Letters to the Editor for March 19
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Dear Editor,
In an era of divisiveness, the arts provide an opportunity for all of us to be uplifted and inspired, coming together in appreciating the communal experience of live performances. I have been going to performances by touring artists and local talent for most of my 48 years here. I also served as the director of the former non-profit Committee for Performing Arts for seven years and as volunteer outreach coordinator for the weeks the international groups of the Arts Midwest World Fest visited many area schools in the past.
We currently are blessed with a state-of-the-art facility in the high school’s 760-seat Prairie du Chien Area Arts Center or PAAC, where we recently hosted the return of UW-Madison’s 36-member Wisconsin Singers and band, led off by our high school vocal jazz. Since 2019 this venue has provided a great setting for all our student concerts and plays, community theatre and the touring shows our theater manager Matt Lenz and dedicated arts committee members have arranged to enrich our community. It has also served as a rental facility for other events including three dance studios’ recitals and other performers and purposes. The arts center deserves our community support in the form of attendance at all these events.
I encourage area residents to take the chance to be wowed by the high-energy, multi-media, colorful family show here 7:00pm this Friday, March 21 by the 11-member cast of Artrageous! Check it out online. They combine big artworks being created onstage with music, comedy, dancing and audience participation. Don’t just hear about it later, and think “I would have enjoyed that!” I’m happy to say that our local kindergarten through 5th-grade students will experience an hour-long version of the show. This event is supported by the Wisconsin Arts Board, now in its 50th year.
I learned last week that six touring productions have already been set for next September through something Celtic next March, the first time a “season” series of performances will be offered since the days when only smaller-scale shows could be offered in the Little Theater auditorium. So do yourself a favor, show your support and come! Event and ticket information is always available on Facebook, at the high school district office, and the site paac.ludus.com.
I also offer my appreciation to our teachers Matt Lenz, Lori Frailey, Stewart Slaman, Jill Ahrens and Adam Stout for their commitment to our music and drama students. You are an inspiration!
Terri Connell
Prairie du Chien
***
Dear Editor,
As you may already know, public education is under attack at the State and Federal levels.
On Friday, March 6, Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced that President Trump plans to sign an executive order to dismantle the Education Department. “He’s made it clear since his campaign that this is his intent,” McMahon said on “Fox & Friends.” This could send the total financial burden for educating children back to the states.
Nearly $1 billion in federal funding for Wisconsin schools could be ripped away from your child’s/grandchild’s classroom and from your community.
What will we be losing? It could eliminate Title I funding which provides grants to schools with a large population of low-income students, like Prairie du Chien and our rural Crawford County school districts. Special education funding for children with physical, emotional, or learning disabilities may be gone, as well as the regulations that protect these children. Funding for youth mental health programs and career and technical education may be gone, and the responsibility for funding school meal programs and teacher training services will also be transferred back to the States.
Candidate for Superintendent of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Brittany Kinser, has worked as a consultant for privatizing education through voucher programs and is the former president of a Milwaukee nonprofit that advocates for and funds charter schools. Will she work to improve public schools or siphon taxpayer dollars away from public schools to support even more charter/voucher schools? Her plans will hurt your kids, increase your taxes, and force public schools to cut even more essential programs that are crucial for developing the skills children need to thrive in adulthood. Kinser has spent years working against Wisconsin’s public school system and has never even held a Wisconsin teaching license -- but now wants to oversee Wisconsin’s public education system!
Do NOT let this attack on our schools continue. Fight for your children and grandchildren by electing Dr. Jill Underly as Superintendent of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Support our public schools!
Sincerely,
Gloria Moore
Prairie du Chien
***
Dear Editor,
First, I’m a fiscal conservative and a Christian libertarian regarding social issues, that’s basically who I am.
I signed into the Derrick Van Orden video/telephone conference on Wednesday March 12th. Besides several “boogeyman” references about Joe Biden and George Soros for the MAGA folks, Derrick sounded pretty much like a ¼-inch right of center Roosevelt Democrat.
Derrick said he could not have a conference in person because Soros is paying people to come to these meetings to disrupt them and he did not want to put us through a lively political debate. With what is going on in the White House and Congress these days, there are plenty of pissed off, horrified, scared, regular non-Soros 3rd district voters that would have been asking him questions he probably wouldn’t have honestly answered, positioning himself as a liar. Instead, he chose the submitted questions they felt safe addressing, and the rest could be answered with an email or phone call to them. Derrick said he will protect the farmers, retirees, veterans, the rural sick and poor, just like any good liberal would do. The rest, dozens of issues, went unmentioned and unaddressed.
