Viewpoints

To the Editor:
I was shocked to hear that some people want to raise the minimum wage to $10/hour or even $15/hour. The TV showed protesters saying they need their wages raised because they can’t afford to support a family on what they are making. Do they really think working at McDonald’s or as a greeter at Wal-Mart was supposed to support a family? These jobs are low-paying jobs meant as a stepping stone to something better.
Do they really believe McDonald’s and Wal-Mart can afford to raise their wages like that? If McDonald’s paid $15/hour, what would a Big Mac cost? McDonald’s will just modernize so they won’t have so many people working and Wal-Mart just won’t have greeters.
In effect, these people are shooting themselves in the foot. If we pay $15/hour for flipping burgers, what would we have to pay trained people, like a back-hoe operator, plumber, carpenter or secretary?

by Patti Ruff, State Representative

by Mike Breitbach, District 28 State Senator

by Lori Hesse, Allamakee County Treasurer

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus

by Barbara Grassley

To the Editor:
It has been approximately 18 months since I received the horrific nightmare of a phone call from a family member, as her voice trembled, and then a burst of blood-curdling screaming and crying broke out. Then I had to call another family member to find out what had just happened. Because the family was in a state of shock hearing the news, the only thing I could figure out was that our little princess (an 18-month baby girl) had fallen down a flight of many stairs and was being airlifted from Prairie du Chien, WI to Iowa City in very critical condition.

To the Editor:
Deer and vehicle collisions are at record numbers. High deep populations have caused fatalities, people shot during hunting seasons, property damage and increases in insurance rates.
You cannot drive in early mornings or evenings without high risk of a deer collision. It’s like this because deer are purposefully managed to be at high populations to satisfy a minority of zealots who find fun in killing, wounding and causing misery to another species.
None of this is done for “need.” Wildlife should be managed by neutral personnel (or even animal rights activists) instead of by avid hunters and trappers as it now is. For more information on this, see www.all-creatures.org/cash.
This letter is not against the Second Amendment.
Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s we didn’t have four vehicle-deer collisions every 24 hours in the county and there was little or no deer “hunting” at that time.

by Mike Breitbach, District 28 State Senator

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus