And then I wrote...

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus

... that The Weather Channel on TV has changed its format, and I don’t like it. More on that later.
One of the things new is a little three-line intro to “Local on the Eight” reports, and sometimes they try to be cute. A recent example during one of the prolonged stretches of rainy weather was: “Need an ark? We NOAA guy!” Playing off the Noah and his ark theme.
But the weather has been anything but funny lately. Did someone say 20 days with rain in June’s 30 days? I think I have probably watched the weather channel more than any other TV channel of late. One thing I don’t like about the new format is that the radar scan is confined to a smaller area. Roughly just to Cresco to the west. And then only over a three-hour span. Northeast Iowans know that very often, we can predict our weather by what is happening a couple hundred miles south and west, since that is the prevailing direction from which storms move.
When things get really interesting, the commercial networks come on, but by then we are already pretty much in for it! They have been “on” weather for hours at a time frequently recently, reaching deep into their bull pen for relief reporters.
I jokingly noted here that I did not vote for Gov. Branstad in the primary election because he switched his major league baseball allegiance from the Cubs. It is true I voted for his opponent, but that was not the real reason. The real reason was that he cut funds for the REAP program (Resource Enhancement and Protection).

But an article in this morning’s paper about the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation caused me to think maybe his veto was okay. The INHF raises money from like-thinking members instead of asking for tax money. REAP money is tax money.
I have been a member of INHF for many years, and for several years was able to be a more generous member. I have cut back since the administration in Washington effectively nationalized the financial industry. That took away the discretionary income from which I made my contribution.
The thing I like about the INHF is that its funds come from willing donors. It always has upset me that tax money from citizens often goes to places and things which the taxpayer actually opposes.
The INHF acquires lands for public use from willing sellers, using no tax money, only donations from members, and then gives the land to a government agency to manage. County conservation boards, for example, which keeps control close to home.
Additionally, the INHF sometimes holds a special fund raiser for those interested in a particular project. An example locally was the purchase of a huge addition to Effigy Mounds National Monument. Western Iowans were able to contribute to a loess hills project.
Despite the attitude of left wing progressives, tax dollars mean something to a lot of us who have paid taxes for a lifetime, and we would really like to have some say in how money is spent. The INHF allows us to do that.
Meanwhile, I remember the days when I had a boat on a trailer in my side yard, and could have laughed at NOAA’s weather joke!