Viewpoints

To the Editor:

November 1, over 250,000  Iowans lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, putting healthy food out of reach for families already struggling to make ends meet. SNAP isn’t a handout; it’s a lifeline for children, people with disabilities, seniors, and hardworking families trying to feed themselves while paying rent, utilities, and other essential bills. With the cost of groceries soaring, stopping food aid results in people going hungry.

In the richest country in the world, children are going to bed with empty bellies. Allowing hunger to exist is a moral failure and the result of intentional policy decisions made by politicians.

To the Editor:

Farmers are a dying breed. During the 1980s, my first husband and I lost our farm in a farm bankruptcy, along with 250,000 other farmers. This wasn’t because we weren’t good farmers, but because the federal government created artificially high interest rates and inflation was out of control. Another farm debt crisis is happening now, thanks to tariffs, the possible importing of beef from Argentina, and hand-outs to Argentina.

The tariffs on soybeans caused our largest buyer, China, to stop buying U.S. products, and they have turned to Argentina. Tariffs are meant to “even the playing field,” but instead the tariffs decimated the playing field, and thus are decimating farmers.

And this week (10/18/2025), Trump floated the idea of buying beef from Argentina to reduce the price of beef in the grocery stores. Now, he is reducing the one profitable enterprise for farmers, after years of losing money on beef.

To the Editor:

I appreciate Ashley Hinson voting to keep the government open and operating for Iowans. The letter published a couple weeks ago failed to include the facts that House and Senate Democrats are keeping the government closed over providing healthcare for illegal aliens and providing hundreds of millions of tax dollars to NPR and PBS.

Ashley has worked hard to expand access to healthcare for Iowans - she supports keeping premiums low, improving maternal health care, and expanding telehealth options for rural Iowans. It’s unfortunate that Democrats are playing politics with healthcare instead of working on common sense solutions.

I appreciate Ashley fighting for Iowans in DC. She is doing exactly what we elected her to do.

Cristina Smith
Waukon
 

To the Editor:

In her letter to the editor in the October 8 edition of The Standard, I wonder why Ann Hart seems to be so opposed to our Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcing immigration laws. She would try to convince us that these agencies are in business only to make money.

Her letter leads us to believe there is abuse in the system with uncontrolled violence and abuse of the illegals. We don’t know if she means abuse at the hands of the ICE officials or other illegals. The letter offers no proof that such abuse exists. Her letter also leads us to believe that the money being spent for controlling illegal immigration is being taken from SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and Social Security.

To the Editor:

The Driftless Half Marathon held annually in Lansing each October has become bigger than just the hobby of running. What started off as a way to share the uniqueness and beauty of Allamakee County, has since turned into a do-good, feel-good fundraiser where everyone can partake.

Each year, folks from across the country come to see what our area of the driftless region has to offer. Some love it so much, they return each year and become known on a first-name basis.

When they arrive in Lansing on race weekend, they are met with friendly faces of the volunteer race committee and locals when they frequent the businesses in town. There are endless comments of how polite and welcoming our townspeople are. Some, being used to larger events in bigger towns and cities, acknowledge how much they love our ‘small-town race’. This is all because of the hospitality our locals provide.

To the Editor:
The outpouring of generosity and support from our community during the VFW Auxiliary poppy sales Friday, October 10 was truly inspiring. Each contribution plays a vital role in honoring the service and sacrifices of our veterans and supporting programs that assist them and their families.
It is heartening to see so many members of our community come together to make a meaningful difference and demonstrate the spirit of care, compassion and commitment to those who have served.

Karen Mathis
Poppy Chair
VFW Auxiliary

To the Editor:

At the core of the government shutdown is the cost of healthcare insurance. Millions of Americans will see their health care insurance premiums skyrocket because Republicans refuse to extend the health insurance tax subsidies. Without subsidies, insurance premiums will double or even quadruple (Kaiser Family Foundation) for people who purchase insurance from the Affordable Care Act’s Marketplace, making insurance unaffordable.

To prevent the explosion of health insurance costs, Democrats will not vote for the Republicans’ partisan budget bill which excludes health insurance subsidies. Republicans wholeheartedly supported $1.1 trillion tax cuts for billionaires, but refuse health insurance tax subsidies for everyday Americans.

To the Editor:

The drive to deport undocumented immigrants, or “illegal aliens,” appears to be motivated largely by financial interests. Consider the implications of the Big Beautiful Bill, which allocated $45 billion to the construction of new detention centers - a staggering 308% increase from 2024.

These Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities are operated by private companies that are compensated based on the number of detainees housed each day. The more individuals detained, the greater the financial gain.

The government’s push focuses on arresting and holding as many people as possible, but the increase in immigration judges - from 700 to just 800 - remains insufficient. Consequently, many detainees are left waiting in these facilities for constitutionally guaranteed hearings, prolonging their confinement and further benefiting contractors.

To the Editor:

I don’t like the way our country is going. There are 20 million-plus illegal people, and a large number are criminals. Even our little Allamakee County should be concerned.

When I went to high school in Waukon, we had Ben Kettleson as the main cop, and Mr. Brandt was his helper. Ben never carried a gun.

Now, we have a chief of police and six assistants. We  have a six million dollar jail. We have a good sheriff and several assistants.

If you are a thinking, concerned person, this should concern you. We take too good of care of our felons, with very little concern for the victims. Let’s make it easy for our sheriff, so that all felons get a bread and water diet as long as they are in jail. Jail should be a place you don’t want to be.

Hello fellow residents of the land of driftless. Pastor Buck with more wayward thoughts from a follower of Christ. A lot of events in our lives come and go without much, if any advance notification. When we do get advance notification of something coming our way, what do we tend to do with that information? For most of us we categorize it; immediate response or action required, action required but not immediate, this can wait, not my concern, and so on and so on. What influences the categorization is how much such an event will directly affect us personally, or collectively such as with a spouse or our children, or our immediate family, or close friends or neighbors.  So… where am I going with this since this is an article meant to be focused on God (His Word in our life). My focus today is on the notification we all have been given. Some of the details are not yet set in stone but enough are in place to cause each and every one of us to ponder to categorize an impact and response.