To the editor: An Open Letter to Somali Americans in our Community: I’m glad you are here. You enrich our community. I like that Muslims, Jews and Christians all share common ancestors in Sarah (“Noble Lady”), Abraham (“Father of Many Nations”) and Isaac (“He Will Laugh”). I hope our local, state and federal representatives agree with me and, if they do, I invite them to state this boldly, loudly, proudly and publicly. Justin Vorbach Marshall
To the editor: “News you might have missed” For those of you who rely on the mainstream media for your news, you probably have been missing what is going on in Minnesota. However, Newsmax is all over it, most nights there is at least one new item regarding the incompetence of the Walz administration. First there was the millions in fraud in the Feeding our Future scam, then millions more in Housing Development fraud, millions more in autism fraud, over a billion was diverted to Al-Shabaab-an East African terrorist group and who knows what else. Then today at Trump’s ...
To the editor: Following the recent referendum failure, our district is making difficult decisions about budget reductions. Regardless of how any of us voted, we share a common goal: strong schools that support student success and responsible leadership. With the proposed budget set to go before the school board in early February, it is critical that we speak up now—before decisions become final. I write not only as a community member, but also as a parent with children in the district and a substitute teacher who works directly in our classrooms. I see every day how much students ...
To the editor: Because I had worked part time for Dr. LeRoy Affolter, optometrist, (reporter) Deb Gau called to ask if I had remembrances to share as she was writing an article for the next day’s Independent. I didn’t find her message in time to reply, so I thought I would share my memories of Dr. Affolter here. I applied to work at his office when my late husband, Robert, retired from the Marshall Police Department in November of 1988, due to episodes of fatigue, which some 8 years later resulted in triple by-pass surgery at age 49. In between filing records, adjusting glasses ...
To the editor: Trump is refusing to use emergency funds for food stamps even though the courts are ordering him to fund them. Instead of helping people that are starving, many of them children, he is appealing the court order to use the emergency funds, and that is after he and Republicans already cut food stamps by $187 billion dollars in the big dumb bill. They also cut the USAID program that gave food and medicine to the poorest people in the world, which has already resulted in 600,000 deaths of which 2/3 of them are children. What happened to all the pro-life people? Don’t ...
To the editor: Imagine my surprise to open my on-line edition of the Independent today to see my old friend and colleague Bill Holm featured on the front page. Bill was one of the smartest and most colorful men I have ever known. His knowledge of literature and music (and many other areas of expertise) was amazing. He was also extremely generous with his time and help and usually read the works of other writers he admired during his own public readings, such as the poetry of Leo Dangel and Phil Dacey. He was a great teacher, performer, raconteur and friend. The tribute to Bill ...