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 Home > Opinion

FROM THE PUBLISHER: What’s on your mind? War, money or Favre? (2008/07/22)
The sign is beginning to fade slightly after several seasons of Wisconsin weather, but the message is still quite clear and unmistakable in its meaning: “Stop the war now!”

PLAIN SPEAKING: Economic development in Wisconsin in a time of need (2008/07/22)
Between the recent announcement that the Janesville GM plant will be shutting its doors, ongoing concerns about the economy and the rising unemployment rate, and now the devastating effects of extreme weather and flooding, the people of Wisconsin can be forgiven for wondering “what’s next?”

LETTER: Holmen government needs public forum (2008/07/22)
I have had opportunity to examine several of the Holmen village committee agendas and the village board agendas. I find it interesting that in Holmen, the citizens have no opportunity to be heard by the committees or the village board in a public forum.

LETTER: Change adverse possession law (2008/07/22)
Adverse possession is a law, recognized in every state. Using it, a neighboring landowner can take title to land you have purchased and paid taxes on. Having a survey and knowing where your legal boundaries are does not protect you. If someone claims part of your property, you will have to defend your rights in court or risk losing through default.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: The call of the wild is in the backyard (2008/07/16)
I’ve taken a lot of ribbing in the past week after I wrote about the grass snake that decided to make its home in my 1989 Ford pickup.

FROM THE HILL: Farm Bill will strengthen state communities, farm economy (2008/07/16)
Congress created opportunities for rural communities, strengthened Wisconsin’s dairy farming economy and supported small family farmers in the Farm Bill passed this year. While I was disappointed that the bill did not do more to target limited resources to programs essential to family farmers and rural communities, this bill made significant improvements in other areas:

GRAY MATTER: Age is a number, not a feeling (2008/07/16)
I don’t know when it hit me, but when it did, I was rueful of how fast time passes.

LETTER: Proposed dump has bad odds (2008/07/16)
Vernon County has had two 100-year flood events in two years. This is when a 100-year event means it has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year.

RANDOM ERUPTIONS: French exchange offers insight ... and laughs (2008/07/10)
Most of my vacations end up being almost as much work as work. There’s always a long list of home improvement projects to do if we’re not going out of town, and if we do hit the road, well, that can be work, too.

GRAY MATTER: Yoga in Olympicsmight be a stretch (2008/07/10)
While I was at work early Sunday morning, I was listening to Sporting News Radio on WKTY. It was about 6 o’clock when I heard a report of a new sport lobbying to be added to the Olympics by 2020. I thought this one might be too big of a stretch to make it, but the sport, if you will, is competitive yoga.

HILLTOP VIEW: Judiciary invested with power (2008/07/10)
In recent weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its final opinions on several important cases. The nine justices that comprise the highest court in the land decided that neither rape nor any other crime aside from murder should merit the death penalty. They also decided that it was indeed our Second Amendment right to own firearms.

LETTER: Obama had backed Washington gun ban (2008/07/10)
I don’t know which is worse, Barack Obama’s change of stances on issues or the mainstream media’s desire to ignore it. Take the Washington, D.C., gun ban that was challenged recently in the Supreme Court.

RANDOM ERUPTIONS: Confessions of a reformed speed demon (2008/07/02)
Maybe it was because my first driving experience came at the wheel of a quarter midget, a pint-sized race car, whizzing around a banked oval track and trying to get to the checkered flag first. Or maybe it was just a character flaw that compelled me to always need to be in front of any cars going the same direction I was. Whatever it was, I have been a speed demon most of my life.

GRAY MATTER: Where are the protests? (2008/07/02)
I was somewhat surprised on a recent trip to Washington, DC. When I was there in May 2000, I counted five anti-Clinton demonstrators along with more than 30 burnt-out hippies commemorating a battle of the Vietnam War with all the familiar slogans and chants of their era. Two years later, Lisa and I witnessed more than two dozen anti-Bush demonstrators picketing along Pennsylvania Avenue, protesting the No Child Left Behind Act, among other things.

FROM THE HILL: It’s so important to protect our right to a day in court (2008/07/02)
When students learn about our system of justice in civics class, they’re told that every American has a right to his or her day in court. Yet, people from all walks of life often unknowingly sign away their right to a trial when they sign a contract.

LETTER: Renewed oil drilling makes no sense (2008/07/02)
Last week, the White House renewed pressure on Congress to allow oil drilling offshore and in protected areas. This idea makes no sense. As a nation, unconsciously, we have chosen to follow a developmental route over the last century that makes all aspects of our civilization highly dependent on crude oil. We are paying the price for this choice and will pay far more in the future.

LETTER: Bidding farewell to ‘God’s Country’ (2008/07/02)
As I leave this area, I wish to say to the entire community that it has been a privilege to live and pastor here. This is a wonderful area to raise a family and enjoy “God’s Country.”

GUEST VIEW: Bush’s war policy: the top campaign non-issue? (2008/06/24)
It’s staggering to think that as we march toward a seventh year at war, Iraq (let alone Afghanistan) is hardly an issue on the campaign trail. Of course, nobody has forgotten about the war. But there’s been no substantive debate on it, either.

GRAY MATTER: History has an odd way of coming up again (2008/06/24)
There’s an unpopular wartime Republican president, a federal lawmaker from New York losing in a fierce battle and people protesting the progress of the war? This scenario is all too familiar to us in 2008.

LETTER: Kind staffer’s letter missed the point (2008/06/24)
If you have read the book “All the President’s Men” or saw the movie, you might remember a part which shows Woodward and Bernstein watching Vice President Spiro Agnew making some comment about something and saying “that’s a non-denial denial.”

