Monday was the first time I've seen chairs pulled in from another room during a Spirit Lake School Board meeting — and I don't think the crowd was there to check on the latest enrollment numbers.

Q: Can you tell us about the Veterans History Project?

By Pastor Dave Simonson - Immanuel Lutheran

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ.

November is typically the month were we pause and count our blessings. If you are like most people, we like to go as fast as we can in life in order to get as much done as we can. That’s what makes America, America. We are blessed to be able to do as much as we can, and that translates into being a blessing to others.

Though it wasn't the trend on a national scale, many of Iowa's state and federal elections were won by Republican candidates this cycle – some of them defeating long-time Democrats who held their respective offices.

As our publisher Brad Hicks recently explained in a column, the printing and mailing operation housed within the offices of our sister-paper, the Spencer Daily Reporter, will soon cease to churn out this community's newspaper. That task will be taken up by another printing operation elsewhere.

There are times in life when things just don't go the way you planned.

This is one of those stories.

Thursday evening, we will have a small gathering at the Spencer Daily Reporter to say thanks, share memories and wish people well as our in-house printing and mailing operation is closed.

Let's get this straight.

The Dickinson County News is not closing.

The Spencer Reporter is not closing.

The Northwest Iowa Shopper is not closing.

Our American government is a constitutional republic. Over the last several years, the term “representative democracy” has been used by some people to blur, create doubt and motivate political adversaries to cause division. But these terms are not one and the same. A constitutional republic is based on a constitution. In our case, our United States Constitution. It is the supporting cornerstone of our government.

Did you know your assessed value is not your taxable value? The various taxing jurisdictions apply tax rates to your taxable value, not your assessed value. Your assessed value is just the market value of your home. What is the taxable value? Taxable value is the part of your assessed value that is taxable. Just like not all of your income is taxable, not all of your house is taxable.

By Martin Lucin - Grace Lutheran Church

The future has always been uncertain, hasn’t it? That has been true for every generation of humanity. It is a topic for discussion that Jesus takes up frequently and one that he addresses with the utmost seriousness.

We certainly have our uncertainties as a society, don’t we? Can you afford to retire? What is the stock market up to anyway?

I suppose one could call it performance art.

Climate protesters threw a can of soup on a Van Gogh last month, according to the Associated Press.

Others threw mashed potatoes on a Monet a couple weeks later.

When you like to entertain audiences with your musicals skills but also want to share your thoughts, you become a composer as well as performer. That is what the trio on stage at the Pearson Lakes Art Center shared with an audience last week.

The show was called “Iowa Roots Round” and was performed by Chad Elliott, Ryne Doughty and Kathryn Fox.

Johnson’s passion project misses mark

I admit, I had really high hopes for a little DC redemption as Dwayne Johnson’s passion project “Black Adam” hit the big screen. Despite the blockbuster star’s best efforts and his amazing, and undeniable charisma, this superhero tale doesn’t quite live up to the hype. My disappointment comes from the fact that the idea of the anti-hero could have worked.

By Melinda Myers

As you transition your gardens from fall to winter, you may be contemplating a bit of garden clean up. Before reaching for the pruners and rakes, consider all the benefits and beauty of leaving healthy perennials stand for winter.

By Brian Jack - First Lutheran Church

I've said in the past that one of the last actual editorials the Dickinson County News published was a piece from September of 2003, which supported funding the construction of the current county courthouse. But, as so often happens with newspapers, you learn something new every day. I came across another while browsing some archives recently — this one from mid-October of 2003.