Iowa Hall of Pride netINS, Inc. Butler House on Grand B&B Sam's Barber Shop Breitbach's Country Dining Douglas T. Bates III, Attorney KMA Radio's ''Chuck & Don Show'' The Monks of New Melleray Abbey
How the donut man from Bunkers Dunkers in Jefferson helped land RAGBRAI XXXVI for an overnight stop here!
Our hometown of  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  It's been quite a year for gardening at the farm, and here are some photos of the late bounty Follow the link below for additional details. Click here for larger format Earlier photos in this series 
|
The route for the 2008 RAGBRAI -- that's the Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa -- included our Greene County seat of Jefferson as an overnight stop on Monday, July 21. More than 20,000 people came to Jefferson, pop. 4,600, that night. Read the amazing story here about a chance encounter three years ago in Florida, where our vacationing local donut king Randy Bunkers warmly greeted a stranger who was wearing a RAGBRAI T-shirt. The fellow happened to be RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz -- and in the summer of 2008, hurrah! RAGBRAI came our way!
There’s the annual Cooper Prom (for all ages), concerts, basketball, suppers, ice cream socials and people coming through all the time on the Raccoon River Valley Trail. Here is the story on the little community in Greene County, Iowa, that is now home for the Offenburgers.
| Chuck Offenburger's columnsPerfect autumn weather forecasted on Saturday for the Raccoon River Valley Trail Fall Festival By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 2, 2008 COOPER, IOWA You're invited. It will be a great time to experience our 56-mile-long hard-surfaced trail from Jefferson to Waukee, the latter on the edge of the Des Moines metro area. Walk, jog, skate, ride a bicycle or come to Jefferson and enjoy a free ride on an open-air tram that will give you an eight-mile round-trip cruise on one of the prettiest sections of the trail. What's that? You want to bring Fido or Fifi along? Fine, put a costume on him or her (you, too!) and enter the “Trick-or-Treat Trail Trek” for dogs at the trailhead in Panora. There is something for everybody!How is it that so many writers have come from Shenandoah High School? We'll talk about it By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 24, 2008 COOPER, IOWA The columnist's alma mater is having an ''All-Class Reunion'' the weekend of September 26-28 during ''ShenFest.'' He was asked to coordinate one of the reunion events -- a gathering of the writers that the high school in southwest Iowa has produced. At least 15 of them will be on hand to share reflections on how Shenandoah got them started, and where writing has taken them. Among them will be a very popular columnist in Paris, France, and the editor-in-chief of the Cedar Rapids Gazette.“Sick” animal abuse in a local hog confinement is a moral failure now being told worldwide By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 17, 2008 COOPER, IOWA PETA, never much respected around here, suddenly has big credibility with shocking reports from an undercover investigation in a hog confinement in southwestern Greene County, just west of us. They came out with stories and video of the facility’s employees ramming steel rods up the anuses of sows. Runt pigs were bounced off concrete floors to try to kill them, and many still wiggled in piles of dead ones. One worker yelled “Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! Take out your frustrations on ’em!” Said one Greene County official: “You’ve got some sick sonsabitches out there.” Farm Bureau’s state president says they “are shocked, appalled and disgusted by these allegations... Consumers believe animals should be treated well and humanely and so do we.” Now the story spreads globally about the horror in the Greene County hog barn. THE LATEST: Sheriff Tom Heater says he is starting an investigation. And MowMar LLP, which purchased the facility less than a month ago, makes a strong and conciliatory response to the PETA allegations, and says there have already been firings.What’s the most profound thing that’s been said so far in the presidential race, and who said it? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 9, 2008 COOPER, IOWA Two weeks ago, our columnist, a Republican, took a look at the presidential race as both parties headed to conventions. Now, he’s back with another view, post-conventions. One thing hasn’t changed: He’s more undecided than ever. He is having all kinds of qualms about John McCain, but he concedes that McCain may have recently said the most important thing said so far in the great race of 2008.Greene County’s unusual economic development deal lands a master furniture maker in a kind of time w By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 8, 2008 JEFFERSON, IOWA We''ve just had a grand opening of a new business in Jefferson, except it''s a very ''''old'''' business. Robby Pedersen, 37, is a master furniture maker who is ''''building history, one piece of furniture at a time,'''' with authentic tools and in authentic styles of 1875. But this is far more than a woodworking shop. It''s also a working museum that offers instructional classes and has customers and fans from coast to coast and border to border. On grand opening day, he unveiled his 500th piece of furniture. About 400 people came through, and 17 of them placed orders for thousands of dollars worth of vintage furniture.It’s the home stretch in the presidential race: Where do you stand? Count one “undecided” By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 25, 2008 COOPER, IOWA Our columnist, the Republican, finds a lot of reasons not to vote for John McCain, and a lot of reasons to vote for Barack Obama. But the candidates’ stands on the abortion issue could change all that. Their vice-presidential choices are going to make a difference, too, and we share an intriguing insight into Obama’s running mate Joe Biden, from Biden’s campaign stop in our county seat town of Jefferson last October.One of America’s real bicycling adventures is experiencing Missouri’s famous KATY Trail By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 8, 2008 SEDALIA, MISSOURI Bicycling pals Joe & Cindy Connolly of Council Bluffs and Chuck & Carla Offenburger of Cooper had an early-August, three-day adventure on the KATY Trail, a 225-mile crushed-rock rec trail along the Missouri River across the central part of Missouri. Temperatures topped 100 degrees, but it was still a great time. They also discovered one of the best hamburgers ever -- Sedalia''s legendary ''''Guberburger.''''It just wouldn’t seem like summer if “Celebration Iowa” didn’t come to town By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 9, 2008 JEFFERSON, IOWA It wouldn’t seem like summer if “Celebration Iowa” didn’t come to town with its traveling troupe of high school music all-stars and their colorful, fun, high-energy shows. It’s even more fun when two of your community’s best are in the cast.With 20,000-plus coming to our town of 4,600, we are stepping up to “radical hospitality” By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 25, 2008 JEFFERSON, IOWA That is a term that goes back 1,500 years to St. Benedict, but a United Methodist pastor Rev. Sheri Daylong in Jefferson says it is exactly what our county seat town needs to offer when we host the Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) on July 21. This story gives you the numbers about how a small town gets ready for such a big deal. And there are fun photos of our preparations, too.In a time when the weather had been just awful, our bike ride got a good morning and a great turnout By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 16, 2008 COOPER, IOWA It''s called ''''Iowa''s slowest bike ride,'''' because the cyclists stop to listen to musicians stationed every mile or so on the Raccoon River Valley Trail between Jefferson and Cooper.A window of good weather opened on Saturday, June 7, and the biggest crowd of cyclists in four years turned out for the event, which includes lunch in Cooper.After 40 years of winning the local spelling bee, Jefferson's Rick Morain finally meets his match! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 16, 2008 JEFFERSON, IOWA Yes, the 40th annual spelling bee, sponsored by the Greene County Historical Society as part of Jefferson’s Bell Tower Festival, had a shocking outcome in its adult division Saturday afternoon, June 14. The editor and publisher of our local newspapers, a veritable wizard with words, got beat for the first time ever. Another Jefferson alumnus, Shawn Pavlik, is the new champ, but he says he can still hardly believe he beat Morain, whom he called “sort of the white whale of the spelling bee.” The two shook hands afterward and agreed “Let’s get it on!” again next year!Jefferson’s Mayor Craig Berry is showing our community how to get ready for RAGBRAI By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 19, 2008 JEFFERSON, IOWA His Honor is going beyond just serving on the Jefferson RAGBRAI Advisory Board. He is now out cruising regularly on a new Trek bicycle, checking out the town and our rec trail. He knows he is going to catch hell if we see him riding without a helmet. And he is hosting more than 85 cyclists at his own home when RAGBRAI stays overnight in Jefferson on July 21. Right-on, Mayor Berry, and ride-on, too!Cooper Prom day was snowy, cold & windy, but in our tropical hotspot it was “Almost Paradise!” By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 14, 2008 COOPER, IOWA We discovered that when the weather outdoors is miserable and uncomfortable, it is not at all bad being the only tropical spot in Iowa! More than 250 people packed our Cooper Community Building on Saturday evening, April 12, for a memorable night of great food, fun dancing, high (and low) fashion and a whole lot of fun. Here is the report in a brief column and a bunch of colorful photos – and we’ll be adding more pictures in coming days.Cooper, known for some eruptions in past years, has a volcano as the Cooper Prom centerpiece By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 7, 2008 COOPER, IOWA The fourth prom in our little town is Saturday night, April 12. It is expected to pack the Cooper Community Building for a full banquet, great dancing to the “High Society Big Band” and free coffees, soft drinks, desserts and snacks. Sound good? It should because we’re calling it “Almost Paradise,” and you can still buy the $20 tickets if you act fast. Here we given you the details of prom preparations in a column with 10 colorful photos.Some all-timers, and some old-timers, helped Iowa State celebrate 100 years of men’s hoops By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 18, 2008 AMES, IOWA Iowa State University celebrated 100 years of men’s basketball on Saturday, February 16, and about 200 players from over the decades came back to campus. About 50 of them took part in an Alumni Game preceding the current Cyclones’ victory over Nebraska. Our pal Gary Thompson, an Iowa State All-American in 1957, shocked us when he said he was going to play. But, heck, he was like a kid out there on the floor compared to other players like Freddie Gordon, 89, and brothers Roy & Ray Wehde, who are in their mid 80s. So, if you’re counting, there were former Iowa State players from eight decades hooping it up at Hilton Coliseum. And the Cyclone fans gave rousing ovations to them all. Here’s the story told in a brief column and then 23 colorful photos.In the news business, you do it in good times, you do it in bad times, you do it all the time By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 4, 2008 COOPER, IOWA A recent fire destroyed the offices of the Valley News Today, the newspaper in our columnist’s hometown of Shenandoah in SW Iowa. He was asked by publisher David Gustafson to write a column reflecting on what happened, and to offer some encouragement to the newspaper’s staff and the community. Here is that column.How the donut man from Bunkers Dunkers in Jefferson helped land RAGBRAI XXXVI for an overnight stop By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 24, 2008 JEFFERSON, IA The route for the 2008 RAGBRAI -- that’s the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa -- includes our Greene County seat of Jefferson as an overnight stop on Monday, July 21. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people will be in Jefferson that night. Read the amazing story here about a chance encounter three years ago in Florida, where our vacationing local donut king Randy Bunkers warmly greeted a stranger who was wearing a RAGBRAI T-shirt. The fellow happened to be RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz -- and now, hurrah! RAGBRAI is coming our way!One man’s reflection on his pro-life stand, commemorating 35 years of Roe v. Wade By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 22, 2008 COOPER, IOWA One of the things he wonders about is the Iowans and other Americans who right now are under 35 years old. When will they start realizing and talking about what has happened to their two or three generations? Will they start expressing the outrage that seems to be rightfully theirs? Do you think they might be angry about now being expected to take care of this huge generation of us who are their parents and grandparents?This Iowa high school boys’ basketball coach and her team are making some hoops history By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 7, 2008 CHURDAN, IOWA Head Coach Michelle Brock, 23, has her Paton-Churdan Rockets playing the best basketball that fans have seen from the P-C teams in years. She may be only the second woman in state history to be head coach of a high school boys’ basketball team. “As a coach, she seems to be intense, determined and very competitive,” one opposing coach says. And another: “I wish I could get the effort out of my players that she is getting out of hers.” She’s also a darned good director of vocal & instrumental music, says her boss the principal. Here’s the story and 11 colorful photos.With our endorsements both winning their races, does that make us a media bellwether in Iowa? