Here are this week's letters to the editor topics and writers. Read the full letters in the April 29 edition.
Concern over comment made by senator
To the Editor:
I would like to express my great concern regarding Senator Ernst’s remark quoted in the April 15 issue. 
Eulan Schuller, Burt
 
Diocese should honor people, not a plan
To the Editor: 

I love when congregation members criticize my sermons! I assume this is the case for most other pastors as well. 
Perhaps you’re thinking: “But Pastor, doesn’t it hurt your feelings when someone criticizes your sermon?” Nonsense! When it comes to preaching the Word of God, the truth and clarity of the preached Word far surpasses the feelings of the pastor in importance. 

"No government should be without critics. If its intentions are good, then it has nothing to fear from criticism."
- Thomas Jefferson
We are about a week or so from wrapping up the legislative session, so I wanted to spend a little time discussing the budget, and the investments of the Iowa House Republicans. 

A $100 million increase in broadband infrastructure. 

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Randy Feenstra (IA-04) released the following statement after House Democrats passed legislation that would make Washington, D.C. a state:

In a recent conversation with my almost five year old grandson, I learned that in his words “sometimes the bad guy just comes out and you have to cry and cry.” He had just been released from being grounded for an action that was dangerous for someone so young. Hopefully, he will have learned from his experience.

... It is unbecoming, in a democratic republic, to have leaders who want to change the rules because they want total control. In fact, it’s the type of thing you see from losers in various games. Some people, if they can’t win on the merits, they try to change the rules. More nefariously, it’s what you would expect from tyrannical leadership...
 
Read the full editorial in the April 22 Advance. 

We are inching into my favorite month of the year – May. 
Hooray for May!
It’s the month of May baskets, violets, May poles (okay, I’ve never actually seen a May pole, but I love them anyway), and, most of all, promise.
When I was little, May meant all those things plus the last day of school, which was blissful. It wasn’t that I didn’t like school – I did, as much as any kid does, but there was such a sense of being free, free, free!
 

Here's an excerpt from the April 22 Our Kossuth County column, this week written by John Bilsten of AMU:

Here's an excerpt from this week's Out of the Past column in the April 22 Advance:

... Zermatt is at the end of the road and cars are not allowed on its streets, so we parked in their parking lot and walked in. Talk about a rural setting; we needed to stop and wait while a large herd of goats with bells on their necks was driven past on the street by two young boys. Mountain climbing, skiing, hiking, ice skating and curling are popular activities besides shopping and eating in restaurants with a spectacular view.

In Kossuth County, women are industry and community leaders and lead the way in their fields. Women are also receiving higher educational degrees at a greater rate than men at our area institutes of higher learning. Yet, inequality continues to create barriers for women and girls. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, in 2019 in Iowa, full-time female employees earned 1.39 times less than full-time male employees, a difference of over $18,000 a year.

... However when we would gather as a family and sometimes reminisce about those years one of the things we talked about was that Ryan, being so much younger than me, had no real memories of me living at home because when he was three years old I left for college. Never to live at Lone Rock again on a permanent basis.
Read all of this special column in the April 15 Advance.

What do artists, school children and everyone living in the Midwest at the beginning of spring have in common? Their patience is being tested.
For over a year now, we’ve been waiting patiently, (and at times not so patiently), for life to resume a sense of normalcy: for concerts to begin again, for festivals to be rescheduled, for galleries to be reopened. 
 
Read all of the column in the April 15 Advance.

... There are, however, a select few preachers and a select few sermons which continue to edify Christians of all times and places and situations. One such sermon is the Paschal (Easter) Homily of St. John Chrysostom of the 4th and 5th centuries. In this sermon, St. Chrysostom invites Christians to join the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection.

Spring is here, and as the weather warms up and the COVID vaccine offers good news on the health front, Stinson Prairie Art Council is planning its 2021 schedule for art events in the Algona area. 
 
Read all of the "Our Kossuth County" entry this week, about the Stinson Prairie Arts Council, in the April 8 Advance.