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Editorial

River cleanup yields heaps of waste

Balancing a big tire or a bag of garbage on a canoe and then paddling that canoe downstream without capsizing requires some skill. Fortunately, some of the volunteers who took part in Saturday’s Des Moines River cleanup effort had the necessary skills to do just that. It is unfortunate, however, that the volunteers' strength and canoeing skill had to be applied to such a task. A tire — or any other kind of junk — should never be in a river. On Saturday, about 25 volunteers took part in the cleanup organized by Webster County Conservation. The group included some members of ...

Schools are starting — drive safely

Even though the calendar shows another month of summer to be enjoyed, for students and teachers, vacation days are ending. All across our area, they are heading back to school. Classes at St. Edmond Catholic School and the Manson Northwest Webster School District begin today. The fall semester at Iowa Central Community College also begins today. And Wednesday is the first day of classes in the Fort Dodge Community School District. The first day of classes means a new school year full of learning, activities and opportunities is beginning. It also means that at certain times in ...

Certified site will add to momentum in Fort Dodge and Webster County

To the vast majority of Americans who are not in the business of finding locations where businesses can build huge new facilities, the concept of a certified site likely seems irrelevant to their lives. But having a certified site nearby means their community can attract businesses faster than many others. That means their town will grow, bringing more jobs, more business, more places to eat and more tax revenue to pay for everything from police officer salaries to swing sets in the parks. Webster County now has the second largest certified site in the state, totaling 720 acres in ...

To benefit their community, bicyclists hit the trails

A large convoy of bicyclists cruised through Fort Dodge and parts of Webster County last weekend. Everyone in the group looked like they were having fun. And while doing so, they made a contribution to the future of their community. The bicycle jaunt was the Prairie Rivers Trail Ride, an annual event in which cyclist pedal in honor of someone and raise money for a cause dear to that person. This year, the ride was in honor of the late Joan Meyer, an avid cyclist and leader of a RAGBRAI team. All the money generated by the ride was despised ina fund managed by the Fort Dodge ...

Elanco, Iowa Central launch innovative apprenticeship program

Every industrial facility needs people to keep all of the different systems running so that the site can fulfill its mission of making products that are wanted and needed. But in this region it can be hard to find the people with the skills to perform those maintenance mechanic jobs. The obvious answer is to train people so that they have the needed skills, but that can be a big task to take on. That is what makes a new partnership between Iowa Central Community College and Elanco, a Fort Dodge manufacturer of vaccines and medicines that veterinarians depend on, so exciting. In the ...

Safety is driving construction of roundabouts

One of the various construction projects impacting local drivers this summer is north of Fort Dodge, where Nelson Avenue and 170th Street intersect. That road juncture just south of Fort Dodge Regional Airport is being converted from a traditional one in which the roads meet at right angles to each other to a circular one called a roundabout. If it seems like you are seeing more and more roundabouts as you drive around, it is because there are more of them. There are 150 roundabouts in the state, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. The local inventory already ...