About: Margaret Vander Weerdt

It’s the time of year to celebrate the “feedfest” and unofficial holiday season kickoff – Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not all about turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. The name of the holiday conveys what the day is supposed to be about. Thanksgiving is a day to count one’s blessings, reconnect with friends and relatives, and gorge...

Many first-time visitors to our office or an issue of this newspaper comment on how wonderful our newspaper is. Some are talking about our business office and others about the edition we produce each week. There is a tinge of surprise due to preconceived notions about small newspapers, small businesses, small towns, Iowa, and rural...

Yesterday was Veterans Day. In my mind, I thought it was a Thursday and this column would be on the holiday. Recognizing veterans should happen every day, so the message of these items from my file is never too late. You Can't Tell a Vet Just By Looking --Author Unknown “He is the cop on the beat who...

Imagine this page was all white except the page number and dateline at the top of the page and a couple of small lines of type at the bottom of the page. I’m thinking you’d be calling me and telling me you got a bad copy of this week’s newspaper. Two daily newspapers in Ohio have...

If you think you know everything, consider these. The average person's left hand does 56 percent of the typing. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. The winter of 1932 was so cold Niagara Falls froze completely solid. The words “racecar,” “kayak,” and “level” are the...

Monday, Sept. 21, a very special reader of this newspaper from Colorado stopped in the office to visit. Once I learned of his pending visit, I had been hinting strongly that he should stop by. But his granddaughter Kasiah, who is our L-S School-to-Work student, gave no hint the visit would happen. Doug Ehresman and his...

Happy October! How can it be only 13 more Thursdays in the year 2015? I’m probably one of a very few people who know that because every week on the front page of this newspaper and in the mailing report for the post office, I have to list which week of the year each issue...