Laker Foundation’s Taste on the Lake Event, Thank You!

From Bill Mills, Laker Foundation

President and Greg Uhde,

Laker Foundation Vice President

This marks the 12th year of the Minnewaska Laker Foundation’s Taste on the Lake which was recently held on May 8 with a full house in attendance at the Lakeside Ballroom in Glenwood!

For over a decade, this event has helped to provide additional funding for Minnewaska Area Schools Pre-K through 12 academic and extracurricular programs.  On behalf of the entire Minnewaska Laker Foundation board, we wish to thank all the valued attendees, gracious donors and selfless volunteers for making this a success.  We hope to see many of you at this summer’s Laker Golf Classic which tees off at noon on Monday, July 8 at the Minnewaska Golf Club!   

Be informed; act on that knowledge and…Vote!

From Jim Thoreen,

Glenwood

When Donald Trump was in the White House he told then, Press Secretary Stephani Grisham to use his method of lying: “As long as you keep repeating something, it doesn’t matter what you say.”

The Washington Post documented 30,000 plus false or misleading claims during his presidency, an average of 21 per day.

Since this paper offers limited space for comments, I can’t offer the hundreds of notions from historians who conclude that Trump has told more untruths than any previous president… no one is a close second.

So, the questions: Why has Donald Trump held onto his popularity despite his record of “making things up?” Do Americans really appreciate and wait for warped perspectives, lies, fabrications of the truth, and assertions of false history simply because we can’t cope with the truth? Have we evolved into lap dogs who will listen to anything?

To be sure, Trump is not the first president to lie. Nixon and the tapes. Clinton and Lewinsky. Johnson and Vietnam.

And then there’s Congress. Some would say that even the Supreme Court has cast itself into the shadows of questionable postulations.

What to do? In each of our lives, we can reflect on the level of our honesty in conversation with our friends and family. We can assert our doubts or fact-based fears of institutional authenticity. Simple awareness of the various elements of claims by people of all stripes can lead us to “truth.”

As to this fall and our responsibility as citizens: Vote. It is easy to simply throw up our hands and walk away. The better path to a vibrant American Government is to meet our obligation to be informed and to act on that knowledge.

Vote. A privilege and honor. Our fallen veterans, especially, deserve it.

Responds to ‘Independent’ candidate’s letter

From Inga Mae Urke,

Starbuck

This is late, as I discovered I had neglected to mail it which I blame on covid fog  but nevertheless I wish to share my feelings on the matter! In the April 1 issue letter a woman was attempting to score points to run on the Independent ticket.  I can assure her right now that she will never get my vote when she agreed with Minnesota women’s right to autonomy over their own bodies! Why is it so impossible for these women to realize that they need not kill unborn babies in order to have  birth control? There are plenty of contraceptives and birth control methods which they totally refuse to acknowledge as they have been determined to kill 60 million babies!  Remember that those babies are totally HELPLESS but none of those women are helpless–they are simply mean and selfish, wanting their own way!

She claimed that the “Hard Right” stopped the government in its tracks in the matter of reaching a consensus on the federal budget.  She needed to explain what they did because I cannot for one minute believe that Republicans would be so dead set against anything if it was a good thing!  She is the second person to make such an accusation without explanation!  Regarding the southern border mess, she again blamed the Republicans for stopping what she considered a good plan.  I am confident it was NOT a good plan to begin with and everybody has to realize that something must be done, and soon, to fix that border crisis.

She never mentioned the most crucial thing which is the support of our best ally, Israel!   I should NOT need to remind anybody for the third time  of God’s promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel but several Christians even ignore that fact!   Up until last night’s news, Biden had continued to withhold support for Israel and instead criticized Netanyahu.   THAT should never be allowed but we seem helpless to do anything about it and can  only hope and pray that he will support Israel from now on and speak out against that horrible antisemitism which he now finally has done.      

We have the added huge problem with all these foreigners wearing masks, some  pretending to be college students, marching and blasting Israel.  They  need to show some mercy for the law enforcement officers struggling to control these masses!   We can only hope that Biden will no longer continue to “stay in the basement” but that he will take control like he needs to in stopping those demonstrations.

