Viewpoints

Lent

As we are in the season of Lent, many Christians in the world observe the discipline of praying and fasting; it’s the period we approach God through discipline.

The period of Lent many churches and Christians observe their discipline to God, it’s the season we think about our issues and others. It’s the season to walk on God’s path and take Jesus as an example which we can follow. Since I am talking about Lent, I have three points that we can observe during lent: Sacrifice, prayer and charity.

To the Editor:

When I became library director at Robey Memorial in 2014, I remember feeling a lot of things - mostly anxiety. I had been living in Waukon for two years but working at Meehan Memorial Library in Lansing, a much smaller town with a much smaller library. Not being a northeast Iowa native, I worried about whether I would fit in with the community. I worried about whether I would get along with the staff, the board, and the patrons. Basically, I worried about everything.

But it wasn’t all anxiety. The other feeling I had, the stronger feeling, was one of excitement. Robey was just completing an amazing renovation, and it felt like a privilege to be invited to take the wheel at such an important turning point for the library. I felt honored that the board of trustees was giving me a chance to lead.

To the Editor:

I see Chuck Grassley stopped in Waukon, by the front page of The Standard. I was just curious if any of our local businessmen and front row politicians had the courage - I think not - to ask Grassley why he is failing Iowa farmers, his oath and the rule of law to the U.S. Constitution, and why he now has turned into just a vote for whichever way his party wants him to vote.

You, as Iowans, really don’t count - only for your vote, and he would sell you out in a second to keep his party leaders happy. You should have asked him about tariffs, which are really a tax for Iowans.

By the way, he, also like his party leaders at all levels, does not tell you the truth, and there’s a good reason why he’s not chair leader now. I, myself, can quote him lying while he was shaking my hand, and when I called him out he dropped my hand like it was a hot potato.

Pat Ward
Waterville
 

To the Editor:

Sadly, I recall a friend who was seriously ill and seeking treatment at Mayo Clinic.  Not only was she dealing with the stress and worries of an illness but extremely distraught because she learned her insurance company would not cover treatment. Her insurance company determined her illness was a pre-existing condition so would not pay the medical bills.  Guilty over becoming ill and fearing bankruptcy, she felt her best option was to cancel all medical appointments and forego treatment.

Many found themselves facing these kind of choices before the Patient Protection - Affordable Care Act was passed 9 years ago. Prior to this Act, 50 million people were uninsured. One in two people had a preexisting condition like diabetes, heart disease, cancer which insurance would not cover. The number one cause of bankruptcy was an inability to pay medical bills.

To the Editor:

Our community has lost many trees this spring at our Waukon City Park and along our main streets for a variety of good reasons. I would like to encourage individuals to help replace what is lost.

Trees provide needed pollution control, cut utility usage for homes and businesses, provide habitat for wildlife and add beauty to our world. Even small ornamental trees and evergreen shrubs can make a difference.

Please consider how you can help to continue to keep Allamakee County a special and beautiful part of Iowa.

Julie VanderVelden
Waukon
 

Was this past winter an extreme one for you?  Perhaps you didn’t even see or talk to your neighbors for months!  A person may ask, “Who is my neighbor? Why should I care?  Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Quoting Jesus, Matthew 7:12, “Therefore (because), whatever (in all things) you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  In other words, Do unto others what you would want done to you!  This is an incredible and easy principle to understand and live by, but oftentimes do we?   I conclude many of our services with this charge in the closing prayer: there are people waiting on the other side of your obedience for their God encounter- for their miracle. 

Wow! We’ve had quite a winter roller coaster - cold then near record high temps in January then back to bone-chillin’ cold then snow, snow and more snow, yet spring is trying to break through! I believe, eventually, spring will prevail!

The denomination I am a member of has also had a bit of a roller coaster ride over the past year. For months there have been informational meetings, workshops, and prayer vigils concerning our special General Conference that was held in February. As a “mainline” church body, United Methodists have been fighting over the inclusion vs exclusion of the LGBTQ community for a very long time. There has been immense hurt and harm done to people and congregations “on both sides of the aisle.”

To the Editor:

There has been a great deal of back and forth in the last year-and-a-half regarding construction of communication towers in Allamakee County, with one proposed tower near New Albin being the center of some debate.

We’d like to set the record straight and make sure that residents in Allamakee County fully understand what’s at stake. The cell site near New Albin is part of a nationwide federal initiative called FirstNet. FirstNet is a mobile communications network being built specifically to prioritize Emergency Services/First Responders communications in emergency situations. My company, NEIT (Northeast Iowa Telephone Company) is a rural network partner for AT&T, and thereby FirstNet, and is responsible for managing construction.

To the Editor:

This week Senator Michael Breitbach has surpassed his House constituents in trying to take power away from local people and agencies by championing SF548. March 4, hundreds of citizens traveled to Des Moines to speak against a similar house bill, HF542. The size of the crowd made the front page news in The Gazette. The proposal was for the State to take all control over land for public land development… parks, trails, recreation areas, basically taking power away from local people and giving it to the State, only to the State.

Senator Breitbach thinks regular people do not know what is best for them. I work at an area campground and hear every day about what is best. The bike trails, the trout fishing, the parks, the river. Kids and campers at the campground help pick up sticks when we get a big wind. People donate trees and plants and benches so others can enjoy the green and being out in beautiful northeast Iowa.

Anger Can Be a Good Thing?
    
Our gospel passage for our Sunday Mass recently was this teaching of Jesus:  “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.” I don’t think there is a more challenging instruction in the Scriptures than that!

Today we are often encouraged to protect ourselves by by separating ourselves from those others who hold opposing opinions and worldviews from our own. Today our anger and lack of trust in people and institutions can be stoked by a variety of sources. In way too many cases, anger has led to violence.