Viewpoints

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that I have not taken a photograph since I retired after 44 years of using a camera, but there have been times when I wished I could.

An example came one recent morning, after that overnight thundersneet (snow and sleet) event. What I heard against my bedroom window made me expect to see ice covered utility wires at dawn, but they were clear. However, a day later, as I looked toward the rising sun, I noticed the bare limbs (bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang, as Shakespeare wrote) of two trees between me and the sun were glistening with a thin ice coat, first rose-tinged and then silver as the sun rose higher.

Very pretty.

That storm did deposit a layer about an inch thick of white frozen ice and snow on my driveway, however, which was not so pretty.

To the Editor:

During the last twelve years, there has been a local organization, “Corner of Hope”, operating in this community. During those twelve years, over $300,000 has been raised. These funds are sent to the Food Resource Bank (FRB), a faith-based organization whose sole purpose is to help alleviate world hunger in the poorer regions of the world.

The funds we send are equally divided between Catholic Relief Services, Lutheran Relief and Church World Relief Services. These organizations then use these funds, not by giving food, but by showing them how to raise their own food. This can be done in a variety of ways; different and better seed, tillage practices, pest control and water management. In one instance, land was purchased by the FRB and parceled off and sold to the peasant farmers. This was done because the good agriculture land was owned by big corporations.

To the Editor:

Here we go again. At 90 years of age it gets harder all the time. I appreciate all editorials, even though I highly disagree with some. It takes time and effort to put your thoughts together.

I like what Trump has done so far and hate the Republicans who throw logs in his way. These Rinos have to go, make sure of that the next chance we get - election day.

Trump won big, and the big help came from Christians and Evangelics - 82% for and 18% against. I really wonder what kind of Christians the 18% are. Are they for killing babies, throwing the Bible and Ten Commandments out, no mention of Christ in schools, ministers forbidden to be involved in politics? All of the above, and there could be more, are inspired by the devil. The 82% of supporters of Trump flock to his meetings, nearly 30,000 in Florida, where he spoke for 117 minutes. By the way, Hillary called them deplorable.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that the older one gets, the more things there are that remind us of events long past. And sometimes those memories are a bit hazy.

Whenever President Trump appears in front of a crowd with reporters and cameramen present, the noise of camera shutters clicking is very loud and intrusive. I suspect that was true of past presidents as well, but I probably notice it more since President Trump makes himself available for many more such appearances than did, for example, his predecessor.

That reminds me of my first experience with cameras in the courtroom. It was probably in the 1970s when the state legislature gave its approval, despite objections from the judiciary. Judges were afraid trial pailicipants, and attorneys in particular, would play to the cameras.

To the Editor:

The Luster Heights facility is now closed just two weeks after State House Representative Kristi Hager and State Senator Michael Breitbach cast their votes for a budget which cut $5.5 million from the Department of Corrections. Their votes have had negative ramifications for Allamakee County, those employed at Luster Heights, the inmates, and the taxpayers.

The many ways the Luster Heights inmates benefited the county were underscored at a recent Board of Supervisors meeting. Since the 1990s, Luster Heights inmates worked 200 days a year on secondary road maintenance for a nominal fee of $5 per day. This saved the taxpayer a great deal of money. The work the inmates did at the Waukon City Park was described as the benefits far outweighing the costs.

To the Editor:

With Iowa’s underage and binge drinking exceeding national averages and overdoses from prescription drugs near all-time highs, Iowa lawmakers fear that legalizing medical cannabis is a “slippery slope” to harder drug use and say that the medical cannabis intended for children like my four-year-old son with intractable epilepsy would end up in the “wrong hands”.

According to a 2016 document titled “Drug Trends in Iowa” from the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy, 50% of Iowans use alcohol, making it the “drug of choice” and between 72 - 82.1 out of 100 Iowans have pain killer prescriptions. Yet, our state continues to lag behind in helping Iowa’s most medically complex individuals.

In states with medical cannabis laws, opiate abuse actually declines. According to a study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine in October 2016, opiate-related deaths decreased by 33% within six years in states that legalized cannabis from 1999-2010.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that I read with great interest Orlan Love’s article in Sunday’s Gazette regarding the vagaries of water quality in northeast Iowa, and in the “driftless” area with its karst topography.

Those of us who have lived here for a number of years are perhaps more familiar with the latter than the former, because while we know this hilly area is such because it was missed by the glacial drift of the age of ice, before climate change(!), the term “driftless area” seems to have lately become adopted as something to attract tourists. As stated in the article, there is northeast Iowa, and then there’s the rest of the state. Those from the loess hills near the Missouri River might quarrel with that.

It’s getting close to s-p-r-i-n-g! Which means it’s also getting close to L-E-N-T. “So?” you may ask, “what difference does that make?”

Well, if you choose to make a difference, Lent can come to be a very significant thing. It is a time to do some self-evaluation. Specifically it has to do with your assessment of your relationship with God - The Almighty, The Creator, The Supreme Being, The Father in Heaven, The Son & The Holy Spirit, etc.

To the Editor:

Iowa has one of the highest quality, lowest cost health care systems in the United States. And at the heart of that system are 118 community hospitals that stand ready, day and night, to serve everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. A significant reason for health care excellence in Iowa has been state oversight of institutional health care services through the Certificate of Need law.

Iowa’s Certificate of Need regulations were first enacted in 1977 for the express purpose of providing for the orderly and economical development of health care services, thereby avoiding unnecessary duplication of services, controlling the growth of overall health care costs and ensuring the stability of community hospitals. Since that time, these regulations have been re-examined multiple times and each time the same conclusion was reached: Iowa needs Certificate of Need.

To the Editor:

I take exception to Dick Schilling’s ‘And Then I Wrote’ column February 15, 2017. First, Mr. Schilling stated, “The old Ku Klux Klan pretty much disappeared nearly 100 years ago…”. More than being inaccurate, this statement falsely minimizes the threat presented to targets of the KKK’s hatred and bigotry through the present day.

On a different topic, Mr. Schilling discussed membership of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, taking an unveiled and offensive slap at anyone who is not heterosexual. In a bigger sense, I am troubled by a continuing theme of viewpoints in The Standard which appear to endorse a reactionary and Christian-based lifestyle at the expense of all others. I invite The Standard to rather put forth an image of inclusion and tolerance, one that I think is more representative of the people of Allamakee County. 

Sincerely yours,

Matt Brandt
Cedar Rapids