Kids enjoyed fishing

To the Editor:

The annual Kid’s All American Fishing Derby sponsored by the Bass Seekers B.A.S.S. Club of Fairmont, with the assistance of the Fairmont Early Riser Kiwanis, was a great success. Sixty-one kids participated and 141 fish were weighed in. These included freshwater drum, crappies, channel catfish, bluegill, northern pike, walleye, sunfish, yellow bass and largemouth bass.

It was great to see all the kids having fun fishing and all the parents and family members cheering them on.

Thanks to all the local and national sponsors for providing prizes and the Early Riser Kiwanis and Bass Seekers for purchasing prizes so that all the participants went home with a prize.

The annual event is held the first Saturday of June each year. See you next year on June 1.

David Vogel

Fairmont

Love the immigrants

To the Editor:

The current head of the United States of America referred to immigrants with the following words: “These aren’t people. These are animals.” (Wednesday, May 16, 2018, press conference).

It is easier to mistreat people if they are categorized as animals. “We’ve seen this kind of dehumanizing language before. We saw it during the Holocaust when the Nazis called Jews ‘Untermenschen’ — subhumans. And we’ve seen it in our own country. Just last month, three extremists were found guilty of a bomb plot to kill Somali Muslims in Kansas. They (extremists), too, referred to them (immigrants) as ‘cockroaches.'” (Southern Poverty Law Center).

My great-grandparents came from Sweden to the USA in the 1880s. They were not animals or insects or rats. They were immigrants. My great-grandparents traveled to this country with hopes and dreams and care and love.

Immigrants that arrive in the USA in 2018, 140 years later, carry those same aspirations with them. The amazing variety of the citizens of the USA is what makes this land such a rich, beautiful, strong country. Shouldn’t we treasure this foundation of life of the USA? We are all immigrants. Love the immigrant.

Peter Engstrom

Fairmont