Half my life has been lived in rural America, and half in cities. In all those years, I have never talked with a liberal who wanted the U.S. to become a socialist/communist country run by bureaucrats and never conversed with a conservative who wanted to live in an authoritarian/fascist country run by corporations and billionaires. Donald Trump is the closest thing to that happening in my lifetime, and I don’t like it. The government needs some serious fixing, 95 percent of Americans believe this. It can be fixed if the 70 percent of Americans who are center right and center left get together and talk and figure out that the first thing that needs to happen to fix America, is billionaire and corporation money needs to be eliminated from our political system. If these unfair, propaganda fueled lying money influence machines are not eliminated first, at the end of the day we are all just manipulated suckers and brainless puppets.
Merle Kramer
Eastman
***
Dear Editor,
With a Wisconsin Supreme Court election coming up on April 1, campaigning is already hot and heavy here in the Badger State.
Making things even more interesting, Elon Musk and Donald Trump are bankrolling Brad Schimel’s Supreme Court campaign because they know that Wisconsin’s highest court stands as a check on their lawless coup.
Elon Musk wants Brad Schimel to rubber-stamp his assault on constitutional checks and balances so that he and Trump can give themselves sole power to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else. Elon Musk and Donald Trump want a MAGA Supreme Court to ensure that legislative district maps are rigged to lock in power for far-right legislators; that they can overturn elections when they don’t like the results; and that they are able to suppress voters that don’t kiss their ring. Brad Schimel is an extreme, right-wing politician who has cut shady deals for campaign cash his entire career, and now he’s cut the biggest and shadiest deal of his political life—signing on as a loyal foot solider for the Musk agenda.
On the campaign trail, Brad Schimel has made no secret he is desperate for campaign cash from extreme, right-wing donors, joking that he had to stop at Menards to “invest in knee pads, to crawl around begging people.” And let’s not forget, while running for attorney general, Brad Schimel accepted thousands in campaign contributions from Big Pharma and refused to join lawsuits seeking to hold big drug companies accountable for the opioid epidemic ravaging Wisconsin.
The alternative to all this chaos and cuckoo-land craziness is Judge Susan Crawford. As a prosecutor, private-practice attorney, and now a Judge, Susan Crawford has always believed in protecting the basic rights and freedoms of Wisconsinites. She has a deep understanding of our justice system and knows how important it is to have Supreme Court justices who understand how to keep communities safe, who are fair and impartial, and who will reject efforts to politicize the constitution to undermine our most basic rights. I support Judge Susan Crawford on April 1, and I encourage you to do the same.
Sincerely,
Jerry Ziemann
Eastman
***
Dear Editor,
People, you should be so proud of this Trump administration -- oh, wait a minute, what was I thinkin? I should have said the Musk administration. He walked through the White House doors and started to take over.
A chainsaw, really. And just think, the news media and everybody in that room though it was funny. Now a shouting match. What’s next?
Oh, one more thing you should be proud of: millions of people losing their jobs. Let’s hope there’s enough money to go around.
Now to the school board. I hate to tell you people, but not all people in this town have deep pockets like you do. I am one of them. Enough is enough.
Now to Jennifer Harding. I could not have said it better myself. Way to go.
Well, that’s is my two cents worth.
Sharon Tesar
Prairie du Chien
***
Dear Editor,
A very crucial election is on Tuesday, April 1. A position for State Supreme Court will decide the direction of our state on many issues.
Judges actually should be voted in by their decision according to the Constitution. After researching information about the candidates, it is clear to me that Brad Schimel is the best candidate for Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court Judge. He has been endorsed by dozens of current and former sheriffs and police officers. He is also endorsed by leaders of Pro-Life Wisconsin and supports Wisconsin’s abortion ban law.
Another important candidate on the ballot is Brttiany Kinser. Brittiany is running for state school superintendent and said she is “committed to ensuring students can read, write, do math skillfully and restore high academic standards” etc.Being informated and voting is a prvilege and our responsibility as a Americans. There are also two questions on the ballot.
I strongly encourage you to vote on Tuesday, April 1. Brad Schimel and Brittiany Kinser each have moral and common sense values.
Sincerely,
Rosemary Hall
Steuben
