Viewpoints

To the Editor:

I’m writing to correct the misinformation and falsehoods stated by Angie Chambers about the pork industry in her February 7 “We are the problem” letter. As a northeast Iowa pig farmer, I have to stand up for myself and my fellow producers.

The Iowa Pork Producers Association and the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers strongly encourage hog producers to work with Dr. Steve Hoff at Iowa State University to properly site environmentally controlled hog barns. The coalition assists producers with site analysis to consider the location of neighbors, public use areas like parks and lakes, topography and prevailing wind directions. Potential livestock odor can be managed with proper siting and various other solutions.

What’s more, as heavily regulated as the pork industry is in Iowa already, the state requires producers to adhere to additional rules and regulations to build on karst terrain.

To the Editor:

With the astounding total of 18 school shootings in the past 45 days, that means that every 2.5 days a child is either killed or injured at school with a gun. This is not acceptable. We as a country need to start investing real money into accessible mental healthcare. Right now in the state of Iowa the police, corrections officers and sheriffs are given the unfair task of being not only a peace officer, but a mental healthcare provider. This is not what these men and women were trained to do, and it is unfair to our police officers.

We need mental healthcare reform throughout the nation. We need access to counselors,  psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists and other medical workers who are specifically trained to help those individuals suffering with mental disease and distress.

To the Editor:

I have received positive comments in regards to Oklahoma drawing up a bill to protect its citizens from non-ionizing radiation due to smart meters. The bill gives decision making back to the people. Currently, the wireless industry via the utility companies with government funding has taken that away. There have also been some questions brought up.

What’s the life span of smart meters? Smart meters have a five to seven year life span and have the ability to violate the 4th Amendment due to the detailed data they collect. Mechanical analog meters have a thirty to forty year life span, are quite accurate and do not have the capability to violate the 4th Amendment.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... in life, they say, sometimes timing is everything.

I was thinking about starting this column when I noticed that the classic movie channel was going to show an hour long documentary featuring Robert Frost. The poet. I have been a fan of his poetry since college days, when I used to sneak up to a remote area of the university library and listen to recordings of Frost reading his own poetry.

That would have been in the mid-1950s. He was well into his 80s when he died in 1963, and his voice was old and raspy on the recordings. But his words were powerful then and remain so today to anyone who listens closely. For someone who has made his life writing words, it is humbling to be aware that there are writers, and then there are WRITERS!

With that as prelude, I begin this column, which I intended to be mostly about the Super Bowl.

Valentine’s Day is upon us again. We all knew it was coming and yet many of us will be rushing to buy cards and flowers at the last minute. This is a day for those who are married (or hope to soon be married) to express their undying love for their significant other. While this is a good thing, many people feel the obligation of the holiday can take away from the sincerity of the expression of love. I believe husbands and wives need to communicate their love for one another and if it takes a holiday to make them consider how to express it, well, at least they are doing it!

To the Editor:

Right now we have a Republican President and Congress and it’s time that they show some gumption and take this bull by the horns. Put the Bible and 10 Commandments back in our schools. Defund Planned Parenthood.

Put a stop to all the huge benefits they have voted for themselves. I would not deny all the perks if our country was in a sound financial situation. American companies don’t give big bonuses if the company is losing money, they fire the manager. Republicans, please quit sitting on your hands and pass a bill that would eliminate all perks and benefits you voted for yourselves, or are you just a part of the good old boys group?

Now is the time to get it done. It would show good leadership and concern for our country.

Kindest Regards & God Bless,
Osmond (Ozzy) Quandahl
Waukon

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that since I have been retired for nearly 20 years from daily association with the profession, I feel the freedom to be critical of the written press from time to time.

One of the first things we were taught in J-school was to be careful not to bury the lede. That is, the most important things that happened at a meeting or in an event should appear in the first paragraph, answering as many of the who, what, when, where and why quintet as possible.

Tiger Woods played in a golf tournament in La Jolla, CA, his first action in some time. He finished well behind the leaders, maybe 28th or so. The Gazette Sunday printed a 15-paragraph story from Reuters news service, all about Tiger, and it wasn’t until that final paragraph that it was noted there was a playoff among three golfers for the tournament championship. The Register ran an eight paragraph article which mentioned nobody but Woods.

To the Editor:

We are the Problem

It’s been a month since the New Year has rolled in and if you are like most people around the world who celebrated, you made some sort of resolution to bring in 2018.  But now that we are ALL the way into February you may have realized (like most people) that New Year’s Resolutions are often tricky.

Full of optimism and hope at the turn of a new leaf, we can enthusiastically set goals and hopes that are really tough or even unrealistic. Which is great if you’re the kind of person who, as Norman Vincent Peale famously said, are happy to “Shoot for the moon. Even if you fail, you’ll land among the stars.”

But if landing among the stars leads to feelings of deep failure for you, then maybe a gentler approach would be helpful.

To the Editor:

When President Obama gave his State of the Union Address, a group of Republicans boycotted. Now, Donald Trump gives his State of the Union Address and a few Democrats boycott.

A contingent of high-salaried pro athletes boycott our National Anthem. They have hats that read “Make America Great Again” which were made in China.

Through it all, I still believe in God Bless America, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

Still proud of what God gave me,

Paul R. Melsha
Harpers Ferry