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Who you are because of where you were

Local Columns

A convention program many years ago left a lasting impression on me. I have remembered its message all these years since. The presentation was entitled “You Are Who You Are Because of Where You Were When” — or something similar. Dr. Massey, a professor from a Colorado university, was the presenter. His theory was that at about age 9 or 10 the average child looks around and — concluding that what is seen must be what is right — creates a values system on which judgments will be made the rest of his or her life. Only two things, Dr. Massey said, will change that values ...

Tell elected representatives to ask the ultrarich to pay their fair share

Letters to Editor

To the editor: “That’s so true,” replied the employee restocking shelves when I reached for an item that had yet another price increase and said, “The billionaires are robbing us blind.” President (Ronald) Reagan’s campaigning scheme that giving tax breaks to the rich will trickle down to provide prosperity to everyday citizens got him elected, but the notion has been proven false. Instead, it has been a boon for the wealthiest ever since his 1976 election. Common Good Iowa reports in 2023 that Iowa’s rich are getting richer and our poor are getting poorer. One in ...

April Fool

Local Columns

The best April Fool joke to completely blind side me was pulled off by my reporters at one of the newspapers I edited during the early 1980s. They were a spunky crew: Two graduates from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut; the son of the guy who managed Madison Square Garden; a granddaughter of the Knight Ridder chain ownership; and a local woman named Cindy who managed to show them all how to do things faster and better. I was tougher in those days, tough in the way that if I got my teeth into a juicy story I could be like a hungry feral cat. The story on which I had most ...

It might be the best thing

Local Columns

When I was a kid I enjoyed listening to older folks talk about the changes they had seen during their lifetimes and their first-time experiences. First time driving a tractor, first time seeing an airplane, first time they had electricity on their farm … I enjoyed their stories. Thinking about some of these dear older folks recently, I realized that I have now lived enough years to join in those conversations. There are a lot of “firsts” that I can recall. For instance, I can remember the first time I realized what turn signals were. When my father purchased a new 1953 Ford he ...

Entitlements?

Letters to Editor

To the editor: Unfortunately, I am forced to agree with (President Donald) Trump on one point: we now live in a s-hole country. I was born, raised and educated locally. As a child I had some chores on the farm. After moving to town I raked leaves, shoveled snow, mowed lawns and had a paper route. Summers I detasseled and shelled corn and walked beans. As a teen I helped build a house for Hefty (Construction) and roofed for Anderson/Caulkins. I worked for Franklin Manufacturing in the reliability lab 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. before school. After that, a short stint at Modern Farms before ...

Highways of the past

Local Columns

Zipping down today’s interstate highways it’s easy to forget what Iowa’s highways were like just 70 years ago. Too young to remember? Well, let me fill you in. Though some two-lane highways were being widened at the time, many of Iowa’s primary roads and bridges were too narrow for the increasing amount of traffic and larger vehicles. Rounded curbs on hills threw your car to the left if you steered a bit too much to the right. In 1954 a white dash replaced a continuous black line as the center line on Iowa’s paved highways and a continuous yellow line identified no-passing ...