Viewpoints

To the Editor:

Jacob Galema still does not get it. Socialism does not work! That is the most important lesson of the 20th Century. Jacob only reiterates in his letter of September 27 what everyone knew, including me! He does not have to repeat it four times, I know he is a misguided sociailst.

Unfortunately, Jacob, like all the rest of those who believe as he does, resorts to personal attacks and personal destruction when they can’t win the argument with good ideas and plans. The Constitution is a pretty good rational for doing the right thing. Christian ethics are also a good rationale for doing the right thing. Our founding fathers knew that.

To the Editor:

Yes, October is breast cancer awareness month.  However, there are so many other statistically sneakier gender-related cancers that are not talked about. I wonder if that’s because they are less likely to be noticed, even mentioned, or if it is because treatment is not always nearly as successful by the time those cancers are diagnosed.

I am referring to ovarian, uterine, cervical, testicular, prostate, to name a few gender-related cancers. The problem with most of those cancers is that they are more difficult to detect and are likely to involve much more expensive and extensive testing. Mammograms have become part of a regular wellness regimen for those who are adequately insured. And, that is becoming a key issue with our new administration and the healthcare coverage available.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... since my father’s death nearly half a century ago (he did not like it) I have made it a practice to have Limburger cheese and crackers Sunday evenings. My mother joined me until her death 13 years ago. Sunday night was the second time in all those years that I had to go without. Shopping oversight. And I was ticked!

Even though I had just finished watching the Cubs win.

While I was upset, I recalled the words of a nun in my high school who, when she knew things were not going my way, always said “just offer it up!” I wasn’t sure then what that meant but I thought it meant accept it as penance for sins committed in the past or those to come.

It was the second time in a week that phrase came to me.

I was amazed and ashamed of myself for fretting so much while I was without cable television for ten days. After all, I grew up in the days before there was television.

by Hugh E. Conway

Games 5

Like other Iowans, early settlers in northeast Iowa believed that everyone would gain from some education. To function properly in society and play a role in the future in this county, children should learn how to read and to write. Early on, often one room schoolhouses in the Wexford area were where basic skills were taught to both boys and girls. Over 12,000 of these little structures once dotted Iowa’s landscapes. Recess was some of the fun times where children could use their imagination and play games and in the process also gain life skills.

Another fun game of rounds that was played in Wexford schools was Muffin Man. The game starts with one child turning to the next child and singing the verse:

Do you know the muffin man? “The muffin man, the muffin man” Do you know the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane?

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that a couple weeks ago, as the world was noting the anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, I was starting a book, a biographical account, of the life of her ancestor, Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire. She was a (insert four greats) aunt of Diana’s from the Spencer family. Earl Spencer was the father of Diana, who became the Princess of Wales upon her marriage. Which shows how convoluted British royalty is, because the Prince of Wales of her time, in the late 1770s, was a sometimes cohort of Georgiana’s, the late Diana left a Prince of Wales as an heir.

I’m confused already, and have just started. Georgiana’s life obviously included the time when the United States of America removed itself from the British Empire.

To the Editor:

Seven years ago, the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative launched the “start somewhere” walk as an opportunity to engage Iowans to join us in making Iowa the healthiest state in the nation. Since 2011, hundreds of thousands of Iowans have walked on the first Wednesday of October and we’ve seen a growing increase in making Iowa communities more walkable. Communities are adopting complete street policies, hiring staff dedicated to incorporating walking, biking and transit in transportation plans and launching walking school buses so kids can walk or bike safely to school.

This year the Healthiest State is reminding Iowans to care for their own health by walking every day by kicking off the Walk more. Connect more campaign in partnership with the Walk more. Connect more. NE Iowa.
On October 4 we are challenging Iowans to “get your walk on” in Waukon, and join the walk hosted at Noon that day, by Veterans Memorial Hospital.  

To the Editor:

I’m a socialist. I don’t want free things. I want to pay for things in a different way and to live in a country based on morality and equity. I’m a socialist. I don’t want free things. I want to pay for things in a different way and to live in a country based on morality and equity. I’m a socialist. I don’t want free things. I want to pay for things in a different way and to live in a country based on morality and equity. I’m a socialist. I don’t want free things. I want to pay for things in a different way and to live in a country based on morality and equity. Maybe if I write those sentences four times Mr. Engle will be able to actually understand what I write.

To the Editor:

Community. Ultimately, this word defines all of our rural towns and cities. A gathering place consecrated with decades of shared struggles, hard work, and celebrated success. Yet despite many great advances towards cooperation, we have a long way to go to truly reach community in our region.

As an economic developer, it is my privilege to visit our cities and to work for a brighter future. We have many awesome businesses and dedicated people in our cities, as you are well aware. Each city in our region has high hopes for future success. But that future requires collaboration. It requires community.

This region was built upon the belief that we all thrive when we work together. The shared joy when a community park was developed, the shared grief when a local restaurant suffered a fire. But more than anything else, this region has known success when its communities collaborated with each other, and triumphed over reliance on the self and state.

To the Editor:

I am a mom, consumer and farm wife from Monona. Each week I make my way to the grocery store to pick up groceries for my family. This is a task I take pride in, but not one that I view as simple. Each week I am faced with a list a mile long and hundreds of options to choose from. This is a good thing, and one which leads me to say, “thank you, Iowa farmers!”

I am thankful for the ability to choose from a variety of products. I am thankful that farmers, like my husband, choose to implement different practices on their farms, raise different products, and utilize different technology, because that diversity assures choices for us all at the grocery store.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that there is an old adage to the effect that you should be careful what you wish for because it might happen.

For days I wished that television would cover something else besides the hurricane headed for Florida. The networks and weather channel sent reporters out into the worst weather conditions they could find, and they would stand there leaning into the wind in drenching rain and tell us what we could see, which they could have done just as well from inside the window they were just outside of.

And the predictions were dire, and it was (is) very bad, but one called it a rainfall “of Biblical proportions.” Presumably meaning that episode of Noah and his arc. Before man’s industrial revolution caused climate change, by the way!