Letters to the Editor

City Council should listen to opinions

To the Editor:

I was in attendance at the last City Council meeting. I was one of the “save the trees” people, as we have been called. Bear in mind, I was not actually in the room. There were just too many of us to fit. Here are a couple of points not covered since.

Mayor Sebert seemed to take issue with some of the 1,200 plus signatures. Apparently some are college or vo-tech students. I think the petition I signed said the people signing were Mitchell residents, not registered voters. I guess the mayor shouldn’t be so quick to spend the sales tax revenue brought by the college and vo-tech students, if their opinion on where they live isn’t valid.

What was most disheartening is that it seems the council members have already made up their minds as to what should be done. It should be noted that not all members are in favor of declaring the land surplus.

I keep trying to give our elected officials the benefit of the doubt, but on this issue, it is certainly clear how the public feels. Some council members say “anybody will sign a petition,” so in their minds, the signatures really carry no weight. Well, I just can’t believe that. I honestly believe that most people, like me, read a document before signing, and are genuinely interested if they lend their names to an issue. I’m not in favor of our city being in the real estate business, and I understand there are several other pieces of property in the city limits which will be declared surplus in the future. This land is different.

The people are trying to get your attention, fearless leaders, and you’re choosing to ignore them. We can get enough of that from Washington, D.C. We don’t need it in our own little town.

Folks, get angry. Call your council members and voice your opinion. Surely they can’t ignore the whole town, or can they?

Stacy G. Nettinga, Mitchell

Council’s pines decision a no-brainer

To the Editor:

It’s time the City Council wakes up to the realization that the nine acres of Ponderosa pine on North Harmon Drive is a “no-brainer” issue. I’m totally surprised and disappointed that not one city council member had the common sense to know that the nine acres would be so controversial. Not one knew the true value of this piece of land.

The March 2 edition of The Daily Republic states that Councilman Travis Carpenter supports Geri Beck’s suggestion to retain part of the property and sell the rest, because he doesn’t see any reason for the city to own all the property. He asked, “My opinion is, why are we in ownership of land that we have no purpose for?”

It’s my opinion that Mr. Carpenter has a very shortsighted view of the future needs of the city. I encourage all the city council members to look at the plat of the area in question. The plat I’m looking at is in the Feb. 11 issue of The Daily Republic.

What I see is four privately owned lots immediately west of the city-owned land. Two of these lots are already subdivided into housing developments. When I look into the future, I see houses being built in this area. I see children playing. I see parents looking for a safe place for kids to play.

When I was a member of the Park and Recreation Board, we were looking for ways to encourage housing developers to include “green zones” in their plans. These zones would be grassy areas where the neighborhood kids could play.

I encourage the current City Council to look to the future and retain ownership of all nine acres of this land. Retain ownership so that some future City Council will have the option to use this land for a green zone, for a picnic area or for a rest area for people using the bike path.

Sell the land now and all future options will be lost forever.

Terry Timmins, Mitchell

MCHS kids learned more than basketball

To the Editor:

After suffering a heartbreaking, one-point loss in the Region 5 championship basketball game, I find myself thinking about the seniors on the Mitchell Christian basketball team.

While I share and understand the disappointment they feel, I also feel extremely blessed to have had the pleasure and honor to be a part of the MCS basketball team. My youngest son is one of the four seniors on this year’s team. I have seen first-hand the positive impact that Mitchell Christian School and the MCS basketball team has had on Cody and the other players on the MCS team.

We sometimes judge the success of a season on the team’s win-loss record and we tend to forget about what is really important when our kids participate in extracurricular activities. Coach Young and Coach Tolsma have taught these young men about way more than just the game of basketball. They have taught our kids numerous critical life lessons that will stay with them long after the win-loss record is forgotten. Tom Young and Jay Tolsma are solid, Godly men, and they have had a huge positive impact on the lives of hundreds of young men that they have coached over the years. Tom and Jay have coached basketball at Mitchell Christian for over 15 years. Both men have done so on a volunteer basis while sacrificing both time and money in order to spend time with our kids. I can never adequately express my appreciation for the investment they have made in the development and the future of my two sons.

Instead of feeling sad and depressed about losing a basketball game, I hope our kids and their parents realize what a blessing it is to have a school like Mitchell Christian in our community. All of my children have attended Mitchell Christian School and both Deryk and Cody have had the pleasure to play high school basketball for Coach Young and Coach Tolsma. They are both better young men as a result of the experience, and in my book that makes them a winner.

