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May 2008 |
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Letters To The Editor
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Come out from under your rock |
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Friday, 02 May 2008 |
Rocky W. Kawalski
Valley City, ND
A recent letter to the editor in the Times-Record by a person who has been living under a rock needs some common sense comments.
1. Valley City has a commission form of government. This means that commissioners are assigned responsibility for specific aspects of municipal affairs, such as street department, finance (mayor), public safety, and various other departments. The onus lies with the commissioners, not the administrator.
2. This letter implies that newly elected commissioners are not automatically competent to make operational decisions but, in fact, are intelligent enough to make policy decisions, approve budgets, obligate the taxpayers of Valley City to pay double for a new jail through property tax increases, an idea supported by special interest groups (which by their very nature are generally very selfish). GIVE US A BREAK. The implication here is that commissioners should be competent at something related to city government. It is, after all, a public service.
3. The Valley City Commission continues to approve staff increases at the managerial level, making the city top heavy. If all staffing requests are approved, it will cost nearly $250,000 in salaries and benefits. The only people to benefit from additional staff will be the rather lethargic commissioners. We don’t need to create a huge bureaucracy, which is used as a bureaucratic poker chip during city elections. Let’s give some salary increases to the lower paid people who do the work around the city.
4. Valley City government is funded primarily by property taxes (with a few exceptions). Forty-five percent of the property in Valley City is tax exempt. These are some of the very same properties which have the administrators eluded to in the letter. Their funding is different. Apples and oranges. Our tax base can not support all of the fluff.
Don’t let those born on third base with dubious working backgrounds dictate to the skilled working class, professionals and small businesses how to run the city.
Don’t be intimidated — stand up and be heard. Don’t be guilty of living under a rock. |
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CEOs are the fox in the chicken coop |
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Friday, 02 May 2008 |
Letter from Sophia Prezler
Bismarck, N.D.
There is nothing more harmful to civil government, civil justice and civil law then for it to switch from public to private, as happened to our nation in 1864, 144 years ago.
The switch credited a false, dishonest, federal government that is rewriting the Constitution, namely the Federal Reserve System (FRS), which allows insurgents, ‘money changers,’ Comptrollers of Currency, privateers, profiteers, international bankers and CEOs to control government, which out of urgent necessity must be non-private and non-profit.
CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) are the impostors, the enemies of justice, not Workforce Safety Insurance (WSI), better known as Workmen’s Compensation, as is the case before us. CEOs privatize and profitize government. Private government has no authority to “preserve, protect and defend” the citizens, which is the prime responsibility of government. Now the citizenry may be criminalized by the unsound government.
CEOs allow for the governor to set up 13 offices in all areas of government, with him as the top official at taxpayers’ expense. CEOs are the fox in the chicken coop.
Constitutional, covenant, public government is sound government. It has law base, “preserves, protects and defends” the Constitution. It has checks and balances. It greatly prospers and blesses a nation.
While the FRS and CEOs that we are under are private, they do not “preserve, protect and defend.” They tie the hands of the citizenry. They create a double standard, chaos and confusion. FRS and CEOs in reality are insurgents. They curse and destroy nations.
Abraham Lincoln not only brought about the Emancipation Proclamation, he more so was out to “preserve, protect and defend” America and the nations of the world against insurgents who today are nesting in the FRS and CEOs. They were and are charging exorbitant interest and assessing humans as cattle for gain: thus sucking the life blood out of America and the nations of the world.
The insurgents are highly successful. America and most nations of the world are bankrupted — America to the tone of almost nine and one-half trillion dollars.
Lincoln was a man of rare insight. He knew that insurgents were out to destroy our God-given nation and the nations of the world.
“ … you have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy government,” he told his dissatisfied fellow countrymen, “while I have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ it.”
He knew that only God’s law could save our nation and the nations of the world. |
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 |
Letter from Kevin Murch
West Fargo, N.D.
Recently, employees at a large manufacturing plant contacted a labor organization in order to find out what a union could do for them. The answer they got was a union is a group of employees banding together to collectively bargain a legal, binding contract for their labor. Really, no different than an employer requiring a vendor to sign a contract for parts needed to produce a product, only with a union contract, the product the company secures is labor. Unfortunately, once the company found out about its employees wanting to better their wages, benefits and working conditions by having a contract, they pulled out all stops, including violating federal labor law, to convince their employees that "the union" wasn't good for them. What they didn't tell their employees is that if workers have better wages that are secured through a contract, that workers will spend more money, thus, increasing the tax base.
Workers who are secure with their work future, through a labor contract, will have a tendency to settle down in the communities where these jobs are. Increasing population is something we, as citizens, are constantly striving for.
Someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, people who are against workers organizing in order to better themselves and their communities will wake up and realize that “a union” is a positive promoter of a better standard of living and not a demonized monster so many of us have been raised to believe it is. |
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Reject irresponsible ‘canned hunts’ in N.D. |
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 |
Letter from Joe Miele
Maywood, N.J.
Proponents of humane and responsible care and management of wildlife are supporting the push to put a measure on voting ballots in November that would ban “canned hunting” in the state. Canned hunting is the practice of hunting animals who are confined to enclosures where there is no chance for them to escape. It is absent of any conservation value, lacks any degree of “fair chase”ˇ and is nothing more than an activity that appeals to a violent segment of society -- those who kill wildlife solely for pleasure.
Many hunters and hunting organizations oppose canned hunting. In his book Beyond Fair Chase, Jim Posewitz, a hunter of more than 40 years, says of canned hunting: "There are some activities that are clearly unfair as well as unethical. At the top of the list is shooting captive or domesticated big game animals in commercial killing areas.” Similarly, the Boone and Crockett club publicly condemns "the pursuit and killing of any big game animal kept in or released from captivity to be killed in an artificial or bogus ‘hunting’ situation."
Those who oppose canned hunting include hunters who see the operations as demeaning to the idea of “responsible” hunting, wildlife advocates who do not believe in hunting in any form, and people of conscience from all walks of life who understand that hunting animals kept in captivity is not ethical under any circumstances. Should North Dakotans be fortunate enough to see the initiative sponsored by the organization “North Dakota Hunters for Fair Chase” on the ballot in November, voting for its passage would be the responsible choice. For more information on canned hunts please visit www.AbolishSportHunting.com.
Miele is president of the Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting. |
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Speaking of Valley City logo contest |
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 |
Letter from Judy Stahl
Valley City, N.D.
The article about the Valley City logo contest by Dennis Stillings in the Friday, April 25, issue of the Times-Record showed that it was handled in a haphazard and unfair manner. I'm glad to see that he did a bit of research to determine what had happened.
Like Stilling's wife I also submitted my entry according to the rules and by the deadline. This was more than a year ago. As I remember, a ballot was supposed to be printed in the Times-Record after that with the entries published so that the public could vote to choose the logo. Perhaps I missed something, but I never saw a ballot published = or was it hiding in the back pages of the paper? I vaguely recall that there was a short blurb about the logo contest being extended, though. I concluded that perhaps there were not enough entries yet. And as time went on, I had all but forgotten about it. Apparently the logo was chosen and was even being used on city letterheads with the contest being a rather secret affair and with little or no final public announcement.
I agree with Stillings that a logo should have had the input of a professional as I found out that it was a lot more difficult to do than I had expected. It had to put forth a positive image for Valley City and be as simple as possible so that it could be made small for an embroidered version or a letterhead.
It would have been nice if it could have been as simple as the Target logo, a red dot inside a red circle, but to symbolize Valley City, it would have been difficult to do without lettering and a simple recognizable symbol as well.
Those who entered spent a fair amount of time and effort on their designs and deserved not to have the contest shoved under the rug.
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Blame state for property tax jumps |
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Tuesday, 29 April 2008 |
Harlan Opdahl
Litchville, N.D.
Property tax valuations have been taken out of the hands of local assessors county government. The state uses sale history and comes up with a percent of increase valuation, never decrease in tax valuation. Then, in result, the county residential tax valuations are increased in most cases 50 to 300 percent. The state tax department and officials hide behind policy and the county officials are getting all the heat.
Our county officials have been certified assessors and live in the county and read the residential housing problems. Counties have spent many dollars and time in systems to compute the residential valuations. It has been said government closest to population is the best government, which is township and county government. |
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Crash scene demo was great success |
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Tuesday, 29 April 2008 |
Kim B. Knodle
Valley City, N.D.
Let me take a few lines to thank everyone involved in the Prom Crash Scene Demonstration that was held on Central Avenue on Tuesday, April 22. It is a very somber event that I am sure has the desired impact on the senior high students of Valley City.
The amount of planning and effort it takes to bring something like this off is tremendous and I want everyone involved to know how much it is appreciated. It is great to work in a school where we have outstanding students and staff. That would not be possible without the tremendous support of the community. It is apparent every day that the entire community knows that it is "their" school.
For fear of leaving someone out, I will not list all of the groups that were
involved. You know who you are and you are very much appreciated.
The Prom was held this past Saturday night and the students seemed to have a great time! The turnout of students and observers was great!
Kim B. Knodle is principal of Valley City High School.
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