Viewpoints

The congregation I serve is blessed with a sizable number of children and youth who participate in the life and ministry of our church. Twenty to 25 of them regularly participate in Christian education activities Wednesday nights, and many in that lively group worship regularly with their families Sundays.
Over the years, I’ve often heard parents express anxiety about bringing their children to church. Their concern usually goes something like this:
“My kids only go to church because I make them go. It’s bad enough when they are going to  Sunday school where they get to have fun, but when they’re just sitting in church on Sundays and they don’t get anything out of it, it seems rather pointless to make them go.”
I get that. I really do.
Not every Sunday at our house includes our three kids jumping out of bed and leaping with joy at the thought of going to church.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

To the Editor:
Your “Editor Emeritus,” Dick Schilling, made a serious error in his effort to smear Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders by writing, “Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist, which is what the Nazi party in Germany called itself.”
In fact, the Nazis called themselves the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), the National Socialist German Workers Party or National Socialists in English, known as Nazis world-wide.

David Anderson
Waukon
 

To the Editor:
Taxes! How much is enough or too much? It seems that every time we turn around we’re subtly and incrementally taxed a little more. So many of our elected officials and representatives seem addicted and callused to using OPM (Other People’s Money).
To appreciate the great extent of governmental debt is nearly unfathomable.  There’s no place better or more fitting to start acting with conscience and fiscal responsibility than right here at home. Whether it’s balancing our own checkbooks or monitoring our county’s spending, it’s our duty and right as taxpaying citizens to speak up.

To the Editor:
In his recent letter to the editor, William J. Delaney suggested that street improvement costs, at least for the busier streets, be spread among all property tax payers in the city so that large special assessments against property owners along the improved street could be avoided.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

To the Editor:
On 1/14/14, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors (Schellhammer, Strub and Koenig) voted to support an additional state Road Use Gas Tax Fund increase of 10 cents per gallon (Motion #14.030 in the 1/14/14 Board minutes). In a nutshell, the resolution notes that: 1) this tax has not been significantly increased since 1989, 2) costs for administration, maintenance and improvements to our roads have increased, and 3) current support will not fully cover the future cost increases.
The new gas tax was presented to Iowa consumers in 2015 as a way to help upgrade and maintain our roads and, no matter what individuals may have felt, we adopted a new bill. March 1, 2015 our state began collecting the additional dollars. Allamakee County should expect an additional $600,000-$700,000 annually from this tax.

To the Editor:
March is National Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. People with disabilities are valuable, contributing members of our community who have much to offer and a desire to participate.
People with developmental disabilities have proven to be reliable workers and excellent volunteers, capable of meeting or exceeding expectations and standards. Thanks to organizations like Mosaic, people with disabilities are leading richer, more fulfilling lives.

To the Editor:
March 5-12, the nation is celebrating AmeriCorps Week. It is a time to acknowledge and commemorate the commitment of AmeriCorps members, to thank community partners, and to recognize the value of the life-changing impact this powerful service offers.
Since 1994, 9,300 Iowa residents have served as AmeriCorps members, totaling 12 million hours of service to their communities. As one of those proud AmeriCorps members, I am writing to share my thanks for this opportunity to be part of this national effort and to emphasize the astonishing influence of AmeriCorps in this area.

To the Editor:
As I began attending Supervisor meetings with concerns of taxpayer dollars being used to finance the new Conservation Board’s Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center, I began to see the seduction and danger of grants to our community. Grant money or free money - we all like things that are free.
The problem is there are strings attached. The process is arduous and time consuming. New employees need to be hired to continue to write and apply for more grants. Apply for a grant, present your hard work of the dream project, rejection, rewrite the grant. Do you wonder if the grant is what you want or what a government agency wants?