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 4, 2008 COOPER, IA We’re searching around now, and it appears that the only media in the state that endorsed both Barack Obama in the Democratic race and Mike Huckabee in the Republican race are the Iowa City Press-Citizen and we at Offenburger.com. We’ve got that report and our review of some of the other highlights and lowlights of the caucuses in this special coverage.Yeah, sure, it’s college football’s bowl season, but in the real game, Vanderbilt is winning By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 1, 2008 COOPER, IOWA At midnight on New Year’s Eve, a busload of students, professors and staff from our columnist’s alma mater left the campus in Nashville, Tennessee, to come volunteer three days and experience the Iowa Political Caucuses. They’ll work in nearly all the campaigns, meet the candidates and their operatives, hang out with the political media – and generally have a ball being involved in the first step in the nation’s presidential election process. Our old alumnus couldn’t be prouder.Previewing the caucuses from Sam’s Barber Shop By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 26, 2007 AUDUBON, IOWA Former President Bill Clinton telephoned Sam The Barber Kauffman to seek his support for his wife Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. Sam told him, basically, “Not at first, but maybe after that.” What was it like telling the former president “no”? Says Sam: “That’s hard to do!” Among our panel of regulars in the discussions at the barber shop in Audubon, none had Senator Clinton as a first choice. But when you ask them and the others dropping by for haircuts or conversation, to pick the winner next November, a majority foresees another Clinton presidency.A Christmas story about two 53-year-old men in west Iowa, both of them stirred by the real spirit By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 24, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Vincent J. Leinen is a native of Dow City and a business success in Los Angeles who has had a very charmed life. Bernie Konz is a native of Neola who’s been pretty well beat up by life and now lives in a nursing home in Dunlap. They’ve not known each other until now. Here’s the story of how they connected this Christmas season, a time when Leinen says we all need to give, and when Konz says he so appreciates the gift.Chuck Offenburger: Mike Huckabee for president By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 24, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Mike Huckabee is my choice and recommendation among the Republican candidates running for president of the United States in the Iowa Political Caucuses.With these presidential races changing so fast, it’s time for a session at Sam’s Barber Shop By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 20, 2005 COOPER, IOWA You’re welcome to join the panel of regulars, who will convene today, Friday, December 21, at 1 p.m., at the barber shop in the southwest Iowa town of Audubon. For 27 years, it has served as the columnist’s sample precinct. Hopefully the group’s collective political wisdom and experience will help sort out the Republican and Democratic fields. Our writer, a Republican, is now undecided. So is the barber, a Democrat.A Christmas tradition of more than 40 years: The Morain family and friends gather in Jefferson to sing Handel's "Messiah" By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 16, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA Just as they have been doing since the early 1960s, members of the extended Morain family, which is headquartered in Jefferson, gathered with friends Sunday afternoon, December 16, to sing the 265-year-old holiday classic ''Messiah'' by George Frideric Handel. Rick and Kathy Morain hosted 18 of us who were singing, playing and/or listening.Ever wonder what life is really like for us, living out here in the middle of nowhere like we do? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 11, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Well, we wonder about it, too. That’s the thing about living in the countryside – you’re always wondering about something. Sometimes, it’s a dawn so beautiful you can’t help but go outside, just stand there and gawk at it. Other times, you’re wondering whether ol’ Bull Moose Possum is watching you again from the bushes, ready to try another snatch on the catfood. But mostly we wonder why it’s not more crowded out here, and actually, we’re pretty glad that it’s not.Christmas season starts in the beautiful Greene County Courthouse By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 3, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA The Greene County Courthouse, the site of serious and sometimes controversial government deliberations most of the time, took on an air of peace, beauty and harmony over the weekend.Happy Thanksgiving! And herein, we serve up the 28th “Turkey of the Year” -- Keith Langreck By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 22, 2007 JACKSON JUNCTION, IOWA Continuing our long tradition, we’ve made another trip to Turkey Valley High School located between the branches of the Turkey River in northeast Iowa. The senior classes there always pick one of their classmates, someone who is a genuinely good gobbler, as “Turkey of the Year.” This year’s Turkey is a fun and focused young guy who doesn’t bat an eye saying he’s thankful he has grown up where he has.Inside two months until the Iowa Caucuses, here’s a look at the races in both the parties By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 12, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA It’s fun and stimulating having all the candidates campaign in our communities. We’ll be telling stories about this for years to come. As a Republican, I’m feeling pretty good about Mitt Romney, but you have to wonder how 2008 could possibly be a Republican year. Meanwhile, as a witness to the dogfight you Democrats are having, my goodness, who’s going to win it? My guess right now: Barack Obama.We see London! We see France! And what-ho! We see Governor Richardson’s underpants! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 5, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA The New Mexico governor brought his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president to our county seat town of Jefferson Sunday evening, November 4. He drew a crowd of nearly 200 people, one of his larger crowds anywhere. Truth is, Richardson has the best credentials of any candidate in the race, Democrat or Republican. But if he’s going to continue wearing those blue jeans he had on here, he’s just got to get the zipper fixed!Sixty years after she died, Eva Leonard is still the hottest story in our Greene County history By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 15, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA The Ziegfeld Follies showgirl from little Grand Junction, Iowa, was a star on Broadway in New York City, the belle of the Big Apple in the late 1920s and ’30s. “The Venus of Iowa,” the New York newspapers called her. On October 14, three local artists told the Eva Leonard story in an hour-long original musical. People packed the Greene County Historical Museum to see and hear it. “Eva Leonard,” the narrator said, “will always dance in our hearts.” We’ll always wonder about her death, too.The Raccoon River Valley Trail’s fall festival demonstrated that trails are for everybody By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 9, 2007 COOPER, IOWA There were about 200 taking part on Saturday, October 6, coming from a wide area and ranging in age from 5 to 90. We even had 15 dogs get in on the fun – 11 of them in costume. We had hoped for more people, since the weather was so nice. But still, the crowd was a huge increase over last year’s. “So if we can keep building on that, this could become a really nice event,” says our trail association president. Here’s the story in words and 15 colorful photos.Our longtime sage Sam The Barber Kauffman can now also be called “The Golden Clipper” By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 3, 2007 AUDUBON, IOWA The barber and mayor in Audubon in southwest Iowa just observed his 50th anniversary of cutting hair in the same location in the community. His kids threw a huge surprise party to celebrate, and friends and family from all over sneaked into town for it. Sam’s is the shop that for 27 years has served as our “sample precinct,” drawing presidential candidates, gubernatorial candidates and many other notables. But this was one of its best moments.The ol’ hometown of Shenandoah generously saluted the Offenburgers during the “Shenfest” By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 25, 2007 SHENANDOAH, IOWA Brothers Tom, Dan and Chuck Offenburger were placed in the “Iowa Walk of Fame,” where the town honors notable Iowans, during the annual fall celebration on Septemeber 22. Two Offenburger sisters danced on the brothers’ tile plaque, in a fun protest. And big crowds enjoyed a great parade, a polka mass & dance, a rock band, kids’ games and presidential candidate Barack Obama speaking to more than 500 in a Shenandoah park.Yale University? It’s “the most extraordinary place” that a whole lot of us have ever been By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 20, 2007 NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT We’ve just finished a 10-day visit at Yale with our son, who is a third-year graduate student, his wife and their new little Yalie. And we have taken time to soak up as much of the Ivy League experience as possible. In this column, and in Carla Offenburger’s column just below here, we tell you about it in words and photos. (And check out the photos of the new little Yalie at the lower left of this home page in “Here’s looking at life at Simple Serenity Farm.”)A grand summer’s-end event at Greene County’s old-time/open-air roller rink at Spring Lake Park By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 4, 2007 GRAND JUNCTION, IOWA Here’s the story in words and two dozen colorful photos of a big crowd that came out on Sunday, September 2, to “Roll Back the Memories,” as skating rink operators Andy and Cathy Krieger invited us to do. There was a barbecue and a concert by a ragtime piano player. Then people from nearly 80 years old to just-beyond the toddling stage were all putting on skates and getting on a roll at the historic, 1929 facility. They skated and sang along with 1950s and ‘60s rock ’n’ roll on the sound system. How long has it been since you skated to the song “Alley Oop”? Alley Oop Oop, Oop Oop, OOPS!How the quilt show in Jefferson became big time tourism, with nearly 1,000 coming from 13 states By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 28, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA It’s easy to see why quilting has endured for nearly two centuries as a favorite activity of Iowa women – and what seems to be a growing number of men, too. It’s way beyond being just a complicated kind of sewing. It is a wonderful blend of sewing, art and storytelling. Here we give you the story in words and in more than 30 colorful photos of the “Heart of the Lincoln Highway Quilt Show,” held August 25-26 as a benefit for the local hospital’s foundation. It also turned out to be a real happening, with informative presentations, great food, and tales that were both touching and fun about some of the 300 quilts on display. Wait ''til you read about the one retrieved from a dumpster!A Greene County treasure, Spring Lake Park, inviting us all for a nostalgic Sunday evening By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 28, 2007 GRAND JUNCTION, IOWA We Catholics got a preview last weekend with an outdoor mass in the park. What a spot! Maybe best of all is its old-fashioned wood-frame roller rink in nearly the same condition as when it was built in 1929, perched right on the lakeshore, with prop-out side windows for open-air skating on a real maple floor. On September 2, the call is to “Roll Back the Memories” with a barbecue, ragtime piano music and then skating to 1950s and ’60s rock ’n’ roll. They promise free Ibuprofen and Band-Aids, too! Remembering the humble roots of a college that has just been given a $10 million boost By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 20, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Iowa Western Community College, based in Council Bluffs, last week was given 105 acres of land adjacent to its main campus. The gift will help serve the southwest Iowa school's 5,000 students in 84 fields of study. It made me recall a conversation in late 2005 with former president Bob Looft, who remembers when IWCC was a one-man show. He was it for most of '66!Shouldn’t we Republicans be feeling happier than we do after our Straw Poll on Saturday? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 13, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Maybe it was the heat in Ames. Maybe it was feeling too many political ghosts creeping around the proceedings. More likely, it had something to do with candidates as well as rank-and-file party members feeling they could ignore the whole event. Whatever, I’m wishing I felt better about my man Mitt Romney’s victory.The Barber Poll’s Republicans like Romney, while the Democrats are still undecided By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 7, 2007 AUDUBON, IOWA At my longtime “sample precinct,” Sam’s Barber Shop in the southwest Iowa town of Audubon, the panel of regulars figure that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will sweep this weekend’s Republican Straw Poll, the Iowa Caucuses in January and the GOP nomination, too. At this point, they think Senator Hillary Clinton of New York is the likely Democratic nominee. But they wonder if she can weather the challenge in Iowa from Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and fast-rising Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico – especially after Richardson stopped in the shop for a haircut on Monday.Presidential politics at Sam's Barber Shop: Democrat Bill Richardson stops for a haircut By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 6, 2007 AUDUBON, IOWA The governor of New Mexico is emerging from the ''second tier'' of candidates in the campaign for the presidency in the Iowa Political Caucuses. He stopped on Monday afternoon in Audubon for a haircut from Sam Kauffman in the barber shop that has long been the sample precinct for us at Offenburger.com. Our pal Beni Wardikun, the illegal immigrant, and what he’s helped us learn about America By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 31, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA The 29-year-old native of Indonesia has been living and working in Jefferson, Ia. He overstayed his visa, was arrested and jailed. He needed an advocate, so I stepped up, with help from his other friends around Jefferson, too. What I learned about our immigration system, in this summer of the big debate on the topic, is that it’s a scandalous mess, horribly out of step with the global economy. Now we hear it may not be overhauled before 2009. Is anybody worrying it might just collapse? Meanwhile, Wardikun will do a “voluntary departure” to his home country next week.''Mr. Pork Chop,'' a RAGBRAI legend, says he'll bow out after this week's ride across Iowa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 25,2007 EAGLE GROVE, IOWA Paul Bernhard, of Bancroft, Iowa, is one of the originators of the famous Iowa Chop, and for 25 years he has used the Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa to help make the delicious cut of meat popular. He's known around the world for his distinctive call to the cyclists: ''POOOOOORK CHOOOOOOOOOOPPP!'' One of his sons will likely succeed him.Thomas Jefferson is making the rounds now here in his namesake town of Jefferson, Iowa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 16, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA Attorney Tom Polking started thinking about how he and the former president share birthdays, professions, a lot of interests and even physical size. And Polking has enjoyed living and working here in Jefferson’s town. So he decided to bring history alive, costuming up as the great American who drafted the Declaration of Independence and served the nation in so many other ways. Who’d have thought it – Thomas Jefferson chatting up the local folks!Our grandbaby Lindsay Lee Offenburger is born in Connecticut, cheered by relatives around the world! