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’Tis the (budget) season

Local Columns

Say it with me: Ugh. Budget season. It’s January, which means it’s time for us to review the budget. What does that mean? Well, it’s mostly quiet work that happens over time, with a lot of reviewing, questioning, and weighing options. It also brings close attention from the public, strong opinions, and a wide range of perspectives on what priorities should be. This year, there are added layers to consider. Legislative budget mandates shape what counties must do. There’s also the pledge that more property tax reform is coming this session. We don’t know for sure what that ...

Says Dr. Cochrane made extra effort for patients

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: As I read the article on Dr. Bruce Cochrane I realize that there were some important facts that were not reported. Dr. Cochrane was an officer in the United States Air Force. During a training exercise he broke his back and was in a body cast for many months. At this time, he was prescribed narcotics for pain control. When his children were young there wasn’t a dance recital or sporting event of theirs that he missed. Throughout their childhood he frequently spent his summers being their coach for football and baseball. He now has been coaching his grandchildren in ...

It’s time to honor local leaders

Editorial

Do you know anyone who has worked hard, perhaps out of the public view, to make Fort Dodge and Webster County a better place to live, work and play? If so, a unique opportunity to honor them is at hand. The Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance is seeking nominees for its Catalyst Award and its new Emerging Leader Award. The Catalyst Award has long been the highest honor bestowed by the Growth Alliance. Nominees for it should meet these basic criteria: • Have a history of active involvement in the Growth Alliance. • Have shown that they are an active and visionary leader ...

Local Columns

It was Christmas Eve. The gifts were laid beneath the Christmas tree at the home of Merlin and Nelda Powers in Urbandale. But the family’s holiday celebration ended abruptly that day in 1968 when the Powerses’ 10-year-old daughter Pamela disappeared from the YMCA in downtown Des Moines while the family attended her brother’s wrestling meet. Two days passed before the family received the horrible answer to their “where is Pamela” question. Police located the girl’s body in a roadside ditch just off Interstate 80 near Mitchellville. The discovery came after Cleatus ...

Growth at Corridor Plaza sets Fort Dodge apart

Editorial

It can be pretty easy to drive right by the area where Crossroads Mall once stood without even thinking about what’s there now. We think it’s worthwhile to pause and consider the remarkable change that has taken place there. In fact, the redevelopment of the mall site into today’s Corridor Plaza will surely make other communities across Iowa and the Midwest envious. How many other Iowa communities, or communities across the nation, have been able to take an outdated enclosed mall, demolish it and then turn the property into a thriving area that draws hundreds of people ...

The Christmas spirit of giving should continue throughout the year

Editorial

Every year around the holidays, the generosity of people who live in and around Fort Dodge blossoms. The familiar red kettles of The Salvation Army get filled with change by people going in and out of stores. Donations flow for initiatives like Bikes for Tykes. Those are some of the best-known helping campaigns in the Fort Dodge area that ramp up at Christmas time, and we know there are a lot of others out there as well. The holiday season is now over. Several charitable programs have gone dormant until next Christmas. But the need is still there. Hunger, sickness, poverty and ...