Viewpoints

To the Editor:

For the past couple of years, I have wondered what the heck is going on in federal and state government. But I haven’t had to worry about the government of Allamakee County.

In Washington, D.C. and Des Moines, the same party controls all three branches of government. These politicians have rammed through their agenda and have made no effort to work with the other party and no effort to listen to their constituents. As a result, we the people are the losers. I’m thinking, in one major instance, of how our state representative and other legislators voted to close health care clinics and leave thousands without access to health care, especially in rural areas.

To the Editor:

I have told this story to most people. However, I will tell it one more time.

When I first interviewed in Waukon, it was such a wet and foggy day that the road from Rockford, IL seemed to be endless. I was driving with my wife and my five-year-old daughter. We had left two small children behind with my mother-in-law, and Angeline was six months pregnant.

I got discouraged from the driving as it was getting late and I told Angeline that I wanted to turn the car around and go back home. My wife said, “They are waiting for you, we are going to find Waukon”. In my frustration, I had lost interest.

I pulled into a house and asked for directions, the older gentleman looked at me like an alien when I asked, “Am I going in the right direction to Waukon?”. He just pointed towards the sign on the other side of the road and said, “It’s right there”.

To the Editor:

In the matter of the petition about dust in Irish Hollow:

According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, a mine operator is allowed to move 5,000 ton of product or roughly 333 loads without dust control measures per project.

Depending on how many trucks you have, it may take days, weeks or months. The people on the petition and others should do a little fact finding before wanting to contact a mine operator about dust control.

If you don’t like the dust, maybe you shouldn’t live on a gravel road or do something about it yourself.

Terry Riehm
Mine Owner
New Albin
 

To the Editor:

It’s time for all individuals who are drawing their IPERS and those who are paying into IPERS to call their state Senator; Mike Breitbach can be reached at 563-920-7399.

Senate File SF45 (Google this) is a bill introduced in the Iowa Senate last session. It will be brought up again in the next session (2019). If this bill passes, it will end IPERS.

What the bill calls for is that on July 1, 2019 all new State, County, City, hospital and any other new public employees can opt out of paying into IPERS and do a 401K. This may sound good, but if they do not contribute to IPERS, IPERS will run out of funds to pay benefits which we have all contributed. Your IPERS monthly payment will be reduced or end altogether in time.

To the Editor:

November 6, Election Day, I’ll be 92 years old. A year ago, I could not write very well because of my weak right hand. It’s much better, thank God. It takes energy to write, but here goes.

I could not in good conscience let this pass without asking for a good, honest debate on such things as Planned Parenthood, police and military support, Christianity, English only in our schools, unprotected borders, terms limits, a balanced budget and tax breaks for middle America.

Now, when Trump ran against 15 highly respected people, my thoughts of Trump were not the greatest, but now I can see clearly, hands down, he is far superior than the others, a true Godsend. In our 2016 election, Trump carried Allamakee County big (by more than 1,600 votes). He was voted in by a mixture of support from each of the main political parties. He has done more for our country in two years than any other president.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that Saturday, September 22 loomed as a dream day for Iowa fans of major college football and the Chicago Cubs.

All were going to be on television and at different times.

Iowa State was first with an 11 a.m. start for the football game with Akron. The University of Northern Iowa’s game started at 4 p.m. The Cubs followed at 6 .p.m. with the Iowa-Wisconsin football game bringing up the rear at 7:30 p.m.

Thus alerted, I settled in to watch the ISU game. At half-time I took a brief look at news and went to get some lunch. When 1 came back, 1 grabbed the TV remote and pushed the buttons to get the football game back.

Nothing.

TV set broke?

Nope. I used the manual buttons of the set to confirm that was not the problem.

So, it had to be the remote, which had been sluggish of late.

Probably needed batteries.

To the Editor:

The Republican fundraiser was held September 18 at the fairgrounds in Waukon. It was a great gathering, almost 175 people, and $18,000 was raised in this campaign. It was the best fundraiser ever.

Chuck Bloxham was the emcee, and he kept the program rolling telling the speaker there would be no bloviating, a five-minute limit, and to remember they are talking to the chair. Grace was said by Msgr. Ed Lechtenberg.

Food was furnished by BE Catered and music was by Jim Adam and Little Dale. There were 30 homemade pies by Jerry Halverson and company, and ice cream from Kwik Star. Speakers encouraged the crowd to work hard, starting right now until November 6.

Monroe Auction Service provided very good support. There were 13 caps donated. Doug Reimer of Elkader brought in $800.

That’s what happened. Thought you might like to know.

Ozzie Quandahl
Waukon
 

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that this old man does not appreciate night games featuring the Cubs or Iowa U. football.

The Iowa-UNI game started at 6:30, and the Wisconsin game was set for 7:30 p.m. Will the trend to lateness continue until we start one at midnight? Possibly, if television wants that!

I long for the good old days of Iowa football, when games started at 1 p.m. and were over before 5 p.m.

As a student, that gave us an opportunity to savor a victory or start to forget a loss as traffic began to leave Iowa City, and the city was returned to the students and faculty.

Then when I started work at the local newspaper in the early 1960s, and continuing ito the 1970s, the Iowa Press Association was able to reward member papers with a few tickets for each home game at much reduced prices. The university had some pretty bad football teams some of those years, and sellouts were by no means assured.

To the Editor:

My recent letter that I wrote to The Standard Viewpoints page was my experience at the Iowa City VA Hospital before I received my life-saving pacemaker and had nothing to do with the Allamakee County VA office in Waukon.

I wrote to Senator Ernst about the policy and decisions made by both Republicans and Democrats, including our current president, who are about my age and who beat the draft during the Vietnam war. My letter to Senator Ernst got me nowhere, as my words were wasted.

As I stated, it was the overall Veterans Affairs policy that I was questioning, and the Allamakee County VA had nothing to do with that policy or any decisions made.

As I also said, all veterans riding in those VA vans could be considered a liability. If not, then why are they going to the VA for their healthcare?

Pat Ward
Waterville
 

To the Editor:

This letter probably should be private and personal, but the event was so overwhelmingly nice I want to write it openly to all. September 15 our great-grandson Ian and Allison were married at St. Pat’s Catholic Church here in Waukon. This beautiful church was built in 1912 and it was filled with well wishers and supporters sending best wishes to the new couple.

Now, as a great-grandfather I feel I can give some advice. I want them both to pledge to honor God by attending church service every Sunday. If they do that it will become a natural habit and hopefully some of their friends will do the same. There is nothing nicer than seeing a young, newly married couple put our Lord Jesus in their lives. Health and happiness will be theirs. God bless them.

Ozzie and Phyllis Quandahl
Waukon