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Editorial

Home and Garden Show is this weekend

The temperatures are sure to begin rising now and residents of the Fort Dodge area will be a lot more certain that spring has indeed arrived. And with spring, comes the notion of spring cleaning. But how about giving your home, yard or garden a whole new look? Or perhaps you just need some tips and inspiration for tackling the dreaded “honey do” list of household chores. Whatever a person’s needs or interests in home improvement and landscaping may be, they can find valuable information at this weekend’s Home & Garden Show sponsored by The Messenger. The show hours are 8 ...

Keep Iowa’s roads safe during spring planting

This is the time of the year when big, slow-moving farm vehicles rumble out onto roadways dominated by faster-paced traffic. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who lives in farm country. Even so, all of us should pay special heed to safety considerations as we share the roads with agricultural vehicles. In general, Iowa has been doing a good job of keeping accidents involving farm vehicles to a minimum. According to data from the Iowa Department of Transportation, fatalities and major injuries resulting from such accidents have been on the decline in recent years. That’s ...

Local lawmaker’s determination will make our roads safer

Persistence really does pay off. If you have any doubt about that, talk to state Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge. For more than four years she worked to protect all of us from distracted drivers who aren’t paying attention to the road because they are talking on their phone, texting or fiddling with some other electronic gizmo. Her proposal was actually quite straightforward - outlaw the use of electronic devices by drivers unless they are in hands-free mode. That seems so basic that it ought to have been the law since cell phones first came on the market. A May 8. 2015, crash ...

Fur Ball is Saturday at Laramar Ballroom

It would be hard to imagine our society without pets. Dogs and cats contribute wonderfully to the happiness and well-being of people of all ages. In a perfect world, every pet would at all times be a welcome and loved part of someone’s home. Unfortunately, reality falls short of that ideal. That’s why it’s important to our community that the Almost Home Humane Society of North Central Iowa remains strong and grows even stronger. As with so many other worthwhile endeavors, achieving laudable goals depends in part on raising the money necessary to support the cause. For the ...

It’s D/SAOC auction time

One of the popular fundraisers this community has traditionally experienced is the annual auction conducted by the Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center. This online event generates money that is vitally needed to help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. And it starts Thursday and runs through April 7. It is traditionally known as the Cake Auction. For years, bakers tried to outdo each other with elaborate cakes that went on the auction block. Today there may be some cakes available, but the diversified event also offers other goodies, tickets to local events, Easter ...

Officials’ DC trip is worthwhile

Visiting Washington, D.C. is always a fascinating experience. The Capitol, the White House, the Supreme Court building, the towering Washington Monument and even the cherry trees surrounding the Tidal Basin make the city a unique place. And within that place, history is made every day and has been since the original portion of the Capitol opened in about 1800. What happens in Washington affects Fort Dodge and Webster County. That’s why a group of local leaders representing Fort Dodge, Webster County, Iowa Central Community College and the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance will ...