Breaking News

Your View

Letter to the Marshalltown Public Library Board of Trustees

According to MPL policy, this Statement of Concern is to go to you and the agenda for the March 19, 2024, MPL board meeting. You are receiving it directly because the director rejects them. This will also be sent to the Letters to the Editor forum in the Times Republican and posted on the FB City Council watch page. The exposure will provide you with ample opportunity to prove to patrons that you value their concern for the MPL. Make the most of it because your condescending reputation has spread far beyond this area and has been slipping for 17 months. Incidentally, the requested ...

God calls humans

If the world is going to hear the good news of God, it will be done through the voices of those whom He calls. His call goes out to everyone, ever born. Throughout history we see the efforts of those who allowed themselves to become believers of the Creator. Some of the well-known people were Noah, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Moses. In each generation, God calls but unfortunately, many reject that call. In a Bible study on West Main street, we have studied the life of the Apostle Paul, a follower “born out of time,” as he calls himself. He was not called when the Disciples were. Paul’s ...

Disappointed in council’s MACC funding decision

The City Council vote that passed by a 4-3 vote to not support the Marshalltown Arts & Civic Center was very disappointing. Partnerships with the City and nonprofit groups have enhanced the livability and vitality of the community for decades and with that foresight, people like Bill Fisher and Martha Ellen Tye invested in Marshalltown. And, since 1969, the City recognized this commitment and helped fund and support the community center and playhouse until this current vote. Even with the significant damage caused to the building by the derecho, the community clearly demonstrated its ...

Why not support tax funding for MACC?

I have received several questions and concerns about why I did not vote to provide $100,000 in funding for the Fisher Community Center / Marshalltown Arts and Civic Center (MACC). I would like to explain. I have lived in Marshalltown for many years and Fisher Controls is what brought me here. I value the contributions of the Fisher family and appreciate how they have supported the community and the arts for several generations. Their history is an essential part of who we are as a community. This is a part of who we are. This is our history, and this is part of our culture. I also ...

City’s positive momentum is in danger

Dear Community, Living in Marshalltown is a choice we have each made, and I have always believed it is a good one! I moved back to my hometown in 1998. Over the decades, I’ve been impressed and proud of our small town’s might and constant forward momentum. Examples include a new YMCA, aquatic center, library, hospital, police/fire station and futsal courts; improved school facilities, city beautification and downtown development; and private investments providing us with better housing, enriching child care, the best burger in Iowa, the finest bowling, and the list could go on ...

Concerned about Tama traffic cameras

There is a good PBS documentary called Amazon Nation, which discusses their exploitative use of our local police vis a vis so called traffic cameras newly installed in Tama. Amazon valued at 1 trillion dollars is promoting their surveillance technology as safe but with their The facial technology is co-opting the privacy of Tama citizens. The Tama City Council has not done their due diligence, of informing the populace the threat of a surveillance state Amazon is implementing without due oversight. Essentially making police the Avon ladies in implementing a dystopian future for our ...