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Today is Small Business Saturday

Shoppers, including many who hit the big box stores in an early morning frenzy Friday, are encouraged to spend today checking out the unique things offered by our community’s small shops. In Fort Dodge, many of those small shops are downtown. Nationwide, today is known as Small Business Saturday. It’s a long-standing effort to encourage people to spend some of their Christmas-shopping dollars with small stores. Small businesses employ about 50 percent of people working in private sector jobs. And it is small businesses, not big online retailers, who sponsor our kids’ sports ...

Let us give thanks

Sometimes in America, it seems as if we actually enjoy advertising our trials and difficulties. And, yes, we have had plenty of them this year. There were really trying times in the early days of our nation also. That is why America’s first formal Thanksgiving observance had far more significance to our people than today’s often perfunctory observance. With all our troubles, we Americans are among the very few people in the world who feel it necessary to officially observe a day of thanksgiving. The words of George Washington, our first president, recognized that need. His ...

New name for bridge honors remarkable Fort Dodge man

Longtime residents of Fort Dodge are very familiar with the name of Albert Habhab. A recent move by the City Council will ensure that generations to come will know his name also. The council made sure that would happen by renaming the span on First Avenue South as the Albert Habhab Veterans Memorial Bridge. It had always been the Veterans Bridge; adding the name of a decorated World War II veteran provides more meaning to the title. Habhab’s long life has been one of service and one of inspiration to others. He is the son of immigrants from Lebanon who was born in Fort Dodge in ...

Angels of Love bring holiday hope, happiness

As the holiday season begins, angel ornaments will start appearing everywhere. You’ll see them dangling from the branches of Christmas trees and standing on window ledges. Area residents now have an opportunity to add another angel to their collection of Christmas items and at the same time help pay for some needed items for UnityPoint Health – Trinity Regional Medical Center. More than two decades ago, the members of the Trinity Regional Medical Center Auxiliary came up with a neat idea. They decided to sell angel ornaments in the hospital’s gift shop and use the money to pay ...

Help Salvation Army by ringing bells

Like Christmas trees and turkey dinners, the red kettles and bell ringers of The Salvation Army are a traditional element of the holiday season. Just about everyone has seen the kettles and heard the jingling bells over the years. And hopefully, just about everyone has put some donations in those kettles to help those less fortunate. Now, The Salvation Army needs some help to keep that fine tradition going. It is in need of people willing to stand next to a kettle and ring the bells. In recent years, recruiting bell ringers has proven to be a tough chore. However, it is not ...

Americans unite behind veterans

How fortuitous it is that while the attention of millions of Americans seems focused on controversy, we take time out to honor those about whom we are in complete agreement: veterans of military service. No matter how we view politics, we are united in revering the men and women who have served and do serve us in uniform. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and now Space Force are the solid wall behind which our freedoms rest. They serve us not as Democrats, Republicans, Independents or adherents to any particular political philosophy. They serve us simply as ...