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Remember?

Local Columns

There was a time when cigarettes were everywhere. Remember? They were in vending machines, in newspaper and magazine ads. Movie stars portrayed them as sexy. Remember the photo of Hayley Mills' dad in the original The Parent Trap? The one where Brian Keith is posed in a moody black and white, holding a smoking cigarette? Then it finally sank in that cigarettes were killing us. Remember? Remember the cancer statistics that finally got our attention, not just because they were big numbers but because those big numbers swallowed our loved ones? Remember the emphysema? When nonsmoking ...

The best buddy a guy could ask for

Local Columns

Another Memorial Day had come and gone. John attended the community Memorial Day service at the local cemetery Monday morning but melancholy gnawed at his soul in the days which followed. On his way into town for a tractor part on Thursday morning, John felt an inexplicable urge to stop by the well-groomed cemetery again and visit the grave of an old high school buddy. Parking his pickup truck a few yards uphill from the grave, John stepped down from the cab and walked slowly to the granite stone. At the grave he carefully lowered himself to the grass and set upright a plant ...

Why, and How to, Vote in Iowa’s June 7 Primary Election

Local Columns

While many area state legislative races are uncontested, there are two statewide primary races for Democrats, and one for Republicans. Three Democrats and one Republican are running in the primary to determine who will challenge long-term U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, of New Hartford, in the ...

It was a record-breaking year for the Class of 2022

Local Columns

The graduating class of 2022 of Webster City High School had a record-breaking year, and its students were honored for it at Wednesday night’s awards ceremony. The awards ceremony recognizes the seniors who put in a plentitude of hard work in order to get into the positions they are ...

Prelude to a graduation

Local Columns

There are names that take us somewhere and, when you are my age, that is likely back. For instance, in the list of scholarships and awards given last night at Webster City High School, the name Cindy Warland Eddy revived a distinct memory. There we were, lined up for Torch photos — this ...

Sell this town

Local Columns

The writer Bob Oliver stopped in Monday on the heels of the Daily Freeman-Journal publishing his story about the volunteerism that crucially made a year of work on Webster City’s parks possible. We got to talking, as you can imagine, and this question was raised: How do we tell people outside this place the extent of what Webster City has to offer? Now, Bob and I can really get going on what it doesn’t offer: We both lived in Denver when it was developing into its present intensity. I know some of you might long for that level of activity, but get stuck on Colorado Boulevard just ...