Commends letter writer for his opinion and his service

From Bil Pederson

Mauston, WI

Todd Guggisberg is a long time Army veteran and a graduate of Starbuck High school. He really nailed it with this letter to the editor!

Thanks for your service Todd.

A big THANK YOU and a plea for help…

From Terry Duhn,

Long Beach

First off, welcome to summer, although we had a very mild winter.

I want to say THANK YOU to all of the students and faculty from MAHS that took time to come and help clean up Morning Glory Garden on their Day of Caring. Unfortunately that day I couldn’t be there but fortunately on the list of volunteers are some great people ready to lend a hand and help supervise. Mr. Song and Mr. Bennes came with a group of students and let me tell you they moved a mountain. They cleaned the Chapel, the Gazebo, cleaned flower beds and added mulch, raked leaves, and moved rocks. Greg and Brad Vold of Dorrich Dairy had donated to the garden three loader buckets of compost, so the students moved the compost to the flower bed and leveled it out. In one of the beds they created a dry stream bed. It looks awesome.  If you have time this summer be sure to stop out and see the garden.

I want to also give a big THANK YOU to the Glenwood Rotary. At Tuesday’s meeting they donated to the City of Long Beach $3,300 from the Cash Bash fundraiser to be  used at MGG. It will be used to create a paver walk from the base of the ramp to  the Chapel and new steps and a ramp making it more handicap accessible. There will be more information to come on this project in the near future. Thank-You Rotary.

Now I need to beg for more help. It  is time to plant the garden. We will plant the over 2,000 flowers on Saturday, May 18  at 9 a.m. If you can give a hand in anyway, please join us for a wonderful experience to beautify the Minnewaska area.

Thank You for all you do. If you have any questions feel free to call 320-292-1668.

Be careful who we call a hero, who we disparage…

From Mary Hofmann,

Glenwood

I’m writing in response to the letter from Mr. Guggisberg regarding Mr. Stone’s comments from April 22.  I did not read that and have no intention of doing so.  My response is to Mr. Guggisberg.  He states that he appreciated Mr. Stone writing about John McCain being a “hero” and being a POW in Vietnam.  He then asserts the former president didn’t have to serve in the military due to bone spurs and made some other comments about him that I feel need to be addressed.

First of all, one of my brothers was drafted during the Vietnam War and he was released from service due to bone spurs and a couple of other medical issues.  They are a real thing, so does that make my brother a “loser?”  The writer also states that three verified sources described the former president as talking about McCain being a loser and he wasn’t going to his funeral.  Who are the sources?  I do believe those comments were disproved–after the fact, of course.

Second, there are quite a few issues with Mr. McCain that I don’t think Mr. Guggisberg or Mr. Stone researched.  I am not trying to disparage his memory but I do believe he isn’t the super hero they think he is.

His great-great grandfather was a southern plantation owner who fought to save the Confederacy and owned 50-plus slaves.  Not that it matters to those of us alive now.  John McCain graduated at near the bottom of his class in 1958 from the United States Naval Academy.  He had numerous infidelities (maybe more like Trump that thought). He was part of the huge Savings and Loan scandals of the 1980s.  He advocated for diplomatic relations with Vietnam for years and finally succeeded in 1995.  Advocated for a new federal tax on tobacco products, he dissented on many Republican issues that made him look like he was an unconventional conservative. He pushed for support for the Iraq Ware, voted against Bush’s tax cuts and, most notably, voted against “Obama care” along with a couple of other RINOs.

He clashed repeatedly with native American tribes in Arizona. The Navaho Housing Authority had squandered millions of dollars and only a few houses were built.  His solution was to cut off funding, but that actually helped in the long run as it made the tribe look at their finances and how they awarded projects a bit more closely.  The Navaho-Hopi Relocation program that he advocated had a huge negative impact on the elders of these nations.  He was all for a “land swap” to allow for a huge copper mine on Indian land under Oak Flat.  This land is considered sacred to the Apache Nation.

So, what I’m saying is be careful who you call a hero and who you disparage because all of us could have our lives under a microscope one day.  What would history have to say about us.