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Opinion

Gloss

Letters to Editor

In her Condition of the State message, or as I like to call it, the State of the State (SoS), Gov. Kim Reynolds painted a glossy picture and just glossed over a lot of other issues. State Sen. Sean Bagniewski from Iowa District 35 did a good job in looking at the real numbers and issues. I ...

Memories of the blizzard of ’75

Local Columns

When I was a kid I observed that old men enjoyed telling stories of harrowing storms they had survived when they were younger. I didn’t understand it all back then, but I do now. So let me tell you about one of the nastiest blizzards in my memory. It happened 50 years ago this month. In ...

It was brave, courageous and bold

Local Columns

Many people today cannot remember (or imagine) a time when a television set was not a familiar item in most homes. I can. I was nearly 9 years old when our family acquired its first television receiver. My father made the purchase on New Year’s Day 1957. To put this in perspective, ...

All the world’s a stage

Local Columns

It’s a new year and a new season for high school showtime! It won’t be long before high schools will be announcing their spring musicals and plays. I enjoyed high school plays but during my abbreviated college experience I was working 30 to 40 hours a week and had no time for plays. Over ...

Gratitude

Local Columns

It’s 2025. But before we forget there was a 2024, let’s give a shout out to some of the people who led this community forward so that we could get to this year in good shape. Sheriff Doug Timmons. Timmons retired at the end of 2024, handing the wheel over to his successor Alex ...

Jimmy Carter exemplified the role of president as diplomat

Local Columns

The news of Jimmy Carter’s passing takes me back to 1976, a year that marked my own passage to adulthood. As the bicentennial year dawned, I took first notice of Carter upon his victory in the Iowa Caucuses. I followed his campaign through my high school graduation and into the summer, when I ...