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Letters to the Editor

Trump cuts morally wrong

Dear editor: I am writing as a concerned citizen to speak against the budget proposals in Congress. First off, its morally wrong to cut things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, housing etc. Cuts to Medicaid will have a negative impact on our rural hospitals. I would hate to see any negative impacts to our rural hospitals as they are very important in our communities. I am also opposed to cutting PBS. As a child I watched Sesame Street and as a adult I enjoy the great Ken Burns documentaries on baseball, the history of country music or historical figures. It doesn’t matter ...

Stop stealing from the old, sick and giving it to rich

To the editor: My sister’s father-in-law suffers from MS and dementia. He was in a private pay facility for two years until family finances were exhausted. After that, he became a Medicaid recipient in North Dakota. Last Friday, the nursing home contacted my sister saying that Medicaid is claiming he is ineligible for benefits until Oct 2026. My sister’s father-in-law is wheelchair bound, delusional and has been suicidal. The nursing home also said that Medicaid is looking to take back $300,000 in payments that were made to the nursing home. She told my sister she is seeing ...

Writer questions Garvin power plant

To the editor: Having read the 4-24-2025 ‘Xcel meeting offers closer looks at planned Garvin power plant’, here are some questions I would have liked to ask Xcel: 1. What is the estimated cost of the 420 megawatt gas turbine fired power plant and its substation? And what percentage of it is funded by government (a.k.a. ‘taxpayers’) and ratepayers? 2. What is the estimated cost of the 345 kilovolt transmission line running from the coal fired plant at Becker to Lyon County? What percentage of it is taxpayer and ratepayer funded? 3. Would Xcel ever have invested in wind ...

Witnessed benefits of vaccinations

To the editor: I’m concerned about the reluctance to receive scheduled vaccines. I have practiced medicine for 54 years and have witnessed many serious diseases that current vaccines prevent. In my early years (1976-1995), spinal meningitis was a familiar and deadly illness in Marshall, MN. But, with the advent of Hib (Hemophilus influenzae) vaccine in 1987 and later the Prevenar 13 (Streptococcal pneumonia) vaccine in 2000, these cases declined. In 1975, as an Army doctor, I worked in a refugee camp. I witnessed the scourge of hard measles (Rubeola). Our children’s ward, with 30 ...

Clean up after your pet; don’t let them run loose

To the editor: Why is your pet my responsibility? There are so many of us who share the same problem and the problem is your pets. Don’t get me wrong, I love animals. I just choose not to own them. There are many others who also choose not to keep pets for whatever reason may be. There are those of you who are great owners and those who are not. I’m a homeowner in the city of Marshall and I’m tired of cleaning up after other people’s pets' dog poop in my yard, cat poop in my gardens. Every spring after the snow melts I have to pick up about 5 pounds of wet dog poop. And ...

Funding government with tariffs ridiculous idea

To the editor: Steve Moore’s brief column in Friday’s edition of the Independent is absurdly inaccurate (boarding on out-right dishonesty). He starts out with the claim that “[Trump’s] tariffs could raise as much as $6 trillion over the next decade in federal tax collections. These include up to 104% tariffs on China, plus the combination of reciprocal tariffs — we charge them whatever they charge us.” There is no such thing as a “tariff on China” or any other country for that matter. U.S. imposed tariffs are taxes on items (clothing, electronics, food, raw ...