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Readers’ Views

No to community center

To the Editor:

1. City Councilman Hasek has stated that people are 10 to 1 against the Community Center. A Sentinel poll indicated the people are 2 to 1 against the center. Why do you continue planning for a $24,700,000 Community Center when the majority of the people are against it?

2. Project budgets are notoriously underestimated. Why not tell the people that a yearly 6.25 percent property tax increase probably will never cover the cost and maintenance of the planned Community Center?

3. Brandon Edmundson in a recent Sentinel article stated that the YMCA has been contacted to operate the Community Center. The YMCA would then determine the Community Center programs and create an operating budget. The question is: Will the YMCA underwrite budget losses?

4. Except for civic functions, the use of the center will not be free. Is this going to be a “pay for play” facility?

5. A Community Center undoubtedly needs a meeting hall with an attached kitchen. It does not need a banquet hall, field house, running track, physical fitness facilities etc. Who are the members of the Community Center Action Committee (CCAC) that approved the final planning for the Community Center?

6. The so-called “experts” have said that the Community Center will draw on a population of as many as 30,000 people. A 2017 census indicated the population of Martin County was 19,850, which included Fairmont with a population of 10,126. Where do you honestly believe the other 10,000 people will come from? The center probably would not bring people from out of our area to

“eat in our restaurants, stay at our hotels, and shop at our stores.”

7. Fairmont has an outdoor aquatic park that loses money every year. The city needs an indoor swimming pool to teach kids to swim and provide for a school swimming team. We had an indoor pool which was abandoned a few years ago. Located at the present grade school, the pool area was converted into a gymnasium. The pool building is still there. Why not spend a couple million dollars to convert the gymnasium back to a renovated, updated and modernized swimming pool?

Hank Roehler

Fairmont

Hagedorn will help

To the Editor:

Health care costs are up. Access to doctors is down. America’s health care system is not working. Nancy Pelosi famously said of Obamacare, we have to pass the bill to find out what is in it. We have now found out, and we don’t like it. Democratic Congressional candidate Dan Feehan wants a single-payer system. We know how well universal health care works in socialist countries. Feehan’s solution would make things worse. Southern Minnesota has good hospitals and clinics and good doctors. We need health care that brings down costs, opens up access and puts decision-making in the hands of patients and their doctors. Republican candidate Jim Hagedorn wants to repeal and replace Obamacare. He knows free-market solutions like tort reform, buying insurance across state lines and promoting Health Savings Accounts, will help Southern Minnesota. I’m proudly supporting my friend and childhood neighbor from our farms NE of Truman, Jim Hagedorn. He’s one of us.

Neal Breitbarth

Truman

Chance to clean up

To the Editor:

Minnesotans have an excellent opportunity to clean up the state government this election with so many state offices on the ballot. Here are a few suggestions. Start with Tim Walz. The Democrat candidate for governor has completely turned his back on common sense. He’s now for open borders, legalization of marijuana, a litany of “gun control” measures, abortion on demand, higher taxes, and single-payer health care, among other things. For the past two years, he has been a member of the Democrat “resistance” and voted against virtually anything that President Trump’s administration was trying to do, including the tax cuts and reductions in unnecessary regulations. In other words, he wasted two years putting irrational Democrat Party interests over the interests of America. He has represented Nancy Pelosi’s interests more than those of the people of Minnesota.

Amy Klobuchar, the Dem Senator seeking re-election, has also been in the “resist Trump” camp, again wasted two years of opportunity to advance American interests. She showed during the Kavanaugh hearings that she has little respect for the traditional presumption of innocence (unless, of course, the accused is a Democrat, as in the Ellison case). Her antics were an embarrassment for all Minnesotans. She and the other Dems in the Kavanaugh hearing demonstrated clearly that they aren’t for defending women, they’re for exploiting them for political gain.

Keith Ellison is the second in command of the Democrat Party and is running for the office of attorney general of Minnesota. Accusations of domestic violence, supported by medical records, are currently his problem. In a move that has been called a complete sham, an attorney hired by the DFL, and who is a high roller in donations to the company PAC that has contributed over $50,000 to Ellison’s campaigns, recently “cleared” him of those charges. With his apparently temperamental disposition, his position in the DNC, and his demonstrated disregard for civility toward women, and his extreme political bias, the likelihood of him enforcing the law with impartiality is somewhere around zero.

And then there’s Steve Simon, our current secretary of state. He talks big about protecting the vote, but the Minnesota Voters Alliance has quite another view of his actual performance in office. They’ve been trying for years to make Steve Simon comply with state and federal voting laws and stop shielding vote fraud. Voting him out of office would allow vote fraud to be greatly reduced, if not eliminated, something Minnesota badly needs.

