Letters to the Editor

We welcome letters to the Editor, a chance for members of the community to comment on issues of concern to them. All letters must be original, not duplications of letters addressed to public officials or written by others. The views and opinions expressed are those of the letter writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of this publication, its publishers, Editor, or staff.

To the Editor:
Your Tax Dollars at Work … or are they?

Several people attended the Administrative and Legislative Committee Meeting on Jan. 3 at the Lincoln County Service Center. They could not hear the meeting conversations again. This continues to demonstrate the lack of transparency and consideration for the constituents by the Board. When they speak, they do not project their face nor face the audience to alleviate this problem. This issue has been discussed repeatedly with the Chairman and has not been resolved. Several large monitors have been placed around the room and the closed captions run too fast to read and often are incorrect.
This is just another example of this County Board’s lack of consideration for their constituents. Providing a microphone for every one or two Supervisors would improve communication.
Comments given after the meeting include: can’t hear, the screen is ridiculous, so garbled, doesn’t pick up the correct wording, I couldn’t hear much and the captions have many errors, speakers do not face the audience or project their voices, very hard to hear constantly and I have good hearing, closed caption is very poor and confusing, the old system was much easier to follow when mics were used, and you are all beautiful in person but we need to hear you. Comments submitted by: Karen Nocco, Irene Mehlos, Don Dunphy, Sr. Kathy Lange, Sr. Celine Goessel, Linda Doerr, and Judy Woller.

– Judy Woller
Merrill, Wis.

To the Editor:
Forty-one thousand people die annually from secondhand cigarette smoke. The majority of these deaths occur in rental properties where landlords adamantly refuse to instigate no-smoking policies. Staggering!!
At the Gleason Villa apartment building, Lincoln County Housing Authority, owners of the property, rent to chronic cigarette smokers. There is no insulation between apartments, allowing secondhand smoke to poison the air in the hallway, and to waft through the ventilation system into the apartments of non-smokers. My clothes, bedding, and towels emanate the toxicity smoke. I had bronchitis during December due to breathing the miasma.
LCHA receives HUD assistance for the low-income persons who reside at the Villa. HUD’s goal is for the properties who receive their assistance to incorporate non-smoking in their buildings. In their greed, LCHA desires to receive HUD funding, yet LCHA will not swallow its pride to incorporate non-smoking. HUD buildings ought to set the standard by which private rental properties do business.
Sad, isn’t it, that LCHA has chosen not to do so?

– Donna Kikkert
Gleason, Wis.

Letters To The Editor Policy:
*Letters must be 250 words or less. (There will be no exceptions to this. Any letter longer than 250 words will not be printed.)
*The writer must include their full name, complete address, and a phone number where he/she can be easily reached for verification. Phone numbers and street addresses will not be published, but will be used for verification purposes, if necessary. Letters must be signed and the name, city, and state will be printed.
*Letters may be edited for style, grammar, and length. Form letters or those we determine to be libelous or slanderous will not be accepted. Any letter deemed derogatory, inflammatory, or involving vulgar language will not be published. We reserve all rights to reject material submitted to this publication.
*Letters will be published on a “first come, first served” basis. Any letters which we are unable to publish in the printed newspaper may be run online at www.merrillfotonews.com and/or may be printed in the paper at a later date.
*In fairness to all, and due to space constraints, there is a limit of two letters per year from an individual writer. Additional letters may be submitted to our Paid Letters to the Editor column and will require payment in full prior to publication at the same rate as Political Letters to the Editor
(see policy below).

Political Letters To The Editor Policy:
All letters submitted as an endorsement for a political candidate, referendum, or political agenda will carry the same guidelines as above; however, they will be charged $40.00 per letter of up to 250 words in length. Longer political letters will be accepted but will be charged $10.00 per additional 100 words. All political letters must be prepaid prior to printing. Letters to the Editor will not be accepted from candidates running for election or representatives of an organization endorsing their own referendum, as these are clearly advertisements and not opinion letters; those submissions will be referred to our Advertising Department to be run as paid ads.

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