By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Dec. 30, 2021 – In five days around Christmas, I sat down and talked at length with eight members of the tiny Latino community here in Greene County, and those interviews produced one of the best gifts I’ve had in a long time. That gift is hope. It’s what brought them…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Nov. 21, 2021 — The big electronic sign at the entrance to the Greene County Fairgrounds last weekend flashed a happy message in Spanish: “Felicidades, Sr. y Sra. Rodriguez!” It was a salute to the wedding of Jacqui Casas and Edgar Rodriguez and their reception for 250 mostly Latino friends and…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Oct. 17, 2021 — On the upcoming election day, Nov. 2, we voters in Greene County are being asked to vote on whether we want to re-authorize the gaming license that was granted by the State of Iowa in 2014 to Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation. That license allowed Grow…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, July 4, 2021 — I can’t recall seeing a better stand of corn just before Independence Day than I did Friday evening, July 2, in the fields of our neighbors and pals, Doug and Karen Lawton, just outside our tiny western Iowa town. Tall, straight, lush and the prettiest green you’ve…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, June 29, 2021 – I’m history. And so are a lot of you out there – my fellow Baby Boomers, hep cats, hippies, yippies, yuppies and others. We are people who were born or came of age in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, three decades that changed the world, most…