Opinion

To the editor:Since Jefferson County is a member of Regional Utilities Service Systems, your readers may have heard that several member counties are trying to withdraw from it, and that RUSS is involved in several lawsuits with Residents for a Better Richmond in the unincorporated village of Richmond in Washington County.As a member of RBR I would like to share some of the experiences that have taught us a lot ...

Another of my favorite burgs is Brighton. It is so happy sounding, as in bright town. My first experience/encounter with Brighton was selling insurance door-to-door. I had just moved home to Iowa from Colorado and needed a job. I took a job selling accident insurance. This was in 1995.One of my first assignments was the town of Brighton. On Sunday, before the work week started, I drove to Brighton to get a feel ...

October 1, 2012Brighton, Iowa To the Editor:Many people in our county have asked me why I don?t write letters to the editor anymore. My answer is that I do not feel safe in expressing my opinions.The people in power in our county frighten me.My opinions, gripes, and views may differ with ?THEM? and I don?t want to feel their wrath or revenge.?They? dictate a different criterion of freedoms ? our/my ...

After eating on Corelle dinnerware for decades and after growing tired of seeing the same old stuff on the kitchen table I decided it was time to use the dinnerware we received as wedding gifts in 1972.Corelle was a big deal in 1972. It was made from a special glass that doesn?t break (unless you drop it on your concrete patio). It was better than eating off melamine plates, which was used by housewives who ...

October 1, 2012West Chester, Iowa To the Editor:What are we thinking?We have a $75 inadvertent ?crime? ? corrected as soon as the realization was that it was wrong.Anyone with the bare minimum of common sense could have predicted a not-guilty verdict. Instead, we spend thousands of dollars on what was a really frivolous lawsuit.It smacks of a vendetta or vindictiveness. If you want to be vindictive, it?s ...

For 16 years I lived in Windsor, Colorado, a farming community about the size of Mt. Pleasant. When people asked where Windsor was, I would say it was in the middle of a triangle formed by Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley. This area, at the base of the Rockies, is also known as the Front Range. Note: Farming in Colorado is much different than Iowa. Colorado farmers raise things like sugar beets, pinto beans ...

If you were outside in the late morning Wednesday, there?s a good chance you saw a large group of people walking around. What you witnessed was students and adults participating in the Healthiest State Initiative, a program that began in Iowa last year to help people get in shape through walking.I?ve lived in five towns in my life, and in all of them I have lived smack dab in the middle. That has allowed me to ...

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney debated each other for the first time last week. I was able to catch most of it. I was interested in how the ?talking heads? on cable TV would interpret the debate.The overwhelming response from all corners was that Romney ?won.? From what I heard, Romney was declared the winner mostly for his superior poise and body language and less for the substance of his remarks.Exactly two ...

Sept. 18, 2012Leland, Iowa To the Editor: We would like to congratulate the people of Washington County on the very fine organizations available to assist area residents.Our father, Wayne Wagner, received medical services at the Washington County Hospital and Clinics this past summer. His treatments by Dr. Frier and the staff of nurses, aides, dietitians, therapists and housekeepers were excellent. The ...

The preview of tonight?s football game between rivals Washington and Mt. Pleasant ran in yesterday?s Washington Evening Journal, and the headline read, ?Demons and Panthers to renew their rivalry.?And it is a renewal of the rivalry. Not one Demon who steps onto the Case Field turf tonight was in a varsity uniform the last time the two teams played. Washington head coach Randy Schrader has never coached against ...

The trial is over. While common sense prevailed, and the jury returned a verdict of ?Not Guilty?, we saw a side of the political process that we rarely brush up against at the local level when two Washington County residents, Jack Seward Jr. and Bob Yoder, were charged with political campaign ethics violations and went to trial Sept. 24-27. As the wife of one of these candidates, the past two months have been ...

When I was 10 years old, my grandparents planned to take me to Washington, D.C., for a week to see our nation?s capitol. The night before we were to leave, my great-grandmother fell and broke her hip and the trip was canceled. I?ve wanted to go to Washington, D.C., ever since.When I learned about the Honor Flight, I knew it was a trip I wanted to make. I?ve interviewed many World War II veterans and I have deep ...