Letters to the editor

Henry County should honor Sheriff’s request

To the editor:

This brouhaha in the Henry County Supervisors Office with regard to legal counsel for Sheriff McNamee is a real puzzler.

The Sheriff, who is by all accounts a highly respected public official, makes a good case for independent counsel in pending litigation. He cites conflict of interest issues. His request is denied by the supervisors.

The Assistant County Attorney, Mr. Giebelhausen, says according to the Union, “The County Attorney (Mr. Stater) is the Attorney for the Sheriff’s Office.” He adds “So therefore, there’s really no issue here.”

To the contrary, there are two issues. First, it is in the public interest in avoiding the appearance of impropriety on the part of those involved to give the highly regarded, and elected, Sheriff’s concerns credence.

Second, precedent has been set. The Supervisors have granted independent counsel before on consult with Mr. Stater in a far less controversial issue than this.

In short, Henry County was sued in Iowa District Court in April of 2012 and independent counsel was approved by the supervisors and provided by a Cedar Rapids law firm. I, and the two co-members of the Henry County Adjustment Board, representing Henry County were the defendants. We were sued following a land use decision.

As Chairman of the Board of Adjustment, I served as point person for the county. We requested counsel, expecting such from the Office of the County Attorney.

Apparently, Mr. Stater denied representation in the case. There may have been reasons but I was not privy to all that transpired. Mr. Buffington, Planning and Zoning Administrator, may be able to shed light on events.

We were pleased to have received excellent counsel form the Cedar Rapids firm. I do not know how the Attorney was compensated.

The wise course of action is to honor Mr. McNamee’s request. If it can be granted in the situation as described, it certainly should be here.

David W. Helman

Salem

Oppose bill that limits lawsuits on pesticide manufacturers

To the editor:

Cancers associated with glyphosate/Roundup include: non Hodgkins lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, leukemia, kidney cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, thyroid cancer, pediatric brain cancer, and bladder cancer.

The Iowa legislature is advancing a bill to limit lawsuits against pesticide manufacturers, a bill supported by Bayer/Monsanto who make Roundup. If this bill is passed, Bayer/Monsanto will have even less incentive to make their products safe for farmers and farm communities. Let's keep pesticide manufacturers accountable by stopping this bill.

Yours truly,

Carrol Hillis

Fairfield

Too much micro-managing of schools

To the editor:

When will enough be enough? Our legislature has (wrongly) concluded that public schools are “indoctrinating” and “grooming” students. We are allowing taxpayer money to pay for tuition at religious schools (indoctrinating?). Now we are considering paying homeschool teachers to teach other people’s kids. (Just how I want to see my tax dollars spent!)

We are considering taking the word “evolution” out of science standards and replacing “climate change” with “climate trends.” We are considering requiring two minutes of silence for all public school students at the beginning of each day. Really? We are going to legislate a two-minute moment of silence?

I can’t imagine that anyone who has ever tried to manage a classroom would think this is a good idea. But our legislators know better. We are also considering mandating “In God We Trust” signs in all public schools.

When will we as a critical mass say we’ve had enough micro-managing and undermining public education? Unfortunately, enough will be enough only when people decide the pendulum has swung too far and vote differently. In the meantime, “good luck” public educators.

Joe Carr

Retired (you guessed it) public educator

Fairfield