LETTERS to the Editor

Seniors will remember

To the editor:

As a Medicare Advantage member, I urge our members of Congress to protect the Advantage program and oppose ideas to use the program to fund other government spending.

As Washington debates various spending ideas it is concerning that media reports have indicated that some in Congress have considered the idea of making cuts to the program that over 500,000 Wisconsin seniors rely on to provide quality and affordable healthcare. Providing the same benefits as original Medicare, plus added benefits like an out-of-pocket max, vison, fitness memberships and preventative care, Medicare Advantage is the type of program Congress should be supporting, not looking to cut.

Seniors not only like our Advantage plans, but we vote, and we won’t forget those in Congress who don’t support our healthcare.

Rae Cuykendall Mondovi

Library Gala thanks you

To the editor:

Last month’s “Once Upon a Library” Gala, and the immense gratitude we felt for the support of community members and local businesses is still fresh in our memories. What a special evening it was!

Thank you to all who supported this fundraiser for the new Ellsworth Public Library including the businesses who sponsored, individuals who attended, silent auction bidders, and all those who donated cash and silent auction items.

From the onset of the project’s fundraising campaign, the generosity of the community has been overwhelming. As we continue to inch ever closer to our $2 million goal, and the project is closer to becoming reality, we wish to remind all those who have given so generously of the immense gift and legacy they are giving our community.

Please continue to watch the fundraising thermometer located in front of the future home of the Ellsworth Public Library. For those inspired to support the effort further, there is still time. Specific Fund-a-Need items for the library can be purchased to furnish the completed space. For families interested in a permanent and meaningful way to support the Ellsworth Public Library building project, special naming opportunities are available, and pledges and estate gifts are also being accepted. Visit www.friendsofepl.org/gala to learn more.

Once again, we thank you for your ongoing support.

The Friends of the Ellsworth Public Library and “Once Upon a Library” Gala Committee

Wisconsin values

fair maps

To the editor:

I am grateful this week for a couple of Wisconsin traditions. One is hunting. Around me I see groups of families and friends dressed in blaze orange gathered to talk after spending the morning in deer stands studded around the countryside.

These individuals do us all a favor by harvesting in a safe, legal and humane way our large deer herd, thus preventing diseases and starvation caused by overcrowding – and keeping at some of us from cardeer collisions.

I’m grateful also for the Wisconsin tradition of fairness. We value giving each other a chance. We expect our leaders and representatives to be evenhanded in applying rules, law and legislation. And we expect fairness in our voting-district maps.

The 2011 maps were not fairly drawn. We’ve been using them for 10 years and the result is politicians who care more about party than constituents. They don’t show up for candidate forums and they ignore the overwhelming support Wisconsinites have shown for a nonpartisan way of drawing the maps.

Now the even-worse 2021 maps are in the hands of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and we can only hope they uphold the will of the people, our traditional values, our earnest desire for actual representative democracy: Fairness. It’s a bright light in our state’s values, like blaze orange in lateautumn woods. Please ask your representatives to pass the legislation (AB 389 and SB 395) that will require a nonpartisan method of drawing the district maps.

Leslie Watschke River Falls

Panthers: You represented spectacularly

To the editor:

Congratulations to all our coaches and the valiant Ellsworth High School football team. Last Thursday our beloved Panthers competed for the Division 4 state championship at Camp Randall Stadium. With an uncharacteristically shaky start, this team – which had not lost in two years – found themselves behind 21-0 in the first quarter against another also undefeated team. Most teams would have been so demoralized they would have given up. You glance over to the sidelines, and without even looking at the scoreboard, you know who is winning. The heads down and hunched shoulders tell the story. But not our Panthers. This resolute team fought back and scored twice before the half. They did not let the other team score the rest of the game. With shoulders back and heads held high they never stopped giving their best.

As the honorary team medical support, Kurt Helmrick and I have been walking the sidelines since 1994. We were prouder of the way this team dealt with loss than with any of the dozens of team victories we have witnessed. How a team handles adversity reveals its true character. And this team showed poise, class, and sportsmanship as only the finest players and best coached teams can. Winning in life is about much more than the scoreboard. It’s about doing your best, never giving up, encouraging your teammates when they are down and playing with integrity.

Congrats to the coaches, players, and their families. You represented our community of Ellsworth spectacularly.

Dr. Chris Tashjian River Falls