By Jim Sloter

After spending the night off the beaten path parked at a Red Cross station near the outskirts of Paris, we had a simple breakfast of coffee and the special sweet waffles Guido’s mother had made and sent with us. 

By Shane Goodman, CITYVIEW

Bob Dole ran for president three times. I was eligible to vote for him twice. I did so once. Reluctantly.

By Kathie Obradovich, Editor in Chief, Iowa Capital Dispatch, copyright-Iowa Capital Dispatch

Iowans turned out in better-than-usual numbers for last month’s city and school board elections. It’s always encouraging to see improvements in voter participation.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, attributed the higher turnout to increased voter engagement in local issues.

150 Years Ago

Furs and Game - Go to Martin’s with your Games and Furs. He will pay you the highest market price for all you bring him.

Winkle & Minkler, at the Meat Market, will pay the highest Price for Beef Cattle, Hogs & Poultry, Hides and Furs. 

125 Years Ago

I’m writing this a week before Thanksgiving, but you will be reading it when Thanksgiving is over and we’re into December. My point is, it’s hard to know what tense to use when writing in the now but being read in the future. Oh Bother, as Winnie the Pooh would say. I love quoting Pooh and his friends, as you’ve probably noticed if you’ve read one or more of my columns.

During the Algona Community School Board meeting on Oct. 11 and the Lu Verne School Board meeting on Oct. 21, both local school boards approved the following members to be on a joint reorganization committee. Algona CSD’s six members will join four members who have been appointed by the Lu Verne CSD to serve on this committee.

I don’t own any land that will be impacted and my livelihood isn’t directly connected to the proposed construction of carbon dioxide pipelines across Kossuth County and other parts of rural Iowa. So it has been a fair statement that I don’t have a dog in the fight.

Until now.

A local temporary redistricting commission met twice in the past two weeks to begin the process of setting districts for 2022 and a subsequent decade of board of supervisor elections. But the commission isn’t drawing the lines for the supervisor districts. The commission is only determining where the county’s precinct lines will be drawn. Confused? 

After leaving Roger and Marilou at the Belgian seaside, we stopped short of the French border, about 10 miles away, to fill with gas using our Belgian Francs. Going from country to country in 1983 always required changing money. Some businesses close to a border accepted a neighboring country’s currency but there was usually an exchange rate difference. To avoid reduced value of our money, we bought gas or groceries before crossing into another country.

150 Years Ago

To the Editor:

By Brad Hicks, Publisher

One Thanksgiving tradition part of my family has is that before a prayer at the table, everyone states something for which they are thankful. Our Thanksgiving gathering is over the weekend, and while I certainly will include the blessings of the Almighty at the top of my short list, people who are often overlooked will be on it for the first time.

Truckers.

There can be only one explanation when it comes to the decision last week by the Environmental Protection Agency to propose rules to extend the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance deadlines for 2019 and 2020. The 2019 extension applies only to small refineries, but the 2020 extension applies to all refineries. This projects an effort to “reduce volumes and destroy biofuel demand,” said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. 

By Barb Smith, City of Algona

The first snow of the season has already come and gone. Winter weather can strike at any moment, and the City of Algona’s streets department is gearing up for the snow season. Moving and removing snow from our streets is a big job, and one that requires your help. These three things can make a big difference in how we manage snow removal in our community.

We called going back to Belgium between tours around Europe in our VW camper pit stops. Pit stops at the race track are really quick, but our pit stops usually lasted several days, each one enjoyable and interesting. It did not seem significant at the time, but Guido’s brother, Bart, brought his girlfriend to meet the family, and us. She turned out to be a delight to know and Bart’s wife (now a grandmother).