Greene County Genealogical Society ~by Valerie Ogren Meeting notice: The next meeting will be Saturday, Nov. 1, at 10 am in the Jefferson public library. (These meetings that fall on the first day of the month have a way of sneaking up on me.) Elaine Deluhery will share a fun program “To Grandmother’s House We Go.”. Rumor has it that…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
Letter to the editor
To the editor: It’s time for a new county treasurer. Almost three decades ago my mother, Karyl Thompson, helped her friend, Donna Lawson, get elected as Greene County treasurer. Donna has done a good job in managing the bureaucracy of the office, but an elected official should be an active delegate in the interest of county residents.
Read MoreAmazon to refund some Amazon Prime customers
DES MOINES – More than 1,000 Iowa consumers charged for unused Amazon Prime memberships through online retailer Amazon.com will receive refunds or credits, under an agreement with Attorney General Tom Miller. Amazon.com Inc. and Amazon Services LLC have agreed to provide $122,000 in refunds and credits to about 1,100 Amazon Prime members in Iowa whose unused memberships may indicate they did…
Read MoreGOP photo album
The Republican “Team Iowa” shook hands and posed for pictures at a brief meet-and-greet in Jefferson Monday. Supervisor Tom Contner (left) posed with Lt Gov Kim Reynolds. Supervisor Guy Richardson (right) also talked with her.
Read MoreBranstad and others submit comments on fed ‘Waters of the US’ proposed rule
Proposed federal rule will impose barriers to the advancement of innovative, state- and local-driven conservation practices that would advance our common goal of water quality DES MOINES – Gov. Terry E. Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Secretary Bill Northey, along with relevant state leaders on Oct. 16 sent a letter and submitted comments to United States Environmental Protection Agency administrator…
Read More“Life does not have to be perfect.”
~a column by Colleen O’Brien This above quote came to me through a friend who apparently has a connection with Hallmark. Doesn’t one get over thinking life should be perfect the first time you do the best coloring job in the coloring book but your sister gets the compliment? This actually happened, of course, or I wouldn’t be mentioning it.…
Read MoreThe role of country weeklies in today’s media mix
~by Denise O’Brien Van It’s National Newspaper Week( Oct. 5 – 11), and I’ve been thinking about the role of country weeklies in the swirling pool of American media. Country weeklies reflect the values of their communities. They question accepted practices and challenge assumptions and shine a light on the faults and ambitions of their readers.
Read MoreOctober is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
~by Greene County sheriff Steve Haupert Living in rural Iowa, we think that domestic violence does not happen in our peaceful rural culture. We are small communities and we tend to think that this is not happening in our county. As incidents of domestic violence increase from year to year, organizations around the state increase their efforts to put a…
Read MoreFight or flee; tend and befriend
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Friendships between women shape health: the more friends the better our health. This, from a study on friendship among women at the University of California, Los Angeles, did not strike me as news, even though it was on the news page. Women soothe each other’s lives, help with child-rearing advice and homemaking hints, fill the…
Read MoreA eulogy for two old boys
~a column about Jefferson by Colleen O’Brien Two of my neighbor’s 70-year-old silver maples went down this past week to the woodcutter, the trees rotten to the core. The craggy giant silver maples were brought down because they were old and falling apart in high winds; or crashing to the ground on perfectly calm days, clearly a danger to people…
Read MoreBranstad okays overweight harvest loads
DES MOINES – Gov. Terry E. Branstad on Oct. 1 signed a proclamation to allow the transportation of overweight loads of soybeans, corn, hay, straw, silage and stover. The proclamation takes effect Oct. 1 and expires after 60 days. “I am pleased today to sign this proclamation to allow Iowa farmers to move their crop yields in an effective and efficient manner,”…
Read MoreBanned books in the land of the free and the brave
~a column by Colleen O’Brien This week — September 21-27 – the country celebrates Banned Books Week. This does not mean we celebrate books that have been banned but that we celebrate the country’s freedom to read, to allow all books good and bad in their writing as well as all books good for us and bad for us in…
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