Johann Cassens is representative of the more than 10,000 German prisoners in the Camp Algona system. He was captured 26 June 1944 and arrived at Camp Algona on 20 July 1944. He was in this system until he was sent to Fort Crook, Neb., on 28 January 1946 for processing to be sent home.
 
Read about what happens at the Camp Algona POW Musem decades later that links this prisoner to the present in the Nov. 12 Kossuth County Advance.

... Mrs. B. F. Reed, who had been visiting her brother Cheever Hudson, at Mitchell, S.D., got home election day and cast her first vote for president. Mrs. Reed brought word that there was a great blizzard at Mitchell Sunday and Monday. Snow fell to the depth of two or three feet, and roads had to be cleared before traffic could be resumed. ...
Read more local history in Gene Miller's Out of the Past column in the Nov. 5 Kossuth County Advance.

... From there, we made a point to see Copenhagen’s unique Frederiks Kirke – also called the Marble Church – which dominates the landscape with its huge, 95-feet-wide dome. Seeing that church reminded me of my father saying he should join a round church so the devil couldn’t corner him. ...
 
Read this entry of Jim Sloter's travelogue and learn more about the church and other parts of Denmark in the Nov. 5 Kossuth County Advance.

A museum is not immune to the effects of a pandemic. Many museums across the state and nation closed down and had to cancel events. The Kossuth County Historical Museum was no different. After over a year of closure because of basement reconstruction, the historical museum was ready for visitors once more. A new ramp was installed for easier accessibility, items returned to their home in the basement, and everything was cleaned and polished. It was ready to go.

Read this week's Letters to the Editor in the Nov. 5 Kossuth County Advance. Here are excerpts:
...On behalf of AAUW-Algona Branch, I want to thank the Kossuth County Advance for the article, “What Local Candidates Would Have Said…” in last week’s paper. ...

... It is at this point in your life that you ought to remember that your duty as a Christian citizen does not end on election day, and that neither does your duty as a Christian citizen end when your favorite candidate is not in authority. 

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.