Offenburger.com

Along Our Way

The third annual membership banquet of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association was a huge success Saturday night, February 20, at the Panorama National Conference Center. About 200 people attended. Auctions and a few cash donations helped raise $10,604 to help market and promote the RRVT, the paved rec trail in west central Iowa that's in the midst of an expansion, 56 to 89 miles.
[TO READ THE STORY, AND TO SEE THESE AND OTHER PHOTOS IN LARGER FORMAT, CLICK HERE]

A conversation

COPING WITH CANCER

with the Offenburgers

Chuck Offenburger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins, follilcular lymphoma cancer on July 10, 2009, and is undergoing treatment. We post updates weekly here, including brief insights from Chuck, Carla and at least one of you readers.

''The Lord will overshadow you, and you will find refuge under his wings.''

FOR THE LATEST UPDATE, CLICK HERE.

Chuck Offenburger's
new book on sports
legend Gary Thompson
gets excellent reviews

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

''GARY THOMPSON: All-American'' is the new, 352-page biography of one of the state’s genuine sports icons. From 1950-’53 Gary Thompson led the Roland Rockets to high school sports glory in basketball and baseball, giant-killers from one of Iowa’s small schools. Then he led the Cyclones at Iowa State from 1953-’57, becoming the college’s first two-sport All-American. He’s had major success in broadcasting and business, from his home base in Ames. And he and his wife Janet have a family as solid as they come. “I’m the luckiest guy around,” Thompson says.

TO READ CHUCK OFFENBURGER'S COLUMN ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE ''BOOK LAUNCHING'' HELD EARLY IN DECEMBER, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DES MOINES REGISTER SPORTSWRITER RICK BROWN'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE SPORTS COLUMNIST JIM ECKER'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ AMES DAILY TRIBUNE SPORTSWRITER DICK KELLY'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DOUG BURNS' STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE CARROLL DAILY TIMES HERALD, CLICK HERE.

TO READ ANDY GOODELL'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE OSKALOOSA HERALD, CLICK HERE.

WANT TO SEE AND HEAR THE OLD ROLAND HIGH SCHOOL FIGHT SONG PERFORMED? CLICK HERE!

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

FOR PHOTOS FROM OUR BOOK LAUNCHING EVENTS, CLICK HERE!

SEE BOB MODERSOHN'S PHOTOS OF OUR BOOK CHAT AND SIGNING AT BEAVERDALE BOOKS IN DES MOINES!

Our Partners & Patrons
Iowa Hall of Pride
netINS, Inc.
Butler House on Grand B&B
Sam's Barber Shop
Douglas T. Bates III, Attorney
KMA Radio's ''Chuck & Don Show''
Barack Obama story & coloring book
The Monks of New Melleray Abbey

What’s the deal with the
black & white saddle shoes?

Click here for the story of our farm in Greene County, Iowa.

Here's looking at life
at Simple Serenity Farm

After the toughest, snowiest winter that either of us can remember, we have now reached the point in early February where snow is stacked everywhere. Piles are six or seven feet high. The dogs can drop full-body into snowdrifts if they're not moving fast enough. Some drifts are five or six feet tall, and 30 or 40 feet long. Whew!
Click here for larger format

Earlier photos in this series

POGGENSEE'S POSTCARDS

Here is the final group of
Don Poggensee's photos from
his recent expedition to
Yellowstone National Park
Pictures by Iowa photographer Don Poggensee

COMING UP IN IOWA

We recommend the following, if you want to experience this state at its best!

March 8-13: High school boys state basketball tournament, Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines. Details, click here.

April 7: Play ball! Baseball returns to Principal Park in Des Moines, with Iowa Cubs playing Iowa Hawkeyes in an exhibition, 6:35 p.m. I-Cubs regular season starts at home April 8. Details, click here.

April 13: Iowa Jazz Championships in Des Moines. The state's 60 best high school jazz bands in a day-long competition, with the finalists performing at night. Details, click here.

