Viewpoints

To the Editor:

The current administration has reversed, or is reversing, nearly 100 environmental rules. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was begun by executive order of President Nixon. Many of us remember the smog of Los Angeles, polluted Lake Erie, and the burning Cuyahoga River. These were examples of our dirty environment that have largely disappeared due to EPA regulations, with sincere thanks to that administration.

Now, however, we have more subtle effects of environmental degradation. Iowa’s waterways are polluted. Impaired waters abound, including the Upper Iowa and Turkey Rivers. Our air quality is threatened by relaxing regulations on carbon emissions. Transportation has been America’s number-one source of air pollution, with greenhouse emissions from cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles surpassing every other source.

Peace of Mind - Peace of Soul

Dear Friends!

Please know that you are loved by an old priest.

I have discovered over these many years that the beauty of a Christian lies in the extent that that life is lived in a loving  union and in the imitation of the life of Jesus Christ, lived during the best of times and the worst of times.

Right now we are living in one of those “worst of times” dealing with this coronavirus.

So how do we imitate and identify our lives with Jesus Christ during this epidemic? Do what Jesus did when He faced horrible situations, especially when He faced His own passion and death. He prayed to the Heavenly Father for grace. He prayed for the will of the Heavenly Father be done. “Father not my will but thine be done.”

To the Editor:

In my 37 years of being in the health care field, I have never seen a bigger impact to how health care is delivered than with the changes that have occurred due to COVID-19.

One day Veterans Memorial Hospital is open and access is as simple as going to the front desk or patient room to visit, and the next you are greeted at the only open entrance with a person gowned, gloved and masked. You are asked questions, your temperature taken, and then escorted to where you need to go. It bothered me to have that happen at first, but I have come to realize that COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon.

Trusting God -  Finding Peace

To the Editor:

One in five people will have some kind of mental illness in their lifetime. Yet despite how common these conditions are – as common as silver cars, and more common than being left-handed – stigma remains the greatest barrier to individuals seeking help regarding their mental illness.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This serves as a great opportunity for our community to begin eliminating stigma by starting conversations and increasing understanding about mental illness.

Now, more than ever before, it is important to talk about mental illness. Many of us could be feeling increased anxiety, stress and feelings of isolation due to the COVID-19 outbreak and social distancing requirements. For those Iowans who already live with a mental illness, this pandemic could be causing symptoms to compound.

To the Editor:

Look at all the nickel cans. The ditches are full of nickel cans. I can’t understand why people throw these nickel cans away. There are all kinds of cans and plastic bottles thrown away.

I was born in the early 1930s and money was hard to come by. We would make fish hooks out of safety pins. Now, all you have to do is pick up cans and you could buy ten years’ worth of fish hooks. Maybe we should raise the reimbursement to ten cents?

Last year I went fishing at the mouth of the discharge water of the power plant in Lansing. I got two fish, picked up a pail full of cans and plastic bottles, plus my pockets were full.

Last year, I parked over by Bloody Run in the casino parking lot. I couldn’t believe all the cans and bottles along the riprapped bank. At 87 years old, there is no way I could pick them all up. Now the casino has all kinds of containers to put trash in. Maybe somebody could come up with a better idea than ten cents a can.

To the Editor:

Drug addiction is not well understood in modern society. A better approach to the way we view both drugs and drug addicts would go a long way to improving treatment outcomes. It could also change treatment options themselves. A more welcoming and understanding attitude throughout society is necessary for a serious reform on the way we approach drug addiction treatment.

First of all, the way society treats drug addicts is so judgmental and closed minded that it is no small surprise addicts have trouble keeping clean sometimes. In our society, once a person suffers from drug addiction, they are painted with a tarred brush. They will face judgment and suspicion for the rest of their lives. It is a heavy burden that follows recovering addicts as they try to get on with their lives, making that job much more difficult. It’s hard to get a job or secure stable living with a dark cloud of suspicion.

Grace holds a central place in a life of faith. For my faith tradition, talk of grace begins of course with God’s grace. God giving us love, blessing, help, healing. God doing this freely, with great care for us. Grace is about receiving. Receiving needed support, needed relief, needed compassion. This aspect of grace reminds us that we are people who need help and grace in life, in all manner of ways. We receive grace from God, and we receive grace from other people. So during this time of pandemic and uncertainty, I’d encourage all who are being offered help, offered grace, to receive it. Welcome a friendly word or an offer of support. Take advantage of food pantry supplies and other forms of assistance. In whatever ways you’re being offered grace now, receive it as a gift. Accepting grace, accepting help can be difficult for us. But it is vital and life-giving. So open yourself up to grace. Be kind enough to yourself to receive it.

To the Editor:

I believe that by now, all registered voters in Iowa have received an absentee voter request form in the mail. Please consider using it, and not just because of COVID-19.

Voting from home allows you to carefully consider the candidates and any referenda that may be on the ballot. It assures that whatever happens on election day, your vote is already in.

If you haven’t gotten the mailing yet, you might want to call the Auditor’s office and make sure you are registered, or, if you know you’re not registered, get that done. You don’t want to miss out on choosing our politicians!

You may be one of those people who are skeptical about the privacy of absentee ballots. Let me assure you, as someone who has been on the Absentee Board, on and off, since Billy Roe, Jr. was Auditor, that your ballot is sacred and secret.

To the Editor:

It’s time to make our voices heard on June 2. How fortunate we are in these unpredictable, frightening, isolating times to still be able to vote safely!

All we need to do is call the Allamakee County Auditor’s Office at 563-568-3522 by May 22 and request an application for an absentee ballot. It will come by mail relatively quickly. It gives us the power to help choose candidates for U.S. Senator, Iowa State Representative and Allamakee County Supervisor, among others. It must be returned by mail or hand-delivered to the courthouse by June 1.

If you choose to vote absentee in person, or at the polls on the the actual voting day (June 2), the Auditor’s Office will give you instructions.