~by Victoria Riley, GCNO publisher A year ago I shared a list of the 16 books I read in 2020, writing that with the pandemic canceling so many things, staying home reading seemed like the best thing to do. I read 16 books that year, nine of them non-fiction. We’re still dealing with the not-so-novel-anymore coronavirus as we begin 2022,…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
Letter to the editor – M. Weaver re: Reynolds and water infrastructure funding
Dear Editor Riley, Governor Kim Reynolds recently announced a historic $100M investment in water infrastructure and water quality efforts for the state of Iowa. The funding will come through a new grant program within the Iowa Finance Authority. The article further states the funding was made available from ARPA. No place in the press release did it provide what the…
Read MoreLetter to the editor – GrCo Homeless Coalition
Dear Editor, Growing up in Greene County in the ’80s and ’90s, it would have seemed otherworldly to know that a man experiencing homelessness was living out of his minivan in front of the Grand Junction library. With exception to the rare transient, it seemed as if “homeless people” were relegated to the streets of downtown Des Moines, and other…
Read MoreFrom Scrooge to goodwill in 10 seconds, just like the new space telescope
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Listening to a radio interview of a quartet of planetary scientists from NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, I learn that a new space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be sent off to outer space on December 24. It will allow investigation of astrology and the cosmos, and objects…
Read MoreLetter from Don Orris – Kudos to Benitz, Conroy
To the editor It takes great knowledge and skilled hands to repair a bronze statue. Keith Conroy and Dan Benitz collaborated on the repairs of the Doreen Wilber statue after it was vandalized this past year. These two men did a fantastic job of bringing Doreen back to perfection. I hope the next time you see Keith or Dan on…
Read MoreThoughts on a gloomy morning
~a column by Colleen O’Brien It has not been the poor or the lower- or middle-class who have refused to keep roads and streets and bridges in good repair; it hasn’t been these folks who have raised the price of…for example…insulin, a drug in use since 1921 – an entire century – that costs $30 a month in Canada and…
Read MoreCovid-19 vaccines and the Constitution – N. Hanaman
I listened to Greene County attorney Thomas Laehn’s detailed comments at the Nov. 8 supervisors’ meeting as he objected to the vaccine mandate regarding Covid-19 issued by President Joe Biden for locations of over one hundred employees and the enforcement through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). He objected on the grounds that it violated his interpretation of the…
Read MoreLetter to the editor – B. Banister
County attorney should resign To the editor, I fully agree with county attorney Thomas Laehn, he should resign immediately since it appears he is unwilling to fulfill his duties. This will allow him to sue the federal government on his own. It is fine for him to be “personally outraged” by the federal mandate but, for him to go on…
Read MoreThe Mother Tree Project
~a column by Colleen O’Brien In 2015, Canadian scholar, naturalist, writer Suzanne Simard founded the Mother Tree Project to protect and retain the Mother Trees of nine forests across British Columbia. A Mother Tree is what Simard calls the giant trees of the center of the forest. She has worked for the Canadian Forest Service, gone to college for more…
Read MoreAgain, choices…
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Several things in these, our declining years of a democracy, are showing who we really are. We think of ourselves and civilization as we know it as the brilliant species who for about 6,000 years improved the world through ideas, smartness, progress. But if there are any humans left to read their history, it will…
Read MoreC. Custer, Bell Tower Foundation support casino vote
To the editor, I told the Iowa Gaming Commission in 2013 that it was not easy being Green (Greene) as we had been a “drive-through”, not a “drive-in” for tourists, new residents, new businesses nor industries. A casino would provide enjoyment for gaming, cultural entertainment, new employment opportunities, potential new residents and draw tourists to see other attractions in the…
Read MoreDream on
~a column by Colleen O’Brien A fellow I recently met asked me to describe myself. I told him I was a worried Pollyanna. He said, “Isn’t that impossible?” Being pollyannaish means that one is “pleasantly, even unrealistically optimistic.” Which means I can’t be worried. But I’ve always been able to walk down the middle of the road, so I am…
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