Opinion

You may remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about the Highway of Love. The Highway of Love is what I call the stretch of US 34 between Ottumwa and Mt. Pleasant. Somebody spray painted ?Find Your Love? on an overpass at the Agency exit, and decorated the back of ?Do Not Enter? signs with ?(heart) U!? all the way to Mt. Pleasant. (Actually, all the way to Burlington, one of my readers pointed out.) The ?Find Your ...

The American Dream is alive and well. Oh, I know, the gap between the rich and poor is widening, and the famed American Middle Class is shrinking, or fading (some say collapsing) into the Poor Class. So what? I have never felt the future brighter, opportunities more abundant, or the American Dream closer to reality than it is right now.I?ll admit, I tend to gauge the rest of society on how I personally feel at ...

The Washington softball team has had a bit of an odd motto during its postseason run, which continues at 5:30 today when the Demons take on second-ranked Dallas Center-Grimes in a Class 4A state semifinal in Fort Dodge.Washington?s fans even yelled it out before the team began play in the state quarterfinal game on Tuesday. On high school principal Erik Buchholz?s cue, all of the Demon fans in the bleachers ...

June 27, 2012Richmond, Iowa To the Editor:Thank you for your June 26, 2012, news article ?Residents group drops lawsuits.? The article does, however, leave room for a few misunderstandings which I hope your readers would like to see cleared up.The headline would have been more accurate had it read, ?Residents groups suspends lawsuits.? The situation has changed dramatically, and we are now much more likely ...

To the editor:In regard to the proposed changes on Highway 1 South, I have a suggestion. Since there are several vehicles turning into the hospital, there should be a right turn lane for them. Some of the traffic goes ahead and passes in a restricted area rather than slowing down. ? Dean Pettit, Fairfield

To the editor:There are some people who are meant to star but are not able to finish their goal. We lost a great musician this past week who was reaching for his star. Ryan was a brilliant musician and will be greatly missed. ? ?Fiddlin? Granny? Joanne Ancell, his former teacher

How long is 40 years?We became a state in 1846. Through habitat loss and active hunting, we eliminated the black bear within our borders by 1859. A year later, the mountain lion vanished. Bison and elk both disappeared from the state in 1870 and 1871, respectively. Records of gray wolves ended in 1885.Forty years and all our large wildlife is gone. Is 40 years a long time?We lost smaller species as well. The ...

I have done some research on Washington Community School District?s enrollment, solvency ratio, unspent balance and property tax rates over the last few years and how those compare with the state of Iowa. EnrollmentThe Washington CSD will be operating with a budget based on an enrollment of 1,740.20 on October 1, 2011. The previous year?s enrollment is the basis of the following year?s budget. In the state of ...

To the editor:I would like to make a few statements about the current jail in Fairfield, Iowa.Last summer I was arrested and placed in the jail on Grimes Avenue. I had made a statement that was considered to be false witness. The officers came to my door, interrogated me, put me in handcuffs and carted me off. I spent the night there.I could not breathe in that jail cell and because there are no windows except ...

There they were, big as life. Now what?Of all my virtues, patience is definitely not one of them. To be completely honest, I?ve been hiking on the new trail between Marr Park and Ainsworth for about two weeks now. The first day I went for a hike, I actually had to walk around a barricade that was protecting the last tile of wet cement.Since I read a book by Tom Brown Jr., I find myself regularly keeping an eye ...

At 6 feet, 3 inches tall, a 24-year-old Glenn Hill barely fit into his cramped, nose-gunner turret position during World War II B-24 bombing missions.?Getting in there with a parachute was a real squeeze,? said the 92-year-old Fairfield resident last Saturday. ?If I didn?t have someone pushing me into my seat, it was easier just not wearing one sometimes.?Hill?s neighbors on North Main Street asked the Fairfield...

To the editor:The businesses in town are being charged $3 per month on their water bill to help the city pay for the recycling program. Yet we are not allowed to have a recycling bin or the curbside service that the residences receive. Councilman Michael Halley stated that since the city didn?t have enough funds for the program, they decided businesses could help pay for it even though we are not allowed to have ...