P.S. Just in case you were wondering, the combined four year record for this year’s MCS seniors is an impressive 85-9.

Jerry Thomsen, Mitchell

Call S.D. delegates about health care

To the Editor:

Our United States was founded on principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people. Health care is taking a heavy toll on these principles. The costs of premiums are making families choose between paying for daily living necessities versus paying for health-care insurance. The average family health-care cost is $13,375 per year with deductibles of $1,000 or more. If you have extenuating health problems, it may be well over that. In 2000, the average health-care cost was $6,438. So you can see that it doubled within 10 years.

Some say we should take our time on deciding what needs to change with our current health care. As we wait to change the current system, more U.S. families will be forced to drop health-care insurance.

As an individual, we think, “What can I really do to make any difference?” We feel defeated, that nobody really cares. The founding fathers of our country had a caring nature for one another. They showed great compassion and a caring attitude.

Health care today seems like “taxation without representation.” I believe in this great country and that we can do something about health-care problems. We can call or write our congressional delegates. If just 1 percent of the people of South Dakota would contact their delegates, it may make a difference. One percent of the South Dakota population is 7,548.

Tom Fergen, Mitchell

Obama ignoring the Constitution

To the Editor:

Do we really want President Obama’s takeover of our healthcare with its 2,000 pages of mandated regulations, forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions, soaking our future generations with unbearable taxes and infringing on the freedom we have enjoyed for centuries? His plan won’t go into effect now, but still our taxes are to be collected right away.

Democrat leaders sent a clear signal they plan to go it alone without the support of many of their own party and the American people. His health-care summit was a setup and a photo-op in order to get the Republicans to go into reconciliation, which is an abuse of Senate rules — the likes of which we have never seen before. They plan to go ahead with the nuclear option now, so Obama can dictate to the American people his regulatory health-care plan, which the majority doesn’t want and we cannot afford. Republicans offered a much better health-care plan, but it was basically ignored. President Obama and his bureaucrats are trying to steal our freedom to the point where we will not be a free nation anymore.

He completely ignores our written Constitution. Remember, aggressive government control is how other countries lost their freedom, and what is happening in Washington should be a warning to all Americans to resist it or suffer the consequences of a nation who lost its freedom due to the actions of one man and his left-wing supporters. Please contact our South Dakota representative and senators to vote against the nuclear option: Tim Johnson, 202-224-5842; Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, 202-225-2801; and John Thune, 202-224-2321.

Milton Schrader, Alexandria

What happened to health-care money?

To the Editor:

As president, Ronald Reagan gave the very rich a large tax break and regarded Medicare as socialism. During the 12 years George Bush Sr. and Ronald Reagan were president, a deficit was created and a downturn in the economy resulted from a lack of revenue the tax break created.

When Bill Clinton became president, he got rid of the tax break and the economy began to flourish. Clinton pursued the healthcare plan, but it was defeated by the Republicans. At the end of eight years, we had a flourishing economy. President Clinton handed George W. Bush a surplus.

George W. Bush squandered the surplus, created two wars and gave the very rich a huge tax break, and at the end of President Bush’s eight years, he handed Obama the worst economy America has known since the Great Depression. A health-care bill for the American people was not accomplished by the Republican administration. President Obama campaigned to create a health-care plan the same as Congress enjoys.

The Democratic Congress has a health-care bill and Obama wishes to abolish George W. Bush’s huge tax cut for the very rich and use the revenue to pay for the health-care plan. The Republicans in Congress are criticizing and hope to kill the bill. As the saying goes, any jerk can kick the barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one.

I understand the insurance and the drug corporations and the fat cats have poured in an enormous amount of money to defeat this health-care bill. If so, it would be interesting to know where the money went. Who received it? What influence did it create?

John R. Brosnan, Woonsocket

Disappointed by Hanson’s setback

To the Editor:

I was embarrassed last Saturday afternoon at the Corn Palace to say I was a Hanson High alumnus.

Was the 21-9 loss to Mitchell Christian the way our boys had a great season and won 17 games? For those that had grandpa and grandma or aunts and uncles come to watch them play basketball, what do you say to them?

To many it looked like you told the boys, we can’t play basketball against them and win. We have to do it this way.

You were beat before you stepped on the court with that attitude.

My sympathy goes out to the boys on the team, especially the seniors, to go out on this type of game. You gave basketball a black eye. Shame on both coaches.

I thought there was more to high school sports than just winning or doing what it takes to win. Nothing else to learn.

If you had won, were you going to stall away the next four or five games, or play basketball?

John Pommer, Farmer