There are a lot of moms like me who had kids at a young age and then, after an extended gap, had more kids later in life. Raising my two older kids in the early 2000s had its fair share of difficulties, but there is no question raising my two younger kids in the current […]
If you follow politics, and it’s been hard not to during the past few months, you know the pundits are showing off their perfect hindsight to explain why results were what they were. The fact none of them told us about it in advance makes us a little skeptical of their Monday-morning quarterbacking. But an […]
Folk, food, fun – three words that describe my October 2024 travels. Usually, I’m a one-destination-at-a-time traveler. But last month, opportunity knocked. I joined my high school friends in Charleston, S.C., Oct. 1 to 5, took in Washington, D.C., with my husband, Jim, and my sister Lois and her husband, Russ, Oct. 8 to 11, […]
I am the product of a rural, one-room school. And I’m happy that I am. My education began in Sheridan No. 9 School, on the corner of my family’s farm outside Davenport, Iowa, in 1952. I spent five years in the same school that my mother and her mother had attended. Two of my classmates, […]
If being an elected public official were easy, we would know it. Ballots in local elections would be full of candidates in contested races vying for the right to represent us and our neighbors in making policy decisions that most affect our daily lives. Alas, it’s not that way. Local elections tend to have few […]
Growing up as a “tomboy” in the older part of Woodstock, I despised the color pink. When I was a child, pink was about being girly, fancy, and high maintenance. I was more of an orange girl. Orange was the color of a basketball – my true love. Even as a teenager and into adulthood, […]
Maybe you can’t fight City Hall, but you might be able to negotiate. Some Woodstock citizens had success with the latter approach recently when they had concerns about the city’s policies that affected their lives. Most prominently, a group of residents complained about the proposed 10-year contract the city was negotiating with waste hauler MDC […]
Mayor Mike Turner and other city officials were decidedly upbeat recently in delivering the annual state of the city report during a luncheon hosted by the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry And with good reason. They cited many examples of Woodstock continuing on an upward trend when it comes to economic development and, […]
Five days after Halloween this year is another day that should be a national holiday. No matter which party you align with, you know Nov. 5 is Election Day, and if you’re registered to vote, it’s probably been drilled into you by every candidate, political ad, columnist, and editorial board that it’s your privilege and […]
Newspapers … archaic? I hear people say, “I get my news for free. Why should I pay for it?” Like everyone, I try to make good decisions about what I choose to spend my money on. I ask myself … if I weren’t working for The Woodstock Independent, would I pay for a subscription? The […]
Larry Lough is editor of The Independent and reports local news.
Janet Dovidio has been a freelance correspondent for The Independent for eight years.
Susan W. Murray wrote for The Independent, covering various beats, from 2005 to 2008.
Tricia Carzoli is a freelance writer and photographer that on community news.
