Another Kendall view

As a former business owner and Platteville city council member, those who know me realize I don’t run from controversy and always search for the truth. I keep reading the letters to the editor in every paper I pick up sent in by Don or Coleen Schultz, always about Town of Kendall elected officials. This board must really be a bunch of “schmucks.” After talking to several of their close neighbors, I found out Don Schultz had run for town board positions in the past and had been beaten.

One neighbor told me the Amish farm in question had been built entirely with access from a county road. When the completed farmstead was done, they put their own access onto a town road that has a 12-ton rating. I was told this section of road is now shot. That’s not what Don Schultz has been writing. Also, I was told now the runoff from the farmstead drains down into a karst feature every time it rains. This is a direct conduit and possible contamination source to the entire neighborhood’s water supply. We never heard that from Don Schultz.

It seems his wife writes letters about town board meetings she doesn’t even attend. I can only hope my town board would do the same to protect our most important resource, water, and not cave into a few little people who for whatever reason like to read their own names in the paper.

Bill Dolen
Dodgeville

Dolen is the former owner of Dolen’s Inferno in Platteville.

Amend the Second

So, our “Mr. Answer Man” (Etc., June 22) thinks it’s better to “do nothing than the wrong thing.” If he had been a member of our so-called Founding Fathers in 1791, he would rather have had no amendments to our constitution for fear of doing the “wrong thing.” Better not give voting rights to women: who knows where that might lead. Better not give people of color full citizenship: next thing you know we’ll have a black person occupying the White House. 

That’s conservatism for you. It’s the sort of thinking that explains why we still mint pennies, the minting of which costs much more than 1 cent. And why the U.S. Is the only developed country in the world that insists on printing a paper $1 bill, which ends up costing much more than dollar coins in the long run. And why the U.S. is only one of three countries in the world that hasn’t converted to the metric system (the other two being Libya and Myanmar). 

It seems to be beyond the mental capacity of true conservatives to ask themselves why the Founding Fathers came up with the Second Amendment. It takes very little imagination to realize that a major factor in the colonies’ success in their war of independence was the aid of private citizens, who, using their own private muskets, fought the British. It’s clear that in order to be able to rely on such aid again, should the need arise, they created the Second Amendment. But to cling to the thread of the Second Amendment as a way to justify the legality of private citizens to keep and bear concealed handguns and near-machine-gun-type assault rifles is beyond the pale of sanity. To desperately cling to this amendment as it was written requires one to believe that the founders could imagine the modern assault rifle and 30-round clips.

I find it both interesting and puzzling that conservatives shudder at comparing the U.S. to other developed countries in the matter of guns. A retired minister of parliament in Australia, where assault weapons were banned after the 1994 massacre, recently said that no intelligent person would choose the American approach to guns. I can only suppose that it is keeping with the myth of American exceptionalism. 

Other amendments have been amended or even repealed. It’s time the Second Amendment is revisited.

Fred “Fritz” Domann
Platteville

Brexit, Boris and Trump

Last week the British voted to leave the European Union in what my mother would have described as a classic case of “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” Since then the repercussions have become more obvious, and more dire for the country, and their political parties, such that the Guardian newspaper has coined the word “Regretxit.”    

It’s hardly worth mentioning the 611-point drop in the American Dow Jones Industrial Average Friday as one of the repercussions.  

A petition being circulated in England calls for redoing the referendum. The irony here is that the petition was started by a leader of the Exiters, fearing that the Remainers might win the vote. With the vote counts in, the Remainers who want to redo the referendum have captured the petition.  

Boris Johnson, former mayor of London and England’s answer to Donald Trump, is making conciliatory remarks about how England will fit in with the EU even if apart. It will be interesting to watch the convolutions he described in his column in the British newspaper The Telegraph. Johnson has been described as “a nicer version of Trump, but just as divisive.” Johnson’s main beef with the EU is that England is absorbing too many immigrants, and that England pays too much taxes for membership. Sounds familiar.  

The scary part of the story is that the convolutions within our Republican Party sound so much like the lead-up to the British vote that I wonder if our voters might be sharpening their knives, in preparation for cutting off their own noses. Would they really let their anger over immigration and loss of control of the government to elect our version of Boris Johnson?  

Walt Wisnewski 
Platteville

On our birthday

A year ago I decided that this Fourth of July I would have a big birthday party for you, America. I came up with lots of ideas for new red, white, and blue decorations.  I wrote the guest list.The menu is planned with many of the typical picnic foods. And I was determined that at some point we would all share our thoughts on how you have blessed us over and over, Dear Friend.

But as the months passed, you have become so much more complicated. Many of your people have lost their joy. New ugly four letters words have become daily parts of our lives — rage, hate, guns. Sometimes I think we have all gone crazy. We can’t express or stand up for our own views without seemingly destroying those of someone else. We are vulgar, boisterous, selfish, and have little respect for others!

I think of all those who through the many years have given so much — including their lives — for the freedoms you represent, America. What have we done? What in the world are we thinking — or are we just reacting? 

The national debt in America has become a horrific figure. But each of us is in great debt to you, America! We need to start paying off that debt by refocusing. We need to focus on others, smile at them, reach out to help them, pray for them. We need to stop being so critical of everyone and everything. 

Anyone who reads history and historical documents knows that our forefathers understood the need for faith in God in their lives. What do you think, America?  If we who believe once again put God first and followed his directive, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you,” would you again be the America we can respect and love?

Elaine Slater Reese
Spring Green

The Platteville Journal will print most letters to the editor, regardless of the opinion presented. The Journal reserves the right to edit material that is libelous or otherwise offensive to community standards and to shorten letters The Journal determines are excessively long. All letters must be signed and the signature must appear on the printed letter, along with a contact number or email for verification. Some submitted letters may not be published due to space constraints. “Thank you” letters will not be printed. All letters and columns represent the views of the writers and not necessarily the views of The Platteville Journal.