THE CONTINUOUS
IOWA CAUCUS

It's time for us to start thinking about the race for Iowa governor from another angle. Which of the candidates' families would be the most fun to have in Terrace Hill -- and remember, the standard here is fun for the rest of us as we watch them?

[SEE PAST RESULTS]

*Out in Greene County, Iowa*
The “Grand Junction news” won’t be the same, after passing of correspondent Verna Mae Wise By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 10, 2010 COOPER, IOWA For 49 years, she wrote the small community’s social news for our county seat newspaper, the Jefferson Herald. Her last column came out on the day she died last week. Many will remember her for making a white poodle, Muffin, the most famous dog in the county. Many more of us don’t quite know yet how we’ll keep up to date with the news of the Wise family, whom Verna Mae has introduced us to in her columns through the years. She had an extremely loyal following. Says one of her most devoted fans, “In a way, she was the Garrison Keillor of Greene County.” [READ MORE]

*My View from the Porch*
She sees same-sex marriage as a civil right & allowing a popular vote on it would be wrong By CARLA OFFENBURGER March 7, 2010 COOPER, IOWA Our columnist is answering the current Guest Column by Andy Upah on this Internet site, about one of the most contentious public issues of our time. Carla Offenburger’s argument supports the Iowa Supreme court’s decision: Giving gays and lesbians the right to marry – and thus opening up for them the legal benefits and protections that our laws give married couples – is a basic civil right. And we’ve never allowed a popular vote on whether some group’s civil rights should be removed. [READ MORE]

*What's Carla Reading?*
''The Help,'' a first novel by Kathryn Sockett, has quickly become No. 1 on the Best Sellers list By CARLA OFFENBURGER February 6, 2010 COOPER, IOWA Sockett, a native of Jackson, Mississippi, uses her hometown as the setting for a story in the 1960s. A group of women, friends since their Ole Miss years, are now married, mothers of young children and society leaders. They essentially turn their kids over to ''the help'' -- black maids -- to raise them. One of the friends, unmarried, becomes an advice columnist for the local newspaper. She starts consulting some of the maids about how they do various tasks, and that gives the columnist disturbing insights about the lives of ''the help.'' There's trouble. [READ MORE]

*Guest Columns*
		He wants just one thing from the legislature: Let us vote on the same-sex marriage issue
By ANDY UPAH February 25, 2010 WEST DES MOINES, IOWA This young Iowan comes to this matter as a Catholic who studies scripture. He sees homosexuality as a sin, and contends that state government has no jurisdiction for re-defining marriage. His is a conservative view, one he knows many in his own generation do not share. But he feels confident that Iowans, if given a chance to vote, would reject gay marriage. [READ MORE]

*OFFENBLOGGER*
Our perhaps peculiar views of the happenings around us GAMES ARE GREAT, AND SO'S HE! - Chuck O at 3/9/2010 1:39:42 PM ''LIGHTS OUT'' COUNTRY LIVING! - Chuck O at 3/7/2010 9:08:04 PM HE'S A REPUBLICAN TO WATCH - Chuck O at 3/9/2010 3:46:23 PM WE ORNERY LOCAL REPUBLICANS! - Chuck O at 3/6/2010 10:44:48 AM SADDLE SHOES ARE HOT FASHION! - Chuck O at 3/5/2010 2:43:17 PM MINI-REVIEW ON MORNINGSIDE CHOIR - Chuck O at 3/4/2010 8:41:36 AM TO READ MORE, CLICK ON THIS LINK

Say what?
Our letters-to-the-editor: Reactions to what you've read here
at Offenburger.com & elsewhere, and a place to tell us what
else is on your mind.

“I am a 1980 Morningside graduate, and yes, there is, or was, a fight song, called 'Men of the M.'”

