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Letters to Editor

Iowa’s wind generation will be an exportable energy source

To the editor: While reading the editorial in last Friday’s paper (September 20) I found myself agreeing with most of the statements about Reynolds, Feenstra and eminent domain. I also wish that we would have gotten the three windmills that had been proposed for the hill north of Webster City and the river bluff south of town, but the wind farm by Blairsburg precluded that becoming a reality. I disagree with the statement that wind energy is inefficient and characterizes it as only possible because of government support. It’s the same support that was used after World War II ...

Our emergency responders deserve the best equipment

To the editor: 911 Dispatcher: "911, what is the location of your emergency?" Caller: "1857 387th Street" 911 Dispatcher: "OK, what's going on there?" Caller: "I just found my mom. She's not conscious. I can tell if she's breathing …" And so, a family's normal daily life is instantly turned upside down. Is my mom alive? How will my kids find out? Will my mom be OK? Are we going to the hospital? Will she make it to the hospital? Oh God, who will help me? Dozens of questions flash through the mind. The next few minutes will seem like hours. Emergency personnel, many of ...

Basic Elements of Economic Development

To the editor: To the typical person, economic development is a single, simple, one-time announcement. However, from the other side of an announcement are years of planning, research, revising, anxious days and sleepless nights. For example, the volunteer Board of Directors of the Riverview Early Childcare Center began in 2022 working on identifying what would best serve Webster City’s child development. First identifying what the future likelihood would look like for the infant through the 12 years of age population. First Children’s Financial was consulted and assisted ...

Reynolds, Feenstra sold their oath for a big payoff. That’s not right.

To the editor: A few years ago, landowners in northern Iowa were approached by a company with plans for installing a windmill farm in the area. They held a low-key matter-of-fact meeting with no pressure to sign contracts or threat of eminent domain. Understand that windmills are inefficient, subsidized with taxpayers' money, and ugly. The only plus is it makes the green activists feel good. After consulting a lawyer about the contract, I ordered 10 windmills. Unfortunately, I only got one. This brings me to the proposed carbon pipeline and eminent domain. Full disclosure, I am a ...

Hamilton County Childcare Coalition subsidy is a successful solution

Hamilton County, Iowa, with the establishment of the Hamilton County Childcare Coalition has led the charge on Iowa’s local solution to the childcare funding crisis. Our wage enhancement program created in early 2021 through public and private partnership has helped Hamilton County and the State of Iowa catapult to the national spotlight. Hamilton County’s child care wage enhancement program was created to provide childcare workers with a livable and competitive wage along with assisting non-profit childcare centers to retain current workers and recruit new ones. When we started ...

We strongly oppose the use of eminent domain for the CO2 pipeline

A group of people who once scoffed at the idea that carbon gas was destroying our planet are now making a 180-degree turn to initiate the idea of collecting and transporting CO2. There is a presumption by many of us that they found a way to make billions of dollars in the process. Is the proposed project a proven way to capture the useless gas? Many, familiar with the industry, say it is not. They want to transport the useless gas hundreds of miles to North Dakota, via a underground pipeline, where it is to be stored underground for eternity. That's right: for eternity. How ...