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Letters to the Editor

Thank you, Gov. Reynolds, for listening to rural Iowa

To the editor: Sometimes, leadership means slowing down and taking a hard look at the facts. That’s exactly what Gov. Kim Reynolds did when she vetoed HF 639 — and I want to thank her for it. As someone who works every day alongside farmers and ethanol producers, I see what’s at stake. Prices are low. Margins are tight. And our industry is under pressure to adapt or fall behind. At CornLP, we’ve partnered with projects that help us stay competitive and open up new markets. These aren’t theoretical decisions — they’re about survival and long-term success. In Cerro Gordo ...

Commends organizers

To the editor: I want to commend the people who organized the No Kings rally in Fort Dodge on June 14. Participants were peacefully exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. Unlike the mischaracterization given by The Messenger’s coverage of the first protest in May, the only “angry” people I experienced on June 14 were mostly young, white males in trucks or muscle cars who kept trolling the intersection and hollering out of their windows at protestors. There was also the white, middle-aged couple in the white, Subaru Legacy who yelled obscenities as the woman showed ...

Doesn’t like 15th Street proposal

To the editor: It seems to me that this project has already been decided. Like most projects in this town, without the input of the citizens. If $600,000 has already been spent you know d—n well it's going to happen. So when will we get to all deal with this detour fiasco? Have you considered the complications for state softball and all the activities at Harlan? And let's not forget that the F.D school buses are parked on the north end of 15th. But thank God we'll have lanes for bikes afterwards. Apparently the sidewalks that were redone don't work anymore. Cory Weiss Fort Dodge

Wants city to help seniors stay in their homes

To the editor: First of all, I want to say that my husband and I were both very fortunate to have worked in two of the best places in Fort Dodge. Ron worked at Fort Dodge Labs for 36 years and I worked at Iowa Central Community College for over 28 years. Yes, we have wonderful pensions but why do we have to be concerned about using all savings with the cost of rising expenses? Obviously health insurance raises premiums every year. Real estate taxes go up most years. “Water bill” goes up several times a year in past years. My reason for writing a letter to the editor is this. ...

Honors cherished teacher

To the editor: With the end of the school year finally here, I think it’s time we take some time to honor our teachers. One teacher in particular I would like to honor is Mrs. Nelda Larsen from Harvest Baptist School. She was my third and fourth grade teacher and a lady who will forever stay in my memory. She was a jovial, fun-loving lady. I learned a lot from her. How to do long division and how to add and subtract and multiply and divide fractions. She also allowed us to go to the back of the classroom and play if we all got our work done. It taught us to crack down and be ...

Opposed to North 15th Street plan

To the editor: The City Council is proposing to reconfigure North 15th Street from the Village Inn intersection to the Kwik Star intersection ( 20th Avenue North to Second Avenue North). The North 15th Street corridor is a main traffic corridor for Fort Dodge and the second busiest road in our community. The council wants to reduce this busy corridor from four lanes to three lanes. The three-lane road is actually a two-lane road with a middle left-turn lane. The council and city claim they want to do this to reduce the number of accidents on the North 15th Street corridor. Yet ...