Your year is not a mistake!

Dear Readers: The following is column written by a fellow named Bob Thompson, who was a teacher and coach in my hometown. It is reprinted with permission.

Here’s the story about a young man who was engaged to be married. He was in love and his life was infected with that special pride and that vibrant joy that is peculiar to lovers.

By Shane Goodman

Local airport gives wings to area economic development

By Barb Smith

Even a small airport can play a big role in economic development. General service airports, like our Algona Municipal Airport, connect our rural community to places around the United States and beyond.

By John Crookshank

House numbers are not only convenient for finding addresses but necessary for emergency responders to locate those in need. When responding to an emergency, seconds matter so be sure the Fire, Police and Ambulances can easily and quickly locate your address.

150 Years Ago

Santa Claus has visited the Drug Store of L. A. & C. R. Sheetz and left his pack. Don’t fail to stop and look at it. Also the Drug Store has just received a large and entirely new stock of Holiday Gifts. All the youngsters are invited to give them a call.

125 Years Ago

Counting blessings

Letter to the Editor:

We have so

much in common

To the Editor:

Pride in a small town

Letter to the Editor:

There once was a toymaker.

But he was more than a toymaker. Call him an engineer, an architect, a designer, if you will. He created many fantastic things. He settled down to making toys, not because he couldn’t make other things, but because toys delighted him so. There were two special toys, fashioned like a boy and a girl that he designed with extra special care.

150 Years Ago

The M. E. Sabbath School will have their usual exercises on Christmas Eve, for which great preparations are already made. The exercises are to be held in College Hall. A trifling admission fee (15 cents we believe,) will be asked, to meet the actual expense. The arrangements for Christmas tree are on a grander scale than usual, and everything betokens a merry Christmas Eve. All are invited.

125 Years Ago

In December of 1984, I wrote an Inkspots column about some of my college memories. I have no clue what to write about this week, so I’m going to cheat and resurrect that old column. If you were around in 1984 and read it, just pretend you didn’t. The chances of you remembering it, anyway, are slim to none. So, here goes:

By Meredith Nelson

Kossuth County Extension

If you are anything like me, maybe you ask yourself a lot of questions during the holiday season. One I often find myself asking internally is, “How should I REALLY store this pumpkin pie – on the counter, or on the fridge?”.  Thankfully, you, me and the rest of Iowa have a great resource to turn to so we don’t have to answer this and other questions ourselves: AnswerLine.

Christmas is a time of toys and games, as well it should be. And although some of these trendy items barely last through a single holiday season, others seem to last the test of time. Decades after their introduction, they are still popular as gifts today. See if a few of these bring back memories or if you have purchased them recently.

The Slinky

From the archives of the Algona Upper Des Moines newspaper. — Santa Claus and five of his helpers pulled away from the fire station here about 1 p. m. Tuesday (just a few days early) and headed for the school located in the northeast portion of the city where they visited 11 students and their teacher, Mrs. Clyde Dudley. Good Ol' St.