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Letters to the Editor

SMSU staff oppose layoffs

To the editor: SMSU employees are facing job losses and essential campus services are going to be cut. AFSCME local 2385 was notified that the SMSU administration had a plan that would lay off two full-time employees, reduce another to part-time, and reduce the post office to half-day. Administration is supposed to operate in good-faith with our union by including us in the planning stages and yet new positions have already been created based on these proposals. The decision was made before conversations began.We met with administration and raised serious concerns on how these changes ...

Vote Fischbach out of office

To the Editor: What has Michelle Fischbach done for the citizens of Minnesota? We know she didn’t do anything about tariffs. Beef prices are higher than they have ever been, along with almost all groceries. She didn’t do anything about health care premiums, those have gone up 200 to 300%. Car insurance and homeowners insurance have risen almost 80%. She didn’t do anything for the farmers, when China didn’t buy a single soybean over the last 10 months. She didn’t do anything when Minnesota was over run by ICE agents, beating, kicking, dragging, pepper spraying and in more than ...

English translation of lyrics would have been helpful

To the editor: Andy Krzmarzick's "Weeds" column (2/21/26), "A Bad Bunny with a good message" supported the NFL's choice for the halftime show at the Super Bowl game. It was a unique choice as the Puerto Rican singer sang only in Spanish. As the writer pointed out, many Americans learn Spanish and in New Ulm, some songs are sung in German. I have an 8-year-old niece in California who has attended a German immersion school since kindergarten.Had an English translation of Bad Bunny's lyrics been provided, more people could have felt included in the performance. The column writer especially ...

Contact your school board members

To the editor: The Marshall Education Association (MEA) is the proud union of teachers and counselors at Marshall Public Schools. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to Russ Labat’s recent column in The Independent on Feb. 11 regarding the school board’s budget reductions. Foremost, the MEA does not share Mr. Labat’s opposition to the operating levy referendum. Stable school funding has been essential in making the Marshall Tigers a source of community pride. However, we do agree with several of Mr. Labat’s concerns about how our school board has approached the budget ...

Remembering our heritage

Dear editor: It’s easy to forget the actual birth dates this month of Lincoln (12th) and George Washington (22nd), since President’s Day became law in February of 1971. As the decades have passed, the wisdom and truth of the Founding Fathers has mostly been forgotten or claimed to be obsolete two centuries later. Washington, also known as the Father of our country, shared many simple reminders of the Republic that was set up and how to maintain limited government. In a letter to Major-General Robert Howe, dated August 17, 1779, Washington penned, “Few men have virtue to ...

When ICE came to my block

To the editor: I have lived most of my 50 years in Marshall. It was a great place to be a kid and is a wonderful place to raise my own children. Over the years, I have lived in multiple homes and apartments throughout our community. I have had Hispanic neighbors. I have had Somali neighbors. I have lived next door to international students. I have taken classes with immigrants at both Marshall Public Schools and SMSU. I have worked alongside immigrants, worshiped with immigrants, and attended community meetings with immigrants. I have shopped at and eaten in immigrant-owned ...