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Local Columns

Heather’s Highlights: County Government and You, August 2025

Happy Labor Day and start of the school year! I cannot believe August is over already. The summer months seem to go by so fast, but the cooler air is refreshing and finally a slow down on lawn mowing. One of the main topics discussed by the Board of Supervisors in August was the Salt Creek ...

On Nature: Limit Climate Change

Senator Grassley recently released a public statement in which he acknowledged that climate change is a serious issue (i.e. not a myth), but he also called for a vigorous debate to determine if climate change is an “existential threat to the planet” as the Biden administration had ...

Dengler Domain: Gardening

While I am no longer growing food on a large scale, I became a slightly more aggressive gardener this year. I planted popcorn, peas, green beans, green peppers, sweet peppers, and sunflowers in a plot with a diameter of five feet. Marigolds and zinnias from the farm were also sprinkled in the ...

Dengler Domain: Winding Stairs Recap

Maybe it was the music and dance overload from the Pitbull concert at the Iowa State Fair, but I also believe the Traer Winding Stairs Festival left me tremendously tired. Coming back to the festival is always fun and seeing all the familiar faces. While in past years I drove the North Tama ...

Heather’s Highlights: County Government and You, July 2025

August is here and we are in the home stretch of summer. July has been very eventful for the Tama County Board of Supervisors. We appointed three new members to the Board of Adjustment and one new member to the Zoning Commission. I welcome the new members who’ve been appointed and am ...

Dengler Domain: Winding Stairs Festival

Before farming, I used to work in the audio-visual field. This profession consisted of setting up screens, projectors, speakers, and anything else in that realm with different types of events and different clients. A college job was working at the UNI-Dome and McLeod Center helping set up ...

On the Record with Sheriff Schmidt: July 2025

It’s been a couple months since I’ve written one of these, and I appreciate everyone’s patience. Things have been busy, and while that’s not an excuse, I know how important it is to stay in touch with the people we serve. When I took office, I said I would keep the public in the loop, ...

Dengler Domain: The Drive

Last week, the cornhead was moved to its final resting place before it is sold. While traveling the country roads to the destination, it was a trip down memory lane. Whether it was driving by formerly Dengler farmed fields or familiar farmsteads which laid on the path to my Grandma Pohlman’s ...

Dengler Domain: Going Up

Since retiring from farming, I have reflected on it more than needed. While there are parts I could have done better, it also showed me how hard it is for a younger generation to gain a foothold in today’s farming world. It is no secret that farmers are an older bunch, and consolidation keeps ...

A Fair View

Well, after the week of July 6-13 with all the turmoil it sounded like Tama County might be going in the right direction to save some money. Supervisors Mark Doland and David Turner were ready to stop litigation. So it was placed on the agenda for the Monday, July 14 meeting. But they decided ...