Opinion

To the editor:This past Saturday my van ?broke down? at the Mt. Pleasant exit on Highway 34. While I waited for AAA, an Iowa State Patrolman and six people stopped to offer help. Seven people, in less than one hour, were available for assistance. The people in Iowa are the kindest people I have ever met! Just wonderful!My sincerest thanks go to: the Iowa State Patrol; Jake, the AAA driver; two young couples; a ...

Gov. Terry Branstad?s closing of Mental Health Institutes is taking its toll. Iowa is worst in the nation when it comes to the state?s ability to provide inpatient mental health treatment for our citizens.According to the nonpartisan Treatment Advocacy Center, Iowa has only 64 state beds (down from 149 in 2010) for mental health patients?that?s two beds for every 100,000 Iowans ? and most of them are already ...

To the editor:I would like to thank The Fairfield Ledger for printing the information concerning the Jefferson County 4-H Foundation Scholarship that was presented from the Leland Stanley Scholarship fund.The foundation is separate from the extension service and the fair board.The Jefferson County 4-H Foundation was organizer in 1996 as a nonprofit corporation. The corporation has tax-exempt status from the ...

To the editor:Ron Paul was the leader of a Revolution against the Washington, D.C. establishment that was sideswiped by the Main Street Media. Caucuses across the nation run by establishment ?good old boys? forged and bent rules to ignore Ron Paul delegate majorities. Many Democrats converted to try to help elect the real hope of defeating the Washington crony spend-forever establishment.Rand Paul is the ...

To the editor:Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump share something fundamental in their remarkable popularity. They have glaring differences, but the people who support them hear one thing in common: an authentic voice.They hear someone who stays true to his own values, who is not beholden to powerful interest groups, not scripted or packaged by anyone but the candidate himself, not afraid to say exactly what he ...

To the editor:My wife and I have lived in Fairfield almost 25 years, and I was a sometimes conservative Republican almost 25 years before that in Kansas and California.The changes I have seen in the Republican Party during that time have been beyond belief! From Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and General Douglas MacArthur to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush ... from Eisenhower, a Republican "moderate," ...

To the editor:Jefferson County, the state of Iowa, and this nation has a choice to make and if there was ever a time for choosing, it is now!Unless we the people change the path starting on Feb. 1, America is on the path to the graveyard of fallen nations. This nation, once respected throughout the world, is now reviled by a president and others that go around the world apologizing for the foundations of the ...

To the editor:It?s Christmas time again, when the sights and sounds all around us ? from television and radio programming to our city?s beautiful Central Park lights to our neighbor?s yard decorations ? all tell us ?it?s a time to be jolly.? Some feel that they must force themselves to be merry because, after all, ??tis the season.? In reality, however, they feel anything but merry.On Sunday, Dec. 20, the First ...

DES MOINES ? With a public hearing to consider the Dakota Access pipeline less than a month away, members of the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now joined today to stress to regulators the ability of projects like Dakota Access to boost the Iowa economy through new tax revenue and skilled labor opportunities.On the heels of news that slumping farm income will reduce forecasted state revenue by more than ...

To the editor:As fall approaches and farmers are in the field, I would like to remind drivers that not only to be vigilant of the farmers and their equipment but also the deer that are on the move.We have had quite a few car-deer accidents in the county already. Every year I am amazed at the increasing fearlessness that the deer have of motor vehicles. Please be ever vigilant of this hazard, take a little more ...

To the editor:What does it take for the Fairfield Kiwanis Club to provide our pancake breakfast, and provide a successful Kids Day event every year? 90 dozen eggs, 50 gallons of buttermilk, 250 pounds of flour, and 500 pounds of sausage. But those are only the obvious things, and certainly not the most important!The success of Kids Day is driven by the support of the entire community. So, whether you volunteered...

To the editor:I read with interest the letter to the editor in the Sept. 10th edition of The Fairfield Ledger, written by Charlie Danaher of Boulder, Colorado, and a 1985 graduate of MIU, entitled ?Cherish the lives of the unborn.?He states that the ?flawed and evil premise? (abortion) leads to the tempting idea that if we?re going to kill them anyway, we might as well sell their body parts. He is referring to ...