Service projects, fun activities mark Lutheran Schools Week

January 23, 2023

Students at St. Paul Lutheran School may be seen wearing sports team logos and showing off some crazy hairstyles this week. Wearing the colors of their favorite teams and taking part in Crazy Hair Day are components of the Fort Dodge school’s observance of Lutheran Schools Week, which began Sunday and continues through Saturday. The week provides the school’s students with some fun breaks from the usual routine. But the greater purpose of the week is to highlight the strengths and characteristics of St. Paul Lutheran School and other Lutheran schools across the country. St. ...

Progress 2023 sections begin today

January 21, 2023

As the holiday season draws to a close each year, The Messenger’s writing staff embarks on a challenging adventure – producing a comprehensive look at how a wide array of developments in our region are shaping tomorrow. While every issue of this newspaper is filled with articles, features and advertisements that readers find informative and useful, the six special sections we call Progress provide a perspective that goes far beyond simply reporting the latest happenings. Our goal is to look at the big picture, capture trends and explore more fully events that may lead to ...

Talking while driving a hazard to all

January 18, 2023

It’s an all too common sight on Iowa roads: a driver with a phone pressed to their ear, chatting away while their vehicle weaves in and out of its lane. Such action could be the beginning of a crash and, in a worst case scenario, a tragedy. Just how bad is this kind of distracted driving situation? The Iowa Department of Transportation recently posted preliminary numbers for 2021 that answer that question. According to those statistics, there were 1,084 crashes in Iowa that year caused by people distracted by an electronic device. Those crashes killed 11 people and injured at ...

Today we honor a dream of justice

January 16, 2023

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, being observed today, is an appropriate time to recall an exceptional person. But more importantly, it’s a time to recommit the nation to the cause for which King died and the legacy he left for all of us. The famed civil rights leader, assassinated April 4, 1968, was a preacher with a message as important today as it was more than five decades ago. He saw God’s words as fundamentally connected to his call for equality, nonviolence and justice. King’s religious faith was the heart, center and soul of his work. Without God’s word, King believed, ...

Fort Dodge City Council must increase police force

January 14, 2023

Ensuring the public safety is the most important role of a city government, and having a good police force is one of the key tools for fulfilling that role. A city ought to have a police force that is large enough to project a presence that will not only catch criminals, but deter them from causing trouble in the first place. There is no doubt that the Fort Dodge Police Department is full of well-trained, dedicated and caring officers. The problem is that there simply isn’t enough of them. The City Council now has a chance to do something about that. A well-thought out plan that ...

Flu shots provide potentially lifesaving protection

January 11, 2023

Just about everyone has called in sick at some point, saying they had the flu when they were sniffling, sneezing, maybe running a fever and generally feeling lousy. Those symptoms definitely add up to an illness, but the problem is not really the flu. Influenza, as it is properly known, is much, much worse. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, influenza is caused by viruses that infect the respiratory tract. Influenza and pneumonia are among the top 10 causes of death in the state. Fortunately, there is a way to prevent influenza. A yearly vaccine can protect a person ...