Breaking Through Walls of Silence and Shame

On May 6, 2010, in Anniversaries, The Families, by Eileen Meier

My only sister, Valerie Peterson, was killed 39 years ago today on a Thursday afternoon.  She was just 8 years old. We had been late that morning — in a rush out of the car for school with no foreshadowing of the terrible events that would happen that afternoon. No goodbyes or looks backward. The […]

Please Support Iowa House Study Bill 660

On February 24, 2008, in Rewards, by Jody Ewing

This used to be a home. That was before copper thieves came in the night and cut propane lines and let it fill with gas to later explode with a man inside. That man was my stepfather, Earl Thelander. My grandparents used to live here. After my grandfather died, my folks purchased the rural home […]