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Editorial

Farm Progress Show warrants a look

It won’t be long before the 2022 incarnation of the Farm Progress Show welcomes a multitude of visitors to the Boone area. This year’s event begins Aug. 30 and will run through Sept.1. The show is a highlight of summer for farm folks and others with a business interest in agriculture. It also attracts a diverse assortment of others from all parts of the world who simply want to remain abreast of the latest trends in farming. With good reason, the Farm Progress Show has been characterized by its organizers as the “World’s Fair of Agriculture.” They say it is the nation’s ...

Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight is back

When a 737 roars into the sky above Fort Dodge Regional Airport in the pre-dawn darkness today, one of the most unique and heartfelt tributes to area veterans will be back in action. There will be about 130 veterans aboard that plane. They will be going to Washington, D.C., for free to see the nation’s war memorials. The trip will be the 22nd one conducted by the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight. The first took place in 2010. Since then, close to 3,000 area veterans have made the journey. The Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight is largely the vision of one man, Ron Newsum, of Fort ...

The Messenger unveils 65th football publication

Fall in Iowa is the season of harvest, pumpkins, orange-colored leaves and, of course, football. On cool Friday evenings and on Saturday afternoons, people from all across the Fort Dodge area gather every fall to watch their local heroes of the gridiron compete. They’ll scream and cheer for their favorite team, occasionally grumble about the referees and even embody the Iowa nice tradition by applauding fine play by the opponents. We may have to wait a bit longer for the cool Friday evenings. We will not have to wait for football action, which begins tonight. To get the inside ...

Growth of Cargill should be welcomed by Webster County, Fort Dodge

The Cargill plant in Webster County is beginning a $50 million growth spurt. When it is done sometime in 2024, the plant will begin making corn syrup for the first time. That will be a nice addition to a product line that already includes dextrose, ethanol, feed for cattle, corn gluten meal fed to poultry, corn germ and a molasses like substance called corn steep liquor. The corn syrup will be the first food-grade product to come from the plant. The project will not be a big creator of new jobs, but it will enable many current Cargill employees to train for more complex jobs which ...

Laptop donations will simplify workload of child care providers

Being entrusted with watching over and teaching some of the youngest children in the community is a massive responsibility. It is one the workers in child care centers throughout the Fort Dodge region enthusiastically tackle every day. The work includes hundreds of interactions with the kids every day. Plus, there is training and continuing education for the child care providers. Piled on top of all that is the need for bookkeeping and maintaining all kinds of other records. Recent donations from the group Linking Families and Communities will help with the training and recordkeeping ...

Schools are starting — drive safely

It won’t be that long before cooler weather becomes the norm rather than the exception — summer is drawing to a close. Even though the calendar shows another month of summer to be enjoyed, for students, vacation days are ending. All across Iowa, young folks are heading back to school this week. Classes at St. Edmond Catholic School begin Tuesday. Classes at Fort Dodge Community School District begin Wednesday. That makes it especially important that each of us resolve to keep our streets and highways safe during a time of year when youngsters are present on or near roadways at ...