IOWA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION STATEMENT ON CONGRESSIONAL EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE COMBUSTION ENGINE
From Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President Craig Hill:

Read this month's Midwest book review by Michael Tideman in his Writers & Writing column on the Commentary page in the Oct. 29 Kossuth County Advance. Here's a tease:
...Police and anti-human trafficking activists are beset with a slate of trafficking victims who find themselves embroiled in several ways. Most tragic was the case of Mary Jacinto, a Latina woman whose battered and bruised body was found in a park restroom....

Check out the Letters to the Editor in the Oct. 29 Kossuth County Advance. They are:
 
Response to pastor’s mask wearing, freedom letter: Pastor Brad Sherman’s letter in last week’s Advance was a tiresome, self-centered whine grounded in politics rather than science. The efficacy of wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic are indisputable among professionals in the fields of epidemiology and virology. ...
 

... Let’s sum what we’ve learned since June: Trump bad, Biden good. Biden bad, Trump good. Greenfield bad, Ernst good. Ernst good, Greenfield bad. I hope that helps you make a decision, if you are one of the people who have yet to vote. Around 40 percent of the total Americans who voted in the last presidential election had already voted by the time of the last presidential debate 12 days before election day. ...

... For the next seven days, I sang “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” approximately 754 times, along with “Hail, Hail to Michigan,” “On Wisconsin,” “My Sigma Nu,” and the rest of the odd assortment of songs whose lyrics are permanently emblazoned in my otherwise forgetful brain....
To whom was Molly singing? And, why? See her Inkspots colunn in the Oct. 29 Kossuth County Advance.

While driving through Humboldt last week, out of the corner of my eye I saw the temperature on an electronic sign. It said -197○ F. I blinked and then peered through my rearview mirror to look at it again. It did say -197○ F. How strange I thought and then, “Yep, it’s 2020.” As I thought more, seeing that sign recording -197○ Fahrenheit seemed surreal which is exactly how this year has felt. 

... Let us look at what the characters, and what the soils represent in this parable. The sower is God. The seed is the Word, the Bible. The different soils are people. You and I, and everyone in this world. So back to my original question; “Are you good soil?  ....
Read more of the Rev. Madison's Families of Faith entry in the Oct. 22 Kossuth County Advance.

... If I moved over to pass, I would see headlights a mile back in my rear view mirror flashing as if to say: “Get out of my way, I’m coming through.” ...
Read more about Jim and Marsha's adventure in the Oct. 22 Kossuth County Advance.
 

Take it from them, COVID is for real
To the Editor:
After some nudging from many friends, I have decided to write this letter to explain the journey that Ken and I have been on for over a month. 

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter our lives, but as time passes and more knowledge becomes available about how the virus is transmitted and how people are affected, efforts toward normalcy continue. Schools have reopened, sports events are happening, and more business establishments are finding ways to provide services to their customers.

Will the adults wind up in charge at the University of Northern Iowa? Last week, the UNI Student Government voted against granting formal recognition to a UNI chapter of Students for Life, a pro-life organization that exists on some other college campuses. The UNI Student Government labeled the organization a “hate group” with “opinions that get people killed.” It’s likely the UNI administration is going to step in and address the matter, but it has yet to do so.

... Physical sickness is only one kind of aliment. There is also mental sickness. It seems like every year more and more people are diagnosed with anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and substance abuse disorders and I could go on. However, the Bible points to a much greater sickness at the heart of humanity, and it is a spiritual sickness. Everyone is afflicted by this disease and we are powerless against it on our own. But there is hope.

...“Are you a racist?” was the immediate response to the question. Last week, I watched for a bit as my wife painted a storm door. It has some grooves and corners. She decided her roller was too big and that she needed a narrower one to really do it right. Painting with a wide roller or brush can get all of us into trouble. We stain that which doesn’t deserve it in our haste...
Read Brad Hicks' On the Side in the Oct. 15 Kossuth County Advance.
 

For someone who has pretty much retired from cooking, I get an urge once in a blue moon to come out of retirement and make something tasty. Okay, to be honest, I never was much of a cook and I never especially liked doing it, so you can understand why, after years of feeding seven people - we had five children, in case you’re just tuning in to this column - turning in my chef’s hat was a cause for celebration.

... How we explain communion to ourselves and each other is very often different, and the rituals we bring to communion worship are as different as the communion cups on my bookshelf. We are not defined by our differences, but by what we have in common as the People of God, the Body of Christ, the Universal Church.  ...
Read all of the Rev. Steve Nofel's Families of Faith column in the Oct. 8 Advance.