Villager Inbox
Hard decision had to be made
As a business owner and longstanding vendor at the Minnesota State Fair, I was disappointed with comments made by Republican Party of Minnesota chair Jennifer Carnahan regarding the closing of the 2020 State Fair. Anyone associated with the State Fair shares the disappointment and frustration of it being canceled. But it’s not about our personal disappointments, frustrations or even financial losses. It’s about the decision that the State Fair board and staff had to make to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved. As general manager Jerry Hammer stated, “It wasn’t a tough decision; it was the only decision” they could make.
In her comments, Ms. Carnahan was quick to shame several people. She should look in the mirror and shame herself for her thoughtless and sophomoric comments. Maybe a more appropriate approach would have been something like this: “It is with great sadness to hear the official announcement of the cancellation of the Minnesota State Fair. Although there will be many disappointed attendees and lost revenue, it must have been a difficult decision for all involved. I commend them for their courage and thank them for placing the health and well-being of the millions of attendees above revenue.”
Dave Cavallaro
Mendota Heights
Editor’s note: The writer operates a cheese curd stand in the Food Building at the Minnesota State Fair.
Act now for better kidney care
Since 2009, I have served as my father’s in-home caregiver as he undergoes dialysis treatments. In that time, we’ve had the incredible fortune of working with supportive and attentive medical staff who helped us as we learned about life with dialysis. Because of the great medical care, my father was, until a recent amputation, able to maintain an active lifestyle as a pastor and enjoy his favorite outdoor activities like fishing. There was a lot of work involved for me early on in the process as his caregiver, including asking the right questions, managing medications and ensuring the doctors had access to the information they needed.
While I was able to be there for my father, I know that not every dialysis patient is able to have a caregiver to help manage appointments, medications and medical information. That’s why dialysis patients need U.S. Representative Betty McCollum and other members of Congress to support a bill called the Better Kidney Care Act. It would allow all of a patient’s doctors to share information and work together to help their patients receive the high level of care they need.
Advocating for dialysis patients is something that I hold close to my heart. I want to be sure all patients have access to well-coordinated treatment plans. The Better Kidney Care Act would be the best path to achieving that.
Ramona Banks
Payne-Phalen
Ayd Mill trail is too dangerous
Why would you put a bike path and a pedestrian path next to busy Ayd Mill Road? It’s too dangerous. Besides, there are plenty of bike paths.
And why don’t bicyclists pay an annual fee to build and maintain all of their trails, the same as motor vehicles do for their roads? Then maybe bicyclists would be more likely to follow the rules of the road, too.
We should just resurface Ayd Mill Road, especially now with the coronavirus and the extra costs associated with it.
Al Pruszinske
Macalester-Groveland
Let's do as FDR did
I was raised during the Great Depression in the 1930s. My parents were poor, but I don’t ever remember being hungry. President Roosevelt started two jobs program to get the country working again. They were the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. They constructed many public works during the Depression, and there is no limit of needs in the public sphere today. My father and my wife’s father worked in these programs.
If Congress and the Trump administration don’t develop a jobs program at this time, we’ll never get out of the current depression. If they want to make “America Great Again,” they better do this.
Lyle Nelson
West Side
For a primer in public health
When I was at the University of Minnesota in the 1960s, I took a two-credit course in public health. The class was mandatory for undergrads regardless of whether you were majoring in engineering, liberal arts, forestry, home economics or pre-med. In a way, the class provided a sense of unity. It was the only class that every student had to take in order to graduate.
I don’t know whether the University of Minnesota still requires a public health class, but I hope so. I would like to see every college, high school and university in the U.S. provide a basic class in public health. Maybe if we did that, we wouldn’t have so many personalities like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and the reality TV star in the White House giving foolish advice and taking counterproductive steps in the face of a global pandemic.
I think proficiency in public health should also be a prerequisite for running for public office in Minnesota. By the looks of it, many on the Republican side of the aisle have a limited understanding of the subject.
M.L. Kluznik
Mendota Heights
Who is that masked kid?
With guidelines being made for the partial reopening of our state, we’re all going to have to be extra cautious about COVID-19 transmission. The advice now is for everyone who’s out to wear a mask. Please, parents, provide your children with masks and show them how to wear them properly. The latest research is showing that children can go about symptomless while being carriers of a form of COVID and spreading the virus to any in their vicinity. If your child complains, please explain that their brief discomfort is a small thing when compared to infecting and possibly killing an elderly neighbor. Additionally, the form of virus showing up in children doesn’t necessarily kill, but it can impair organ function with lifelong consequences.
Please help your children stay healthy through informed choices.
Kathleen Deming
Macalester-Groveland
A woman's right to abortion
Ann Redding makes an error in logic common among the anti-choice people (“A bigger threat to human life,” Villager Inbox, April 1). She assumes the fetus is a baby. This is not a proof. What is true, however, is that women deserve control over their own bodies and their own destinies, without which they are second-class citizens. Men have this control and are first-class citizens.
The anti-choice people should stop spreading false information. For example, saying that there is a fetal heartbeat 18 days after conception. This can’t be true because the heart does not develop till later on. I lectured on this for years in front of pre-med students.
R. W. Myster
Summit Hill
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