Thank you volunteers—you make Algona shine

By Avery Pedersen, Algona Chamber

April is National Volunteer Month, and there’s no better time to shine a spotlight on the people who make our communities thrive—our volunteers. Whether it’s helping at events, serving on boards and committees, or simply lending a hand to a neighbor, volunteers are truly the heart of Algona and Kossuth County.

The turkey didn’t want to be counted

150 Years Ago

MUSICAL. --- The Algona Cornet Band has of late spent more than the usual amount of time in drilling on new music. The Band now numbers sixteen, and we think may with propriety regard it as the best, as it no doubt is the fullest, in northwest Iowa. Just at present, the boys are “out” of a man to blow the bass drum.

125 Years Ago

Easter Apocalypse

By Jason Fischer, Lead Pastor at Algona Faith Church

The Urban Chicken

Whether people should be allowed to raise laying hens inside the city limits has turned into a matter for discussion in many communities in recent years, and that’s more the case since the bird flu has impacted egg prices so dramatically.

In fact, it’s becoming trendier for townsfolk to own hens, then eat and/or sell the eggs.

One of the ways you know if something is becoming trendy is through nomenclature.

ABOUT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

IRFA calls on Iowa Senate to stand with farmers needing new markets during dire economic downturn

WEST DES MOINES—The Iowa House passed HF 943 that would essentially ban carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) pipelines in the state of Iowa. Access to CCS is vital to opening up new global markets for ultra-low carbon ethanol to grow corn demand and increase farm income. The Trump Administration has highlighted CCS as a key component to achieve American energy dominance.

WEST DES MOINES-—Today U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is releasing obligated funding of $537 million under the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) for 543 projects in 29 states, upholding President Trump’s vision of unleashing American energy. Sec. Rollins made the announcement while visiting Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) member Elite Octane in Atlantic, Iowa today.

Any gardening is good gardening

By Elizabeth Adams, Kossuth County Extension

Are you gardening? Did you used to garden? Do you garden, or plan to, for healthy eating, saving money on your grocery bill, or want to tame the outdoors? She can’t be tamed! All jests set aside, just like the title reads, any gardening is good gardening.

How many people own TV trays today?

Every once in a while, I think about foods that were a regular on the dinner table when I was growing up but seem to have mostly disappeared since. See if any of these bring back some culinary memories for you.

Bologna sandwiches. I have not had one of these in decades, and I don’t plan to either. I had enough sliced bologna as a child to last a lifetime. No offense, Oscar Mayer, but enough is enough.

Plowing contest to be broadcast on television

175 Years Ago

The City of Los Angeles has been incorporated.

150 Years Ago

October 2, 1943 - March 30, 2025

Trudith Lyn Pierce went home peacefully on Sunday, March 30, surrounded lovingly by her family.

She was born to Arthur and Rose Olsen on Oct. 2, 1943, in Algona and was raised in nearby Sexton. She attended the local one-room schoolhouse in her elementary years but graduated from Algona High school in 1961.

Please wait to be seated

By Paul Avery, Pastor at Hillside Baptist Church in Algona

If you think snowmobiles are a modern invention, think again. There was· one roaring down ice-covered Algona streets back in 1915. The late Homer (“Doc”) Kelley is shown below with his creation.

Of my life and times with Christopher Robin

Christopher Robin has disappeared. For those who don’t remember, Christopher Robin is the stray cat I’ve been feeding for seven years. His mother, Saint Francis, was the first to sit on my open side porch and meow prettily for food. One day, St. Francis brought her three kittens to be fed. That was the first clue I had that St. Francis was a girl.

To the Editor:

The Department of Purposeful Inefficiency

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down...We want to put them in trauma.”

--quote from Russell Vought, creator of Project 2025 and current head of the OMB: Office of Management and Budget.