Letters (April. 25, 2012)

Capitol Ideas

Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:49

Speak out against

Atmos rate hikes

In regard to the Notice of Public Hearing that Atmos wants to raise rates (Free Press, (April 11 and 18), I hope everyone sits up and takes notice.

In the fourth paragraph, it states they want to raise residential customers’ rates by 21.7 percent! This is outrageous and we all need to stand up and say I’m not going to take this anymore.

In the second paragraph they say natural gas is subject to market forces, weather, supply and demand—we had a milder winter this year. So because we didn’t use as much, they want to penalize us because they didn’t make as much money? If they raise our rates 21.7 percent and next year it’s a very cold winter, it will hurt the public while greatly lining...

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Congress needs to pass a farm bill

View from the Hill

Written by Paul Penner Tuesday, 21 August 2012 13:17

“Congress, get back to work and pass a farm bill now!”

This message communicates the urgency and the need for the House to allow a vote to move their new farm bill forward. In a matter of weeks, farmers across the nation will be seeding their 2013 wheat crop and they are suffering from the worst drought in a half century.

Until now, political bickering and partisanship rarely entered the domain of farm bill negotiations. Until now, Republicans and Democrats were able to set aside their political wrangling and worked together to pass legislation that benefited their rural constituents back home.

Until now, as the nation struggled to address the national debt crisis and debate over how to bring federal spending under control, farm...

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Time to flunk the Electoral College

Free Falling

Written by Bob Woelk Tuesday, 09 October 2012 14:22

So, it looks like I will be throwing my vote away again in a few weeks. Thanks to the insistence of our Congress to hang on to the archaic institution of the Electoral College, if a Kansas voter does not cast a ballot for the Republican candidate for president this November, he or she is likely “spitting in the wind.”

It amazes me the Electoral College has survived since the founding fathers established it as part of the Constitution more than 200 years ago. I believe it is just another example of how the power of the individual has been diminished.

According to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, the organization that oversees the electoral process and verifies the presidential vote, more than 700 proposals have...

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You always need one more thing on the farm

Fearless Farm Frau

Written by Shana Thornhill Tuesday, 16 October 2012 14:02

There’s always something you need on a farm. It starts out small, with the simple things. It’s a given that you’ll always need feed of one sort or another.

One day you go out to do chores and think, “I really need some new gloves. These are all crusty and have holes in them.”

Of course, thinking about holes reminds you that you should probably get some new wool socks before it gets cold, because your old ones have holes too. (Yeah, you can darn the ones you have, but a fall-back pair would be nice, wouldn’t it?)

While you’re thinking about your feet, you realize that you’ve almost worn through the backs of your boots. Hmm, thinking about boots makes you recall The Pitchfork of Doom. You’ve been meaning to replace...

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