a column by Sen Joni Ernst Doesn’t it just seem like one thing after another? We’re in the midst of a global pandemic, which has taken the lives of more than one thousand Iowans, and then we get hit by a derecho. It’s been a trying year for folks across Iowa. The challenges we’re facing as a state, and a…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
Hopeful ponderings
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The calm between the storms – the Democratic convention over, the Republican convention coming up. I write this on the weekend in between, praising what I’ve seen, dumbly hopeful about what I shall see. By the time this is published, we’ll all know if the upcoming contest will be played fairly. From what I hear…
Read MorePatti Naylor in support of Cipperley Price for county supervisor
To the editor, On November 3, 2020, we will have the opportunity to cast our vote with a strong local impact. Three county supervisor seats are up for election with three highly qualified challengers to the incumbents. For the District 1 seat, I am supporting Linn Cipperley-Price. As supervisor, Linn will prioritize transparency in the thought processes of the decisions…
Read MoreBruce Banister about face masks
To the editor, There is no contradictory evidence concerning face masks. It has been scientifically proven that masks are effective at hindering the spread of Covid-19. Dr. Steve Karber and Mike Dennhardt should be commended for voting for mandatory masking at school. Teachers are worried as are parents, but three people on the school board, Steve Fisher, John McConnell and…
Read MoreIn support of Cipperley Price for county supervisor – Evans McWilliam
Linn is a candidate in Greene County for county supervisor. As a neighbor and friend I know her strong, caring values as a mother, military veteran, wife, veterinary technician, garderner and land steward, and friend of humans and animals. These values I see reflected in her husband, three children, her animals and land, her work experiences and her community work.…
Read MoreThe progress of women
~a column by Colleen O’Brien After a fight of nearly three-quarters of a century that started in 1848, women in this country were awarded the vote. The 19th Amendment, Women’s Suffrage – ”The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex”…
Read MoreNow is the time
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The more dis-, mis- and in-formation crowding the media these days regarding our general election in just under three months, the more unsettled the country becomes. I sign off all news and read a good murder mystery which indeed keeps me engaged through the night. But a new day dawns, and with it my iPhone…
Read MoreGovernment is not the problem
~a column by Colleen O’Brien In the 1980s, one of President Reagan’s speech writers had him say, “Government is not a solution to our problems, government is the problem.” The rhetoric from that statement has ballooned over the past 35 years. The non-partisan, non-profit Pew Research Center poll figures say that in late 1950s and early 1960s 75 percent of…
Read MoreA woman worth listening to: S.S. Bierker, author of “Me, Too! Child and Adult Sexual Abuse and Prevention”
~Interview by Colleen O’Brien “All of us can be advocates,” said S. Sophie Bierker, author and advocate for victims of sexual abuse. “We need to listen, to talk to them – finally, to protect them,” she said. “Now is the time. With, first of all, the abuse revealed within the Catholic church and then in other churches, in the Boy…
Read MoreWomen
~a column by Colleen O’Brien “A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” ~Rosalynn Carter Women started officially fighting for the vote in the U.S. in July of 1848 when they held the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. It took 72 years to convince the country’s power (men)…
Read MoreThe difference between a white slave and a black slave
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I have a black friend whose research shows the Irish who came to America in the 1600s suffered pretty much like the Africans did when they came here in that century. Irish came unwillingly, scooped up off the streets of London and shipped to America as indentured servants, often treated like slaves for the seven…
Read MoreLetter to the editor, Bruce Banister re: face masks at school
To the editor, The director of the NIH Dr. Francis Collins recently stated he didn’t want anyone to think that wearing a mask is “something optional” as the country tries to tamp down the virus. In spite of this and all scientific evidence the Greene County school board has decided not to make masks mandatory in any situation, not even…
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