Messages are posted now from Rev. Dale Schoening... Althea Eickhoff... Luann Waldo... Ronn King... Paul Stigers...
[CLICK HERE TO READ THEM]

Featured Partner & Patron

The Iowa Hall of Pride

This $12.5-million interactive museum on the edge of downtown Des Moines uses fantastic video, technology, art and research to showcase Iowa’s schools, communities and their heroes.

330 Park Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50309
(515) 280-8969
www.iowahallofpride.com

You can do what Chuck and Carla Offenburger are shown doing here – seeing how they measure up to the life-size statue of the University of Iowa’s 1939 football Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick, a native of Adel.

Whether you live in Iowa or are traveling through, one new attraction that is a “must” is the Iowa Hall of Pride, which is located across the street west from Wells Fargo Arena in the Iowa Events Center complex on the north edge of downtown Des Moines. The Hall of Pride was envisioned and created by the Iowa High School Athletic Association, which sanctions boys prep sports in the state. But this facility is about a whole lot more than just boys’ athletics. It is an excellent, entertaining portrayal of the whole Iowa high school experience, celebrating the accomplishments of our young people in academics, music, drama, debate, leadership and, yes, in sports, too.

You’ll see the life-size bronze statues of several of our greatest athletes – football star Nile Kinnick of Adel, wrestler Dan Gable of Waterloo West, basketball star Gary Thompson of Roland, and Iowa’s fastest track athlete ever Clyde Duncan, of Des Moines North. There is a startlingly life-like wax statue of piano great Roger Williams, a native of Des Moines, sitting at a golden Steinway Piano, which plays his greatest hits at your request, including his famous “Autumn Leaves.” The facility also includes a “Hall of Heroes,” in which the stories of many of the state’s best-known, highest-achieving citizens are told in video, displays, personal interviews and testimonials – among them Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, opera star Simon Estes, actor John Wayne, actress Donna Reed, scientists George Washington Carver and James Van Allen, and astronaut Peggy Whitson.

The 23-by-12-foot stained glass window at the entrance of the Iowa Hall of Pride portrays all the activities of the Iowa high school experience – and is believed to be the largest work of stained glass in the state.

Amazing memorabilia from high school girls’ basketall.

There are also more than 200 video interviews – broken into crisp topical segments of a few minutes each – with coaches, teachers, star players in girls’ and boys’ sports, top performers in the arts, referees, familiar media personalities, leaders of business and government. A new addition is a riveting 20-minute conversation with Brandon Routh, 28, the Norwalk native talking about how he played the super star in the recent hit movie “Superman Returns,” and how his acting career has also taken flight. Plus, the Iowa Hall of Pride experience isn’t just about watching games – you can play, too – seeing just how good you are at shooting baskets, officiating a virtual wrestling match, singing with the All-State Chorus, and doing play-by-play broadcasting of a big football game. Best of all, you’ll go home with long list of stories you’ll want to share with friends and family. And you’ll have a whole new appreciation for Iowa and the opportunities available here for both young and old.

The Iowa Hall of Pride, next door to Wells Fargo Arena.

The Iowa Hall of Pride was a decade in planning and development. In that time, new computer technology became available, allowing the facility to be drastically changed from the original concept of static displays and seldom-changing compilations of records, to what it became – engaging, ever-changing, constantly-updated presentations of information, video, music and action. Major funding came from the state’s Vision Iowa Program, the Iowa High School Athletic Association, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, the Iowa Farm Bureau and many other donors, including contributions as small as $5 from an elderly fan of Iowa’s high school activities.

26,000 square feet, 220 video interviews, 150 computers – and a million stories!

Click here to read Chuck Offenburger’s column about when the Iowa Hall of Pride was first opening in February 2005.

Click here to read Offenburger’s most recent column about the Iowa Hall of Pride, in June 2007.

Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sundays by appointment only. Details: (515) 280-8969. Closed major holidays. Admission: $5 for adults, Iowa Farm Bureau members free, and the fee for Iowa students K-12 is generously paid by Musco Lighting, Oskaloosa, Iowa.