Letter to the editor: Huppler

Letter To the Editor:

I have an opinion,,, about opinions. I like them! "Metropolitan" newspapers pick and choose their editorials, so you never know if the flavor of the letters is guided by the editorial staff. To its great credit, this paper will print whatever the people have to say, as long as a letter is clean, signed and not derogatory. Each week I look forward to the editorial section of the paper - to see what other people think about things. I don't always agree with them, but I respect their opinions and their right to try to change mine. As much as I like reading them, I thought I would offer a few opinions of my own:

It is my opinion that:

- American politicians have a massive problem with short term memory loss - blaming the current administration for sins of the past. But then, it doesn’t matter who is in power: It is always easier to say, “It’s their fault” than it is to say, “Let’s work together to fix it.”

- the best way to move backward is to hold your position. Our political attitude of “My way or no way” prevents us from moving anywhere, while the rest of the world moves forward. This is exemplified in our neighbor state, with a governor who is absolutely rigid and a set of union leaders who are absolutely rigid

- even when the leaders in the Wisconsin Senate suggested a compromise (perhaps for the first time this millennium!)

- the local stadium project was a good plan. However, the time for that plan is not now. The vote on the bond issue left a clear message from the community that it is time for the School Board to stand up and say, “We will take care of the safety issues on the football field, refund donations that would have paid for a fraction of the larger project, and channel any remaining funds into the refurbishing needs of the high school.”

- we have a pretty darn good school system, with dedicated staff and strong community support of the teachers and programs. I think that the Board and senior administration need to demonstrate that they, too, hold the staff and programs in high esteem, both in written word and in actions.

- the county and city efforts for establishing bicycle paths are commendable, but if people keep saying, “not in my back yard,” we won’t make progress until someone’s child is killed in a car-bicycle accident.

- when a sermon repeats a message for the third time, it is time for the sermon to conclude.

- when an editorial reaches half of a newspaper column, it is time for the editorial to conclude (so I hope I’m close!)

It is my opinion (No, I think there is sufficient evidence to call it a fact.) that I am extremely fortunate to live in a country where I am allowed to have all of these opinions; where an individual can share views with his or her fellow citizens, without fear of retribution. No doubt there are many whose opinions differ from mine, but I hope we can all agree on this last one.               

Karl Huppler