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Unique ride to help breast cancer patients is Saturday

There will be some angels riding throughout the Fort Dodge area atop some growling, roaring hogs on Saturday. To be clear, winged residents of heaven will not be riding livestock. These hogs will be Harley-Davidson motorcycles and the angels aboard them will be some of our relatives, friends and neighbors hitting the road to help those suffering from breast cancer. The 16th Angel Ride to save the TaTas is Saturday. This unique cruise raises money to help breast cancer patients afford things they need for their care that are not covered by insurance. Shirley Hottman, who had been part ...

A family’s tragedy led to help for others pursuing education

The day after Christmas in 2007 may well have been the worst day ever in the lives of Kayla Jones’ family. The Fort Dodge 15-year-old died that day in a car crash south of the city. The daughter of Heather and Mark Farrell and Todd and Becky Jones was a sophomore at Fort Dodge Senior High School. Following her death, an innovative effort by the Farrells helped some of Jones’ classmates, and other local high school graduates, complete their education with scholarships awarded in her honor and memory. Over the years, 414 scholarships ranging from $500 to $2,000 were ...

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 ...