By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Nov. 22, 2023 – One of the things I’m genuinely grateful for on this Thanksgiving holiday is that the businesses, most people, and even alumni of our Greene County are stepping up to a future of more multicultural living here. Many of us believe this will give us the opportunity…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Oct. 29, 2023 – A couple of big thoughts have been on my mind in recent days. My wife Mary Riche and I have just returned from a long driving trip to Boston and back. We looped from Oxford OH, Niagara Falls & Buffalo, Boston, Annapolis, Pittsburgh and the Indianapolis suburb of…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Sept. 13, 2023 — On a chilly but sunny late-fall morning two years ago, I walked into Greene Bean Coffee in Jefferson just as Debi Durham, the state’s economic development director since 2011, was walking out. She was wearing some kind of trench coat and sunglasses and carrying her cup…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Sept. 1, 2023 – Oh my goodness, it is working! Diversifying and growing our workforce and population is triggering economic growth here in Greene County, exactly like we were told and shown it would do. And exactly like we’ve been telling our good people that it would do. In fact, just announcing…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, July 14, 2023 — There are lots of big, important issues unfolding in Iowa, across the nation and around the world right now. This column isn’t about any of them. The little news here is that Monday this past week, the two chapters of the P.E.O. Sisterhood that co-exist here…