Our neighbors a couple of hours away in the Northeast Iowa Conference are now dealing with the fallout from some obnoxious spectators at a baseball game during which it is alleged that a couple of Waverly-Shell Rock fans uttered statements considered racist toward a Charles City student-athlete. The youth was playing in the outfield and he heard people yelling such things as “go back to the fields,” a reference to blacks working in cotton fields under slavery.

For a Sunday treat, we went to a pub for lunch. After first ordering at the bar, the meal was brought to our table. We were especially interested in tasting the Yorkshire pudding that was on the menu as dessert was included. After eating what was set before us, we waited for the pudding, thinking it would be delivered to our table when we finished the main course. It never came...
For more of the column, see the July 30 edition of the Kossuth County Advance.

It seems like each year at this time – although it’s a little later this year – I usually take a drive around town to see if we are ready for visitors. Obviously, things are very different this year, but one thing hasn’t changed – or shouldn’t change – and that is pride in how our community looks.

Undoubtedly, the first thing one would ask about Tiffany Midge’s biting satire “Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s” is why a Native author would take Dee Brown’s seminal “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” as inspiration for her book’s title.

Click on this report from the Iowa Public Information Board to learn more about how government and the public can work together to ensure openness.

See the July 16 edition of the Kossuth County Advance to get Commentary:
-Lack of legislation action on EMS issue may cause more trouble for rural Iowa, by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch.
-Inkspots by Molly MacDonald: Seamus has come into my life – hurrah!
-Out of the Past by Gene Miller: No bicycle bloomers allowed in the dining room
-Travel Diary by Jim Sloter: Adventures great and small in Thirsk
-On the Side by Brad Hicks: Avoid Knockouts
 

We have just celebrated this past weekend the birth of our nation – July 4th. As we worry about what we see in our news – news of pandemic, news of violence, news of destruction of our historic monuments, I pray that we will all continue to say “In God We Trust.” Why? For no matter what happens, God is still on the throne! He is still in control! The battle has already been won! Yet, we do worry about our nation.

We are less than four months away from the general election, an event that is sure to generate an inordinate amount of angst – as if we need more. In terms of elections, we bring a lot of it on ourselves by not taking care of things when problems arise.  Where was Brad going with this? Check it out in the July 9 edition of the Kossuth County Advance.

Read this week's letters to the editor in the July 9 edition of the Kossuth County Advance:
Do you control your land?
To the editor:

These past weeks and months have tested the limits of many. When we logon to social media or watch the news, we are saturated with stories of injustice, panic, pain and death. Now, more than ever, we need to remember where our true hope should lie. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

Americans will celebrate a July 4 holiday this weekend. Few will take time to ponder the meaning of Independence Day.

When I wrote about having to put down my wonderful Ivy Scarlett in my last column, I included a picture of her. Sadly, there wasn’t room to run it. However, I’m trying again and printing it here because you all, I’m sure, would like to see how gorgeous she was. If you don’t care about seeing how gorgeous she was, don’t tell me. You’re going to see how gorgeous she was anyway. Here she is:

The decision last week to cancel the Iowa State Fair was a reminder of the seriousness of coronavirus and the consequences of many people’s anxiety about returning to activities that normally are an important part of Iowa life.
But the State Fair’s decision also illuminated an embarrassing disconnect from the norms of government transparency and accountability in our state.
Read more in the June 25 Kossuth County Advance.

This year’s state legislative session brought about a new law, passed unanimously by our legislature, meant to help solar energy shine bright in Iowa for years to come. The Iowa Environmental Council was proud to work with stakeholders like the solar industry, utilities and the pork producers to find solutions that work for all Iowans and provide predictability.

Any of you who read these words know in what high regard I hold your individual rights. The freedoms our framers sought to protect – religion, speech, petition, arms, property and due process to name just a few – are incredibly important in a republic that turns over leadership as often as ours.