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Editorial

Socks for the Sole effort meets a community need

It’s an automatic part of daily life for many people: when you get dressed, you put your socks on. Clean, dry socks make the feet feel good. Putting socks on is so routine many folks do that without even thinking about it. Unfortunately, there are children in the Fort Dodge community who don’t get to put on a good pair of socks every day. Family financial problems mean that they don’t have enough socks or the ones they have are pretty threadbare. To make sure that as many kids as possible go back to school this year with good socks on their feet, the Community Health Center of ...

VA makes an investment in area veterans’ health care

When someone joins the United States military they essentially volunteer to give their lives, if necessary, for our country. Fortunately, few have to make the supreme sacrifice. But they perform hard work and selfless service that goes beyond what those of us who have never served can possibly imagine. Providing medical care is one of the ways our country says thank you to its veterans. In Fort Dodge, that care will be provided in a new facility that enables doctors and nurses to do more examinations and treatments in one place than was possible before. The new VA Health Clinic at ...

Unique ride to help breast cancer patients is Saturday

There will be some angels riding throughout the Fort Dodge area atop some growling, roaring hogs on Saturday. To be clear, winged residents of heaven will not be riding livestock. These hogs will be Harley-Davidson motorcycles and the angels aboard them will be some of our relatives, friends and neighbors hitting the road to help those suffering from breast cancer. The 16th Angel Ride to save the TaTas is Saturday. This unique cruise raises money to help breast cancer patients afford things they need for their care that are not covered by insurance. Shirley Hottman, who had been part ...

A family’s tragedy led to help for others pursuing education

The day after Christmas in 2007 may well have been the worst day ever in the lives of Kayla Jones’ family. The Fort Dodge 15-year-old died that day in a car crash south of the city. The daughter of Heather and Mark Farrell and Todd and Becky Jones was a sophomore at Fort Dodge Senior High School. Following her death, an innovative effort by the Farrells helped some of Jones’ classmates, and other local high school graduates, complete their education with scholarships awarded in her honor and memory. Over the years, 414 scholarships ranging from $500 to $2,000 were ...

Be sure to attend your county fair

Times change. Even so there are a few constants in life. One is the pleasure provided by the county fairs that continue to be a highlight of summer in the Hawkeye State. For as far back as anyone who now lives in this part of Iowa can remember, these summer festivals have been much-anticipated and much-enjoyed features of summertime. The fairs, of course, have changed over the decades. One central theme, however, remains much the same — a celebration of farm life and the assorted positive educational and personal-growth pursuits that are treasured features of life in rural and ...

Enjoy Fourth of July fireworks safely

When Americans enjoy fireworks on every Fourth of July, they have John Adams to thank for the colorful displays. Adams, one of the Founding Fathers who became the country’s second president, wrote to his wife, Abigail, when the Declaration of Independence was approved in July 1776 in Philadelphia. ”It ought to be soleminized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more,” Adams wrote. His reference to ”iluminations” is traditionally interpreted as ...