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Wayne and Sharon Topel of Waukon will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary Sunday, April 3, 2005. Wayne Topel and Sharon Finkbeiner were united in marriage April 3, 1965 at Messiah Methodist Church in Detroit, MI.

The Area Christian Women’s Club will meet at noon on Tuesday, April 5 at Grace Fellowship Hall, located at Hwy. 9 and Montgomery Street in Decorah.

Speakers will be Jennifer Mikkelson, on living healthy, and Judy Majchrowitz, who will speak on living happily.

Reservations not honored may require payment, and reservations cease the Saturday prior to the meeting. Contact Julie Quandahl at 563-568-2774.

Mt. Hope Presbyterian

Rural New Albin

Pastor Paul Burgess

Our church is handicap accessible!

Sun. - 10:30 a.m. Worship.

Every 3rd Thurs. - 1:30 p.m. women’s fellowship.

Interfaith Fellowship,

Harpers Ferry,

Pastor Reuben Grueneich

Sat. - 5 p.m. Worship at the fire station.

Mon. - 7 p.m. prison fellowship at Luster Heights.

Zion Lutheran Church,

Eitzen, MN

Pastor Todd Krueger

To the Editor:

We received a certified letter from the Allamakee County Engineer on behalf of our Allamakee Supervisors Feb. 24 inviting us to a board meeting 17 days after the impression was given in the newspaper we had already received something from them.

Spring arrived this past week, but that event did not improve the climate in the legislature. The optimism we began this session with has faded as the evenly divided Senate approaches gridlock. In spite of this, discussions are occurring. The important issues will be debated and a budget will be approved.

March 16, 2005 the House and the Senate passed the toughest and smartest meth bill in the country. Designed to diminish the prevalence of meth labs, SF 169 places restrictions on the purchase and sale of all products containing pseudoephedrine, a popular and widely available decongestant and precursor to meth.

DES MOINES – Last year, the notion of slapping tight limits on the sale of popular cold medications used to make methamphetamine was about as politically popular as influenza.

Rep. Clel Baudler and Marvin Van Haaften, Iowa’s drug czar, couldn’t even get a bill out of committee. Retailers and drug companies bottled up the idea and convinced lawmakers to swallow a much weaker law.

Fast forward to last Tuesday.

. . . that law enforcement and school district officials and employees don’t need me to defend them. So, I am not going to do so. Rather, in this era of “gotcha” journalism, I am going to express my apologies for the actions of the alleged members of the group I was a part of for more than three decades, the media, specifically the press.

I do this in the wake of the latest sting operation conducted by a couple of the state’s daily papers and a university journalism class.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Public Interest Institute. They are brought to you in the interest of a better-informed citizenry.

We find it almost impossible to resist these plump, glistening, ruby-red gems winking at us from the grocery store displays, farmers' markets, and roadside stands everywhere. The tart sweetness of these berries is the height of perfection whether they are drizzled with cream, dipped in chocolate, sliced over ice cream, or simply scarfed out of the basket on the way home from the market. Packed with vitamins A, C, and B6, and boasting a meager 48 calories per cup, strawberries are an indulgence that you won't regret in the morning!

Your Nose Knows