Viewpoints

To the Editor:

Dear Kee Hawk Community,

I am impressed with the Kee Hawk Community in Lansing and New Albin and surrounding rural areas as we battle the COVID-19 crisis. It is heartwarming to see the individuals and organizations that have helped out with this situation, and I am grateful to see and experience this outpouring.

Eastern Allamakee Community Schools will continue to communicate with our families. We will provide extensive voluntary educational enrichment opportunities that are available to students during the duration of the closure, and we strongly encourage all students to take advantage of these.

We know that many of our parents are critical care providers and essential workers; and many of these same parents have young children to care for. We want to provide high-quality resources, should parents choose to have their student engage in learning opportunities and enrichment.

To the Editor:

This year Easter seemed to have come and gone, and due to the cataclysmic COVID-19 virus, no one seems to have noticed.

We could say, that at least on the surface, Easter this year was a flop. Did the Easter bunny even come? Where were the Easter lilies that I was so used to seeing every year at Hartig Drug?

And church on Easter - how can you have Easter without a great church service? The church service can be live-streamed on the computer, but that just does not match the real thing.

In spite of all this, Easter has indeed happened this year, and we can all celebrate.

Even though I could not join in singing one of my favorite Easter songs with others in my church - “I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today.” - I can still live out the truth of that great song.

To the Editor:

Recently my wife, Sheri, and I were visiting a close friend, John Kittleson of Postville. He wanted us to see a letter that he had recently completed. He plans to send the letter to his children and grandchildren.

I read the letter and thought to myself that it was exactly what I’d like to write to our own family, and I thought that a lot of other people might want to as well. I suggested that he submit it to the editorial page of The Standard. He was reluctant to do that, so I asked him if I could do so. John agreed and his letter appears below:

My dear precious loving family (now 4 generations),

I’ve been thinking of writing this letter of encouragement for some time. We are getting overwhelmed by all the bad news connected with coronavirus, especially from the media.

But God has some good news to overcome all this bad news. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

To the Editor:

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. It is a time to raise awareness of a serious issue affecting the children and families in our communities and a chance to realize we all can play a role in preventing child abuse and neglect.

The Iowa Child Advocacy Board (ICAB), which operates both the Court Appointed Special Advocacy (CASA) program and the Iowa Citizen Foster Care Review Board (FCRB) program, exists to advocate for the protection of Iowa’s children and improvement of the child welfare system.

To the Editor:

Pollinators need our help! Bees, butterflies, moths, other insects and hummingbirds all pollinate the plants which produce so many of the flowers, fruits and vegetables we need and enjoy. These crucial parts of our natural ecosystem are disappearing. Last summer our pole beans produced hundreds of blossoms before finally growing beans. Not enough pollinators was all we could figure out.

Many insects have evolved to emerge when the plants they feed on are flowering. Many of these are native plants. As we plant more exotic trees, shrubs and flowers that crowd out native species, we make it harder for many of our pollinators to survive. Global climate change, along with deforestation, increased pavement and buildings, chemicalized and manicured lawns and over-use of pesticides and herbicides, all contribute to declining populations of many animal and plant species.

To the Editor:

Dear elder community members of Waukon,

As an elder of Waukon and being at the present time having to stay at home, I would like to suggest something each of us can do for our families. You might say my children know all this but everyone forgets so write it down (names in particular). I have been doing some of this for years. Now I must finish it up.

1. Write Your Obituary - Who really knows what you have done or when you did it. We all get born, grow up, go to school and college, get special recognition, get baptized, confirmed, marry, have children and die. What was special about yourself?

To the Editor:

It’s Spring and many of us are feeling a bit confined. You might want to think about putting a bird feeder in your yard. They can be quite entertaining and even more entertaining is watching the squirrels try to figure out a way to get at the feed.

Kids actually enjoy trying to figure out what kind of bird is at the feeder. Keeping track or a list of what you see can be fun. I’ve seen 17 different kinds of birds from my back porch this week. I’ve also twice received pictures of birds from our grandchildren with a “what’s this bird in my yard” question.

Spring migration is just beginning so you should see quite a variety of birds the next six weeks. Get some sunflower seed and a feeder and you’re in store for some cheap entertainment.

Frankly, my wife is the better parent.

Julie is far more attentive than I when it comes to holding our three children to task for things like homework, household chores, getting enough sleep, eating their vegetables, and taking their vitamins.

Me? Well, while I sometimes parent with the speed and efficiency of a well-oiled machine, I’m more inclined to be the let’s-have-chocolate-cake-for-breakfast-and-binge-watch-some-Netflix kind of dad.

But then came last week Monday, the first day of what looks to be four weeks of no school here in Waukon. With Julie out the door and off to work, I was flying solo – alone on the front-lines of parenting for our two high-school-age sons and our college daughter home on spring break.

To the Editor:

John Ellingson, shame on you and the rest of the City Council. Your explanation in the March 18 edition of The Standard sounded like a bunch of naughty juveniles who had skipped school.

Do you really care about how many people you upset by your decision to cancel the parade? First of all, many people worked hard to get ready for this. Then all the people  that were going to be there to watch a parade, not a gathering in a building. There was a large bake sale to raise money for the Waukon High School Prom. And I mean a large amount of great baked goods. I know because I stopped in after church.

I also have watched all the talk from the Governor and many others on the coronavirus.

We didn’t see any reason for the council to take this action and to do it right before parade time. This has upset a lot of Waukon citizens and we will remember this.

To the Editor:

Pay attention friends, your Social Security and Medicare are at risk. Our country’s current administrative leadership’s proposed budget for 2021 includes cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Once again, they insist upon going after working families and vulnerable Americans.

They have shown us who they are. I don’t believe we want leaders of our nation with this line of thinking about Medicare and Social Security.

Very sincerely,

Ann L. Hart
Waukon