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 10, 2007 NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT Lindsay Lee Offenburger, daughter of Maria and Andrew Offenburger, was born 8:11 p.m. EDT on Monday, July 9, 2007, at Yale University hospital here.It suddenly hit me: This was exactly the kind of night I’ve waited four years for here in Jefferson By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 9, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA Sisters Nicole Friess Schilling and Jamie Friess Leggitt, 29 and 26, have opened “Prairie Blue,” a coffeehouse on the west side of our Greene County Courthouse square. Friday night, they had special dinners and desserts, and live blues music from a new talent around here. The place was packed. You could hear, see and feel the future of our community. I swear, you’re all going to want to come to Greene County!Experiencing the Iowa Hall of Pride is a ''must'' for anyone wanting to fully understand this state By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 26, 2007 DES MOINES, IOWA Every time I work there as a volunteer host, or show up as a visitor, there are new videos, new displays and more amazing artifacts. But the stories are what make the place, and they range from inspiring, to laugh-out-loud funny, to heartbreaking, to a whole lot of ''ah-ha!'' moments. The stories are so good, in fact, you'll be telling them to everybody you know at home. Today, we welcome the Iowa Hall of Pride as one of our Partners & Patrons here at Offenburger.com.Some pals of mine in the South reminded me: Nothing beats a seersucker suit in hot weather By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 12, 2007 COOPER, IOWA When temperatures soar but you still have to be at least somewhat dressy, seersucker is not only cool-looking, it’s also cool-wearing. Seeing my Tennessee friends sporting these classy but casual suits around a wedding this past weekend made me really want one. The good news is my brother-in-law the high-end clothing salesman in Des Moines says they’d look great with black & white saddle shoes. The bad news is my wife thinks the suits are dorky.You can't beat it: Good music, good food and a nice slow bike ride on a sunny day By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 5, 2007 COOPER, IOWA The ''Trails & Trills'' bike ride attracted 69 cyclists from across the state. They were serenaded by 13 musical groups as they rode the eight miles of the Raccoon River Valley Trail between Jefferson and Cooper on June 2.So we hauled a 100-year-old antique piano up a gravel road, out on the trail’s river bridge and... By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 5, 2007 COOPER, IOWA What? We did what? All we can plead is ignorance. But it all worked out, and piano man Rick Morain made musical magic out there in the middle of the trestle bridge that carries the Raccoon River Valley Trail over the North Raccoon River. And we promise we’re going to start taking better care of the classic century-old Story & Clark piano that was donated to us for the Cooper Community Building, now that we really understand what we have!We were asked to speak to a Coe College class that’s such a cool one we wanted to enroll in it! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 21, 2007 COOPER, IOWA We hosted Professor Kerrie Miller and her ''Bicycle Writing'' class from the college in Cedar Rapids while they were cycling up the Raccoon River Valley Trail. They are spending the whole month of May riding bikes all over Iowa and writing about their adventures and observations.If you are looking for a tiny, quiet little town to escape a fast-paced life, don't pick Bolan, Iowa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 14, 2007 COOPER, IOWA The north central Iowa town of 14 people – or is it 16? – continues to be a little place where big things happen. It's the town that caught David Letterman's attention in 1989. So Saturday night when a fine brass quintet was playing, an art conservator was holding forth and one of the state's best vocal groups did a mini-concert, well, it all seemed so natural. Why NOT in Bolan, after all? Lori Nydegger Willert has helped her hometown believe in itself.It’s now time for us all to salute our graduates, & have mercy on commencement speakers too By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 9, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Our nephew’s graduation from college stirred our reflections about giving commencement speeches through the years. Take it from me and a couple of others who have had a good deal of experience at it: Graduation speeches are about the hardest you ever have to give. Everyone thinks they want a speaker for the ceremonies, but fact is, they really don’t. Here are some fun tales of a few disasters.The Cooper Prom is like classical music or fine art, reminding us we can be better than we are By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 16, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Let’s see, in an accompanying story with all the prom photos, we mentioned that the prom on Saturday, April 14, brought some “elegance” back to Cooper. We were all dressed up, our gym was decorated so fine, the meal was terrific – tra-la, tra-la! But then we got the whispered report that a damned bat was swooping around above the diners and dancers. How un-elegant is that? But it, too, was a good reminder – we have more to do in Cooper to really get better!Photo gallery shows the third annual Cooper Prom was ''Some Enchanted Evening,'' all right! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 16, 2007 COOPER, IOWA The Cooper Community Building was turned into a beautiful castle garden, and it was packed for “Some Enchanted Evening,” as this collection of photos shows. There were 258 for the banquet, and the dance floor was full for three hours as the “High Society Big Band” played. Elegance came back to Cooper!We’ve got a nice small town, nice small county. Now we need to prove we’re not small thinkers. By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 13, 2007 JEFFERSON, IOWA A big, bold “Downtown Streetscape Project” in our county seat of Jefferson is a hot topic here right now. Opponents of it packed a city council meeting the other night to hear a low-budget alternative. When I stood up and said bluntly that the alternative is inadequate, the crowd booed me, hooted at me and one guy even called me a “windbag.” Of course, I resemble that remark – especially when it comes to pushing small towns and rural Iowa into the future. Most fun business news story in a long time is ethanol giant Broin re-naming itself: “Poet”! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 2, 2007 COOPER, IOWA When has the art and craft of poetry received such corporate devotion? Iowa’s poet laureate Robert Dana says the name change is “both preposterous on the one hand and possibly marvelous on the other hand.” Is CEO Jeff Broin, who has driven spectacular growth and cutting-edge innovation in the company, a poetry buff? We’re trying to find out. He’s 41, not old enough to be a 1960s-type like some of us, but we can’t help but like the way he thinks. JUST ADDED: MORE REACTION FROM OTHER NOTED IOWA POETS.An in-depth story on the most contentious issue of our time in rural Iowa: Hog confinements By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 28, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Trent and Valerie Gierstorf are a solid young couple with four kids, wanting to build a future for themselves in the hog business – and in Greene County. Craig and Brenda Flack are a solid young couple with four kids, worrying whether they are going to be living less than a half-mile from 4,800 hogs. The whole county seems lined up on one side or the other. The county board of supervisors, on a 3-2 vote, declined to approve the Gierstorf project. But the real decision will be made by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Meantime, a big pork production company involved decides to change its name: “BlackJack Pork” is making too many people wonder about the financials.Introducing our new neighbors, the Osbornes, and the amazing story of their moving here By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 19, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Rich & Reagan Osborne, of Loveland, Colorado, fell in love with Iowa while riding RAGBRAI last summer. Then a friendly waitress in Waterloo, Nebraska, told them her uncle and aunt are RAGBRAI veterans, now live on a cool rec trail in west central Iowa and have an Internet site the couple should check out. The Osbornes wound up buying an acreage one mile south of our Simple Serenity Farm, and will move there with their 7-year-old son Mason. You’ll be fascinated by their plans for it!Cooper's Super Pasta Supper on Thursday, March 8, raised $450 to help with the upcoming Cooper Prom By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 8, 2007 COOPER, IOWA The Committee for a Super Cooper put on a second ''Super Pasta Supper'' on Thursday, March 8, serving delicious linguini donated by the pasta makers Barilla America, Inc., based in Ames.Maybe we’ve become a kinder, gentler bunch in Cooper now. Maybe you’ll even want to join us. By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 23, 2007 COOPER, IOWA The U.S. Postal Service told us it is closing our post office after 125 years here. In the past, that might have caused a riot. But they softened us up, offering us postal “suites.” Right here in our town of 30 people -- suites! And besides, we can see the future in Cooper and, even if it doesn’t include an actual post office, we like our chances!Trail talk & visions: ''The trail's not the answer. The trail's just a tool. You're the answer By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 17, 2007 COOPER, IOWA It was a day of a snowstorm and brainstorms on Saturday, February 17, in the west central Iowa town of Cooper (pop. 30). The Raccoon River Valley Trail Association organized a trail-related business & tourism development seminar in the Cooper Community Building, which is located a block east of where the 56-mile-long hard-surfaced trail goes through the heart of town.Drawing up a future for buildings (and towns) that maybe didn’t seem to have much potential By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 12, 2007 COOPER, IOWA Kevin Wilbeck, a visionary thinker about development along our trails in rural Iowa, shares what is on his sketch pad for our Raccoon River Valley Trail. He and other developers and marketers came together Saturday in our town of Cooper for a seminar on how to make trail-related business & tourism dreams come true.Impressive list of trail developers & promoters will tell how they did it, at a seminar in Cooper By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 1, 2007 COOPER, IOWA They are coming from their successes on several of the leading trails in the Midwest. The Saturday, February 17, seminar is sponsored by our Raccoon River Valley Trail Association, and is open to all who are interested in trail-related business and tourism development. But you need to pre-register now. For $20 it’s a real deal.A grand new feeling, even if a little scary, that there’s a robust economic future for rural Iowa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 25, 2007 COOPER, IOWA This new “bio-economy” may at first sound like something happening mostly on farms or with bio-fuels companies. But there is also new opportunity for small towns – or at least those towns that actively pursue it. Many new jobs are being created in rural Iowa, and a lot of them are jobs that are new to us around here.Simon Estes Music High School in South Africa still struggles at 10 years, but new help now stirs By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 13, 2007 COOPER, IOWA This dream project has been somewhat of a nightmare, too, and continues to be. But count up the school’s accomplishments, and you realize just how many young people in the Rainbow Nation have been helped because Iowa’s great opera star founded the school and has sustained it. And now the province government may offer support.A special photographic tour of Cape Town, South Africa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 12, 2007 CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA Chuck and Carla Offenburger spent the last week of 2006 and the first week of 2007 in the area of Cape Town, South Africa, a city of four million people that is not only one of the most beautiful places on Earth but it also one of the most interesting. Their photos and captions here will help tell the story.Back to one of Earth's most beautiful, interesting places -- the “Rainbow Nation” of South Africa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 31, 2006 CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA A decade ago, Iowa's opera great Simon Estes introduced us to South Africa, and the Offenburgers' lives were among many that were changed forever because of his performances and time here. We have now come here on vacation, and are marveling about just how profound those changes have been.Everybody is really mad at Michael Gartner (except for those of us who really know him) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 12, 2006 COOPER, IOWA The president of the Board of Regents has the University of Iowa community outraged. They are threatening votes of “no confidence.” Even the Johnson County Democrats want him ousted. He’s learning it can actually be lonely being a liberal in Iowa City, if you’re the liberal who has to make big decisions, like hiring a new university president.How is it that when something is freaking you out, you get asked to do a speech about it? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 5, 2006 JEFFERSON, IOWA If your dad died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve at the age of 59, well, you are just a little goosey when the Christmas season approaches in your own 59th year. In fact, you try not to think about it. But then your church choir director asks you to do an Advent Reflection in a special service with the theme “Thy Kingdom Come.”In celebration as Iowa's Governor Tom Vilsack announces his candidacy for U.S. president By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 30, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Five years ago right now, Governor Vilsack came to the town of Storm Lake, where we were living then. That visit prompted a column about when I first met him in 1989 in Mount Pleasant in southeast Iowa, and how his unlikely political journey got started. It is a story worth remembering now as he introduces himself to the nation.Our “Turkey of the Year” has figured it out well: His life is one that many teens dream of having By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 23, 2006 JACKSON JUNCTION, IOWA It’s the 27th Thanksgiving we’ve been back to Turkey Valley High School, located between the branches of the Turkey River in northeast Iowa. Todd Schmitt, voted 2006 “Turkey of the Year” by his classmates, says he’s so thankful for the honor that he will be inviting a bunch of them over for turkey & all the trimmings.And now one more bit of election perspective from the last Republican in Greene County By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 9, 2006 COOPER, IOWA It is time for a revival in our party – and not the kind of revival our religious right is used to. The state party chair should fire the executive director, then quit himself. Then in Greene County, at least, let’s get together and re-build both the Democratic and Republican Parties. Politics is too important to be left to the hacks. They’re nasty.''My Fair Lady (and Mouse)'' was a jolly good show when our high school did its fall musical By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 6, 2006 JEFFERSON, IOWA Learning all those songs, all that dialogue and those British accents, wow! That's one thing. But somehow our Jefferson-Scranton High School kids had also learned to keep their cool when there was an unexpected ''drop-in'' on stage with them!At Sam's Barber Shop, it's Nussle by a whisker in Iowa governor's race! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 2, 2006 AUDUBON, IOWA The panel of regulars at our ''sample precinct'' -- Sam''s Barber Shop in Audubon, Iowa -- came together November 1 to call the election's outcome.Members of Iowa's county boards of supervisors now range in age from 30 to 83, and average 61 By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 31, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Duane Larson, an incumbent seeking re-election here in Greene County, just turned 78 years old. In this column we tell you about him, about his challenger Jerry Roberts whom we support, some other “senior” supervisors around the state, and we introduce you to 30-year-old supervisor Amy Sinclair of Wayne County in south central Iowa.Five great moments in high school sports, all in one night, and all in one small town By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 9, 2006 SHENANDOAH, IOWA And if you think that’s unusual, imagine this – it all occurred in my hometown this past Friday night, it was also Homecoming, and your columnist just happened to be right there! A writer can’t get much luckier than that!When the Goodyear Blimp spends a week in your small Iowa town, it is a very BIG deal! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 30, 2006 JEFFERSON, IOWA It was here celebrating the 40th anniversary of a Goodyear dealership, McAtee Tire & Service Center. Iowa’s radio icons Van Harden and Bonnie Lucas brought their Des Moines WHO radio show to town. And the famous blimp flew over our high school Homecoming football game! More photos & the story inside here.An important centennial simply must be hailed: 2006 is the 100th anniversary of saddle shoes! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 7, 2006 COOPER, IOWA That’s right – cool shoes for a century! We haven’t found a parade or festival to celebrate properly, but we can at least have some fun talking to our favorite saddle shoe wearers. One tells us how the black & white shoes always “brighten my feet and my outlook.”Two new stops you need to make on the 'Net if you want to feel the real pulse of Iowa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 28, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Two of our pals in the Iowa media have new presence on the Internet. Jay Wagner, of Des Moines, is now publishing the online “Essential Iowa” feature magazine. And Douglas Burns, of Carroll, has a new blog “Iowa Political Alert” that is a must if you are interested in politics here. Both are free to you.Cycling among the cheeseheads turns out to be a glorious, scenic, six-day, 350-mile adventure By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 9, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Wisconsin is beautiful in August, and “SAGBRAW” there offered a lot of new experiences – including our first-ever visit to famous Door County. I mean, I got my money’s worth just getting to see the grand old dairy barns. But there was also the food, the lake and all the fun. And wait ’til you read about what pampered campers we were!One of the best things about RAGBRAI is how, even after 34 years, it still shocks & amazes us By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 29, 2006 COOPER, IOWA My own day on it this summer not only had my wheels spinning, but my head, too. What a show! And our pal Arnie Henden, a veteran rider back after a five-year absence, helped us think about how the big bike ride has changed in recent years. One thing has not changed – there is no better people-watching than you can find on RAGBRAI!Eventually people in nursing homes will be recalling their big adventures on RAGBRAI! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 24, 2006 COOPER, IOWA The world's greatest bicycle ride, sponsored by the Des Moines Register, is making its way across Iowa for a 34th consecutive year. Our columnist offers this RAGBRAI reflection about the generational shift that continues among the riders and staff.“For the Beauty of the Earth,” and a good time, get on a bicycle & go ride on a recreation trail By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 14, 2006 NEBRASKA CITY, NEBRASKA We did the Steamboat Trace trail in southeast Nebraska, then hopped across the Missouri River to ride gorgeous Plum Creek valley between Thurman and Tabor in southwest Iowa. It was a way to express praise and gratitude “for the beauty of each hour, hill and vale, tree and flower,” as the old hymn reminds us.The old hotel in Yale, Iowa, has been purchased by Sarah Brewster, a 36-year-old Iowa native By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 7, 2006 YALE, IOWA The old hotel in Yale, Iowa, identified as a key project to lead development along the Raccoon River Valley Trail, has been purchased by Sarah Brewster, a 36-year-old Iowa native now teaching overseas. She’s long wanted her own B&B or inn.Our town of Cooper celebrated its Quasquicentennial June 30-July 2 and here is a look at the fun By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 4, 2006 COOPER, IOWA The Quasquicentennial celebration in Cooper, Iowa (pop. 30), had a real feeling of Americana.A surprising, touching gift across generations highlighted our Cooper Quasquicentennial By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 3, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Who knew that the late Madeline Garrity, who served as co-chairperson of the 1981 Centennial celebration, slipped a special gift into the community’s time capsule, to be opened 25 years later? It was a little something for her then-infant great-granddaughter Amanda Bills, who is receiving it now when she is 26 years old.A big line-up of special events in little Cooper for our town's Quasquicentennial celebration By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 26, 2006 COOPER, IOWA A live theatrical performance, live music by Iowa's best high school musicians, see ''the most colorful trees in Greene County,'' you can ''Meet Our Ancestors'' on a cemetery tour, dine Saturday on steak sandwiches and ''Darrell's Baked Beans,'' then enjoy a potluck dinner Sunday and much, much more. Most of it is free, too!Cooper High School's reunion was hijacked, so one man showed up & picketed in protest By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 20, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Just because you haven't had your own school for 47 years doesn't mean you can't argue about it. In our town of Cooper's special Quasquicentennial summer, our old school's alumni association strayed -- and a '60s kind of guy called 'em on it.A $1.25 per acre land sale brought the settlers, the railroad and a new town called Cooper By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 8, 2006 COOPER, IOWA That was from 1855 to 1881, when our town was founded. In our “Cooper Conversations” now underway, we have already learned about our early neighbors the Meskwaki and Sioux, the growth of a fine small town, drunk pigs, a 1921 fire that nearly killed Cooper, and the spunky people who continue to keep it alive in its 125th year.The 2006 edition of the “Trails & Trills ride offered good music, easy cycling, great beans & more By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 4, 2006 COOPER, IOWA There were 84 bicyclists from all over Iowa, as well as from Nebraska and Georgia, who who came to Greene County on June 3, for one of the most unusual cycling events anywhere.Some very big stories are going to be told in our little town of Cooper between now and July 2 By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 30, 2006 COOPER, IOWA It’s “Quasquicentennial” celebration time here. We start this Saturday, helping host a bike ride. Next week starts a series of “Cooper Conversations” on Tuesdays and Sundays in June. Then the celebration itself is July 1 & 2. We’ll wonder again: How can so much have happened in a community so small?A fine night in our neighboring town, Jamaica, where a weekly bingo game has helped many By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 22, 2006 JAMAICA, IOWA In 18 years, a game the “Jamaica Bingo Ladies” run has produced $135,000 in donations for area projects. But the future is threatened, because the Bingo Ladies are running out of gas. Want to help? Then “you better get over here in a hurry, sonny.”A global attraction is developing in Mason City, re-opening a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 16, 2006 MASON CITY, IOWA The acclaimed architect was commissioned to come to Iowa in 1908, and he produced two striking, side-by-side buildings in the “Prairie School” design. One was an ill-fated bank, one was the Park Inn Hotel, which didn’t do so well, either. But those buildings will soon be luring people from around the world.My favorite college senior in Iowa this year figured out what higher education is all about By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 8, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Tara Ely did so many different things during her four years at Coe College in Cedar Rapids that it’s hard to imagine. Her advice to other students just starting? “No pre-conceived notions,” “keep yourself open to new people, new experiences” and how about this one: “Do everything that terrifies you!”The day my fellow Greene County Republicans basically just left the party's business up to me By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 27, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Things aren’t so grand in the Grand Old Party. Moderates and young people are being driven off by the continued right wing rancor and hysteria. How can anybody be opposed to the Vision Iowa Program? The GOP apparently is. And ending the sovereign nations of the Native Americans? Give me a paper bag to wear, please.Why is my candidate for governor wishy-washy? And why am I wishy-washy about dumping him? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 18, 2006 COOPER, IOWA I was all set to vote Democratic again, for Mike Blouin, after he said he is pro-life on the abortion issue. But it seems like he’s been running away from that position ever since. Meanwhile, Republican Jim Nussle is looking better to me all the time. Reporting the fashion statements & social news that were made during the 2006 Cooper Prom By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 12, 2006 COOPER, IOWA There were beautiful gowns, furs, tuxes – blue jeans and sports coats, too – and everybody seemed to have a ball. One woman had everybody buzzing with her “Light-Up Shoes” that had three colors flashing in the see-through high heels. Another's dress was cut low, showing tattoos on each breast. It was quite a caper in Cooper!Here's the story in photos of the 2006 Cooper Prom By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 10, 2006 COOPER, IOWA The Cooper Community Building was packed on the beautiful spring evening of April 8, with 250 people of all ages from all over Iowa. The 2006 prom theme was “Harbor Lights” with lots of maritime décor. 37 photos here show the preparations and event.Here in the Farm Belt, we're all awaiting Farmer Dale's signal that it's time to plant By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 3, 2006 AUDUBON, IOWA A report from my sample precinct – Sam’s Barber Shop in the southwest Iowa town of Audubon. Politics makes 'em snarl, but they’re happy with the economy and life in general there. And they'll be happier yet when they get into their fields and gardens.The couple that put us in our country home in west central Iowa will help you find one, too By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 27, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Today we welcome Judy and Gary Von Ahsen, of Jefferson, as Partners & Patrons of Offenburger.com. We view this as more than a business relationship between them and us. We look at it as an economic development initiative for our whole area.Ah, “Harbor Lights” are getting ready to twinkle for this year’s Cooper Prom on Saturday, April 8 By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 3, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Only about 55 of the 250 tickets remain available now, at $20 per person. That includes a great meal and dancing to the fantastic 15-piece ''High Society Big Band,'' one of Iowa’s best. Couples, solos, all ages welcome. Dress up & come on over for a super night in Cooper!If basketball tourneys make you nervous now, imagine what it was like back in the 1950s! