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Opinion

Supports franchise fee for cops

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: One of the primary functions of city government is to protect the citizens of the community. As a result of actions by the state government, the city has been unable to fund plans to increase the number of police officers. Fort Dodge is feeling the strain as violence rises and wait times have increased for emergency responses. The force is dealing with more calls for service which leads to excessive overtime, burnout and retention issues because of staff shortages. The franchise fee proposal on utilities that is on the ballot Sept. 10 will enable the city to hire eight ...

Evening Lions announce winners

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: The Fort Dodge Evening Lions have once again concluded the vacation voucher raffle with a drawing of three winners at the Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota Ja- Mar Cruise. We are naming the three winners, which are Mary Graham, first place of $3,000 voucher; second place was Availa Bank, of Fort Dodge, with the $2,000 prize and third place this year was a $500 prize of cash which was won by Steve Aleck, of Fort Dodge. Congratulations to the winners. The Evening Lions would also like to thank all of our sponsors for their help with the project. We want to thank the two ...

Cochrane served Fort Dodge schools, students well

Editorial

Being a member of a school board is a rather thankless job. In influencing the education of children, board members grapple with decisions that impact the future of individuals and ultimately, the country. Board members also regularly deal with rules imposed on school districts by the state and federal governments. And then there are the unhappy parents and crabby taxpayers. For dealing with all that, board members in Fort Dodge are paid exactly nothing. It takes a special kind of person to deal with all that for any length of time. That is what makes Stu Cochrane’s tenure on ...

Grassley addresses child care issue

Local Columns

Q: How are you working to address affordable child care for families? A: During my annual 99 county meetings, I regularly hear from parents, employers and civic leaders about the need for affordable child care in their local communities. A couple years ago, Sen. Joni Ernst and I held a roundtable discussion in Des Moines to learn more about the barriers that small businesses and parents face to access affordable child care. The shortage of workers and rising cost of living present acute challenges for families across the state, creating situations that have come to be called “child ...

Our debt crisis keeps getting worse

Local Columns

At the end of July, our national debt officially topped $35 trillion. This development comes just seven months after our country surpassed $34 trillion in debt and less than a year since our national debt eclipsed $33 trillion last September. As a father of four, I firmly believe that we have both a moral and financial obligation to our children and grandchildren to enact real reforms that begin to reduce our exploding national debt and restore fiscal sanity to Congress. In fact, for the sake of our economic and national security, we have no other choice but to get our fiscal house in ...

Jimmerson was truly the leader of the band

Editorial

It seemed like he was always there. When the Karl King Municipal Band began its summer season by playing at the Memorial Day observance, Jerrold Jimmerson picked up his baton and led his musicians in playing patriotic favorites. Throughout the summer concerts, he conducted the band and did all kinds of behind the scenes work to make for successful, enjoyable shows. The same was true for the indoor winter concerts. Jimmerson was a fixture in the community. Indeed, many Fort Dodge music lovers can’t remember any other conductor of the band. After 21 years as conductor and 65 ...