Opinion

Workplace VisitsOn April 13, our K-12 teaching staff participated in workplace visits during their professional development time. What a great experience for our teachers to be able to learn about industries in Washington as well as see applications of their curriculum. I have heard so much about this activity, that has been going on for four years, and I was equally impressed with the opportunity to visit 1 of ...

March 28, 2016West Chester, Iowa To the Editor:This year?s political campaigns have stirred many emotions: disgust, hate, fear, dismay and insult, and in my opinion, the electronic media has only promoted more of the same.Each and every candidate seems to have some attribute(s) sorely lacking. The feeling of disgust and despair seem to be permeating the electorate. It seems to be another time of trying to ...

April 20, 2016Washington, Iowa To the Editor:In the Wednesday issue of The Washington Evening Journal, Gerald Franzen stated, ?I remember when we wanted to build a new library and they said it wouldn?t use any taxpayer money and we are going to do it all privately.?I was Chairman of The Washington Free Public Library Board of Trustees and of The Foundation during the time of construction of the new library.W...

March 25, 2016Washington, Iowa To the Editor: My husband took our granddaughter walking through the underpass one afternoon to comply with her numerous requests to do so. Never again! Filthy, and dark, even in the daytime with the lights. Trash and muck to wade through was unsanitary and slippery. Is this what we are presenting to all the visitors who may never want to return if they try to ride through ...

To the editor:In the past years I have been one who has taken advantage of the outdoor swimming beach at what is now known as Bonnifield Lake. I?ve enjoyed it to cool off, observed people bringing their pet dogs to the water edge and allowed those pets to poop into the water while children were nearby (and not cleaning up the poop, either, just letting the currents take the poop off to who knows where), and now ...

March 29, 2016Brighton, Iowa To the Editor:I had three great-grandchildren at the Easter egg hunt in Brighton on Saturday. It was very nice for the children and well organized. Without a doubt the best we went to on that day. Thank you, BrightonJoelyn Zickefoose

I remember our first television in 1954. I was 6 years old. My older brother, who was in the army, bought it for us. The gift that keeps on giving. He thought we needed a television for entertainment and to keep abreast of world events. Everyone else had a television, so why not us?It was an RCA black-and-white television, because color television hadn't been invented yet. It had rabbit ears that we could adjust ...

On Feb. 16, Washington Community School hosted its second Annual Tech Talk Day. What is a Tech Talk Day? To put into words doesn?t do it justice, but it is really a ?must see? in order to comprehend the impact that it had on our staff. There were 30 sessions available for staff to choose from that fit their particular professional development needs. We started the day with Mitch Kelly, with a keynote titled ?The ...

First off, I promise this newsletter is much shorter than last week. I appreciate you taking the time to read last week?s article but I will try to keep this one shorter. This week we were able to pass several good bills from the House. They now head to the Senate where they will hopefully be passed as well. We also continued work in committees to pass many of the Senate?s bills out of committees.The House acted ...

Winter vacations usually take the form of travel to warmer climes, basking on sunny beaches, drinking pina coladas, and flaunting the good weather to folks back home. Not so with Bonnie and Mike Vance of Mt. Pleasant. They had visited most continents, but not Antarctica or Asia. So, this year, along with some traveling friends from Wisconsin, it was off to Antarctica. FYI, winter in the Midwest is summer in ...

The House has been working this past week on passing two bills that I feel are significant as we address the needs of our future generation to be able to be successful in the 21st century. Both bills would, in the end, provide hands-on experience to our students whether they be college bound or career ready.The House acted this week on a bill to reform Iowa?s Career and Technical Education (CTE) delivery system, ...

It has been a crazy week at the State Capitol. We are one week away from the first funnel so many of the last-minute bills are being pushed through committee and subcommittee. The House Republicans also released our own budget projections for the year this week. As usual I attempt to address topics of interest and look at new issues I have not addressed before. That being said, this week I will be talking about ...