Open Forum

How fortunate we are in this area to have Sen. Don Samuelson serve as president of the Senate. Brainerd and Northern Minnesota need the honesty, fairness, dedication, hard work and the important seniority that Samuelson gives us.

The dark days of the economy make this help even more important.

John Orr

Deerwood

Nasty letter

In one of the nasty Open Forums in last week's paper, Sen. Don Samuelson was accused of not following the Taxpayers League's anti-tax plans. In the same article he was cited for not spending enough on battered women's shelters -- sort of a double standard. However, both accusations are false. During the past four years, Sen. Samuelson has voted for the biggest tax cuts in the state's history. As a member of the House of Representatives, he was the author of the legislation that established the battered women's shelters program. One of the very first shelters was opened in Crow Wing County. Call the director and ask he if he is, in fact, one of their strongest supporters.

Anne K. Ness

Pillager

Cracker Jack

Do you remember Cracker Jacks and the hidden prize you could get? Well the city of Brainerd seems to purchase its own Cracker Jack prize in the form of a "Certificate for Financial Reporting" which the city administrator has received from the Government Finance Officers Association for the past eight years, a tidy fee of $415 and an additional dues payment of $150 per member is assessed against the city to provide this award.

I ask, is this expenditure necessary? Whom does it benefit? If Mr. Vogt wants this award, let him pay for it. Staff members could save a lot of time that it takes to prepare all of this paperwork and could be devoted to other uses if this award was not sought.

I wonder if the city will receive an award for reporting on the Bonding project for the Police and Fire station projects, this could be a wonderful place to hide unreported expenditures and make the city budget look real good? I call for a complete reporting of the expenditures for this project so we can compare the budget to the expenditures and see how many budgeted items will be hidden in the bond financing. Our elected officials need to answer to the voters.

Daryl Bahma

Brainerd

Sick of signs

How many campaign signs do we have to see driving to and from work? I don't know about everyone else, but I am sick and tired of seeing nothing but campaign signs everywhere. If people can't decide from the facts rather than the influence of seeing people's names over and over again, then maybe voting is not for them anyway. I am so tired of seeing signs that say nothing more than vote for so-and-so clutter the empty spaces along the road and on billboards. People are littering our yards, and we are just letting them.

It wouldn't even be so bad if someone would clean up the signs after the elections, but that becomes our job. We not only agree to clutter our yard with signs, we get to clean them up too. Some people don't even bother, which means the rest of us get to either clean it up ourselves or watch them become faded pieces of paper littering our streets.

Political candidates tell us how much they will help us; and they start showing how much they will do this by throwing trash into our streets, how ironic. If people can't make up their minds using the facts rather than the signs on the side of the road, then they don't need to be voting. Maybe our candidates can show us that they will help us by cleaning up the streets, rather than trashing them even more. They should start with the signs.

Jessica Akerson

Pequot Lakes

Check the site

Form your own opinion as to whom you want for Judge. Minnesota Lawyer has made information available about the candidates on its web site. Access minnlawyer.com, Judicial Election 2002. Be informed and vote on November 5.

Dorothy Fisker

Backus

Iraq statement

I am writing this letter to make a statement about all of the different takes people have on the possible war on Iraq. I honestly am not sure what I think is the right action to take, but one thing that I do know is that people need to know more about everything that is going on with the situation instead of just taking sides based on one or two facts. I just see so many people arguing about this extremely controversial topic and not being educated enough to actually back up what they are saying.

I also think that we have elected a president, and we are depending on him and our government to make the decisions that we voted them into office to make; and so if anyone is going to be talking about whether or not Bush has justification to go to war, they need to remember that.

They also need to remember that our government knows a lot more information about every situation than the general public has access to. That needs to be kept in mind when we try to agree with our president or not. Again, I am not sure where I stand on whether we go to war or not, but I do feel that our government has enough checks and balances that whatever the decision is, it will be made with the most intelligence and strategy that we have to offer; and it will be made for the good of the United States and the rest of the world.

Ashley Nelson

East Gull Lake

Vote for Ross

As longtime Brainerd residents, we're very familiar with Sheriff Dick Ross and his commitment to the people in Crow Wing County.

His honesty, integrity and experience are evident to anyone who knows him and has followed his career. Why change a good thing? Re-elect Sheriff Ross.

Al and Mary Lindner

Brainerd

A leader

When it comes to health care issues, Sen. Don Samuelson is considered to be one of the leaders in the State.

Sen. Samuelson helped create the community health program. Welfare reform, support for mental health issues and sponsored a Minnesota prescription drug plan.

Scott Pakarinen

Rural Brainerd