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 13, 2006 COOPER, IOWA When Gary Thompson's Roland Rockets went on their great run in the Iowa high school tournaments from 1951-'53, they had to win seven or eight games -- just to get to state! And a championship required four more victories. Whew!A small town radio broadcaster is global voice of the Iowa girls' state basketball tournament By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 9, 2006 DES MOINES, IOWA KJAN of Atlantic is the only station doing ALL the girls' games in Des Moines, and you can listen to Jim Field's play-by-play by clicking in on the Internet.Glory, honor and thanks to South Dakota for its courageous stand against abortion By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 28, 2006 COOPER, IOWA The sponsor of a tough new bill passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate there and now being considered by the Governor, says ''we are a legislature that has done its homework on this.'' It could be a serious legal challenge to Roe v. Wade.Carroll is the latest Iowa community to join a movement the whole state needs -- the YPs By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 21, 2006 CARROLL, IOWA They’re the “Young Professionals,” new organizations of people from 21 to 45 years old. They know that Iowa’s rapidly aging population means big opportunities – and big responsibilities – for them in the years just ahead.A new association is aiming to make our trail a major national attraction By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 20, 2006 PANORA, IOWA A new organization has been formed to market and promote the Raccoon River Valley Trail in west central Iowa.Fun measure of a good life: When the students at your ol' alma mater give a hoot who you are By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 8, 2006 AMES, IOWA At Iowa State, they think so much of 70-year-old Gary Thompson and his wife Janet that the high-spirited gang in ''Cyclone Alley'' made them honorary members for a men's basketball game. And guess what? ISU won.This old hotel in Yale, Iowa, could be a jewel, a real marquee project along a great rec trail By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 31, 2006 YALE, IOWA We need a buyer and re-developer for the 116-year-old inn. Current owner George Ohm, former Yale mayor, has stabilized it. Who will take on the restoration/renovation & operation? It can be a major attraction on the Raccoon River Valley Trail. We Iowans know how to spend a winter night, by attending our famous political caucuses By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 16, 2006 COOPER, IOWA I got out my red & black checkered Lamar Alexander shirt, polished up a couple of perhaps unusual platform resolutions, and headed out to be a Republican again.Our old dog Ginger often has better sense than we do, like her alarm when we turned on TV By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 3, 2006 COOPER, IOWA Trying to act like normal Americans, we got out our TV to watch college football bowl games. After 10 years of almost no TV, it is shocking to watch several hours of it. Do we really need sex in the Fiesta Bowl commercials?Welcoming our daughter-in-law from Argentina, our family's first immigrant in about 130 years By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 19, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Maria Jose Lizardia de Offenburger, married to our son Andrew in June, arrives as a new U.S. resident. And it stirs this column of reflections on the essence of America, the things that make us proud to be part of it.Who'd-a-thot-it: It's a different Farm Bureau that is leading Iowa into the ''new paradigm'' By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 6, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Last week’s 87th annual meeting reminded us how different the Iowa Farm Bureau is from its pre-Farm Crisis years. Now, the rest of Iowa often struggles to keep up with the organization's progressive thinking.A Thanksgiving tradition: Meet the ''Turkey of the Year'' from Turkey Valley High School By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 24, 2005 JACKSON JUNCTION, IOWA Bryan Christophersen is our 26th “Turkey” at the NE Iowa school. He is a football player, weight lifter, maybe the strongest kid in school, an on-stage actor, and lives his faith. He’s doing high school the way it ought to be done!Has any Iowan ever matched the genius and humor of our legendary artist Grant Wood? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 15, 2005 COOPER, IOWA You know him for “American Gothic,” perhaps “Stone City,” “Early Corn” and “Appraisal.” But you’ll love him when you learn about Wood and his “Percy Heavythinker” character. You MUST see the exhibit.There's just not much cooler in Iowa than our colleges and universities. Let's boost 'em! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 1, 2005 COOPER, IOWA We are facing frightening demographic trends about the number of future college students available, especially in Iowa. It’s time to grow our higher ed “industry” by really marketing it nationally and internationally.Our celebration of the harvest, visiting an Iowa farm family with 3 generations out in the fields By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 19, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Our friends from Tennessee were here, so we showed them the biggest agricultural spectacle they’d ever seen. The four of us wound up howling at the big full Moon together, too. But, what did they think about no rooster?Six decades on WHO radio, and the Iowa icon Jim Zabel is still surprising us loyal listeners By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 13, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Like Sunday, when he was introducing a guest to talk about the Indiana Hoosiers. The 84-year-old Zabel did it by warbling the whole IU anthem ''Indiana, Our Indiana.'' Turns out he can sing all the Big Ten fight songs.So what makes a performer a real legend? Consider the career of Iowa's Roger Williams By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 29, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Our ''Mr. Piano'' played a benefit in his hometown of Des Moines, and a wax figure of him at a Steinway was unveiled and is now on display. It seems crazy to say it, but at 81, the guy still seems to be in his musical prime.Nothin' quite like a good chicken-fried steak to launch a discussion of new literature By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 19, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Hey-hey, my kind of cultural experience! Some authors hate doing book signings, but I've always enjoyed them. Of course, I do them in some unusual places and circumstances, too, like three coming up soon.Ring a cowbell! ''Oske-Wa-Wa!'' The JSPC Rams now have a new fan (and he can be a noisy one) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 12, 2005 COOPER, IOWA It took a while to get hooked on our local high school's sports teams. But now having helped cheer the Rams to victory over the two traditional rivals, let me just quote our fight song: ''Gee-Haw! Gee-Haw-Haw!''Ten years later, recalling the finish of the ''most fabulous summer'' of life for many of us By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 6, 2005 COOPER, IOWA On Labor Day, 1995, 308 of us and some special guests celebrated the end of our Iowa 150 Bike Ride/A Sesquicentennial Expedition across the U.S. We won't forget the last mile's ride up the National Mall in Washington, D.C.Concerns grow, right along with ''Big Pig,'' as the character of our Greene County farming evolves By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 30, 2005 COOPER, IOWA The largest hog confinement buildings I've ever seen are going up in the SW corner of the county. More are planned elsewhere. One developer is considering siting one just 825 feet from the Raccoon River Valley Trail!“Barn Quilts” – colorful celebrations of barns, quilts & art – are on display now in Greene County By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 6, 2005 COOPER, IOWA “Barn quilts” are a new attraction few people here really understood until now, when they’re able to see what it’s all about. Traditional quilt patterns are being painted on wood squares, at least 8-foot by 8-foot, which are then mounted high on the fronts of classic barns or other farm outbuildings in this county 55 miles west and a little north of Des Moines. Nine of these “barn quilts” are on display now, ready for motorists to come have a look.Singer, director, composer and a cultural icon, Ben Allaway is leading Iowans to musical joy By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 22, 2005 DES MOINES, IOWA Choir director and composer-in-residence at First Christian Church in Des Moines, Allaway has works being performed around the world. And when ''Ben & His Friends'' get together to perform, you don't want to miss it.No bum steer here: New book is 100 years of proof that Iowa is a great place to grow up By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 15, 2005 DES MOINES, IOWA My two-year project ''Bernie Saggau & the Iowa Boys: The Centennial History of the Iowa High School Athletic Association'' was launched Sunday at the Iowa State Fair. And Saggau was the talk of the Cattle Barn, too.John W. Agans, one of Iowa's sports legends, ''came back to life'' recently in his hometown By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 7, 2005 COOPER, IOWA In 1925, he told chauvinistic high school administrators if they tried to stop girls’ basketball in Iowa, “you’ll be standing in the center of the track when the train runs over you!” Little Murray featured him on its ''cemetery tour.''Humbly saying thank you to a university that has named its new journalism school after me By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 1, 2005 COOPER, IOWA The U of Okoboji shocked me at Homecoming this summer when they unveiled the new name of their J-school. But students are reportedly growling about the requirement they wear saddle shoes.A love story of our new era. You probably have never heard of one quite like this. By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 21, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Andrew Offenburger went to Argentina four years ago on airline tickets purchased by mistake, and fell in love there with Maria Jose Lizardia. Their marriage caps an amazing decade in our son’s life.A ''Super'' Day in Cooper draws nearly 800 to our town! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 4, 2005 COOPER, IOWA A 'Super' Day in Cooper draws nearly 800 to our town!We now begin to make our west central Iowa trails a major national attraction By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 1, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Our task force is seeking your help in fostering major new economic development and tourism along the Raccoon River Valley Trail and the proposed Hiawatha Trail. The payoff for this area could be huge.Everyone's got a chicken story, it seems, and now we do, too: We're crowing 'bout our rooster By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 16, 2005 COOPER, IOWA It looked so rough at first, there was no telling whether it was a rooster or a hen. It may have even gone through a manure spreader. “It’s had a hard life,” says the neighbor who gave it to us. ''It needs a good home.''What could be one of Iowa's prettiest spots may be plowed for yet another road project By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 10, 2005 JEFFERSON, IOWA “Everybody is walking on egg shells” here in Greene County. Two “old eccentrics” and younger allies are resisting the project threatening stately Eureka Bridge and beautiful “Danger Hill” on the historic Lincoln Highway.Starting today: More news, opinions & fun will be coming at you from us @ O'burger.com By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 2, 2005 COOPER, IOWA We now launch four new features here on our Internet site. And we tell you about Jared Strong, a graduating journalism student at Iowa State University who will be joining us next week for the months of May and June.A requiem for Babe Bisignano, a character the likes of which we'll probably never see again By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 20, 2005 DES MOINES, IOWA New York City had its Toots Shor, and in Des Moines we had Babe. He was the very definition of ''larger than life.'' And, oh, won't he and his pal the late sports columnist Maury White be having a grand reunion!Scenes from the ''Cooper High School Prom'' By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 12, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Here are photos of the ''Cooper High School Prom'' held April 9, 2005 -- the first prom to be held in our tiny community since the high school closed in 1959! More than 300 people packed the place, and the High Society Big Band turned them all into veritable dancing machines! For the full story, read the Chuck Offenburger column archived below here for the date April 11, 2005.Our Cooper High School Prom? What ho! It turned into one real happening! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 11, 2005 COOPER, IOWA When have more people of all ages had more fun -- with nary a drop of alcohol? We didn't have time for it. This party was moving too fast without it. You can see photos of the prom in a feature Archived here under ''Chuck Offenburger's columns'' for the date April 12, 2005.Most famous gown in Iowa to be displayed at the Cooper High School Prom on April 9 By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 28, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack is loaning us the dress she had specially made by Iowa State U. designers for the 2003 inaugural ball. It has the same colors & patterns as a stained glass window at the governor's mansion.News, gossip & social advice to help you get ready for our Cooper H.S. Prom, April 9 By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 21, 2005 COOPER, IOWA It will be our first prom since 1959 when the high school closed. The theme is ''The Way We Were.'' We invite you all -- Cooperites as well as you who have never been here -- to come enjoy another prom!Digital divide? Not out here where we live in rural Iowa, thanks to our 'Net provider By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 7, 2005 COOPER, IOWA We welcome aboard, as a Partner & Patron of Offenburger.com, the high-tech company netINS, Inc. The story of the netINS founding and development is one of the real Iowa business successes of the last 20 years.It's high time we all got to go to a high school prom again, so you're invited to Cooper's! