Opinion

Some of you might have seen a byline from ?Andy Hallman? in the newspaper this week and wondered who that was. An explanation is in order.On Monday of this week I became the news editor at The Fairfield Ledger. I most recently worked as a reporter for our sister newspaper to the north, The Washington Evening Journal. I was at The Journal for more than three years, from October 2009 until just this past Friday.Al...

To the editor:I would like to thank Steve Burgmeier, Julie Johnston and Jeff Wilson for their years of service to the community. Each one of them has contributed their considerable time and talents over the years, reminding us just why we enjoy living in small town Iowa. I wish each one of them the best. ? David P. Miller, Fairfield

To the editor:Dear Gov. Branstad and lawmakers of Iowa,I am in dire need of a plant (cannabis) to stop the progression of my inherited medical condition. I have had this condition for the last 30 years. It is chronic progressive, meaning there is no cure and every day I get worse.Currently, I?m only paralyzed from the neck down. Eventually, in the not-too-distant future, I will lose my ability to swallow and ...

To the editor:Jan. 22, 2013, marked the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, that, along with the companion case of Doe v. Bolton, legalized the killing of unborn children throughout all nine months of pregnancy. We have lost 55 million Americans because of those decisions.I had heard there was a March for Life in Washington, D.C. every year on or around Jan. 22, where pro-life people ...

To the editor:Fairfield 1st Fridays Art Walk is grateful to everyone who participated in art walk?s February theme ?The Art of Love: Film, Photography and Poetry.? It was a new theme we were excited to try.It was a very cold night last Friday. Many chose not to leave the warmth of their homes to venture outside that windy evening. Those brave souls who did choose to attend Friday?s festivities were able to feel ...

To the editor:I just heard that Jeff Wilson, the publisher of the Fairfield Ledger, is retiring this month after over 20 years of service to the Fairfield community. Thank you, Jeff!I appreciate what a great job Jeff does to make sure an informative, accurate, appealing paper gets delivered every single day at a time when daily newspapers in major cities are folding. As publisher, he is responsible for creating ...

To the editor:Dear Jefferson County Supervisors Lee Dimmit, Dick Reed and Becky Schmitz; Sheriff Gregg Morton, State Senator Mark Chelgren; and State Representative Curt Hanson,Representative Tom Shaw, himself a lawman in his hometown of Laurens, Iowa, is sponsoring a bill in the Iowa House, the Iowa Safe Schools Act of 2013. Senator Kent Sorenson has agreed to sponsor a companion bill in the Iowa Senate. ...

To the editor:?The 2nd Amendment is not about hunting. It?s about defending ourselves against governmental tyranny.?Thus read a placard at a recent pro-gun rally. For many who invoke the second amendment, this is the implication. The black, socialist, Muslim, foreign-born president with the funny name is going to take away all our guns like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao did so he can impose a tyrannical dictatorship. ...

To the editor:On Saturday, Jan. 19, some 1,000 took part in the inaugural Midwest March for Life in Des Moines.We marched and sang around the beautiful State Capital building, some with signs, affirming life and the pain and devastation of abortion.Speakers spoke and pastors from different denominations led in prayer for our country in memorial of the 40th year since Roe v. Wade legalized the killing to the ...

To the editor:Jan. 22, 2013, marks a sad date for our nation. Forty years ago, the Supreme Court, in their decisions of Roe v. Wade and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton, made the killing of our unborn children legal during all nine months of pregnancy.Pope Benedict XVI states, ?Children are the major richness and the most precious good of family. For this reason, it is necessary to help all people to be aware ...

To the editor:Fairfield is not the center of anything I know.Except a place within my heart where love and memories grow.It?s just a small, inconspicuous dot on a map of the Iowa state.A picturesque, Midwestern town Norman Rockwell might paint upon a plate. Its name conjures a vision where serenity never yields.Where breezes there are warm and fair over gently rolling fields.Hindsight is 20/20 says an ...

Editor?s note: Elizabeth Garrels, Mt. Pleasant, is chairman of the Friends of the Harlan-Lincoln House, which is located on West Broad Street, next to the Chadwick Library on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan College. By Elizabeth E. Garrels Thank you to Scott and Amy Lowe for bringing Lincoln to Main Street Cinemas. With this movie, they also provided much publicity for our local treasure, the Harlan-Lincoln ...