~a column by Colleen O’Brien A new US Postal Service rule, which I just discovered became effective on Christmas Eve, 2025, is cunning: it changes postmarks to regional processing centers, not my local post office. The date stamped on the outside of the envelope might be days after I actually put it in my own mailbox to be picked up, impacting deadlines for…
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View from my window: Dog days of winter, 2026
JAN. 18, 2026 My heart and my brain are filled with concern and anguish about the events occurring in neighboring Minnesota and other points in the country, so we are going to be more relaxed this week. My husband and I are both very fond and spoil our 4-year-old dog, Bella. She is a Maremma, which means she looks very…
Read MoreWinners told in 5th grade flag essay contest
The American Legion Floyd W. Brown Post #11 of Jefferson offers the annual statewide flag essay contest to the fifth grade students as an opportunity to increase their knowledge and appreciation of our national flag. This year was unique in that the money awarded to the students was increased to $100, $75, and $50. Labate said, “The students see the…
Read MoreSen Jesse Green, Jan. 16, 2026
Greetings from the Golden Dome. Week 1 of the session has wrapped up. Many bills have been filed, the Governor has laid out her agenda, and each legislator is preparing themselves for what may come. For this week’s Roundup, I will lay out what is on my mind legislatively. Landowner rights: The House is making it very clear that property rights are their top priority. They…
Read MoreTo buy or not to buy
President Trump is interested in owning Greenland for defensive purposes against Russia and China. He also knows the country has rare earth minerals and oil. The county is controlled by Denmark and only has a population of 56,000. Beck in 1867 Secretary of State Seward bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. (Today’s value would be $132 million.) Cost was…
Read MoreHomage to an old friend
~Colleen O’Brien Frank McNulty, a classmate of mine in Jefferson, died last week – January 6, 2026. My sis called to tell me, and I’ve been crying since. I think he was, as I wrote in my journal, the case of “One more bites the dust.” Frank and I are of an age when people die. We graduated from Jefferson…
Read MoreNature in feathers and celestial light
Nature in feathers and celestial light ~a column by Colleen O’Brien Seven small birds perch on two wires beyond my window . . . like this: w w w w w w w They are a choir in matching robes with a chubby little choirmaster, baton at the ready. I’m spying on sparrows, called spatzi around this heavily German-settled town I live…
Read MoreView from my window – Deportation made personal
This is the most heart rendering column I have written and shared with you. It will be shocking to read, as it was for me to research and document. Deportation is occurring with frequency, but this became a personal look. Walter W. Babb, Bill, is the son of my late high school classmate Sam Babb, who many from Greene County…
Read MoreLetter, D. Lautner responds to B. Banister
Dear Bruce Banister, Thank you for responding to my opinion dated Dec. 28, 2025. You just blasted me for being a “racist,” but no, I am an independent and realist. I, too, have lived overseas, but my time was courtesy of the military. I’m all for immigration if they are legal and come to this country the right way and…
Read MoreThe publisher’s 2025 reading list
Hello, GCNO readers! Another year of reading is “in the books,” to use a very bad pun. This year’s list is one book longer than the 2024 list, even though some of the books took me several weeks to finish. Demon Copperhead and Overstory are examples. Both were worthy reads but not fast reads. I particularly enjoyed The Women of…
Read MoreTo the editor, B. Banister re: hogs and Bangladesh
To the editor, I was saddened at the blatantly racist letter recently submitted by Denny Lautner. But, there is no point in attacking as it would be akin to striking a blind man. It did reinforce my belief that the United States is still a profoundly racist society. It is not only the USA. I have lived for prolonged periods in…
Read MoreA new year
~a column by Colleen O’Brien At the end of each year, we welcome yet another one with a few hours of riotous certainty that it will be, must be, better than the one we’ve just survived. And so we celebrate, after strenuous months of loud voices saying nothing, an idea that honesty will get the better of the heartless bigots,…
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