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 28, 2005 COOPER, IOWA It will be the first Cooper High School prom since 1959, and we're doing it up right -- tuxes, formals, banquet and dancing to one of Iowa's best swing & jazz bands, the High Society Big Band! Tickets are on sale now.The new Iowa Hall of Pride: Best one-stop showcase of life in our state you can find By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 21, 2005 COOPER, IOWA The hall, a huge project of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, opens this week in Des Moines. Carla and I got a preview and were so impressed, we've reworked our spring bus tour to make it our first stop!So, now that Iowa has the attention of young people, why should they live here? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 16, 2005 COOPER, IOWA We finally found out who came up with the glitzy idea to do away with state income tax for Iowans under 30 years old. So, what do we do now that young people across America are suddenly curious about Iowa?A new source of saddle shoes: Goodbye Bass, hello Muffy's! Our feet are happy again! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 31, 2005 COOPER, IOWA Our ''evangelism'' for the classic shoes had hit a brick wall. Then word came about a fun company in Oregon. When it comes to saddle shoes, Muffy's ''gets it'' -- and they've got them in more styles than you can imagine!On King Day, we O'burgers pause to honor an extraordinary time in America & in our family By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 17, 2005 COOPER, IOWA A niece won a Martin Luther King Jr. community service award in Denver, Colorado. And an old photograph she asked us to find is a great reminder of what a priceless gift my brother Tom Offenburger gave us.A travelogue, beginning with my review of Bill Clinton's new library and museum By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 10, 2005 COOPER, IOWA You go away with a rush of mixed feelings, about the President's failings, about his accomplishments and about what a roller coaster ride of emotions he took us all on -- especially so for the people of Arkansas. An historic day in Iowa passes quietly, but two 'custodians' and a visitor pause to observe it By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 28, 2004 BOONE, IOWA The offices of the Iowa High School Athletic Association were closed for holiday break on the 100th anniversary of the organization, which sanctions boys' sports. But guess who we found working there on centennial day.A celebration (or requiem?) for the classic always stylish black & white saddle shoes By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 23, 2004 COOPER, IOWA Ten years ago this Christmas, G.H. Bass & Co. of Maine was frantically delivering 675 pairs of beautiful new B&W saddle shoes to Iowans. We'd won a battle with our ''Back in the Saddle'' campaign, but have we now lost the war?What a rush this decade has been, once we all got on the ''Information Highway!'' By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 14, 2004 COOPER, IOWA Flashing signs at truck stops now boast of the high-speed wireless Internet service they have available. And Internet entrepreneurs -- like us! -- are operating from the middle of nowhere. It's wild, and probably will get wilder! A Thanksgiving tradition is now 25 years old, and Kyle Panos struts as ''Turkey of the Year'' '04 By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 25, 2004 JACKSON JUNCTION, IOWA I've made another trip back to Turkey Valley High School in northeast Iowa, where the seniors and I honor a ''good gobbler.'' And we get an answer to Vera Wiest's question: ''How do you keep a turkey in suspense?''After conducting 300 interviews, then writing 100,000 words, a lesson: Don't try to hurry history By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 18, 2004 COOPER, IOWA A progress report on my book, ''Bernie Saggau & the Iowa Boys: The Centennial History of the Iowa High School Athletic Association.'' It'll be early 2005 before it's available. I think it'll be worth the wait.You are now all welcome to start paying more attention to my thoughts and opinions By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 8, 2004 COOPER, IOWA I'm a bellwether! For the first time in my life as a voter, all the candidates and all the public initiatives I voted for -- from the top of the ballot to the bottom -- they all won! So let me offer some advice to President Bush.Our adventure in Kentucky and then Tennessee stirs up some great stories and big ideas By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 25, 2004 COOPER, IOWA I've made 20 trips to the South the past 35 years, but I never had as much fun or learned as much there as I did last week when we led an Offenburger.com Tours group to Paducah and Hickman County.Autumn notes about fashion, the countryside, marching bands and potluck church suppers By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 11, 2004 COOPER, IOWA Fall glory: Listening to the harvest, football and marching bands, a hot ''new'' fashion trend, a cool kid in northeast Iowa, an orchard's great festival and a church supper that feeds a college football team.I've now met Iowa's future leaders, and I'm ready to start taking orders from them By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 4, 2004 COOPER, IOWA A crowd of 160, most in their 20s and 30s, met for a ''Young Professionals of Iowa'' event they organized themselves. They know the challenge -- rebuilding an entire state -- and actually they're liking it.In celebration of Iowa State's victory in the big rivalry that was played out in Iowa City By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 13, 2004 COOPER, IOWA What? You thought Iowa won? That was the football game. Iowa State won the big one -- the battle of the bands -- and this year's Cyclone band is terrific. Their pre-game show is one of the best college anythings in Iowa.The dang kids actually do go out and follow their dreams! But, then, home is dreamy, too. By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 6, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA Chuck Offenburger is completing a book, so his pal Dick Hakes pinch-hits. Hakes, a native Iowan and small town business owner, is frequently amazed at what adventurous spirits his grown daughter and son have become.She realizes that Iowa's best exports aren't hogs, corn & beans, but Iowans! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 30, 2004 DUBUQUE, IOWA Chuck Offenburger is completing a book, so his pal Mary Lynn Neuhaus pinch-hits. A professor of communication at Loras College in Dubuque, and a lawyer, she's just back from a summer in the nation's capital.We pedaled our bicycles for five days on Iowa trails, and we found a future that is bright By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 17, 2004 COOPER, IOWA Some people look at tiny towns like our Cooper and the neighboring burgs of Herndon and Yale, and see places whose heydays are long since past. But ever been to Lanesboro, Minnesota? It could happen here.A little rant for all of us who seem to be up the financial crick without a good paddle By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 9, 2004 COOPER, IOWA Hurrah for economic prosperity, but when you're out here in the countryside watching what's happening in Des Moines, it looks like extravagance. Want to join us in a protest? We've found a great idea for one!Perfect rides on Iowa's many bike/rec trails, like ours here, so come pedal along with us By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 30, 2004 COOPER, IOWA Learn why two routes I've found from Simple Serenity Farm are about as good as bike rides can get. And sign up for our Happy Trails Tour. Also in this column, a ''grand excursion'' to Dubuque & visiting our favorite monk.Going country? Actually, we're staying global but now we'll do it from our little farmstead By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 15, 2004 COOPER, IOWA One of the county's most famous native sons says it's ''a place where they know about it when you’re born, and they care about it when you die.'' Sounds like a place we'd all want to live, doesn't it?A not so quiet farewell to the lakeshore, community and university that we've loved By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 7, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA As as we leave for our farm in southern Greene County, I have to say Storm Lake seems a town at a great tipping point, maybe the second most important point in its history. Some thoughts here on how to tip it forward.Getting a taste of what life is like for the folks hosting early morning radio shows in Iowa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 31, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA I've been pinch-hitting some for WHO radio's Van Harden, injured in a lawnmower accident. How do he and Bonnie Lucas, and others like WMT's Tim Boyle and KGLO's Tim Fleming, function so early in the morning?An invitation for you to come along now as we continue exploring Iowa and its future By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 4, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA Join us Tuesdays this spring, 6 to 8 p.m. on a 9-station radio network, for a series of discussions about Iowa's possibilities. Better yet, travel with us to the cities where we do the chats live. Past shows are on the 'Net.Chatting with the people who are making the Dubuque area such a fun place to visit now By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 27, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA The city and area now offer such a good mix of attractions, new and old. Read this column and the three earlier ones in the Archives about our tour, and you'll be able to plan a good itinerary for your own Dubuque visit.Ol' Dubuque's eye-popping, fun proof of what major investment in tourism can do By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 25, 2004 DUBUQUE, IOWA Tremendous new attractions drawing big crowds. Mayor Terry Duggan tells us about the new pride. He also tells us a harrowing tale about how one of the city's most sacred spots was once threatened by an arsonist, whose evil act was interrupted by a quick-thinking 'altar boy.'When the monks are doing well, it surely must be a good sign for the rest of us, too, isn't it? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 24, 2004 DUBUQUE, IOWA We begin our three-day ''Destination Dubuque'' tour with a wonderful visit to 155-year-old New Melleray Abbey, the Catholic Trappist monastery. And we get a good glimpse of contemporary monastic life.One tour rolls today -- it's ''Destination Dubuque'' -- and our fall trip is now open, too By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 23, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA We start today hobnobbing with our pals the monks at New Melleray Abbey, and then we go on to Iowa's oldest city and its hottest new tourist destination -- that's Dubuque. You can read along with us all weekend.O, brother, we think we know where thou art. (We think thou has probably earned it, too.) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 14, 2004 SHENANDOAH, IOWA I do believe my brother Dan Offenburger directly impacted the lives of more people than any other individual I’ve ever known. But the guy had more fun along the way than most of us ever experience, too.Iowa's future is on the line, and starting tonight, it's time for all of us to get involved By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 6, 2004 DES MOINES, IOWA We hope you'll attend our listen-in on our ''Imagine Iowa's Future'' series of shows, which will be held the next 10 Tuesdays. It's going to be informative, provocative, entertaining and fun. Free pancakes & sausage, too!New changes at Offenburger.com make us realize how much our little venture has grown in 3 years By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 22, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA We've always been on ''the cutting edge'' here, and now we really are with the fine knives from Rada Cutlery. Adding their products in ''Our Iowa Store'' proved a good time to take a look back at how we've developed.Best two days of learning about Iowa I've ever had, and now we're bringing it right to you By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 16, 2004 AMES, IOWA Many of our leading experts and thinkers came together, invited by Iowa's architects and Iowans for a Better Future. The experts shocked, awed and inspired us. We'll take it on the road as ''Imagine Iowa's Future.''Discovering that they really did nail up bushel baskets in haylofts & play 'barn basketball' By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 3, 2004 COOPER, IOWA We find a tattered wooden fruit basket hanging on a beam in our barn's hayloft and learn it's been there 50-plus years. It's a relic of an earlier era, a time when there were kids on every farm, and 10 times as many farms.A series of Bible chats so good they've kept young and old alike riveted to them for weeks By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 20, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA Our good friend Douglas T. Bates III of Centerville, Tennessee, has a 23-CD set that's an ''audio tour of the whole Bible.'' It's not only enlightening and even surprising, it's also a heck of a lot of fun!Best moment so far of this basketball year? Try this one that happened here Sunday morning By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 16, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA Casey Pelzer, outstanding point guard for the BV Beavers, took time to solo at the United Methodist Church here on the lakeshore. He's as good a singer as he is a basketball player.A grand theft is happening right before Iowa's eyes! Can we possibly keep the Bogenriefs? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 9, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA Paducah, Kentucky, wants the talented stained glass artists from little Merrill, Iowa, to move there. South Dakota wants them, too. So does Spencer, Iowa.Godspeed to Bolekwa Sifo, as we send our Xhosa 'Princess' back home to South Africa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 2, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA We are sending the ''Rainbow Nation'' a great young person, with a lot of new knowledge and experience. And we're sending a big part of our hearts, too.The tiny town Exline, Iowa, has a new store and new spirit, and both are luring visitors By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 26, 2004 EXLINE, IOWA It's all thanks to the town's most famous native son and great benefactor, Morgan Cline. You've got to try the rockers on the porch, or pull up a chair round the stove in the ''Sit & Spit Corner.''This caucus of Iowa's 1,998th precinct now comes to order on a key issue: How'd Iowa do? