Letters (Oct. 26, 2010)

Nice job around grain elevator and Ash St.

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We wish to thank Lyman Adams and the Cooperative Grain and Supply board for their proactive steps to control the routing of trucks around the Co-op area.

By erecting the barrier and sanding the grounds, Co-op is controlling some of the dust that sifts across Hillsboro.?Most of the dust is caused when trucks transition from Ash Street onto the Co-op compound at high speeds.

We also wish to thank the city of Hillsboro for the Ash Street improvements.?The outcome dramatically reduces the traffic noise from trucks that pounded across the pot holes and the big dip as they access Co-op.

Hillsboro is fortunate to have a healthy, growing business base that includes agri-businesses like Co-op.?We will live with dust in an agricultural environment.

Those of us that live near an elevator also learn to live with the melodious jet-like roar of the grain dryers and the aerial bombardment of grain hulls blown from the grain cleaning process.

We accept and acknowledge the significance of the constant flow of trucks in and out of the Co-op area and we appreciate the hard work of the community leaders who initiate community improvements like new streets.

A community is built on the availability of jobs. Commerce that creates jobs keeps our communities alive when others fail. In a struggling economy, our Marion County communities must remain progressive.

It?s heartening to find proactive leaders who take responsibility for how their business impacts the small community. It?s even better when community leaders engage projects like the North Ash Street upgrade that work so well together for overall community improvement.

To Lyman, the Co-op board and the city leaders?nicely done!

Stan Thiessen

Hillsboro

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Keep your dogs in your yard, not ours

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To the people who have dogs, please feed them, keep them in your yard, let them poop in your yard and tear up your own trash bags. You have no idea what they do in our yards. I spent a half hour raking up the trash in my yard after they got into my trash bag.

Are we going to have to build fences to keep your dogs out of our yards? If I find out who you are, you may have the honor of cleaning up after your dogs.

Velda Hiebert, 218 S. Adams

Hillsboro

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Another look at Epp?s pronouncements

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I read with interest Anton Epp?s letter in the Sept. 22 Free Press. It caused me to search the Internet for some answers to questions his letter raised in my mind. Here is what I learned during that search.

What is the support for U.S. positions in the United Nations? According to snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/unvote.asp, countries like the United Kingdom, France Canada, Japan and Australia (our allies) vote against resolutions the U.S. supports about 45 to 55 percent of the time.

Arab nations vote against resolutions the U.S. supports about 90 percent of the time. Israel is the only nation that supports the U.S. position almost always (votes against the U.S. position 11 percent of the time).

It is apparent from the votes of even our allies that the United Nations is not a means through which the agenda of the Unites States will be accomplished.

There is an interesting article at articlebalancedpolitics.org/sole_superpower.htm titled, ?Is it good for the world to have the U.S. as the sole superpower?? The article lists five ?Yes? arguments and four ?No? arguments. The last ?No? argument is that other large nations (e.g., France, Germany, UK, Russia) vote against the U.S. frequently because of fear of our superpower status.

Mr. Epp laments that persons 65 years of age have never seen America win a war. He also thinks our military is confused. These statements caused me to read an article titled, ?How Has War Changed Since the End of the Cold War?? which can be read at dni.gov/nic/NIC_ 2020_2004_05_25_intro.html (the National Intelligence Council Web site).

The article attempts to explain what is likely to be different about wars in the future, as well as what remains pretty much the same about war throughout history.

So what?s my point, or points?

My first observation: I agree with Mr. Epp that the U.N. is not effective in accomplishing the political, economic and societal goals, and the goal of religious freedom that we believe in here in the U.S. But I don?t think kicking the U.N. out of New York will make the world a less dangerous place. Probably the opposite.

My second observation: Although we may not always agree with our president, I believe our presidents (Obama now, and Bush and Clinton before him) and our military leaders are doing their best to figure out the nature of threats to our freedom, but the nature of the enemy and the nature of future conflicts are difficult to predict.

Prior to 9/11, wars were mostly great-power geopolitical wars. But since 9/11, wars and conflicts have been transnational ethnic and religious conflicts. The enemy doesn?t wear a uniform and the U.S. has not been able to win by bombing the enemy to surrender.

My third observation: There is a real danger in thinking that the way war was conducted in the past is preferable to the way current war is conducted. The following U.S. war-death statistics should bring this point home (excludes wounded): World War I, 116,516; World War II, 405,399; Korean War, 36,574; Vietnam War, 58,220; recent wars August 1990 through present time (Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghan?istan) about 5,750 to date. So while no one would state that these are ?peaceful times,? or that any number of American war deaths is acceptable, given the fact that there will always be warfare, American war deaths the past 20 years have been relatively low compared to prior wars in which the U.S. was involved.

The article referenced above, and the Bible, agree on one thing: There will always be wars?about land, about religious and ethnic differences, about natural resources.

The U.S., as the sole superpower, cannot afford to adopt a policy of isolationism. We cannot install democratic governments in societies through force. Some countries will remain theocracies, totalitarian, dictatorships, or other forms that infringe on citizens? freedoms.

Our political leaders will have to figure out how to influence rogue nations. Our military and home land security departments will have to adjust how the U.S. defends itself against the next threat, and hopefully get it right. And U.S. Christians and non-Christians alike should do all they can to show compassion and love for people with ethnic and religious heritage different from our own.

Allen Suderman

Simi Valley, Calif.

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