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. Please see our complete Letter to the Editor Policy at https://merrillfotonews.com/letter-to-the-editor-policy/.

To the Editor:
Much confusion and misstatements have clouded the Pine Crest Nursing Home sale debate. I have been approached by residents of District 21, and others, questioning the potential sale. This information is my personal opinion, based on financial records of Lincoln County.
The potential sale has little to do with quality care. Such questions are covered by the State, via Department of Health Services (DHS) rating records. A record of the care history is available from DHS.
Why was the previous sale cancelled? A member of the Lincoln County Board disagreed with the Board’s previous vote to sell to a competent buyer. That cost the County taxpayers more than $8 million dollars, or more, depending on the entirety of the potential sale and maintenance of the facility.

Who is now responsible for ongoing maintenance of the facility? The County taxpayers, as the home is a voluntary business operation owned by the County and any maintenance falls on the taxpayers. Operational expenses cannot be financed by bonding, so yearly maintenance costs will require “borrowing” to keep the facility operational.
The home will require a complete roofing update, according to the Maintenance Department, and there is no budget room to pay for that potential multi-million dollar possibility, and recent repairs have gobbled up the general maintenance budget.
In the last 20+ years, county-run homes have declined to just 22 facilities. Recent news shows, yet another Valley County looking to divest their taxpayers of a similar operation.
Lincoln County is not able to increase resident numbers due to lack of licenses and funding for expansion.

- E. Richard Simon

Merrill, Wis.

To the Editor:
There have recently been huge and wide-ranging cuts to the federal budget. Most of the headlines have focused on the reduction of staff. The justification for these cuts has been the need to eliminate waste or fraud. However, not all cuts have involved staff, and many have not eliminated waste or fraud.
The Merrill Food Pantry recently received a letter from the Hunger Task Force, an organization developed to combat hunger in the United States. We recently learned the U.S. Department of Agriculture has halted $500 million in deliveries to food banks nationwide. This money had been intended “to purchase food from American farmers and ranchers and send it to emergency food providers.”
The cut in funding will have an immediate and drastic impact on Wisconsin. Orders for almost 1.1 million pounds of healthy food including milk, eggs, cheese, pork, chicken, and turkey have already been canceled. The result of these cuts is that those who are most in need of assistance, including elderly citizens and large families, will go hungry. Cutting funds to feed our neighbors is both cruel and short-sighted and will inevitably lead to huge unanticipated costs and preventable human suffering.

If you agree, please call and write to our representatives in Washington in both the House and the Senate. Demand that the funds they appropriated in the federal budget to feed the hungry be restored immediately. The poorest and most vulnerable citizens of our country should not be the victims of random, ill-conceived budget cuts.

- Thomas Mueller, Pastor Mike Zahn, Pastor Mike Southcombe, Gracie Bernal, Dick Duginski, Deb Page, Sister Celine Goessl, and Allan Crevier
Merrill, Wis.