Iowa drivers may be able to renew their driver’s license for eight years rather than the usual five with new legislation that went into effect Jan. 1. The Iowa Department of Transportation is transitioning to the longer-term driver’s licenses.
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New GJ Community Center launches GoFundMe campaign
The New Grand Junction Community Center committee has launched a GoFundMe campaign as part of its efforts to raise the final $30,000 for a $220,000 Vision Iowa CAT (Community Attraction and Tourism) Grant to build a new community center on Main Street in Grand Junction.
Read MoreSixth grade musicians to honor band
A quartet of Greene County sixth grade woodwind players will be part of the inaugural Sixth Grade Metro Honor Band, a new honor band focusing on beginning band students. Members of the band were selected based on director recommendations and the instrumentation needs of the band, with all participating schools assured of having two students in the group. The band…
Read MoreBrenden, Ott to retire
The Jefferson-Scranton board of education accepted a pair of resignations for the purpose of retirement at its regular meeting Dec. 18. Band and choir director Marty Brenden is retiring after 15 years in the J-S district. Donnie Ott is retiring after 28 years in the Jefferson and Jefferson-Scranton district. Both retirements are effective at the end of the school year. The…
Read MoreCommunity Foundation grant aids in kitchen upgrade
The Greene County Early Learning Center received a grant from the Greene County Community Foundation to upgrade kitchen and classroom food service.
Read MoreDoes basket auction raises funds for Adopt-A-Family
The Jefferson BPO DOES #196 held a silent basket auction at the courthouse Family. The Does raised $4,100 with the project. Baskets donated by businesses raised a total of $1900. The highest price paid was a pie basket donated by Doe Ann Frederick, who will make the high bidder six pies during the year. That basket brought in $185. There were…
Read MoreCourthouse employees donate to food pantry
Employees at the Greene County courthouse marked the holidays by making a donation of $312 and five boxes of groceries to the Greene County Christian Action Resource Center food pantry. Pictured is food pantry coordinator Dianne Blackmer (left) accepting a check from county treasurer Donna Lawson.
Read MoreChristmas in Iowa
I remember Iowa Christmas in photographs. I was too young to articulate the beauty, the sounds, the vastness so different from where I lived in San Diego. The pictures in albums are stories of what I grew to learn of my parents’ life in Jefferson: a smalltown square with welcoming folk; was there really a parade for every occasion?
Read MoreA Judy Marie night
The year must have been 1953 or 1954. As I lay in my bed trying so hard to go to sleep I heard the bells… THE bells! Jingle, jingle, jingle. My heart was pounding with excitement. Santa was here! I jumped out of bed and ran to the window. I remember the night was crisp and clear. So crisp and…
Read MoreChristmas Eve memories
Christmas Eve never started until Mom got home from work. We spent days previous rearranging the presents under the tree, my sister shaking and guessing the contents of each package. It was straight to the kitchen for Mom to prepare for what we called the Junk Food Feast, which was a wild assortment of any food imaginable. Each child (there…
Read MoreWhen much was lost, much was given
1956 is when my father died after having open heart surgery in Mayo Clinic. He was one of the first. He was 33 and left a wife and four children to mourn him. And mourn we did. Christmas Day 1957 was memorable only in that none of us had recovered from the loss of our father, and our young widowed…
Read MoreFinal foto
The family stood in front of the front drapes at Mom and Dad’s for a Christmas picture, not something I recalled ever doing. It must have been because Dee and Jeannie and I had traveled to Jefferson from far places. We returned this time with two husbands, Jon and Jim; and a boyfriend, Mike; a grandchild, Jimmy; We were adults,…
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