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Golf etiquette

Lincoln Valley Golf members recently got a letter from their golf course grounds Superintendent Dustin Eggers. He was telling members he just spent $15,000. On grass seed for 8 of the fairways. Now we are waiting for rain and warm weather for the seed to grow. This may take weeks to grow hoping we get rain, warm weather and cooperation from golfers to not drive carts on the fairways. This has been a rule for years to drive in the rough and use the 90 degree rule. I have to admit I have forgot and have driven down the fairway being my ball very seldom goes down the fairway. Dustin also ...

Iowa 911

Almost 600 Iowa bodies of water are impaired according to the newest DNR water report. The main cause of river and stream pollution is bacteria, which indicates animal feces. In addition, we are the second highest state for cancer risk. Cancer is up 11% in Iowa, now 21,000 Iowans develop cancer annually. I picked up the TR to see what Governor Reynolds and Rep Feenstra are doing about our impaired water and our cancer risk. Governor Reynolds is asking the Iowa Supreme Court to reconsider her heartbeat bill and has also turned down over 22 million of federal dollars to provide $40 a ...

CAPS makes a positive impact

With this being Child Abuse Prevention month I want to give a shout out to CAPS – Child, Adolescent, Parent Support- a local non-profit service agency which is quietly, but profoundly impacting the lives of our neighbors in our community. The agency evolved from a focus on abuse prevention, but in the end it does this and so much more. I believe we generally think of supportive services as being for “someone else,” which may be true, yet services to an individual or family ultimately impact “our community” as the service recipient gains a wealth of information which enhances ...

MACC deserves city support

I just can’t seem to let this go and just accept that my/our town government chose not to make a decision to help financially support the Fisher Community Center/Marshalltown Arts and Civic Center/Fisher Art Museum, and by all rights also the return of the Marshalltown Community Theater. The center is truly a very special place right here in our town that we can honestly say is just as fine as anyplace anywhere. I just looked at the center’s website and saw recent pictures of activities with many hundreds of our students participating in music and art activities, and it brought ...

Train whistles and the squeaky wheels

Marshalltown is a town whose economic lifeblood will forever be connected to the rails that run through it. Anyone living here, visiting here or investing here knows and accepts that truth. So, I find the current conversation about rail whistle noise remediation entertaining as if it were a new phenomenon. This was put to bed once already. Some are proposing that taxpayers spend $1,000,000 (an estimate provided by the City of Marshalltown, so imagine it to be twice that when implemented) to quiet the noise from trains for the purpose of improving the quality of life of all ...

Two poems

I Saw a Dove Amongst a Flock of Pigeons One monochrome March morning I knew the world was ending. That morning I saw a dove amongst a flock of pigeons And strung out angles shuffling slowly through the streets of Minneapolis Softly singing lullabies for the rabble of St. Paul. Deep crimson canyons along your arms and legs - The world was ending — your head Hades; your eyes Olympus. I saw a dove amongst a flock of pigeons. Kelcey She is the frame over which the universe is woven. The waxing and waning of our lunar satellite — soft-spoken yet insubordinate. And our ...