By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Nov. 25, 2019 – For those of you who are seriously thinking you might caucus and vote for Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren or any other presidential candidate age 70 and older, really, you should know better. I was contemplating that over the weekend after seeing that…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Oct. 12, 2019 — What a summer. Thank goodness for October. I’ve always thought October was the perfect month for rest and rejuvenation. The weather is nearly perfect and there’s still plenty of time not to think about the upcoming holiday season. I changed my life significantly at the end…
By ROD WILLIAMSON NASHVILLE, Tennessee, Sept. 27, 2019 — From 1983 through 1994, I selected the National Anthem singers at Vanderbilt University athletic events. On the surface, this might appear to be a mundane task, but when your school’s home base is Nashville – “Music City USA” – the National Anthems are more scrutinized than…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Sept. 2, 2019 – Six months after I first told you this, I can’t say it any better. So let me again try to make it plain. I believe former Maryland congressman John Delaney is the “Real Deal” Democrat in this wild scramble for the presidency. And he now has…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER BANCROFT, Iowa, Aug. 17, 2019 – In this summer of mass shootings, suspicion of those different from ourselves, and outright hate, thank God for baseball, you know? Almost daily, the grand old game gives us good lessons – prepare well, get out of yourself, sacrifice for others, work together as a team,…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Sept. 23, 2019 — I’m pretty sure I saw an eventual president of the U.S. on Sunday afternoon at the historic railroad depot in Jefferson in west central Iowa. Julian Castro, the 45-year-old former mayor of San Antonio, former secretary of U.S. Housing & Urban Development, twin brother of U.S. Rep.…
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 CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Aug. 1, 2019 — It’s been an exhausting last few months for me – and cancer. I’m tired, folks. Don’t count me out, just count me tired. It’s been a whirlwind summer for sure. But before I give you the latest news, let me review what I’ve already done in…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, July 3, 2019 — It’s amazing what the first few days of July can do to the Iowa corn crop. Six days ago, on June 27, 10-year-old Natalie Towers walked with her little brother Noah to the edge of one of their grandfather Doug Lawton’s cornfields, and she was taller…
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…
