Obituaries

Rebecca Ann “Becky” Krause, 43, of Mt. Pleasant, died Sunday, September 30, 2018 at the University of Iowa Hospitals and …

SERVICE PENDING Rosalene Kramer Rosalene Kramer, 93, of Salem, Iowa passed away at 1:35 p.m. on Monday, October 1, 2018 …

Richard Ray “Rich” O’Neill, 55, of Mt. Pleasant, died Saturday, September 29, 2018 at his home. He was born January …

Funeral services for Gayle Rarick of Corwith formerly of Washington will be celebrated at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 3, …

To the editor:Recently, the Fairfield Community School Board announced that it is now time to begin implementing many changes to our beloved Fairfield Community School District. Often, change by itself is hard to accept, but it appears to me that most of these changes have got a lot of people pretty cranked up.As a parent of three children who are currently part of the FCSD, I understand that it?s easy to be ...

Des Moines Register, Sept. 20Blurring the lines between news and public relations It's easy to see why the city of Davenport elected to bypass the local news media to spread the word about some of its operations.These days, many local news outlets have too few resources to effectively cover city hall. In many communities, the county boards, school boards and city councils haven't had a reporter covering their ...

To the editor:A special election will be held on March 4 for voters within the unincorporated areas of Jefferson County.The proposal is to allocate the county?s portion of the Local Option Sales and Service Tax (LOSST) as follows: 64 percent property tax relief, 20 percent roads and bridges, 16 percent construction of an outdoor swimming pool and indoor recreation facility.This 16 percent allocation would ...

To the editor:One of the worst examples of our ignorance of evolutionary values in America is our current definition of ?American exceptionalism.?All too often I hear this idea expressed on talk shows as defined by our military power. American exceptionalism is referred to as the influence of our govenment on foreign countries, and the power and influence of our economy and culture.We need to simplify the idea ...

To the editor:According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, Jefferson County currently has 30.2 percent of adults who report currently smoking, which is well above the Iowa average of 19.5 percent.February is ?Heart Health Month.? Every time you use tobacco, your arteries are hardening and narrowing, making it harder for blood to flow. This puts more stress on your heart, which can lead to an aneurysm, ...

To the editor:This is one of the coldest winters in over 30 years.Imagine being outside all the time having to forage for food and water that you absolutely needed to make it to the next day or week? Well, the birds do and so do the other critters out there.With more than a foot of snow on the ground for the past weeks, it?s impossible to find anything to eat. A bird must eat nearly half of its body weight ...