And Dan Feehan, another open borders advocate, running to replace Tim Walz as representative for MN-01 to the U.S. House. Advocacy for open borders is part of the scheme the Democrats have for controlling our country. The vote fraud agenda that Simon has is the other half of the plot. The whole scheme is to bring in as many potential Dem voters as possible, encourage them to vote, make certain that illegal, fraudulent votes are counted, and keep the Dems in power. It is no wonder that the Dems are encouraging as much illegal immigration as we are experiencing. The well-being of the citizens of this country is a far second to the importance of controlling this country, as far as the Dems are concerned.

Voters should consider whether they wish to have open borders with unchecked illegal immigration, higher taxes, representation in Washington for Democrats only (and continued waste of time and tax money due to the “resistance,” movement), a state attorney general with a questionable background and a scandal in the brewing, and continued vote fraud, all of which are promised if DFL candidates are elected. On the other hand, if they would prefer a rapidly growing economy, representation for all Minnesota citizens in Washington and St. Paul, a justice system that functions with impartiality, and a voting system that conforms to state and federal laws, all of which is available with Republican candidates for office, then they should vote for the Republican candidates. It is truly up to the voter (at least, if we don’t have recounts employing Democrat contributors to do the counting). It is time to bring Minnesota government out of the mire of DFL control. Vote for Republicans.

Harold King

Welcome

Healthcare is a right

To the Editor:

As Election Day approaches, we are being bombarded by claims from candidates regarding our number one issue: health care. I would like to set the record straight on some of these claims. First, some background. I have been a licensed health insurance agent in Minnesota for nearly 15 years. I am a MNSure-certified broker. I have helped individuals, small businesses, farmers and seniors weigh their insurance options for over a decade. I know the companies; I know the networks; I know the costs. I also know the impact for people who do not have health insurance.

When candidates say they support more competition, here’s what that means. It means allowing insurance companies to deny people for pre-existing conditions. It means allowing insurance companies to sell plans that have limited lifetime maximums. You know when you don’t want to find out that your plan only covers up to $250,000? In the middle of cancer treatments. It means allowing insurance companies to sell limited network plans. This was the health insurance world prior to the ACA. As an agent in those days, I refused to sell those types of plans to my customers because I had a moral obligation to make sure they were covered when they needed it. We cannot go back to those days.

The reinsurance bill passed by the legislature did lower costs on the individual market, but that represents only 5 percent of the population. Small group plans are seeing increases averaging 10-15 percent. Reinsurance is a temporary band-aid – it does nothing to permanently fix this broken system. I want to go to St. Paul to help solve the problems in our health care system, not to simply tax Minnesotans and give that money to health insurance companies in hopes that they don’t raise our rates.

When it comes to health care, who you vote for matters. I believe that health care is a right, not a privilege. I ask for your vote on November 6 because I will fight for a permanent solution for affordable, accessible health care for all.

Heather Klassen

Candidate, MN House of

Representatives District 23A

Butterfield

Support Zarling

To the Editor:

Next week, on Tuesday, Harriett and I are going to vote for Jim Zarling for city councilman, to represent the 3rd Ward in Fairmont. Fortunately, Jim has agreed to stand for councilman as a write-in candidate. There are many reasons to vote for Jim Zarling. He has more experience than just about anyone in managing Fairmont. He is careful with the future of this city. He has tried to keep Fairmont financially sound. He considers issues carefully, with the best interest of his constituents in mind. We think Jim Zarling is the best choice for the 3rd Ward.

We would vote for Jim at any time, but right now the issue of building a community center in Fairmont is of particular concern. Whether the community center, as currently envisioned, is a sound idea, we are not sure. Neither is Jim. This could be a major undertaking, requiring major bond financing (maybe $14 million), an increase in property taxes, and the risk of not really knowing how much demand there is for such a facility.

Given the seriousness of this issue, we would like to be sure that our representative on the city council will be willing to take the time and effort to very carefully investigate the pro and con arguments regarding the community center. We are certain that Jim will do just that.

That is why we think it important to elect Jim Zarling, and why we will write-in his name on the ballot for 3rd Ward Councilman. We hope you will do the same. Since this is a write-in campaign, each of us must write his name, JIM ZARLING, carefully on the ballot for 3rd Ward. Also, we must actually vote by filling in the small oval to the left of his name. This is most important. Thank you for reading this. Please vote on election day and remember to write-in Jim Zarling.

Don and Harriett Richards

Fairmont

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