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The architecture of liberty: returning to our educational roots

Local Columns

Every day, I find myself returning to a single, grounding philosophy: Know where you have come from, know where you are, and know where you are going. It is a simple compass, but it is the only way to ensure we aren’t just drifting with the political winds of the day. When we apply this to public policy, we must start with the most fundamental building block of a free society: education. There is a vibrant debate in our country about who “owns” education. Is it the federal government? The state? The district? To answer that, we should begin by looking at our “Supreme ...

The time has come to end Daylight Saving Time

Editorial

People across Iowa will set their clocks forward one hour tonight because of Daylight Saving Time. That means if they go to bed at their regular time they will lose an hour of sleep. Hopefully, they will also replace the batteries in their smoke detectors that use 9-volt batteries. Serving as a reminder to replace the smoke detector batteries is a nice advantage of the twice yearly ritual of changing the clocks. The other advantages to changing the clocks are less and less apparent. For as long as anybody can remember, Iowans have been changing their clocks twice a year for ...

Dogs are making hospital rounds

Editorial

People and dogs seem to have a bond that defies ordinary definition, and that bond is known to provide health benefits. There is a stack of medical research which shows that interacting with a dog lowers human blood pressure, improves cardiovascular health and reduces anxiety. In Fort Dodge, patients have a unique opportunity to take advantage of the human-canine healing connection. There are four therapy dogs that work at UnityPoint Health - Trinity Regional Medical Center. The newest addition to the staff is Tedwin, a Corgi owned by Toni Deal, of Coalville. Tedwin and Deal also ...

Honors brother who was killed in Vietnam War

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: Sixty years ago on March 9, 1966, my brother Delbert Peterson died in Vietnam. Delbert was born on May 11, 1939, the first of seven children born to Bernice and Raymond Peterson of Manson. Delbert graduated from Manson High School in May 1957. He entered Iowa State University in the fall of 1957. He enrolled in ROTC at Iowa State and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force upon graduation from Iowa State in July 1962. In August 1965 Delbert was assigned to receive special training flying the AC-47, a Douglas DC-3 commercial airliner converted for ...

Your newspaper has a vital role in the community

From the Publisher

Your local newspaper, The Messenger, has historically been a little bit of everything from a news and information perspective. It has always provided local news that is uniquely sourced, but it also offers ample amounts of state, national, and world news. It publishes television listings, comics, business and stock news. It reports local high school sports, college sports with an emphasis on Iowa universities, and professional sports. As media has fragmented and evolved, national and world news are available in many forums, including broadcast media, national talk radio, and the ...