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 19, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA The caucus of the far-flung. We asked people living outside Iowa -- friends of ours, former Iowans, others with ties here -- how the state has looked under the media's bright lights.One precinct here in Iowa caucused early, and the news is not good for Howard Dean By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 12, 2004 AUDUBON, IOWA The gang at Sam's Barber Shop in Audubon thinks Dean may have peaked a week too early, and that now we may have one of the tightest caucus races we've ever seen in Iowa.It's January here in Iowa: Nasty weather, great politics! John Edwards warms us up By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 5, 2004 STORM LAKE, IOWA Howard Dean serves us pancakes. Three things Bush can do to assure his re-election. Plus, you're invited to caucus this Saturday at my sample precinct -- Sam's Barber Shop.Ron Maly's new anecdote-filled history of Iowa Hawk football is fun, fascinating and newsy, too By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 29, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Can you imagine -- a practicing urologist as head coach? And we learn what a brilliant, complex young man Nile Kinnick really was. This is an important work of state history.Reflections on the games our kids play, in a packed stadium or in front of 47 in a crackerbox By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 22, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA My book project took me to last fall's huge Dowling vs. Valley football game in West Des Moines. Now it's taken me to a basketball game as ''little'' as the football game was ''big.''It's ''another Christmas tree from heaven,'' as we start into the fun season of holiday tales By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 8, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Cutting our own tree, a last Christmas for some special hogs, ''The Sleepy Little Drummer Boy'' here at BVU, and Simpson College's breathtaking Festival of Lessons & Carols.Down memory's lane: Reflecting on my early start in newspapering in my hometown of Shenandoah By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 1, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Evelyn Birkby's ''Up a Country Lane'' column has run 54 years in the Shenandoah newspaper -- never missing a week! Infrequently, she has a pinch-hitter, like me last week.At Turkey Valley they're thankful for turkeys, for football and for those who are away at war By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 27, 2003 JACKSON JUNCTION, IOWA Greg Stammeyer is the 24th ''Turkey of the Year'' in a Thanksgiving tradition I share with the senior classes at the high school in northeast Iowa.We're launching the holidays at Offenburger.com with new items and price cuts at Our Iowa Store By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 24, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA One of our new offerings: The hand-sized ''Memory Journals'' books by Boone's Kathy Lashier. They're the biggest publishing success in Iowa since Robert James Waller's ''Bridges.''Denison, Iowa, a chicken-fried launch point for one of this state's legends, Bernie Saggau By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 17, 2003 DENISON, IOWA Researching and writing a book about Saggau and the Iowa High School Athletic Association that he heads is taking me all over the state.In Tennessee, our Tarkington Society once again proves foolishness is quite the deal By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 7, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA The Class of 2003, when it waded into Hassell's Creek for induction, included C.W. Tarkington, the 76-year-old namesake of Tarkington General Store, and lawyer Tom Bailey who flew in specially from New York.Ol' ''Sewanee'' is indeed right, especially if you're one for college spirit and tradition By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 3, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA On a trip to Tennessee, I fulfilled my ambition of 30 years to stroll the campus and attend a football game at the University of the South, which everybody lovingly calls ''Sewanee'' after its town.25 years ago, Iowa State's marching band got a new name (and an attitude) via Earle Bruce By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 28, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA What were those Cyclone band members doing in the Varsity locker room on that October evening in 1978? Also, Loras vs. BV for the saddle shoes, and DM Register reporter John Carlson's haunting war stories.Seeing Iowa's huge harvest a different way: How much are we impacting world hunger? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 21, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA The distinguished visitors for the World Food Prize programs remind us of the awesome potential of the state's agricultural bounty, and of the global need for our ag expertise.It's a neat house with a heritage (and a $10,000 picket fence) now for sale in Storm Lake By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 14, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Oh, the stories that are around this place at 211 College Avenue! From a college president living here, to a U.S. presidential candidate speaking in the back yard, a lot of fun has happened here.Grand autumn! Thanks for that, Sterling Morton! (Died in 1902, but still shows up in Neb City) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 9, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Thanks to a slick projection system,the founder of Arbor Day appears in thin air. We visited with him in Nebraska City on our fall tour, then wound up with a delicious lunch (and dessert) in Shenandoah.A new way to think about Lewis & Clark: Could a young troop today do what they did? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 5, 2003 NEBRASKA CITY, NEBRASKA Our Offenburger.com fall tour visits the interpretive centers about the expedition in Sioux City and Onawa, and then we traveled south for an overnight stay at the home of Arbor Day in Nebraska City.The wonders of western Iowa enchant our fall tour, both in the hills and in Sioux City, too By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 4, 2003 SIOUX CITY, IOWA Friday we experienced the awesome Loess Hills, then two Sioux City classics -- the Green Gables restaurant and Orpheum Theatre. Today, we join the Lewis & Clark expedition.Storm Lake's Sail Inn Motel is a model partnership in the new Iowa (and it's on the lakeshore, too!) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 29, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Three local couples, all in their 40s, crossed ethnic and racial lines to form a multi-cultural partnership here in the ''World’s Hometown.'' And you can't beat the conversations in the lobby with their manager!Offenburgers bought a farm: E-I-E-I-O! On this farm we'll learn a lot: E-I-E-I-Yikes! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 22, 2003 JEFFERSON, IOWA “Well, if you’ve lived your whole life in Iowa like you two have,'' our friend tells us, ''the question shouldn’t be why you’d want to buy a farm there. It should be, isn’t it about damned time?” We'll most likely move in June.Gallery honors the photography of Gov. Bob Ray, who has an eye for the dramatic (and the fun!) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 18, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA His pictures, on display this month in Des Moines, remind me of the time in 1979 when he and I sneaked up on the town of Center Point, Iowa, for a photo story for the Des Moines Register.Johnny Cash actually was 10 feet tall -- in my mind, at least, and probably in yours, too By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 15, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA What was your favorite Cash song? Mine didn't get mentioned in all the stories and tributes. His ''What is Truth?'' helped bring America out of one of its darkest times. Also, let's talk a little Iowa football and band music here.It seemed so strange, driving across Iowa, listening as the world was coming undone By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 11, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Recalling the fear during a lonely drive on 9-11-01. And, in happier notes, an ambidextrous BV quarterback, a great pumpkin story and a favorite tale about life in Bode, Iowa.College football can be so sweet when its drama ends as happily as it did for BV on Saturday By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 8, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Our team across the street, with a wizard at quarterback, surprised big, strong Gustavus Adolphus and won 37-34 in two overtimes. Our pep band and National Anthem singer are better than yours, too. Life is good for Beaver fans.The inspiring Lied Lodge in Nebraska City is a must-see, and you can come with us! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER September 1, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA A visit last week reminds me just how grand this 9-year-old facility is -- and now guests can have a personal visit with Arbor Day founder J. Sterling Morton, who actually has been dead since 1902. Come join our fall tour and we'll introduce you to him.The bagpiper Archie MacKay starts another college class on its journey to everywhere By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 24, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA And before they leave this university ''by the beauteous lake resplendent,'' they will have found knowledge, heart and courage to sustain them on their way.An appreciation for the vision (and visionaries) that built the recreation trails we enjoy today By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 18, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Who in 1967 was even thinking that railroad beds might make neat bike trails? That's when the Elroy-Sparta State Trail opened in Wisconsin, and now people come from all over the world to ride it.Happy Trails! We're riding some beauties in NE Iowa, Minnesota and now Wisconsin By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 15, 2003 SPARTA, WISCONSIN If we're not pedaling through canopies of trees over old rail beds on this tour, then we're riding along babbling rivers in valleys that make us think we're in Colorado.Our State Fair is a great state fair, indeed: What else connects all of us like it does? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 11, 2003 DES MOINES, IOWA Give me a Guinea Grinder sandwich (Oops! I mean a ''Jennie Grinder''), a Bauder's peach ice cream cone and let me hear Bill Riley's kids singing. Hey, is this heaven?Audubon is celebrating its 125 years, and guess who are grand marshals of the parade? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 7, 2003 AUDUBON, IOWA Sam the Barber, who's also the mayor, and First Lady Lois Kauffman, maker of blue-ribbon pickles, are the honorees. But neither is even close to being the town's grandest character. Who's that?Living life the way God wants us to in late July and early August -- at the ol' ball parks By CHUCK OFFENBURGER August 4, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Notes from hanging out and listening to America while at Wrigley Field in Chicago and at the ball diamonds in Carroll, Marshalltown and Adair in Iowa.What's it like riding a bicycle into your ol' hometown when you're 80 years old? By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 28, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA We have an interesting answer from our cycling friend John Jackson, an 80-year-old from Virginia who was on RAGBRAI when it went through his hometown of Kellerton, Iowa. Plus other tales from our ride across the state.The ol' bicycle finally wore out, but the cyclist is ready to ride across Iowa on RAGBRAI again By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 20, 2003 GLENWOOD, IOWA The Des Moines Register's famous event is the biggest, oldest and best bicycle touring event in the world. Its co-founder John Karras is making news on it this week. Plus, the pie forecast.Life is good on SW Iowa's Wabash Trace Nature Trail, now reaching its full potential By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 14, 2003 COIN, IOWA There are places you ride with “walls” of Loess Hills soil towering 50 feet on both sides of you. Other places there are drop-offs of 50 feet on both sides of the trail. When it comes to the fireworks, you can shoot your best but Mother Nature's can trump yours By CHUCK OFFENBURGER July 7, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA The 4th of July on the lakeshore was an All-American melting pot sort of day, capped by two kinds of fireworks -- pyrotechnics and celestial.Oh! How 'bout the Van Orsdels! When they throw a party, it's something to behold! