Intervention

Editorials

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 16 December 2008 13:43

We feel considerable relief now that the Hillsboro Police Department appears to have put an end to the string of senseless break-ins in Hillsboro. It appears law enforcement has done its investigative work carefully and deliberately, resulting in what sounds like a strong case against the suspects, thanks in part to a caught-in-the-act arrest.

But beyond appreciation for the persistence of the police department, we feel a certain sadness for the young men who have been or will be arrested. What prompts young people to possess such disrespect for their neighbors and for their private property? Why would these young men put their futures in such serious jeopardy—not once, not twice, but almost compulsively?

The best outcome would be...

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Customer service is in decline

Partly Nonsense

Written by Joel Klaassen Tuesday, 18 November 2008 14:48

Customer service seems to be a thing of the past in a lot of places these days, although pockets of it still exist.

Last week Thursday and Friday I was out of town for 30 hours on a quick trip to Du­buque, Iowa, to deliver a load of paperback books that I, had I not had good customer service, wouldn’t have been able to deliver on time. I needed really good customer service from one printer because of bad customer service from another.

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It was a chain reaction, of sorts. But the bad service was compounded by bad service from a delivery company that triggered the bad service from one of the printers.

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Because of my trip, I wasn’t able to attend the opening night at the new Wendy’s in Hillsboro. In honor of the event I stopped...

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Good idea

Editorials

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 09 December 2008 14:05

We think the Hillsboro City Council’s decision last week to approve the creation of an earthen skating rink and sledding hill was a good one. We like the idea of having an intentional place where kids can have fun on snow and ice in relative safety. “Impromptu” sledding hills and ice rinks can be a serious hazard. This is a good project for a very reasonable investment of tax dollars.

The other component of the project we like is that the idea was initiated by city employees themselves. The proposal speaks to the quality of people who serve us as city staff. Not only do their jobs well, but they have pride in the community and an eye to make it a better place—above and beyond their call to duty. Dale Dalke, Morgan Marler and...

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Courthouse watch was interesting

Partly Nonsense

Written by Joel Klaassen Tuesday, 11 November 2008 14:11

I spent an interesting evening at the courthouse Tuesday night as I followed the election returns and uploaded the info to our Free Press Web site.

When I arrived about 9 p.m. only three of the 12 polling places had been counted and posted. I found a bench with an outlet nearby and plugged in my wireless router and my laptop and hooked up to the Internet.

We had made a template for our breaking news story for the election results ahead of time so all I needed to do was fill in the numbers and update the article from the back end of our Web site.

County Clerk Carol Maggard and her support staff had things well organized. They posted the results to the county Web site, which was projected onto the south wall of the main floor of the...

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