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Be sure to attend your county fair

Times change. Even so there are a few constants in life. One is the pleasure provided by the county fairs that continue to be a highlight of summer in the Hawkeye State. For as far back as anyone who now lives in this part of Iowa can remember, these summer festivals have been much-anticipated and much-enjoyed features of summertime. The fairs, of course, have changed over the decades. One central theme, however, remains much the same — a celebration of farm life and the assorted positive educational and personal-growth pursuits that are treasured features of life in rural and ...

Enjoy Fourth of July fireworks safely

When Americans enjoy fireworks on every Fourth of July, they have John Adams to thank for the colorful displays. Adams, one of the Founding Fathers who became the country’s second president, wrote to his wife, Abigail, when the Declaration of Independence was approved in July 1776 in Philadelphia. ”It ought to be soleminized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more,” Adams wrote. His reference to ”iluminations” is traditionally interpreted as ...

Local small business owners pursue the American dream

The American spirit of entrepreneurship was on full display recently in Fort Dodge. Four small business owners laid out their plans for growth during the IGNITE Vendor Fair and Spark Your Business Pitch Contest in the Opera House at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village. They were Valerie Walburn, owner of Wild Spirit Design LLC; Rebecca McCrady, owner of Boss Bombs and More; Kyrie Borsay, owner of KD’s Over the Moon; and Sheila Roberts, owner of Sheila’z Sweetz Treatz. Roberts’ plan to buy a new double oven so that she can bake more cookies, cakes and buns won her a $1,000 ...

New name for veterans park is right move to honor Moehnke

Terry Moehnke was inspired by something he saw at a Georgia Army base while visiting his soldier son. It was an area filled with trees planted to honor the memory of troops killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere during the war on terror. At the base of each tree was a marker bearing the name of the fallen soldier. Moehnke envisioned something like that for the Fort Dodge area that would honor all veterans. So in 2007 he went to work promoting his idea. That idea caught on quickly, and the first phase of Veterans Memorial Park was started in 2008. However, Veterans Memorial Park ...

CJ Bio America is valued member of the local community

A unique international business has been flourishing in Webster County since 2013. CJ Bio America has a major facility west of Fort Dodge in the ag industrial park called Iowa’s Crossroads of Global Innovation, and it is growing. A $20 million expansion was formally launched last week with a ribbon cutting ceremony. It is the second expansion of the plant, which started production in November 2013. CJ Bio America receives fermented dextrose from the Cargill plant next door and uses it to make amino acids that are added to livestock feed. It also makes a liquid soil amendment. The ...

Bipartisan cooperation on gun bill is historic

Fifteen Republicans in the Senate and 14 in the House joined with congressional Democrats recently to break more than 25 years of inaction on gun safety. That these Republicans, many of whom had ratings of A or A-plus from the National Rifle Association, defied the gun lobby with their support of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act suggests they saw the political peril in doing nothing about the gun violence gripping the country. Indeed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who voted for the bill, admitted as much when he said he hoped GOP support for the measure “will be ...