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 30, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA When ''Bwana Bill'' and ''Miss Wick'' Van Orsdel, of Des Moines, decide to have some fun, a whole lot of people will have fun, too. We review Wicker Van Orsdel's Okoboji ''Gong Show.'' Also, your responses to last week's baseball lingo column.Hum, baby! You've gotta love the lingo you learn hanging out at the ol' ball park By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 25, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA We've got a 90-mile-per-hour fastball in the family this summer. That's ''big heat.'' And the kid's ''Uncle Charlie'' is nasty, too. (We old players have sort of an obligation to share the language of the grand ol' game.)What a night! The Vilsacks are boffo in their theatrical debut here on the lakeshore By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 22, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Iowa's governor and first lady wow the crowd in Storm Lake with their first-ever performance of the contemporary hit ''Love Letters.'' Even a couple of pros in the audience are impressed.By the way, you all should be here on the lakeshore Saturday night for this debut By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 18, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA The governor and first lady, in their first theatrical performance ever, are doing ''Love Letters'' on stage here and you can attend.Our fall tour: Western Iowa's heritage of Lewis & Clark, Loess Hills & Missouri River By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 15, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA It comes with excellent overnight stops in the Sioux City area and at the fabulous Lied Lodge in Nebraska City, Neb.Our newest Iowa hero is home from Mount Everest with stories -- and inspiration -- for all of us By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 8, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA ''Many laughed at the idea of an Iowa Mountaineer,'' Charlie Wittmack says, ''casting me into the company of the Jamaican Bobsled team or the carnival’s bearded lady.''The story of the Offenburgers scattering from our hometown is the story of so many Iowa families By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 4, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA The youngest of Anna Offenburger's grandkids graduated from high school this year, and so did the oldest of the great-grandkids. But we've roamed a long way from Shenandoah -- to six other states, in fact. Also in this column, a look at Cedar Rapids. And some thoughts about Adam Haluska, a brilliant young basketball player caught in a firestorm right now in Iowa.Welcoming home our Iowa hero, and notes from another week when we all proved again: Life is good By CHUCK OFFENBURGER June 1, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA From Mount Everest in Nepal to Northern Ireland...from a graduation in Fredericksburg, Ia., to the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota...from a mountaintop in Colorado to jogging across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City...you people amaze me!A ''classic'' coffeehouse event hailed Iowa's best -- good brew, mixed crowd and funky live music By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 29, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA We had a great time on the lakeshore as we honored Cyndy and Joe Coppola, owners of Java Joes Coffeehouse in Des Moines, which we rank No. 1 in the state.Charlie Wittmack, the first Iowan to climb Mt. Everest, showed in '95 he was up to BIG challenges By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 25, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA If we would have done a ranking of the free spirits and delightfully peculiar people on our trans-USA bike ride in 1995, Wittmack – now a genuine Iowa hero – probably would have topped nearly everybody’s list.R.I.P. for a larger than life character, Byron Godbersen, who some thought was the king of Ida Grove By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 19, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA He was the most fun rich man I've ever known, the living model of the expression, “The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.”The coffee in Iowa's coffeehouses is great, but even better are the stories about the owners By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 15, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA This java business does seem to draw a fascinating and varied bunch of people.The best coffeehouse in Iowa? Our pick: Java Joes in Des Moines, with its character (and characters) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 11, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA You said we needed to check out 44 coffeehouses in 27 towns. We went to all of those, and some others we found along the way, and here's our report.We're making our final swing on our ''java saga,'' in search of Iowa's best coffeehouses By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 7, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA After our last stops in Mapleton and Shenandoah, we'll be back to you here on Sunday with our ranking of the top ten and honorable mentions.The treasures of southeast Iowa -- from corn meal mush to meditators who have helped lift Fairfield By CHUCK OFFENBURGER May 4, 2003 FAIRFIELD, IOWA The mush was in Washington at 75-year-old Winga's Cafe, which was 'retro' before 'retro' was cool. Then we went on to Maharishi Vedic City and Fairfield, which have become fascinating places to live and work.Check these Offenburger.com Tours, because we're having too much fun for you to be missin' any of it By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 24, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA We've got one Offenburger.com Tour launching this weekend to southeast Iowa, and we have details here of our “baseball, gambling boats and boutiques” trip to the Mississippi River in late June. Pour yourself a cup o’ joe, ’cause we’ve got a lot of grounds to cover here in our coffeehouse expedition By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 20, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Our month-long expedition to find Iowa’s best coffeehouses is underway, and I had hoped to have this first road report done for you a day or two ago. But that’s O.K. because, as we learned from a sign at Pierce Street Coffee Works in Sioux City, "Better latte than never."Our expedition in search of Iowa's best coffeehouses is ready to roll to 44 java joints in 27 towns By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 13, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA We'll give you stories along our way, and a final rating of the best on Sunday, May 11.Back when they had to picket and protest on college campuses -- to get women's basketball started! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER April 6, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA “Players today can hardly believe that stuff happened,” said Connie Shafar. But it happened at the University of Northern Iowa, and lots of other places.At long last, a spring break trip for the eternal sophomore, but this was no orgy in the sun By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 30, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA We joined 10 Buena Vista University students on an eye-opening trip of service, learning and fun in the Denver, Colorado, area.The surprising story of what former President George and Barbara Bush did on Sept. 11, 2001 By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 23, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Somewhere in the Milwaukee area there is a motel clerk with quite a story to tell about the time the former president and first lady came in unexpectedly.The real 'moment of truth,' Mr. President, is when we again learn an old lesson: War is indeed hell By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 17, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA A generation of young Americans and young Iraqis should be very angry at all of us in the older generations. And they should get really involved.Hoop dreams (and streams)! Listen worldwide to Iowa's high school basketball state tourneys By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 12, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA The play-by-play man from station KJAN in Atlantic, Iowa, has fans listening to him from far and wide.''Our Iowa Store'' is now open, celebrating the work of Iowans, a home business with a global reach By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 9, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA We bring you the work of our favorite Iowa authors, artists, artisans, manufacturers and makers of delectable goodies.Here's the latest ''bean squeezin's'' in our reader contest to find Iowa's Top Ten coffeehouses By CHUCK OFFENBURGER March 2, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Can there really be another one out there as good as Storm Lake's Abner Bell's Coffeehouse?A new reader contest: Help us find Iowa's top 10 coffeehouses, from second-best on down By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 20, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA If you convince us your favorite is Iowa's second best, or maybe even the best, then we'll bring you to Storm Lake as our guests and throw a reception in your honor at the java joint we think is the state's best, Abner Bell's!Make no mistake, Iowa: This is not your father's Farm Bureau anymore! By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 14, 2003 STORM LAKE, IOWA Why is the 80-plus-year-old farm organization getting so aggressive and forward thinking lately? If you want to get up to speed for re-shaping Iowa’s future, we need to borrow your ear By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 10, 2003 STORM LAKE, IA. Two themes have come clear in the first two evenings of the radio shows that WHO’s Van Harden and I are co-hosting during February about Iowa’s future.You’ve heard of town meetings? Iowa is having a state meeting (and guess who is co-hosting) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER February 4, 2003 STORM LAKE, IA. I have now temporarily become “executive producer” and co-host of a series of radio shows that tonight begin airing on a statewide network of stations.What I've learned in three weeks of hanging out here at ol' Coe College By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 23, 2003 CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. I get hired for these teaching jobs, but somehow it always seems I've learned more than I've taught.Christie Vilsack, Iowa's 1st Lady, comes aboard as one of two new columnists on this 'Net site By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 13, 2003 CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. Her columns will be the centerpiece of a major expansion of this Internet site.Sling-a-da-ink! Ol' Joe College lands well again, this time at Coe in Cedar Rapids By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 8, 2003 CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. My assignment is to introduce students here to the Iowa I know and love.An international start to 2003, which might well become a very international sort of year, it seems By CHUCK OFFENBURGER January 1, 2003 STORM LAKE, IA. My New Year's resolution? I want to cultivate more friendships around the world.We are counting our blessings here on the lakeshore at Christmas '02 By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 24, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. How is it that we have such peace, happiness and plenty when so many suffer?Our 'Treasures of Southeast Iowa Tour' in April is available for late shoppers (or early planners) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 19, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. We'll focus on Fairfield, Vedic City, the Villages of Van Buren County and Centerville.Simpson College's 'Lessons & Carols' always a spiritual high point in the Christmas season By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 13, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. They get the holiday season off to a grand musical start in candlelit Smith Chapel on the pretty campus in central Iowa.Cycling the best Midwest trails: Be on our first 'Happy Trails Tour' in August By CHUCK OFFENBURGER December 2, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. Here are the details of a hassle-free bicycling vacation, as well as some other notes from life in Iowa.Our Thanksgiving tradition lives on, as Andy Pavlovec struts out as 23rd 'Turkey of Year' By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 28, 2002 JACKSON JUNCTION, IA. He says his parents would call him 'a kind, loving child, the sunshine of their lives,' but that some of his teachers would say he is 'a screw-off.'The song 'God Bless America' has never been sung quite like this duet does it By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 25, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. A round-up of fun reading from all over Iowa.We have friends (and relatives) in high places after the election By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 18, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. Two good public servants landing well -- Democrat Michael O'Brien in Boone County, Iowa, and Republican Lamar Alexander in Tennessee.Here's a chance for us all to show younger people there are real opportunities for them in Iowa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER November 4, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. The race for state treasurer gives us a chance to elect 33-year-old Matt Whitaker to replace 20-year incumbent Michael Fitzgerald. Doing so would tell young Iowans that there are real leadership opportunities right here in their home state.Dealing with it: Steve King is western Iowa's U.S. congressman (for a long time) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 30, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. Profiling the man who has quickly become on of the most widely-known political figures in Iowa -- a hero to the right, a demon to the left. Next week he will most likely be elected to the U.S. House.How Iowa looks to young visitors here from China and from Japan. Also, announcing our spring tour By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 23, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. When you come from cities of more than a million people, the vast fields and ''cow's farms'' of Iowa will catch your attention! And we'll be showing off more of those in southeast Iowa in April.The Hotel Pattee started a new era of grand tourism in small towns By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 21, 2002 PERRY, IA. Day three of our fall tour takes us to the inspiring and inspired hotel in Perry.Decorah's elegant new social center: Helen Basler's Hotel Winneshiek By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 20, 2002 DECORAH, IA. Day two of our ''Iowa's Finest Small Town Hotels'' tour takes us to a real jewel in the northeast corner of the state.What an opener: Christie Vilsack chats over lunch, then Dutch treats aplenty in Pella By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 19, 2002 PELLA, IA. It was a fascinating opening day on our ''Iowa's Finest Small Town Hotels'' fall tour.A happy ol' coach at Loras College now has some cool new shoes By CHUCK OFFENBURGER Tuesday, October 15 DUBUQUE, IA. The ''Battle for the Saddles'' football game was part of a fun week for the author back at Loras College in Dubuque.Back to campus: Loras College brings me back to Dubuque, and you're invited By CHUCK OFFENBURGER Sunday, October 6 DUBUQUE, IA. A little journalism and a lot of fun on the hilltop campus and around the Dubuque area.One fine moment in college football in pretty little Mount Vernon, Iowa By CHUCK OFFENBURGER October 2, 2002 STORM LAKE, IA. If all of college football was like this, America would be the better |