Opinion

To the editor:If I were to be asked who I would have liked to have had for a student it would be Anne Frank.Why, you might ask? Because she represents for me the kind of student I always enjoyed teaching ? curious, enthusiastic, smart, engaged, challenging on every level and full of the right kind of spirit: a free spirit with lots of surprising and interesting traits, a person who is still open to change and ...

To the editor:With tremendous concern my neighbors and I learned that Jordan Morris intended to build a hog confinement (CAFO) in our neighborhood.I informed Jordan and Nick Biggs (Tri Oaks Foods) that my company owns a 64-acre property a mere 0.6 miles from Jordan?s property, where for the past two years we are constructing a grand Eco-Resort to draw people from around the world to visit the Fairfield/Batavia ...

To the editor:The Fairfield City Council is considering a bill which would require that all apartment buildings have separate water meters and stop boxes for each rental unit. (A stop box turns the water supply off and on for the building.)The Fairfield Water Department has been having trouble collecting payments from some tenants who live in units with separate meters, but which share the stop box with other ...

To the editor:After reading about Union Soldier James Strong (l8l8-1900) buried in Old Fairfield City Cemetery, I felt your readers would be interested in other Civil War burials.Few residents know there are five Conferate soldiers buried in our county. This data was from memos made by Mrs. Prill prior to her death in l979. Three in Abingdon Cemetery:Preston Orfield 1835-1915Wm. Y. Gobble 1845-1925Henry ...

My daughter Kendra and her fiance Bolo have settled on a wedding date: March 14, 2015.Now, 2015 might seem a long time off, but our family has lots of planning to do so we can all get out to Maryland.My dad, always hunting for bargains on the Internet, came across a 15-passenger bus ? you know like the little white and blue 10-15 Transit buses driving around Fairfield ? for $2,000. He thought that would be the ...

To the editor:Once again we are having a runoff election, this time between Flournoy and Bosold for City Council on Dec. 3.Runoff elections are expensive and time-consuming. They seem to be necessary so that we can meet our fairness requirement of having a majority winner. But, in fact, runoff elections are not necessary. There is a better way to vote, a way that meets all our current requirements for fair ...

To the editor:Less than a month ago I indefinitely moved to Fairfield, Iowa.Since then, I have been thinking about a conversation that I had a number of years ago; it involved a small Iowan town the name of which I cannot remember (so it even may have been Fairfield!).I was on an Amtrak that was heading to Chicago via Iowa, which I had boarded in Denver. Thereon, I got to speaking with a female teenager ...

I always enjoy going in to schools as a reporter, partially because my first job reporting had me focusing on schools and education in Keokuk, as well as Hamilton and Warsaw, Ill., across the Mississippi River and occasionally across the Des Moines River into Kahoka, Mo.Then there was my 21-month break from the newsroom, when I was a student myself again for six months and then taught high school in Wayne County ...

To the editor:As Veterans Day approaches and we pause to honor the men and women who have served this country, I wonder how many people are aware of a person from this community who was awarded the Medal of Honor.His name was James Strong. He was awarded the medal for bravery in the Civil War.For those interested, his grave and citation are located in Fairfield (Evergreen) Cemetery as follows:Stand at the end ...

To the editor:I guess I?m not the only Fairfield resident who is fed up with planting a vegetable garden in the really wet spring only to see it dry out completely in the summer.When any stored rain water is used up the choice is either to spend a lot of money on city water or get a greatly reduced crop.It turns out that Iowa?s wetter springs and drier summers were predicted by Iowa State University climate ...

The Burlington Hawk Eye, Nov. 3Distracted flying: FAA rule change will please travelers This month?s upcoming Thanksgiving holiday is traditionally the busiest travel season of the year. By car and by air.Its approach gives relevance to a positive development in air travel American-style.Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Huerta has no doubt thrilled tens of millions of passengers, ...

Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Oct. 27Issues with website represent least of Obamacare?s flaws Talk lately about Obamacare focuses primarily on what can only be described as the disastrous rollout of the government?s website to sign people up. Tales of frustration dominated recent headlines to the point President Barack Obama was compelled to call a press conference to address the issue.The president in that ...