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An open letter to Iowa state senators and representatives regarding the AEA system

Letters to Editor

An open letter to Iowa State Senators and Representatives regarding the AEA System: My name is David Tilly and I was the deputy director at the Iowa Department of Education (IDE) between 2012 and 2020. I administered the state education budget for PK-12 Education at the IDE during those years, and I managed all of the Department’s PK-12 programs and staff. I am a special educator by training (my Ph.D. is in School Psychology) and I worked for over 30 years in Iowa at all levels of the education system. Through these experiences, I learned quite a bit about how Iowa’s education ...

Voters, it's time to oust legislators who won't get tougher on gun control

Letters to Editor

To the editor: Iowans, how close does it have to get? Does it have to be your town, your school, your family before you do something? Don’t tell me there’s nothing you can do. It’s one little four-lettered word: VOTE. Vote out these people who give you worthless thoughts and prayers. Vote in people who will legislate better gun laws. Vote out legislators who care about kids because that’s exactly where we are at right now. The Freeman-Journal says 332 Iowans die from gun violence annually. Is that acceptable to you? Dave Haynes Duncombe

Litchfield made ag equipment

Local Columns

The cold snap we had recently certainly caught me by surprise. It made me wonder what heating homes must have been like a hundred years ago. Being cooped up with the trusty laptop and internet unfazed by the frigid weather outside, I started to look and found … Lyman Litchfield was born ...

Fond memories of a '55 Chevy

Local Columns

An important anniversary (in my life) is being observed (by me) this month. January marks the 59th anniversary of the purchase of my first car. As with most teenage boys, I had dreamed of owning my own car since the day I got my learner’s permit. After getting my driver’s license the intensity of my desire for my own wheels heightened. Financial limitations led my search for a car to my uncle’s junk yard. Uncle Dick owned what had to be the largest auto salvage yard in Grundy County. Occasionally he would get in something a little better than junk. I had kept my eyes on his ...

Hopes earlier letter writer's statistics are incorrect

Letters to Editor

To the editor: I don’t know where Mr. Stotts gets his statistics but, if it’s true that 55% of the people in the United States don’t care if Putin sends his army into Ukraine, kills thousands of civilians, and takes over the country, that’s the saddest commentary on our nation that I can imagine. I hope it isn’t true. Noel Singer Webster City

Welcome to winter ...

Local Columns

As I sit writing this, the wind is whipping snow horizontally past my window, filling the backsides of fences, making it hard to see Our Neighborhood across the street. I am so unfamiliar with this scene, having spent so many winters away from the Midwest, that I’ve taken to streaming the ...