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To spank or not to spank; that is the question

Local Columns

Driving down the highway several years ago I remember listening to a radio talk show host debate with his guest the merits of spanking children. The talk show host was a bigger proponent of spanking by parents than his guest. The host also argued in favor of corporal punishment in public schools while his guest disagreed. I was not in a position to call in and share my opinion but I definitely had one. I still do. I believe a parent has an obligation to lovingly discipline a child. At a young age, when reasoning doesn’t work, spanking — sparingly and wisely applied — can be ...

Not my will: The heartbeat of Resurrection living

Local Columns

As most of the world pauses to celebrate Resurrection Sunday, millions reflect on more than just a religious tradition — they remember a story that has forever altered history. This is not merely a holiday. It is a call to encounter the deepest love humanity has ever known. The final week of Jesus Christ's life, often called Holy Week, is not just a page in Scripture — it is a collision of divine purpose and human pain, of heaven's hope and earth's brokenness. At the very heart of this sacred journey lies a moment of raw, gut-wrenching surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane — a ...

Hugging to the music

Local Columns

Facebook friends are posting photos of their kids and grandkids all decked out for proms at their high schools. These photos are rekindling a 60-year trauma. During the years of childhood my only acquaintance with proms were news stories of teenagers driving recklessly after proms. The reality of a prom didn’t hit me until I was a sophomore in high school. Sophomores could volunteer to be servers at the Junior-Senior Prom. I thought I had better things to do. The next year our junior class staged a fundraiser to finance our prom and I pitched in. In those days proms included a ...

Would you believe me if I told you the tomb was empty?

Local Columns

He is risen! He is risen indeed. But — Would you believe me if I told you the tomb was empty? I mean really. Would you? Not in the Sunday school answer kind of way. Not because it’s Easter morning and we’ve got lilies and bright colors and eggs filled with confetti. I mean in your ...

Keep Iowa’s roads safe during spring planting

Editorials

This is the time of the year when big, slow-moving farm vehicles rumble out onto roadways dominated by faster-paced traffic. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who lives in farm country. Even so, all of us should pay special heed to safety considerations as we share the roads with agricultural vehicles. In general, Iowa has been doing a good job of keeping accidents involving farm vehicles to a minimum. According to data from the Iowa Department of Transportation, fatalities and major injuries resulting from such accidents have been on the decline in recent years. That’s ...

Here are some things I didn't know

Local Columns

Here are some things I didn’t know before today: Jerita Nelson loves shoes as much — maybe more — than I do. AnNyce Kelting Hoff knows that my mother, who was a dear friend of her mother, would have had a cup of coffee front and center with her dessert at the Lenten Luncheon on Tuesday at Trinity Lutheran Church. AnNyce remarked on this because I was quaffing water. Someone would have had to scrape me off the ceiling if I drank the coffee. That someone would likely have been Kolleen Taylor, seated on the other side of me, who remarkably realized that I was having too good ...