Opinion

To the editor:May is School Board Appreciation Month, May 8 is the morning that the school district holds its Staff Appreciation and Teacher of the Year Breakfast, and May 4 was another successful Faculty Follies program organized by the Education Foundation for Fairfield Public Schools. I am full of appreciation for the hard work and talents of the many groups and individuals serving Fairfield area students!FCS...

Faculty Follies 2013 is over and congratulations are in order to the talented teachers and administrators that volunteered their time to this fundraiser for the Education Foundation of Fairfield Public Schools.Your hard work raised more than $7,000 in one afternoon that will go in our endowment fund. The interest off that fund is used twice a year to award grants to teachers for extra materials needed in their ...

To the editor:On May 13, American Legion Post #47 Commander Jim Kennedy and I, Department of Iowa Vice Chairman, addressed your city council. We are encouraging community support for a public awareness effort so that we can continue to do the great things that we, as a patriotic community, may have taken for granted.While being a member of the local American Legion Post #47 is beneficial to the military ...

To the editor:The hard part of Jefferson County Alcohol Consumption Task Force Coalition (ACT) efforts to reduce youth alcohol abuse is how to measure ?prevention.? For example, recent youth alcohol use decisions during the Fairfield Prom may have prevented potential emergency room visits, auto accidents and parent worries. How do you measure that?The 2012 Jefferson County Youth Survey (IYS) reported 46 percent ...

To the editor:They?re charged with protecting our water and airAnd keeping the land from becoming too bareWannta fend off 10,000 hogs from Batavia?The Iowa DNR will most likely save yaWhen confronting pollutionThey?ll find a solutionThey?re a government department that cares But yet they avert their porcine eyesWhen faced with those filthy factory pigstiesCan it be our protection is only a sham?Do ...

In my 15 years experience as a newspaper reporter, Tyler Webster?s murder trial earlier this month in Jefferson County was the first of any type of trial I have covered for an assignment.At my previous newspaper, the Daily Gate City in Keokuk, (1997-2010) another reporter covered the police beat and courthouse. I sat in with her one afternoon during a murder-by-arson trial and another time in a sex abuse trial ...

To the editor:Many former ?Parsonites? will be gathering at the civic center to be a part of the dedication of the beautiful windows that had been loved so many years ago in Barhydt Chapel.I well remember the evening we were all gathered at the Barhydt Chapel. It was people who came from near and far, who had close attachments to Parsons. There were many tears.The vice president of the ?new? owners of the ...

To the editor:The level of tolerance for religious differences in this nation is much greater than the politically correct crowd would have us to believe. Freedom of religion is one of the basic tenets of the founding of our nation, and while we are primarily a Judeo-Christian nation, we are a nation of faith that encompasses many religions and beliefs. This nation was established to welcome all nonviolent ...

To the editor:I?ve been reading about ?Future of the former Nelson Nursing Home? debated and a few things come to mind.Through the ages it seems like some things are OK, just not in my neighborhood! Long time ago it was people of a different color and recently a dog park and the list goes on.This I don?t know for a fact, but I heard some of the neighbors at the time did not want Nelson Nursing Home there, ...

To the editor:Congratulations to the Fairfield Community for your No. 7 position in the Smithsonian Magazine?s Best Small Towns ranking! You certainly deserve the recognition.The trait that I am most impressed with is ?warm and friendly.? There are times this is taken for granted around here. We tend to think most folks in most places are ?warm and friendly.? Not always so. We do shine at that and ... it ...

To the editor:It has always been popular in many countries to justify the practice of passing on the debts incurred by one generation to the next for payment. Should one generation impose its debts on the next? This was not the view of the American Founding Fathers. They knew that the wars, economic problems and debts of one generation should be paid for by the generation which incurred them. They wanted the ...

April is Community College Month, so it is a perfect time to celebrate who we are and what we do at Indian Hills Community College.In my very simplistic explanation, the mission of a community college is to raise the education level of every person with whom we have contact. In this definition, education means anything from a formal, traditional liberal arts degree, to a technical skill brush-up, to wine ...