The South Iowa Cedar League could have a different look in the coming years, with the possible addition of four schools and splitting the conference into two divisions.
Last week, the Belle Plaine Board of Education learned that Twin Cedars of Bussey has petitioned the SICL for entry and Lone Tree, Highland-Riverside and Pekin could also ask for entry.
Currently Belle Plaine has the second largest enrollment of any of the existing SICL Conference schools. The state athletic associations use the enrollment in grades 9-11 from the previous year in determining school size and classes for competition. Belle Plaine had an enrollment of 169 students. Iowa Valley tops the list with 173 students, followed by Belle Plaine. BGM is next with 164, Sigourney with 157, Lynnville-Sully, 139; English Valleys, 130; North Mahaska, 125; Montezuma, 122; HLV, 107; Keota, 87 and Tri-County, 79.
The enrollment for Twin Cedars was listed at 116 students. Of the other three schools that could be potentially interested in jumping to the SICL, Pekin is by far the largest with 201 students. Highland had 140 and Lone Tree had 86 students.
Each of the four potential entrants would stretch the travel distance for Belle Plaine athletes and fans. Bussey is 87 miles away, Lone Tree, 61; Highland, 59 and Pekin is 58 miles away.
Twin Cedars is a member of the Blue Grass Conference, while Lone Tree, Highland and Pekin are all members of the Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division.
If all four schools were admitted to the SICL, there would be 15 schools in the conference and local officials indicated that the conference would undoubtedly be split into two divisions, with each team playing every other team in its division twice and one time per season from the other division in basketball, for example.
Conference expansion is a lengthy process, involving approval from member schools and formation of new schedules. It could take several years for it to materialize. It would also not affect the football schedule, since teams are assigned to districts every two years by the Iowa High School Athletic Association without regard to conference affiliation.

A Saturday afternoon fire at least temporarily displaced a family in Belle Plaine. Firemen were called to the Lloyd Thede residence, 902 13th Street, at 1:10 p.m. Smoke was pouring from the upper portion of the home.
Firemen were on the scene for approximately three hours and were called back for a flare-up late Sunday morning. An electrical malfunction is the suspected cause of the blaze, which started in the basement and spread to the roof of the large, two-story home.
The family was not at home at the time of the fire. Firemen indicated that the home might be a total loss. The Red Cross was called to assist the family.
The Belle Plaine Fire Department was assisted by the Chelsea Fire Department. A local department spokesman said Chelsea provided manpower with air packs, as many of the local firemen went through three tanks of oxygen each in battling the stubborn blaze.
Firemen also said traffic in the area was a problem. Fortunately, there was a fire hydrant in the immediate area of the house, but they also needed to tap another hydrant on a different water main. Motorists are reminded that when a fire truck is parked in the middle of an intersection at a fire scene, the road is closed in the area and motorists should not attempt to drive around the trucks. Fire hoses might be running in the street near a fire scene. In this case, a hydrant over two blocks away was also used, firemen said.

As we awoke to light snow and a return to colder temperatures Monday morning, we might take small comfort in the fact that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We are beginning the last week of January, the days are getting longer and as another sure sign of the close of the winter season, the conference wrestling tournament is Saturday.
This week, Greg Johnson, a representative of Congressman Leonard Boswell, will be in Belle Plaine to meet with constituents from 11 a.m. to noon on Tuesday at City Hall.
The Belle Plaine Library Board meets at 5 p.m. and the Benton County Legion will meet in Belle Plaine at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Community Center Board will meet at 5 p.m. At 6 p.m., the Belle Plaine Partners for Beautification meets at the Community Center.
Don’t forget Hoopster basketball Saturday from 8:30-10:30 a.m. and Biddy basketball from 10:30-1130 a.m.
On the high school sports scene, the basketball teams have a couple of games this week and the wrestlers will be home twice. Tuesday, the boys and girls’ varsity will host Montezuma. On Friday, they travel to Lynnville-Sully.
The wrestlers host English Valleys and Lisbon on Wednesday and the SICL Conference Tourney Saturday.
Stay safe and stay warm this week. Spring is not too far away!

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New officers were elected to the Belle Plaine Community Development Corporation Board at its meeting Thursday night. Jeri DeRaad of Double Take Design, Inc., was elected president. Dorie Brennecke, Belle Plaine Nursing and Rehab Center, was elected vice president, Cherie Brown, Belle Plaine Schools, is the secretary and Dale Weeda, Weeda Auction and Realty, is the treasurer.
Attending their first meeting after being elected to three-year terms on the board were Brandon Kienitz of Iowa Mold and Engineering, industry representative and Dan Dahlgren of Garling Construction, at-large position. Kienitz replaces Brad Cook and Dahlgren replaces Jennifer Zahradnik.
The board also discussed possible sponsorship of several activities this year and heard reports on the progress of funding for downtown redevelopment.