LETTER: Some arguments for a state smoking ban (2008/06/24)
As the possibility of a statewide smoking ban comes and goes in the consciousness of Wisconsin residents, it is imperative that we keep in mind the wide-reaching effects of such a ban on our health. A study published earlier this year highlights the benefits of a smoking ban in public areas.

LETTER: We must put a stop to all of this insanity (2008/06/24)
When is it going to end? The men and women dying in the war, the excuses for gas to go up, and the amount of drugs that young people are able to get. It is bad enough that gas is close to $4 a gallon, but sending thousands of teens off to war is too much! We need a president who can put a stop to all of this.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: Strange calls are all part of journalism biz (2008/06/18)
This year marks my 25th year in the newspaper business, which has proven to be a very interesting career choice.

GRAY MATTER: Let Old Glory fly high on Flag Day (2008/06/18)
“Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” n Second Resolution adopted by Second Continental Congress June 14, 1777.

LETTER: Justice council seeks members (2008/06/18)
I ask that citizens of La Crosse County consider applying for a seat on the Criminal Justice Management Council. In September 2000, the La Crosse County Board authorized the creation of the Criminal Justice Management Council to advise the County Board on correctional policies for juveniles and adults.

LETTER: Congress was wrong to OK bloated ag bill (2008/06/18)
According to what I have read recently, the 2008 Farm Bill was a bad bill and President Bush was correct in vetoing it. However, Congress has overridden that veto and so now the bill is the law of the land. Ugh!

LETTER: Support Hancock for state Assembly (2008/06/18)
We have a chance to get someone who actually understands what the people of the 94th Assembly District are experiencing. Someone who understands that if you can’t afford to pay for an office call to a doctor to begin with, then health savings accounts are not going to do you any good. Someone who understands that education is not just another political chess piece.

GRAY MATTER: Gloves come off in party fracas (2008/06/11)
Did you happen to watch the fight on TV last Saturday? I’m not talking about EliteXC, the beat-your-brains-in mixed-martial-arts fights that aired on CBS. I don’t recall any significant fights in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals.

EDITORIAL: Maintaining hyper-mobility won’t come cheap (2008/06/11)
It was no fun paying high prices for gas during the Memorial Day Weekend (it was $3.929 per gallon Monday), but Americans are finally being confronted with the high cost of mobility. Since 1974, the number of vehicle miles driven in Wisconsin has outpaced its population by a factor of five, and it’s becoming clear that such mobility can’t be sustained, either economically or environmentally.

PLAIN SPEAKING: Improved tax rank a good start (2008/06/11)
First-time-in-a-generation achievements don’t happen often. But that’s the news Wisconsin heard last week: our state dropped out of the top-10 worst taxed states in the nation for the first time since 1980.

Area postal carriers deliver again for emergency pantry (2008/06/11)
On behalf of the board of directors of the Onalaska/Holmen Emergency Food Basket, I would like to thank the U.S. Postal Service letter carriers,especially the Onalaska branch, for once again sponsoring the 2008 Postal Food Drive.

GUEST VIEW: People need solutions for fiscal, health-care woes, not gridlock (2008/06/03)
Richard Lawrence of Holmen recalls the horrors he went through in August 2005 when he was diagnosed with liver cancer and essentially given a death sentence by his doctors, who declined to even consider chemotherapy or radiation because of the rapid growth and spread of his tumors.

LETTER: Kind office puts high value on public input (2008/06/03)
I read the recent letter from Joseph Upton with great concern, as we in Congressman Ron Kind’s office go to every effort to respond in a timely and substantive fashion to the hundreds of constituent contacts we receive every day through phone calls, e-mails and letters.

LETTER: Make sure all have health insurance (2008/06/03)
For the past 15 years, those involved with the St. Clare Health Mission in La Crosse have witnessed the problems facing the poor and uninsured in our community. We also have been witness to the difference that the giving of one’s time and talents can make in the life of someone in need.

EDITORIAL: Congress fails again on U.S. agriculture reform (2008/06/03)
Here is what the Center for Rural Affairs, a nonprofit rural advocacy group, said about the federal farm bill:

GRAY MATTER: Managing depression takes time, patience, good care (2008/06/03)
Two weeks ago, I used this column as a vehicle to write about my depression. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to listen to a few people share their stories about themselves or their loved ones diagnosed with clinical depression. I want to thank those of you willing to share your experiences with me.

GUEST VIEW: Make your Memorial Day mean something (2008/05/27)
This Memorial Day is a day of national observation and remembrance for those soldiers who never came back — those who have truly sacrificed everything for this country.

GUEST VIEW: Photo IDs are not too much to ask (2008/05/27)
There is nothing more fundamental in our democracy than the right to vote. This primary tenet of political freedom, however, is undermined when people engage in unlawful voting or unqualified electors cast ballots illegally and undetected.

LETTER: Congressman not so kind to some ideas (2008/05/27)
I have written to Rep. Ron Kind on many occasions and basically was ignored or sent responses that did not address any of the issues I asked about.

LETTER: Religion and politics shouldn’t mix (2008/05/27)
I recently became aware of a situation that bothers me.

GRAY MATTER: Picking up pizza a form of aroma therapy (2008/05/27)
The year was 1992. I had my driver’s license for one month. I thought I was pretty cool for having my recently granted freedom. But what I saw as a freedom or temporary reprieve from my parents acting as my chauffer, my parents saw it as an opportunity for me to be useful.

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