In “Impressions” published Nov. 23 last year, entitled “Count your blessings, instead of sheep,” I said I can see, walk and breathe because of advances in medical science. Next month I will turn 75 and be among 3.4 percent of the world’s population that age and older, according to United Nations statistics. The U.S. is among five countries (Canada, Germany, Japan, India) with 25 percent of the world’s population which account for half of persons 75 and older.. more

Thank goodness someone wants the job. more

Guest speakers at schools have come a long way. more

Oct. 6, 1983: Park View Lutheran Church planned to celebrate the completion of its new addition with an open house and a special service. more

Among the Chicago Cubs souvenirs I bought after their World Series championship in 2016, is a T-shirt with the players' names on the back – a reminder of what once was. more

Oct. 10, 1973: Davenport voters overwhelmingly voted “no” on a forced annexation measure. The Eldridge City Council was moving to see what measures could be taken to ensure more growth within the town. Property owners in an area southwest of Eldridge had approached town leaders about how to voluntarily be annexed into town. more

The Eldridge City Council’s finance committee brought a positive way forward for the Scott County Library to the Oct. 2 meeting. more

Oct. 21, 1998: Central Scott Telephone Company was teaming up with Iowa Wireless Services to offer the new Personal Communications Services system, which was described as a phone, a pager and voicemail all in one handset. “We try to be aggressive,” said CST general manager Norm Harvey, “Central Scott has tried to stay ahead with the new technology and that’s the reason we’re investing in the PCS business.” more

The turf v. grass choice for Lancer Stadium I wrote about two weeks ago was decided by the school board Oct. 9. I was in the minority and too late to the conversation. Turf won. Grass lost. No dissenting opinions were reported. more

Oct. 26, 1983: The Scott County Conservation Board recommended hunters be allowed to hunt deer in Scott County Park. The board felt it was necessary to cull the herd, which had grown to 400. Bob Sheets, district wildlife biologist for the Iowa Conservation Commission said up to 250 deer could be “harvested” without damaging the herd. more

I am happy with my routine here in the local community, but from time to time need to step away and see the world from a new perspective. Rotary has most frequently provided the path, and so it was last weekend. I didn't go far – just Evanston and Chicago – but once there, the world came to me and 300 others at the Rotary Zones 25B and 29 Institute. more

And now for something completely different. more

Nov. 2, 1983: Two-year-old Christopher Brekke was safe and sound after getting lost in a Princeton cornfield. He and his three-year-old brother Michael were playing outside, and Christopher wandered into the field. Nearly 50 emergency responders helped with the two-hour search, including Lt. Dennis Conard of the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, who found the boy. more

The first time I heard Linda Ellis’ poem, The Dash, was in 2004 at a Rotary institute at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island – a quaint resort on the northern shores of Michigan. The man who read the poem was Carl Wilhelm Stenhammer, of Sweden, an erudite man who would serve as president of worldwide Rotary in 2005-06. more

Nov. 9, 1983: Eldridge city officials were taking a hard look at making Eldridge Corners a four-way stop. “During the past six months, we have investigated eight serious accidents at that location, with 90 percent of them resulting in personal injuries,” said police chief Gil Hansen. City council member Carol Goetzke said the Iowa Department of Transportation’s prerogative was to put a four-way stop there, and so far, they had not chosen to act. However, in light of the deaths of two Davenport women in a crash there the previous week, officials hoped the DOT would “have more incentive to check it out.” more

The quote from the great Gandhi who brought independence from British rule to the people of India after World War II through peaceful protest comes to mind in these troubled times when innocents are dying every day in armed conflicts in the Mideast and Ukraine. more

Nov. 14, 1973: The North Scott community grieved as three teenagers were killed in a car accident a mile and a half east of Eldridge Corners. Jo Ann Lagoni, 16, Pamela Hinkle, 16, and Randal Kirby, 14, died when the car they were riding in struck a school bus. The bus was empty except for the driver. Witnesses said the car attempted to pass another vehicle just prior to the crash. Authorities said they did not know for certain who was driving the car. School was cancelled the day of the funerals, and many activities were also postponed. more

Politicians all the way up to Donald Trump and all the way down to certain candidates for local offices could learn from 4-H. The vast majority are gracious, which is what makes democracy work: the peaceful transition of power. more

Nov. 21, 1973: North Scott area voters gave the green light for the district to proceed with the construction of a new junior high building, passing a bond referendum with an 80.4 percent “yes” vote. The $1.2 million bond issue would pay for most of the estimated $1.7 million project, with the rest coming from the district’s schoolhouse fund. District officials hoped having a separate junior high building would also make additional courses available to junior high students, including industrial arts, typing, art, and home economics, that they were not able to participate in at the high school. more

Twice, I copped a ride with my friend, John Ockenfels, of Swisher, near Cedar Rapids, to Rotary events, first at Cleveland, Ohio, in 2016, and then Erie, Pa., in 2018. During those flights he told me of his dream to fly around the world in a single-engine airplane. Yeah, right, I thought – but John was serious. more