Mt. Pleasant News

It was 5:30 in the morning and Ginnie had just left for work. I settled back in the recliner for a little siesta, the eastern sky barely light on a drizzly morning. A text message buzzed. It was Ginnie. She had just hit a deer on the edge of Mt. Pleasant. Fortunately, she was okay, just a little shaken. Her car had some minor damage. She recomposed herself on the side of the road before proceeding to work. I ...

Wanna get out of yourself and do a little something for mankind and the world on your next vacation? Instead of the madcap, see-it-all, do-it-all trip to Disney World in Florida, keep going southeast to Haiti?no, not the touristy Dominican Republic on the other side of the island, but hurricane-and-earthquake ravaged Haiti, via Port-au-Prince. You might make a difference to some very needy people.Sixty-eight-year...

Being a single woman with no children and no live-in pets, I consider myself the master of my domain. I come and go from my residence as I please. That was, until last Thursday when there became a new queen of the castle at my apartment.Thursday, May 18, started like any normal day. I got up at around 6 a.m. before heading out the door at around 6:45 for work. Nothing seemed out of place or out of the ordinary. ...

Who killed Sister Cathy? It was the question that drew myself and millions of other viewers to the Netflix true crime documentary ?The Keepers.? But as I delved deeper into the seven-part series the question quickly shifted to ?why was Sister Cathy killed?? and then transformed into the overarching issue of why it?s so hard to believe a woman.Sister Cathy Cesnik taught English and drama at the all-girls Archbisho...

Our garden is humongous this year. I stepped it off, and it measures 60? x 36?!--purt?near the size of our pole barn. We planted ?cukes,? pole beans, peas, early and late corn, giant ?punkins? to run in the corn, radishes, Caesar and butter-bowl lettuce, beets, carrots, turnips (poor-man?s potatoes?Ginnie despises!--almost as much as she does peas), green onions, sweet onions, sweet, beef-eater and cherry ...

Okay, I?ll admit it. Professional journalists are a different breed.It probably has something to do with the arts. We are called cynical, biased and sarcastic. The labels may apply to some but be careful when stereotyping.Truthfully, we aren?t much different than your average Joe, we are just seen in a different light.One of my quirks (if you want to label it as a quirk) is the enjoyment of train art. I am not ...

To the editor:Council Bluffs Iowa, ?Chaos Gives Way to Mourning After Iowa Deputy?s Slaying? - Des Moines Register, May 2, 2017.Rarely does a headline and a heartbreaking memorial speak so clearly and decisively on a way forward for a community. I believe Henry County, Iowa, is approaching a Rubicon. We will soon have another opportunity to vote to construct a new jail. An unextravagant, brick and mortar symbol ...

Like many Americans, I tuned in last week to watch Jimmy Kimmel?s emotional and heartfelt plea to Congress to not pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA) as it stood.For those who haven?t watched, and I recommend you do, Kimmel and his wife, Molly, welcomed their second child into the world; a boy named Billy. The delivery went wonderfully, Kimmel told the audience and viewers at home. That was until several ...

On the way to Sid?s farm near Leon, Ginnie and I saw lots of turkeys, deer, and one coyote. Sid calls?m ?yotes.? South Central Iowa is mostly rolling hills and timber, ideal for pasture and cattle, hay and hunting. Which is why Sid bought this pristine little farm. He calls it ?Hen Field Farm? because of the abundance of hen turkeys.Sid Vander Ploeg (pronounced ?Vander Plew?) is an old high school buddy from ...

A friend and former co-worker of mine ? Art Cullen ? recently won a Pulitzer prize.The oddity in the win is that he doesn?t work for some large newspaper like the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune or the New York Times. He works at the same place he has for a quarter of a century or so ? The Storm Lake Times.If this were sports, his win might rank as the upset of the season because the Washington Post and ...

It wasn?t long after Sparky was introduced to the Kelly family that she was quickly removed for her own safety. And now I can say she is safely frolicking in a field with a flock of her winged friends.I preface this story with that information because what you are about to read might make you think that the Kelly family has it out for poultry, but I can assure you we mean well. With that disclaimer in mind, I ...

When did it become more acceptable to be a sexual predator than a woman?The quandary has been quietly lurking in the back of my brain, querulously waiting to be addressed ever since I saw a sign begging the same question during the Women?s March in January.In the same month, The New York Times reported Bill O?Reilly and 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News where ?The O?Reilly Factor? has been a ...