker, general surgeon at Orange City Area Health, says that the da Vinci 5 “gives our surgeons 100 percent control, with precise movements,” and that “scarring can be minimal, and many patients have less pain after surgery.”
Marty Guthmiller, CEO of Orange City Area Health System, says the da Vinci 5 “allows us to offer minimally-invasive procedures with faster recovery times,” and that “we’ve made this investment in the future of surgery for the benefit of the patients we serve throughout the region.”
The public will be able to see the new robot for themselves during an open house on November 11th, with a demo system available to look at and even play with. The event will take place in the front lobby of the hospital.
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