My ears have finally stopped ringing following my Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Independence Day celebration. This was the second year my grandchildren have been allowed to light the fireworks so of course they were very self sufficient.
    Over a two night run on Thursday and Friday, we had only one casualty and I was it. I was sitting in a vinyl chair on Pat’s patio watching the show. I leaned to one side of the chair to slide it. As I leaned the legs turned under, the chair tipped and I tumbled onto the patio and put a three inch scrape on my arm. It hardly broke the skin and bled only slightly. For all of two seconds Alec and Katrina were concerned about my welfare, but when they saw I was alive and standing upright it was back to the fireworks.

    In World War II, “VE Day” signified victory for the United States in Europe and “VJ Day” marked the end of the conflict with Japan. Last Tuesday was “VS Day” or Victory Over Smokers.
    As I have often stated, I am a smoker. I’m not proud of it, but I am one of those poor people called addicts. I am in complete agreement with the experts who say secondhand smoke is dangerous even though I grew up in a family of smokers. My parents both smoked and lived to advanced years and ultimately died of causes other than smoke related.

    (Editor’s note: Submitted by Janet Carspecken, Clive, a former Turkey Valley teacher, on the retirement of another long-time Turkey Valley teacher, Mary Jo Hangartner.)

    Most people, when they hear the word teacher, will instantly think of the definition: “Someone trained and explicitly educated on how to teach; one who delivers instruction.”
    However, those who have experienced a “true teacher” would say a teacher is a guide who helps students make the journey from knowledge to understanding through experience. The “true teacher” introduces new ideas to students and helps them use those ideas and knowledge in performance.
    There is no teacher that fits this definition more than Mary Jo Hangartner who retired from Turkey Valley Community School after 32 years of service as high school speech and English teacher, competitive speech and debate coach, and seventh through 12 grade Gifted Talented Program coordinator.

    Nearly every newspaper has an item in the sports section of an athlete who was injured playing the game. Normally the injury occurred in a contact sport - football, basketball, baseball, soccer, etc.
    Conversely, golf is probably considered the least dangerous if you don’t get hit by a club thrown by a disgruntled playing partner. In light of these considerations, the premiere golfer in the world displayed an amazing degree of stamina in a tournament two weeks ago.

    Last Saturday I had the pleasure of returning to my roots.  I went to Lawler for the dedication of the Lawler area veterans’ monument which honors veterans of all wars from the Civil War to Iraq.  Several hundred people turned out for the occasion on the nicest afternoon we have seen in weeks.
    The monument is beautiful and tastefully appropriate, the program was enjoyable and inspiring, and all the dedicated people involved deserve a big pat on the back for a job well done.

    It was a short 100 years from 1993 to 2008. As most of you will recall in 1993, it seemed the entire state of Iowa was one big duck pond.
    The DNR uses a span of years to measure the severity of floods. There are 10-year floods, 50-year floods and 100-year floods, which was the measurement of the 1993 fiasco. If 1993 was a 100-year variety, 2008 is shaping up as at least a 150-year production. The pictures and descriptions of the devastation around the state has been getting progressively worse with each day. This is being written on Wednesday and at the moment, Waverly, Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids are holding their collective breath in hopes levees will hold and protect the cities.

    Awhile ago my five-year letter from Jack Gorman arrived announcing the upcoming reunion of the New Hampton High School class of 1948. We have to be one of the "meetingest" classes as we have gathered at five-year intervals for several decades.
    The reunions successfully happen because of the efforts and dedication of Jack Gorman. In fact, most of us agree it could be called the Gorman reunion. Thankfully, he takes care of everything; correspondence, updating addresses, venues, costs and many other chores to make it come off smoothly.
    This year we are meeting on June 13 and 14, the Heartland Days weekend. As usual, we have an informal evening at Poor Richard’s on Friday, and a dinner on Saturday at Chaff’s.

    I’m gearing up for a very special Friday night lights when Chickasaw County celebrates its Relay for Life and illuminates our community with heartfelt tributes to those who lost the battle with cancer, those who are living with cancer and those who survived cancer.
    I am a three-year cancer survivor. My cancer was found by accident. I had surgery for another health problem; however, the pathology report determined that I had a golf ball-size tumor.

    “I won’t die on a Tuesday.”
    This was my mom’s final demand from her deathbed. She was about to lose her war with a cancer that raged through her cells, but not before making  one last stand against the enemy she had fought so aggressively within the battlefield that was her body.
    It had been a year since the invasion began, and the family was immediately drafted to help mom destroy an enemy that had already beaten two of her siblings and her father.

    Last Sunday night as I watched the devastating tornado march across Iowa, I was thankful New Hampton was once again spared. The next day when pictures of the carnage and word of the people killed became known the complete impact of the tragedy hit home.
    The path of the storm was west to east from Aplington through Parkersburg, New Hartford, the north edge of Waterloo, and Dunkerton. Five people were killed in Parkersburg and two in New Hartford. Considering the magnitude and the wide path, authorities were surprised there were not more fatalities.

    No, my 7-week-old is not walking yet, however, she is the inspiration for this month's article. After I had her via C-section, I was given the normal restrictions that every new mom receives after giving birth. For two weeks I couldn't lift anything over 10 pounds, no vacuuming, no driving and limited stair climbing. 
    Now for some people, this would be a welcome break from the normal house cleaning duties and especially from exercise but for me it was torture to just sit around on the couch while other people did things for me.

    As the 2008 Primary Election nears, candidates in Chickasaw County were asked to complete a Candidates Questionnaire and return it to the New Hampton Tribune office by 5 p.m. Monday, May 19.
    Election day is Tuesday, June 3. Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. To see the candidate responses to the questionnaire and list of polling location in Chickasaw County, pick up a copy of the Tuesday, May 27, issue of the Tribune.

    A couple of weeks ago I wrote about this ancient Iowan taking a trip to the big city.  I even rode in an airplane from Kansas City to San Antonio where I visited my son, Mike, and his wife, Victoria.
    While I was there, the Latino Community was celebrating Fiesta in downtown San Antonio. 

    Once again this Iowa boy has been exposed to a large city. This time it was San Antonio where I went to leech off my son Mike and his wife Victoria for a few days.
    From my arrival on Friday until my departure on Tuesday, there was hardly a dull moment. My daily nap schedule went by the board.
    On Saturday, the three of us went to Austin where Victoria’s family was planning a wedding and her input was needed to finalize the affair. I had never visited Austin, which is the state capital, so a tour of the capital building was in order. I was shown tile on the floor of the rotunda that was cracked and never replaced after a disgruntled legislator leaped to his death from the top of the dome.

    This week I had the pleasure of seeing a demonstration of a new piece of equipment recently supplied to the Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Department by the Federal Government. The unit is officially known as a Bullard TACSIGHT SE35 Thermal Imager and was issued through the defense department’s commercial equipment direct assistance program.