Opinion

Healthy love starts young

Community Voices February 20, 2026

February is recognized nationally as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness about the realities of unhealthy and abusive relationships among young people. Led by organizations such as love is respect and supported by initiatives from the National Domestic Violence Hotline, this month encourages communities to have honest conversations about respect, boundaries, consent, and healthy communication. Teen dating violence affects millions of adolescents each year, yet it often goes unrecognized or unreported. By increasing education, promoting ...

Healthy love starts young

Community Voices February 20, 2026

Contact your school board members

Letters to the Editor February 20, 2026

To the editor: The Marshall Education Association (MEA) is the proud union of teachers and counselors at Marshall Public Schools. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to Russ Labat’s recent column in The Independent on Feb. 11 regarding the school board’s budget reductions. Foremost, the MEA does not share Mr. Labat’s opposition to the operating levy referendum. Stable school funding has been essential in making the Marshall Tigers a source of community pride. However, we do agree with several of Mr. Labat’s concerns about how our school board has approached the budget ...

State Capitol gets new security, why can’t schools get the same priority?

Community Voices February 19, 2026

Feb. 15 marked National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day. As a fairly new recognition, started in 2022, many people don’t even know it exists. You might not be fully aware of what a School Resource Officer (SRO) actually does, or the critical role they play in school safety. Guns often dominate the headlines when we talk about keeping students, teachers, and school staff safe, but other measures, like having trained SROs in our schools, need to be front and center in the conversation. In the wake of the Annunciation School shooting last August, parents, administrators, and ...

It’s Amazing!

Community Voices February 18, 2026

Do you realize that every day is amazing? In today’s society with the constant onslaught of awful and wearying news, it’s very easy to get worn down and not see the wonders around us. Let’s explore some goodness... Every day you awake, you have an entire and amazing day before you. Yes, we have our habits of getting to work (or not), eating, getting home, eating and, then, whatever you do to finish the waking hours. The drum beat is pretty much the same, and we may not notice all that’s around us offering beauty or wonder. Interrupt that habitual pattern of life and look ...

When ICE came to my block

Letters to the Editor February 17, 2026

To the editor: I have lived most of my 50 years in Marshall. It was a great place to be a kid and is a wonderful place to raise my own children. Over the years, I have lived in multiple homes and apartments throughout our community. I have had Hispanic neighbors. I have had Somali neighbors. I have lived next door to international students. I have taken classes with immigrants at both Marshall Public Schools and SMSU. I have worked alongside immigrants, worshiped with immigrants, and attended community meetings with immigrants. I have shopped at and eaten in immigrant-owned ...