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Editorial

Christmas spirit prevails over vandalism

The home of Bill Miller and his family at 1502 Second Ave. S. has been a joy to behold every year at Christmas for more than a decade. Every holiday season, the property at a highly visible intersection has been filled with bright lights and all kinds of decorations, including big inflatable versions of snowmen, candy canes, and Santa Claus. While lots of people of all ages enjoy the decorations, perhaps no one likes them more than Miller’s 10-year-old grandson. Connor Brokaw is living life to the fullest despite his epilepsy and spina bifida. During this time of year, one of his ...

Check out the Farm News Ag Show

An upcoming event will give people a chance to hear from experts in the field of agriculture, get some insight on the latest developments in the commodities markets and check out the offerings of various ag businesses. And don’t forget the food, which will include a free pancake breakfast. What kind of event will offer all that? It’s called CJ Bio America presents the 20th annual Farm News Ag Show. The show hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. It will be held at the Webster County Fairgrounds south of Fort Dodge on Old Highway 169. The lineup ...

Have a happy and safe holiday season

The Christmas season is one for spending time with family and friends, watching some bowl games and generally enjoying life. Christmas trees and other decorations set the scene for holiday activities. Unfortunately, those same decorations can cause real problems, perhaps even deadly ones, unless some basic fire prevention strategies are followed. Start with the tree. A live Christmas tree needs to be watered to prevent it from becoming a fire hazard. So if you have a live tree, give it a drink of water every day. You might have to give it a drink a couple times a day. It might be a ...

Santa Cops were on the beat again

The Santa Cops project is a delightful annual effort to make the holiday season a bit brighter for area youngsters whose families need a hand up to make this time of year as merry as it should be. The Fort Dodge Police Department, Webster County Sheriff’s Department, Iowa State Patrol and Iowa Department of Transportation motor vehicle enforcement officers again collaborated on a truly inspiring holiday undertaking. Officers took the young folks on $130 holiday shopping sprees Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Area schools help pair law enforcement officers with needy families and ...

This holiday season, support hometown businesses

Tens of millions of Americans will do most, if not all, their holiday season shopping with giant online retail operations this year. They will argue that it is more convenient or safer for them to do so rather than patronize local brick-and-mortar stores. Local retailers, from mom-and-pop specialty shops to the big-box stores, rely on Christmas shoppers for significant chunks of the revenue that keeps them open year-round. If they have a bad holiday shopping season, they suffer terribly. Some many not survive long into the new year. So what? Well, put on your thinking cap for a ...

A Time for Angels helps those who mourn

The death of a loved one is the emotional equivalent of getting hit by a train. There’s almost nothing that can create the bewildering range of emotions that the death of a loved one can generate. The range of emotions can include anger, fear, sadness, loneliness and other feelings that defy ordinary description. And those emotions can hit hardest during the holiday season. The staff of Gunderson Funeral Home and Cremation Services is well aware of that. So for 24 years, they have organized an event called A Time for Angels to help soothe the pain of people who have experienced a ...