By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, June 20, 2019 — It was 30 years ago this summer when I decided to get my ear pierced and start wearing an earring. It was 29 years ago when I met Carla Burt during a bicycle ride on a recreational trail. Jim Green inspired both big moments in my life. …
By PAUL KURTZ OMAHA, Nebraska, June 16, 2019 — My friend of long standing (I think 50-plus years qualifies as “long standing,” right?), Chuck Offenburger, has graciously invited me to report my thoughts as I follow our “VandyBoys” competing for the NCAA Division I baseball championship in the College World Series now underway here. To…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DES MOINES, Iowa, June 13, 2019 — If you’ve thought that U.S. policy toward our neighboring nation of Cuba couldn’t get much worse, you’re not thinking big enough. “Some people look at just Cuba,” said Rev. Luis Barrios, who’s been studying and traveling the region for more than 45 of his 66…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER SHENANDOAH, Iowa, May 22, 2019 — The biggest lesson of the Donald Trump presidency is surely this: A person who almost nobody thinks can be elected president of the United States can indeed win the highest office in the land. That is one of several reasons no one should be underestimating the candidacy…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER ST. PAUL, Minnesota, May 10, 2019 — Here is a photo re-cap of my wife Carla Offenburger, her sister Chris Woods and I finishing in the May 5 “Brave Like Gabe” 5K Run-Walk in beautiful Como Park here. The second-annual event was organized by and named for Gabriele Grunewald, 32, of St.…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DES MOINES, Iowa, April 22, 2019 — The Lenten season just completed is probably the most spiritual period in my whole life. In my later adult years as a “cradle Catholic,” I’ve not been one to “give up something” for Lent. Rather, I always tried to “do something more,” like, oh, saying the…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, May 13, 2019 — There is good news to report as the Raccoon River Valley Trail and other recreational trails in our area of west central Iowa get another trail season opened. And the news includes some re-construction plans now being made for the 67 feet of the RRVT bridge…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER CARROLL, Iowa, April 19, 2019 – After U.S. Senator Cory Booker, of New Jersey, one of the score of Democrats seeking the presidency, had generously spent nearly 90 minutes with local voters here Tuesday afternoon, I had a chance for my own question to him. Booker, 49, is in his seventh year…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, April 8, 2019 — It was a wonderful way to spend a springtime Saturday morning — going “birding” at Dunbar Slough Wildlife Management Area in the southwest part of our Greene County. A group of about 20 of us were led by Matt Wetrich, the naturalist for the conservation board…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER CHURDAN, Iowa, March 27, 2019 — In this 2020 presidential election cycle, on the Democrats’ side of things, there are some candidates who are what I’ll call “No Deal Democrats” — the ones way older than I am (71) that I flat refuse to vote for. There are also some “Green New…
