Viewpoints

To the Editor:
Do you love wireless technology so much you wouldn’t care if it came with harmful side effects like prescription drugs and over the counter drugs? What if wireless technology came with side effect warnings informing you of all the possible side effects? What if it harmed your friends or even a family member, would that make you think twice about wireless technology?

To the Editor:
Recent news and world reports have us talking a lot about Islamic terrorists, illegal aliens, Black activists, refugees, white supremacists, etc. We tend to identify the various factions of our society according to race, color and religion. When there is a need to talk about “scary” people that don’t fit into those categories, we have another very colorful group referred to as the ‘mentally ill’.
Persons with mental illness are typically invisible until something happens that draws attention to them, and then they stick out like the sore thumbs of our society. Battered and bruised they fumble at survival by trying too hard, giving up all together and everything in between. They can become far removed from being a productive member of society they lash out at themselves and/or others.

Dear Editor,
Every four years, Iowa has the unique opportunity to be the first in the nation caucus. I know some of you might not consider this unique because it seems to extend the campaign season for a long time. I take the approach that this provides Iowans access to the candidates to talk to them on the issues that matter most to me, our state, and shapes candidate’s platforms on a variety of issues.

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus

To the Editor:
While I realize it is a fool's errand to respond to a recent letter asserting Congress should make public schools "English Only."
"English Only" laws are inconsistent with both the First Amendment right to communicate with or petition the government, as well as free speech and the right to equality because they bar government employees from providing non-English language assistance and services.
Furthermore, as the writer himself points out, "Local people can and will run our schools better" than the federal government. If he truly believes this, I suggest he refrain from demanding government intervention every time he disagrees with the decisions of others.

Cate St. Clair
Waukon

To the Editor:
To start with, just a little humor for a quick laugh:
I just received an audit on my tax return for 2012 back from the IRS, and it puzzles me. They are questioning how many dependents I claimed. I guess it was because of my response to the request: "List all dependents". I replied: 12 million illegal immigrants, three million crackheads, 42 million unemployed people on food stamps, two million people in over 243 prisons, half of Mexico, 535 persons in the House and Senate, and one useless president.
Evidently, this was not an acceptable answer. I keep asking myself, "who did I miss?"

To the Editor:
This is in response to the letter "Think twice before passing medical marijuana laws" submitted by Helping Services of Northeast Iowa. I am not able to engage in a debate over the many questionable points made therein so I will focus on only a few of them.

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus

To the Editor:
It used to be you could leave your house unlocked and everything on your property. Nowadays you better have everything locked up, nailed down or spiked in.
The reason I say this is because Thursday, December 10 there was a star shower light stolen from the yard at South Ridge. It was put there so the residents could enjoy them.
Needless to say, someone stole it! It is terrible that elderly people have to go without just because some people haven’t anything else to do to satisfy their minds. We hope your are proud of yourselves for what you did, because we surely aren’t proud of you.
Oh, by the way, this is not the only thing stolen through the years we have lived here.
Sincerely,

D.L. Beisker, Waukon

by Dick Schilling, Editor Emeritus