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Fort Dodge succeeds in securing environmental grants

It wasn’t too long ago that using asbestos as insulation in buildings was standard procedure. In many old buildings the stuff is everywhere, including in the floor tiles. Lead-based paint was standard, too. But advances in medical science proved that asbestos and lead-based paint are bad news. Asbestos causes lung cancer and other diseases of the respiratory tract while exposure to lead-based paint can cause harm to the brain, kidneys, nerves and blood, especially in children. Fort Dodge has a lot of old buildings that contain both substances. The presence of asbestos and ...

Frontier Days 2023 kicks off summer

This weekend there will be a sure sign that the summer season is truly at hand. What is that sign? Frontier Days 2023, of course. Frontier Days is the annual Fort Dodge event that draws thousands to the downtown parade and the Fort Museum and Frontier Village. The gates open at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village at 4 p.m. Friday and the excitement and entertainment will commence soon after. The three-day festival continues a Fort Dodge tradition that is returning with a theme this year of “Tall Tales of the Frontier.” Not content to rest on applause for past glories, organizers ...

Take the time to remember

Monday is Memorial Day. For many people, it is a time to welcome the summer season by taking advantage of a three-day holiday weekend to spend time relaxing with friends and family. It is important, however, not to forget what this day is truly about. Beginning soon after the Civil War, a day in May was set aside as a time to decorate with flowers the graves of the war dead. The original stimulus for this day came from the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union Army Civil War veterans. For many years it was called Decoration Day. Honoring those who gave their lives in ...

Community effort will bring Safe Haven Baby Box to Fort Dodge

People passing by the Fort Dodge firehouse at 1515 Central Ave. this summer may notice something a little different on the building’s northeast wall. They will be seeing a new method to save the lives of babies that would otherwise be abandoned. It will be the first of its kind in Iowa, and it’s coming to Fort Dodge as a result of teamwork between several groups. The object visible to folks going by the building will be the outer door to a Safe Haven Baby Box. Desperate parents who feel they cannot care for their newborn could place the baby in that box. As soon as they close ...

It’s time to honor emergency medical service providers

In Webster County and all across America, teams of dedicated professionals stand ready to render medical assistance in emergencies. For some this is their career. For many others, it is a volunteer undertaking that is performed in addition to their normal employment. It’s impossible to overstate how important emergency medical service (EMS) personnel can be to just about any of us in a moment when knowledgeable help is needed fast. Honoring the men and women who handle this vital work is appropriate at all times, but especially so just now. That’s because National EMS Week began ...

New group is ready to seek solutions to crisis of violence

When a problem arises, action is needed to solve it. That is true if the problem is as simple as a dripping faucet or as complex and deadly as a wave of violence that is taking the lives of too many young people. That is why we are encouraged to see a new group coming together in Fort Dodge to address the current scourge of violence in the community. The new organization is called Next Generation. It really is new, having held its first meeting on Monday. Its leaders are people who work in the schools, in juvenile court services, in the state Department of Health and Human ...