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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

To the Editor:

I stood opposed to the collective bargaining reform rushed through the statehouse. As part of my opposition, I contacted each legislator currently representing the state. Senator Breitbach responded to my message. He seemed to take offense when I suggested that the collective bargaining reform was the result of lawmakers beholden to out-of-state interest groups. He said he saw no problem with lawmakers using model legislation from out-of-state groups instead of drafting it from scratch.

The Waukon bowling team had its inaugural season brought to a close, missing out on the championship finish or at-large bid necessary in either team or individual scoring to advance on to the State Tournament from their Tuesday, February 14 Class 1A District Tournament at Cascade. The Waukon girls bowled to a fifth-place team finish in their district competition, while the Indian boys ended up sixth.

“Overall, I was happy with how we performed,” Waukon bowling coach Jerry Keenan said. “The boys were within 12 of their high score for the season.  (Senior) Austin Day and (freshman) Zech Brink had their high scores of the season. The girls were extremely consistent on the day in their individual games.”

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The third time was not charmed when the Kee boys basketball team faced off against fellow Upper Iowa Conference squad Turkey Valley in the opening round of Class 1A District Tournament play Thursday, February 16 at Postville High School. But it certainly looked like it could have been and, at the very least, was improved from the previous two match-ups. Having fallen to the Trojans by margins of 13 points after suffering at least one double-digit outscoring quarter in each of their two regular season match-ups, the Hawks never trailed at the end of any of the game’s first three quarters and remained tied with just over two minutes left, only to suffer a 9-2 final outscoring in those final two minutes to have their season ended by a 49-42 defeat.

The Kee girls basketball team was once again putting together another brilliant postseason tournament run this past week, the Lady Hawks winning 2.98 games over a six-night span to earn their third consecutive trip to the Class 1A regional semifinals and bring their season to the brink of a second consecutive State Tournament appearance. It was the final two-hundredths of that postseason journey, however, that prevented the Hawks’ season from going over that season grand finale edge once again and punching their ticket for a return trip to Des Moines, as they came up about 30 seconds shy of doing so.

Eula B. Thies, 102, of Waukon died Friday, February 17, 2017 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. Funeral services were held Tuesday, February 21 at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon with Pastor Grant VanderVelden officiating. Burial was at Phelps Cemetery, Decorah.

Eula Bessie Nagel Thies was born December 28, 1914 in rural Luana, the daughter of William and Nellie (Fish) Roffman. She attended country schools and December 6, 1930, Eula married Ralph Nagel. The couple lived on Ralph’s parents’ farm near Luana.

Eula was a hard-working woman, never one to sit around. Besides helping care for Ralph’s 12 siblings and raising her two children, Eula milked cows, fed pigs, cooked and helped with all other aspects of farm life. She and Ralph then rented a farm in the rural Postville/Waukon area before settling on a farm near Decorah.

Waukon wrestling 182-pound senior Blain Swenson had his season and high school wrestling career brought to a close with a pair of losses on the opening night in his first-ever qualification for the Class 2A State Tournament in Des Moines Thursday, February 16. Swenson opened the season grand finale with a 9-3 loss to fellow Northeast Iowa Conference mat senior Alex Koehler of Charles City (24-12). That loss forced Swenson to have to wrestle again that same Thursday night in a first-round consolation battle against fourth-rated senior Kyle Benson of Sergeant Bluff-Luton (46-8), who lost by opening-round fall in 3:47 to ninth-rated Dubuque Wahlert junior Boone McDermott (32-5). Swenson took Benson down first in the match, but Benson was able to work a second period reversal that he eventually turned into a fall in 2:34 and an end to Swenson's State Tournament debut.