Viewpoints

To the Editor:

Every two years, Vision to Learn provides vision screenings, eye exams, and two free pairs of glasses to Allamakee County students who need them. Since 2017, Vision to Learn has examined nearly 900 local students and provided glasses to 818 students.

While this service is complimentary to families, it isn’t without cost. Opticians, a mobile screening clinic, glasses and other expenses add up. The Allamakee County Community Foundation works hard to support this program, both through our annual grant cycle and by connecting donors with this important cause.

To the Editor:

If you are an American citizen, you must stand up for your rights now. The current administration’s actions are like a hurricane, destroying everything in its path. A hurricane doesn’t discriminate but destroys whatever or whoever is in its way.

I like the right to vote for candidates. I want to know the military is being guided by smart people who live their duties and responsibilities. I want Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid to be there for all. I need to have the finest scientists overseeing the nation’s health and research. I want the best and brightest educators to engage students of all ages and stages of learning. I need journalists who are protected. I want to know that the vulnerable populations are respected. I must have three independent branches of government, and have the rule of law applied to all. I want good housing, wages, and benefits for all. I require due process and presumption of innocence under the law.

To the Editor:

Iowans work hard, sometimes holding multiple jobs, to pay bills and provide for their families. Workers keep our communities thriving, and small businesses keep jobs in towns. Trump’s tariffs and trade war threaten workers, small businesses, and communities.

Trump unilaterally levied broad sweeping tariffs on our trading partners. Trading partners retaliated by imposing tariffs on U.S. exports. Trump, Rep. Ashley Hinson, and Republicans are trying to trick us into believing China, Canada, Mexico, and other countries will pay the price of tariffs.

Americans are smarter than that. We know that countries exporting goods to the U.S. will offset their higher expenses by raising the prices of items. Increased prices will be paid by the American consumer. Make no mistake, tariffs are a tax on consumers.

To the Editor:

Mr. Lowell Engle (in his April 30 letter to the editor) argues we should “stand up for the Constitution and the rights of American citizens.  Support the rule of law.”  Both Ann Hart and I were calling for the same rights, not only for American “citizens,” but for all “persons” in the U.S. as the Fifth Amendment guarantees.

Mr. Engle (and Donald Trump as well) make much of Mr. Garcia’s tattoos, claiming that they prove he is a member of the MS-13 gang. However, a photo of his left hand circulated on social media that shows a marijuana leaf, a smiley face, a cross, and a skull with “M - S – 1 – 3” on his knuckles has been shown to be Photoshopped.

Experts, like Steve Dudley, on MS-13 said that the use of tattoos as displays of affinity to gangs has dropped in recent decades as police have started using them to identify members.

To the Editor:

I really can’t believe I’m writing this letter. I’ll be 99 on November 6, if I live that long, but here goes.

I’m not very happy with our previous government, Biden and his group. I’m sure you will all agree with me when I say Putin is a war criminal and Biden is a nation destroyer. He should be put in jail.

He purposely tried to ruin our country. He opened our borders wide open to lots of undesirables, and they came flooding in. He closed the pipeline which laid off maybe a thousand people and caused the gas and fuel price to go up greatly.

Biden is a great supporter of Planned Parenthood. Right now we are bringing back lots of manufacturing and we will be short of workers. If Planned Parenthood had not eliminated 40 million babies, we would have plenty of workers.

To the Editor:

As a concerned citizen of Allamakee County, I would like to bring attention to the vital role Medicaid plays in our local healthcare system. Medicaid is a crucial source of funding for healthcare services, providing essential coverage to low-income individuals and families who might otherwise be unable to afford necessary medical care.

Medicaid helps to fill the gap in healthcare coverage, allowing patients to receive vital services such as doctor visits, hospital stays, and prescription medications. By providing this coverage, Medicaid helps to:
• Reduce the number of uninsured individuals in our community
• Improve health outcomes for those who might otherwise go without care
• Alleviate the financial burden on local hospitals and healthcare providers.

To the Editor:

This is content of an email I sent to the six-person U.S. Congressional Delegation Friday, April 18, 2025. I seems to me they can be reminded of the weight of their oath of office.

Senator Charles Grassley and Senator Joni Ernst, as senators-elect at the beginning of their term in office, spoke the oath of office in an open session of the Senate.

Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks from District 1, Ashley Hinson from District 2, Zach Nunn from District 3 and Randy Feenstra from District 4 spoke the oath of office to defend the Constitution in a group swearing-in on the House Floor on the opening day of Congress.

To the Editor:

Ann Hart (in her April 23, 2025 letter to the editor) would have you believe that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien and leading member of MS-13, is an innocent victim being forced illegally from the country by the Trump Administration. She points out that Garcia came to this country when he was 16 because he was being persecuted and threatened by another gang in El Salvador.

It may be that he was being threatened by another gang, however, he himself was/is a leading member of MS-13, which is not a boy scout organization and which was at war with the other gang. They specialize in murder, rape and terrorizing to control their own territory in their home country. Look at his tattoo if you doubt the veracity of this claim.

Then she would have you believe that the Trump Administration is just like the Nazis in the early stages of their formation as a world dominating force.

To the Editor:

Americans should be outraged as the Trump administration, once again, violates the Constitution and the rule of law by “disappearing” men to a foreign Gulag. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who fled gang violence in El Salvador in 2011, is married to a U.S. citizen and has U.S.-citizen children. In 2019 he received a court order requiring that he not be deported to El Salvador due to likelihood of persecution.

Despite that, Garcia was arrested along with hundreds of men and sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in El Salvador. No attempt was made to prove these men were gang members or that they had violated any law despite the Fifth Amendment which guarantees that no person can be deprived of “life, liberty or property, without due process of law.”

To the Editor:

The rule of law is wobbling in America. The Trump administration has taken people off the street, accused them of being a terrorist, and removed them from our country without a hearing or due process.
Abre Garcia was 16 when he came to the U.S. to escape threats and being terrorized in his own country. He was given a work permit, had a full-time job and family, checked in annually with Immigration, and was living a productive life. March 12, ICE agents pulled him into a car, and March 15 he was sent to the infamous CECOT prison in El Salvador that is known for torture, abuse, and killings. (Our government is paying El Salvador $6 million a year to incarcerate individuals there.)

March 31, the U.S. admitted Garcia’s arrest was done by mistake but there was nothing that could be done about it. Since that time the case has moved through the courts, including the Supreme Court, which ruled that Garcia should be brought home.