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The older the violin ...

Local Columns

As I entered the coffee shop I saw my cantankerous old buddy, Ebeneezer Griper, reading a news magazine. Eb was deeply absorbed, his wire rim reading glasses sitting at the end of his long, narrow nose. “What’s news this morning?” I inquired as I approached his table. Startled, Eb barked, “For cryin’ out loud, don’t sneak up on an old guy like that!” “Sorry,” I said as I pulled up a chair. “That must be a fascinating story. Have doctors discovered a cure for your orneriness?” Eb scowled and then held up his magazine, revealing a photograph of Miss ...

Phono fun all over again

Local Columns

As Julie’s family opened gifts on the most recent Christmas Eve I was delighted to watch 13-year-old granddaughter, Eliza, open her gift from us. She told Julie earlier in the year that she wanted a phonograph and two long-play albums for Christmas. Though I recognize that vinyl albums have enjoyed a revival in recent years it was fun to watch a young person excited over an actual phonograph and a couple of 33 rpm record albums. The scene brought back some happy memories. Until recently if you told an average 13-year-old that you enjoyed listening to some hot 45s on your hi-fi you ...

Astonished at the mayor's comments during splash pad meeting

Letters to Editor

To the editor: I would like to share a few comments about the Webster City council meeting on February 5th. Community members were allowed to express their comments/concerns about the splash pad project. Multiple community members, including several high school students, expressed their reasons for not being in favor of the project. Several expressed their concern of wasting water, a very valid concern, in my opinion. Mayor (John) Hawkins said, “we waste water anyway.” Then with a smirk, he stated, “It will run to the river and there will be a little more water for those who ...

Eating like a buffalo

Local Columns

When my maternal grandfather came to the United States from Germany as a teenager, he brought along a treasure of adages in his native Low German. Some of those sayings are in rhyming verse; a few are a bit earthy. Most impart a gem of wisdom. Opa shared those bits of German horse sense and nonsense with his 12 children and over the years I enjoyed listening to my mother and aunts and uncles repeat those little Low German ditties. I understand the language well enough to get the gist of many of the sayings, though I often had to ask to have them repeated a few times. Other times I ...

Cities are not prepared to replace local library boards

Letters to Editor

To the editor: Iowans before us understood why the legal liabilities and complex policies inherent to library (First Amendment) services require specific and robust management to successfully steward collections, programs, and spaces which are openly and freely used by the public. Senate Study Bill 3131 transfers oversight, power, and property of public library boards to their cities. Our cities are not prepared neither will they be additionally resourced to tackle the work of over 500 public library boards around the state. Iowans before us recognized how robust libraries ...

Say no to Summit Carbon Solutions' proposed expansion

Letters to Editor

To the editor: More Iowa landowners: Are you ready for a dangerous CO2 pipeline to go through YOUR land, through YOUR backyard, across the fenceline from YOU (your home, your school, your business, your hospital), near YOUR community? Summit Carbon Solutions is attempting to expand its range. Recently POET signed a partnership: Those sites would extend Summit’s footprint into at least seven new counties in Iowa, but the precise routes of those extensions are not yet clear. "The company could not immediately provide an estimate of how many additional miles of pipe will be ...