Viewpoints

To the Editor:

We are celebrating what we did to start the new year. It turns out that it saves us money, keeps more money here to spend in our community, and actually contributes to the health of our climate.  We now get to have our young grandchildren spend the night, which we could not do last winter because it was too cold.

Thanks to the Allamakee Energy District, Winneshiek Energy District and the young people from Green Iowa AmeriCorp who came to evaluate our home environment and install energy saving devices as well as insulation that helps seal air leaks in our house, our house is much more comfortable and we feel much better.

If you would like to save energy dollars, I encourage you to call 563-382-4207, ext. 2. You can also learn more at energydistrict.org/services and by checking out Allamakee Energy District and Winneshiek Energy District on their social media sites.

Wishing all of us a better home, community and world.

Epiphany

Christmas is over and the church is now in the Epiphany season. Epiphany begins on January 6 and ends the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday.

But what is Epiphany? The dictionary defines epiphany as “an experience of a sudden and striking realization or insight.

To truly understand Christmas and the baby Jesus, an Epiphany, a realization, an insight is necessary. Jesus is both God and man in one person; and at Christmas His human nature was very apparent, but His divine nature is not so apparent. Who would have ever believed that night, that there lying in the manger is God, the One who created the universe.

When the baby Jesus opened His eyes for the first time and saw the stars above, it was He who created them. No, we need more insight, an epiphany in order to know that Jesus is also “Very God of very God, begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By Whom all thing were made”.

To the Editor:

The Step Up Reach Out committee would like to express its appreciation to its many sponsors and supporters of our annual suicide awareness walk. Funds raised this year are being used for suicide education and prevention with a special focus on the agricultural community, but any group is able to access this free training.

Groups or organizations that would like suicide prevention training at no cost may contact Northeast Iowa Behavioral Health at 563-382-3649 to schedule a training. The training is approximately one hour and is appropriate for ages 13 years and up.

Suicide continues to impact residents of northeast Iowa in a very personal way.  Training community members to recognize warning signs and how to intervene saves lives.

To the Editor:

At the annual World Economic Forum in January it was stated that our country’s current administrative leadership may be looking at cutting entitlements (Medicare and Social Security) toward the end of the year. This is no surprise.

As you know, we’ve had a senator from our very own state who has proclaimed discussing this in secret. And even though the deficit has exploded since the tax cut for the rich, Senate leadership has claimed that the driver of debt is Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid and cuts will need to be made.

I live by the words of Maya Angelo: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

I don’t believe we want leaders of our nation with this line of thinking on Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

Very sincerely,

Ann L. Hart
Waukon
 

This week at St. Patrick Parish and across the country, we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. There is a long history of Catholic education in our area. Here in Waukon, construction began in 1883 on a building which served as both school and convent with Dubuque Presentation Sisters as teachers. In 1939, a new elementary and high school building opened. My grandfather, Al Osterhaus, was the contractor and architect. The current primary grade building was opened in 1961. Today, we have 196 students in junior kindergarten through 6th grade.

Recently, our principal, Katie Fahey, formed a strategic planning committee. An acronym was formulated by  the group which lists four priorities: Relationships, Opportunities, Achievement and Responsibility.

Since our St. Patrick School mascot is the wildcat, the acronym spells:  R.O.A.R!

To the Editor:

Recently, I had a stay at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. I entered  the hospital through the emergency room, and then I was admitted. It was then that I realized how lucky our community is to have a facility like this.

I received the best care from all the staff there. Everyone made me feel at home from the doctors, staff in the emergency room, laboratory, nurse’s station, therapy, kitchen, housekeeping and front desk. I am so grateful for each and every one of the staff. I wanted to take this opportunity to let the community know how very blessed we are to have such an outstanding hospital to go to when we need it.

Robert Fossum
Waukon
 

To the Editor:

Sadly, only a very small percentage of Iowans caucus. It’s our only chance to be the first deciders of who might win the presidential primary vote. It’s our chance to influence the rest of the nation by being the first state to caucus. It’s also quite an education in our democratic process.

In order to caucus we meet Monday, February 3, doors opening at 6 p.m., at our precinct locations. (Watch The Standard for these locations.) We divide into presidential candidate preference groups, which sometimes means a lot of convincing, compromising, switching, and suspense, especially when there are so many candidates. It’s exciting!

After viable groups are chosen, delegates and alternates will be elected within these groups to represent their candidates at county, and then state conventions.

To the Editor:

In her letter to the editor in the December 18, 2019 edition of The Standard, Ann L. Hart used a play out of the playbook from the Main Stream Media and the Democrat Party in criticizing Senator Joni Ernst’s  position on Social Security reform. She totally misrepresented the facts, took some statements out of context and resorted to prevarication.

Senator Ernst, while campaigning for the U.S. Senate, acknowledged the need for reforming Social Security and offered suggestions on how that might be done. Ms. Hart suggests that Senator Ernst only wants to discuss reforms behind closed doors so she and those dastardly Republicans can pull the wool over the eyes of the public, maybe in the same way the Democrats tried to do in the closed door impeachment hearings against President Trump. Ms. Hart is taking that comment totally out of context and making it appear that no one, except Republicans, will have any input.

Submitted by Allamakee County Attorney Anthony Gericke

Having completed my first year as Allamakee County Attorney, I felt an update to the county on the current state of this office should be an annual part of my duties as an elected official.  The three most often asked questions I am presented with are:  Who are you?  What do you do?  Is marijuana in Iowa legal or not?

To the Editor:

What happens when it hurts too much to live? Can it really be too painful to live one more moment with emptiness, depression, and despair? Yes, for some people suicide seems like the only way out.

Not every person who contemplates killing themselves is truly interested in ending their time on earth. For many, suicidal thoughts are about escape - musing about the idea of leaving the bonds that bind them to other people, responsibilities to burdens, and the despair of what they can’t change. If they could just escape it, maybe they still could go on somehow. Not right now, but after a while. They just need to get away from it.