Tearing up the countryside

By Shane Goodman shane@dmcityview.com

All-terrain vehicles are a lot of fun. I know; I had one. It was actually my brother's, but we both spent many hours racing along in the Iowa countryside, not too concerned about what we left behind. Chalk it up to ignorance, youth or misdirected energy. But no one really seemed to care much back then. Unfortunately, too few care today. Reporter Bethany Kohoutek takes a look at the impact of what are now 50,000 registered ATVs on Iowa's trails, waterways, native plants and animals, and overall ecosystem in this week's cover story.

Is Civic Skinny gone? Absolutely not. In fact, it is stronger than ever. We have been publishing the column every other week as of late (alternating with Media Matters), but have brought you an extra edition this week and will continue to do so when we can.
Also, on page 2, you will now see the work of one of our favorite cartoonists, E.J. Pettinger. His awkward humor in Mild Abandon was published in Cityview previously, but then it mysteriously disappeared. We are glad to bring it back.

Several of you have contacted me asking why we are not publishing as many letters to the editor in Cityview as we had in the past. These inquiries helped us to uncover a broken link on our Web site that kept us from receiving letters. It's fixed, and we have a bunch of letters back in as a result. Please continue to submit, as there truly is no better form of free speech. We have also noticed that a growing number of you are choosing to use our Rant and Rave section online to voice your thoughts. In case you have not seen it, is truly a great read.

For the past few weeks, we have published guest columns from Kent Carlson, a Central Iowan with Des Moines roots who has his finger on the pulse of the community. Kent will now be a regular columnist for us, offering his perspectives, his thoughts, his ideas and his observations twice a month.

And finally, we present a special feature for those of you who enjoyed the editorial page of The Des Moines Register in days gone by. We are publishing a guest commentary from Gil Cranberg, former editorial page editor at the daily, on RAGBRAI and the Waukee chamber's decision (and reversal of that decision) to not allow a specific vendor on site during the ride. Great insight on a subject we know the folks on Locust won't cover.

Thanks for reading.

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