By Coach Steve Mengler
The 7th grade boys traveled to Brooklyn to face the Bears on a gloomy foggy Monday evening in a rematch of an earlier contest that Belle Plaine won quite easily 41-23. Unfortunately on this evening the shooting of the Plainsmen must have been bothered by the fog as the Bears jumped to an early lead and never looked back in route to a 35-25 victory.
The boys entered the contest apparently overconfident from the first meeting of the year. While the first quarter was close, trailing 6-4, the opposition turned up the offense to jump to an eleven point lead at the half. As a team we played much better in the second half but were unable to overcome the hole which we had dug during the second quarter when we gave up several easy baskets.
After talking with the BGM coach after the game, he stated that this was the best his team had played during the season. At the same time I would have to speculate that this was our worst outing of the year. We were able to get 57 shots from the field but were able to make only 12 for a shooting percentage of 21 percent, a season low. Many of these shots were good shots but we just could not put them in the hoop. Even at the free throw line we struggled, hitting only one shot of eight for a season low 14 percent. Defensively we gave up a lot of easy baskets and second chance opportunities.
We did play much better in the second half of the game. Leading the second half charge was Trey Squiers scoring eight points. Others scoring for the Plainsmen were Justin Jacobi with six points, Vance Bohlen with four points, Josh Long with three points, and Adrien Griffith and Austin Vranek with two points each. As a team we did better on the boards than we had in previous games, grabbing 26 boards in the game. Jacobi led the team with seven boards, while Squiers and Vranek each grabbed five rebounds.
Tuesday evening we traveled to Thornburg to face Tri-County in a shortened version of a game. Because Tri County lacked players the 7th grade played only two quarters on the trip. The boys did play very well after a slow start and defeated Tri-County by a score of 19-3. The first quarter was close at 6-3, but the Plainsmen came out and scored 13 unanswered points to finish out the shortened contest.
Again as a team we did not shoot very well, making only eight of 36 shots on the evening for 22 percent. I was impressed that we managed to get 36 shots in one half of playing which was on a pace to set a new season high. We also struggled from the free throw line, hitting only three of 10 shots for 30 percent. Jacobi led the team in scoring with eight points. Vance Bohlen contributed seven points, Griffith scored one basket and Squiers and Long each added a free throw. We scored many of our baskets in transition which is important as we continued to struggle scoring in the half court game.
Defensively the boys hit the boards quite hard, grabbing 24 rebounds. Griffith and Vranek led the team in rebounding with six each, while Jacobi grabbed five and Squiers added four. We did a nice job on defense forcing Tri County into difficult shots. We struggled a big blocking out the bigger quicker kids but eventually grabbed the rebound to start the offense.
This victory raises our record to 5-4 with three contests remaining. The first is against English Valley Friday January 22nd at Lee Gym. We then host HLV Monday January 25th before closing out the season at Iowa Valley on Tuesday January 26th.

The University Of Iowa Clinic, along with the DeGowin Blood Center and the
Belle Plaine Rotary Club are holding a blood drive Monday, Jan 25th at the
Belle Plaine Community Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. You may call the clinic to schedule a donation time, 444-3210.

The Belle Plaine Athletic Department has announced a couple of schedule changes.
The JV boy-girl basketball doubleheader at Montezuma, postponed due to weather considerations on Wednesday, Jan. 20, will now be played on Wednesday, Feb. 10.
The school also announced that due to low numbers of players at Meskwaki, there will be no girls’ JV game on Friday. The boys will still play Friday, beginning at 6 p.m.

The Belle Plaine Police Department has some outdoor Christmas decorations recovered from the area of the city parking lot. The department also has several bicycles it recovered over the past several months.
To claim any of these items, contact the Belle Plaine Police Department.

It must have been a happy trip home for the Belle Plaine basketball teams Monday night. Both boys’ and girls’ squads claimed victory at Sigourney.
A strong fourth quarter enabled the girls to claim a 41-36 decision. The last time these two teams met, Sigourney prevailed, 57-28 and the Savages were 9-2 coming into this contest.
This time around, Belle Plaine jumped out to a 13-6 first quarter lead and held an 18-16 advantage at the half. Sigourney went ahead after three quarters, 28-25, but the Plainsmen scored 16 fourth quarter points to take the victory.
Taylor Schafbuch led the Plainsmen with 17 points. She also ahd two rebounds and six steals. Dani Coover had 10 points, a dozen rebounds and two steals. Julie Long had eight points, three rebounds and three steals. Macy DeMeulenaere finished with four points, two assists, five steals and a block. Laura Breja had two points, four rebounds and a block. Joy Cronbaugh added three rebounds.
For Sigourney, Carolyn Holm had 15 points and Stephani Atwood had 16 rebounds.
Belle Plaine hit just 13 of 43 shots from the field, but also 14 of 21 free throws. Sigourney connected on 15 of 43 shots, but just five of nine free throws. The Savages also had a 34-25 lead in turnovers.
The boys also had a close one, claiming a 57-51 decision. They scored 10 points in the first quarter, 18 in the second, 14 in the third and 15 in the fourth quarter,
Three Belle Plaine players finished in double figure scoring. Ben Ehlen led the way with 21 points. He also had five assists, three steals and a block. Chris Janss had 13 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Keegan DeMeulenaere also had 13 points, with eight rebounds, two assists and a block. Cooper Northrop had four points and three rebounds. Kyle Janss added three points, Seivon Steward had three points and six rebounds and John Long added four rebounds and three assists.
The Plainsmen hit 20 of 54 shot attempts, including six of 21 three-pointers. They also hit 11 of 19 free throws and had just eight turnovers.
The next scheduled action for the Plainsman varsity basketball teams is Tuesday, Jan. 26 at Montezuma.