News Center newsletter

Jake and Emily McCormick of Waterville announce the birth of their daughter, Zoey Joan McCormick, born October 15, 2018 at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, WI. She weighed 4 lbs. 8 ozs. and measured 17-1/4 inches in length at the time of her birth.

Grandparents are Kent and Joan McCormick of Waterville and Rick and Laurie Blietz of McGregor.

Ryan and Samantha Collins of Harpers Ferry announce the birth of their son, Leo Markus Collins, born October 11, 2018 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. He weighed 8 lbs. 7 ozs. and measured 23 inches in length at the time of his birth. He joins siblings, Dalen (3) and Rayna (1-1/2).

Grandparents are Mark and Nancy Reiser of Lansing and Mike and Teri Collins of Harpers Ferry. Great-grandparents are Dale and Elaine Reiser of Dorchester.

Isaac and Christa Jacobson of Postville announce the birth of their son, Wyatt Kenneth Jacobson, born October 13, 2018 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. He weighed 9 lbs. 10 ozs. and measured 22-3/4 inches in length at the time of his birth.

Grandparents are Guy and Sheryl Miner of Castalia and Mike and Jodi Jacobson of Clermont. Barbara Ungerer of Hawkeye is a great-grandparent.

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that there is an old witticism, so old it probably precedes vaudeville. It’s the one about the guy who is telling his friend about the awful setback he has experienced.

The friend says that while that’s bad, his friend should cheer up, because things could be a lot worse. So the guy cheers up and sure enough, things got worse!

I thought about that when I lost telephone land line service and was told it would be a week before a service call could be scheduled. I have a cell phone, but I am enough of a Luddite to miss the comfort of the land line, and my name in a phone book. I have yet to see a listing of cell phone numbers, so those not listed cannot be contacted.

To the Editor:

Per Iowa Administrative Rules, only Certified Public Accountants (CPA) operating within a CPA firm can provide attest (audit) services. Iowans have a choice this November between an auditor who can audit per these rules and one who cannot. Please ensure this office continues to be led by a qualified CPA. Please vote November 6 for the only CPA running for State Auditor.

Christina Drahos, CPA
Postville
 

To the Editor:

In many countries people fight, and even die, for the right to vote, as did our ancestors not so many years ago. Today, some politicians and others in power are trying to make it more difficult for many of us to vote. We cannot let them take away one of our most important rights as citizens in a democracy.

If we’re unhappy with the way current office-holders are running our city, county, state or nation, we need to vote! We must read newspapers, listen to public debates, attend candidate forums and decide which candidates best represent our hopes for better care of our environment, our health, our education, our jobs and our childrens’ future.

Register to vote. Go to our courthouse and vote early or ask for an absentee ballot. Or vote at your precinct polling place November 6. It’s our privilege, right and duty to do so!

Jill Stephenson
Waukon
 

To the Editor:

When the State of Iowa administered the Medicaid program, our most vulnerable Iowans received the care they needed. Then Governor Branstad turned over the Medicaid program to for-profit insurance companies, a move which has been supported by our current governor. Since then, our seniors, people with disabilities, children, and people with mental illness have not received the health care services they need.

The State Osbudsman reports that denial of in-home care which allows seniors and people with disabilities to stay in their own homes has been denied or cut. It was recently reported that a man who is a quadriplegic has had in-home care reduced by 71% resulting in a move to a nursing home which costs far more than the in-home care he had once received.

Another man, paralyzed by a wrestling accident 29 years ago, had his in-home care drastically reduced.

To the Editor:

What is happening to Iowa’s public schools? Each year, the governor and state lawmakers cut the amount of funding to schools and now drastic changes may soon have to be made. The tax breaks given to large corporations recently mean there’s less money available to the state, but do our schoolchildren have to pay for those losses?

Schools have received funding increases of only 1.1 and 1 percent over the past two years - far below the four percent cost of living index! How will they be forced to make up the difference? Cutting staff? Consolidating even more?

To the Editor:

I often wonder what has become of the officers and staff who worked at Luster Heights. Have they found equal jobs elsewhere?

How is our county coping with the loss of cost-effective labor that the inmates provided? Luster Heights had work agreements with Lansing, Harpers Ferry, Eastern Allamakee schools, Allamakee County Conservation and the DNR. Inmates helped maintain Lansing’s Mt. Hosmer Park, Waukon’s City Park, and our County’s secondary roads.

They also did community service projects, building shelves for libraries and the county fair, growing plants for the Allamakee County Master Gardeners, and a nativity scene for St. Ann’s Parish in Harpers Ferry. The inmates’ contributions to our county were enormous and appreciated by many.

To the Editor:

Remember when our federal government’s current majority party promised that its tax cut program would pay for itself and raise all workers’ boats? Guess what?  The Treasury Department recently announced that the federal budget deficit for the 2018 fiscal year grew to $779 billion, a 17 percent increase.

Because the tax plan cut the top corporation tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, their tax revenues are down by over 30 percent. In the fiscal year 2017, corporate tax revenues were $297 billion, but in 2018, they were down to $205 billion.

Workers were told that the tax cuts would fill their bank accounts, but most of the cuts went to the wealthiest top one percent of families who will receive an average tax cut saving of $51,140.  Families earning $25,000 or less will save $60 on their federal taxes, and families earning between $48,600 and $86,100 will save $930.