TO THE EDITOR:
I received the following from my brother in Michigan regarding going (so called) green: Let’s walk through this. It takes 21 to 35 days for a Russian oil tanker to get to US ports to be offloaded. It takes 35 to 60 days for a tanker from the Middle East to make the same trek. It takes about 10 hours to load the tanker and up to 24 hours to unload. If it has to wait in port to get to an unloading dock, it can take up to three days. The average tanker burns 2,625 gallons of diesel fuel per hour. 22.38 pounds of CO2 are created from burning one gallon of diesel fuel. So, in one hour, a tanker enroute to a refinery in the US creates 58,757.5 pounds of CO2 per hour. Averaging the travel time of the tankers, it’s 27.67 million tons of CO2 per trip. Note, this does not account for the return voyage. In comparison, your car creates between six and nine tons per year. Without going into all the calculations of how many tankers come to the US per year, let alone our exports, will someone please explain to me how drilling our own oil and moving it through pipelines, along with importing oil from Canada via pipeline will not be more environmentally “green” for the world. Please explain why buying oil from any foreign country is good for the environment??
Mary Jo Mosher,
Becker, MN
TO THE EDITOR:
Let me start off by saying it’s not that I don’t trust our County Auditor/Treasurer, it’s that I don’t trust anyone. In Diane Arnold’s statement to the Sherburne County Board on 5/17/22, she puts her faith on an Election Assistance Commission (EAC) certificate that states, “This certificate is not an endorsement of the product by any agency of the U.S. Government and no warranty of the product is either expressed or implied”, making this certificate a worthless piece of paper. On top of that, the “validation” process that she described, which I’ve witnessed in the past, does nothing to confirm that these machines are not capable of manipulating the vote. Feeding in a stack of test ballots may confirm that the sensors detect ballot markings but as these machines are capable of being programed to weight/adjust voting totals before being transmitted to the state, programed either onsite or remotely, the touted exercise does nothing to verify voting “integrity”. This validation process is nothing but “smoke and mirrors”. Being that these machines can be programed to adjust the vote received, they can also be programed to provide a true vote count when fed the “test ballots”, and provide an altered vote count for the real election, depending on which party gains access to these machines. Tell the County Commissioners and your local officials to ditch these electronic voting machines.
Bret R. Collier
Big Lake, MN
TO THE EDITOR:
On Friday, May 27th at 7 p.m., Becker’s 2022 senior class will partake in a commencement ceremony officially graduating them. As a student who has been attending Becker since pre-school and grew up alongside these students, I would like to congratulate each and every single one of them on making it through high school despite all the challenges posed the past several years. Although faced with a global pandemic riddled with social, political, and economic strife, this determined class fought the odds and exceeded many’s expectations. This class no doubt proved to not only be one of Becker’s toughest, but will prove to be one of the most successful. I have to admit at times not all of us agreed on some issues, but I can, with no hesitation, say that I wouldn’t want to be associated with any other group of people. This class’s persistence and perseverance was consistently humbling and inspiring to not only myself but to many members of the community. Again I must stress that I am so proud to be a part of Becker’s 2022 graduating class and congratulations to all of my peers!
Maxwell E. Hubbard
Becker, MN
TO THE EDITOR:
Make crime illegal again! This is a good slogan that is not being followed by our judges and prosecutors. But the Democrats in Washington passed the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 that could identify me as a domestic terrorist when I disagree with their philosophies. The right of free speech is dead. Where can we go from here? Election fraud? Election integrity is essential to maintain our constitutional republic. I recently saw the movie “2000 Mules” that proves that the 2020 election had widespread voter fraud, maybe enough to change the election. The technology used for this movie is used by law enforcement, the FBI, Homeland Security, and our national security agencies. The data gathered is reliable, but no media source even dares mention the name of the movie. I do not believe in open borders or that illegal immigrants that commit felonies should not be deported. I do not believe that burning buildings/cities is a right to freedom of speech. It is rioting. I believe in the USA, but this USA is not what I grew up in. Please let us get back to what it was. Our foundational values. Imprison criminals, not Patriots who are called domestic terrorists when they disagree with the demagogues.
Barry VanBuren,
Clearwater, MN
TO THE EDITOR:
The tragedy at the elementary school in Uvalde TX on Tuesday is not new in America. To be crystal clear - the shooter is the culprit and he’s dead. But he only shares some of the blame. When the grandstanding ends by those who “care about the children”, they’ll do nothing. If school boards aren’t dropping ALL agendas for the next school year and putting security and student safety ahead of LGBT, social justice & sports - they are equally to blame. In Sherburne County, sexual grooming of minors in schools is underway but is there is a defined game plan for shooters entering from two separate doors? Is it reactive and not preventative? Legislators yell loudest then don’t follow with a bill requiring schools adopt a plan and deadline for prevention. Not after Columbine or Red Lake. They trust that school administrations will act but they don’t. Contact your legislators and school boards, organize against those who do nothing. If you vote for a legislator that imports migrants from Ukraine or referendums for iPads or scoreboards but not DEMAND security during AND after school, you are no better. By not saying DO BETTER, you’re implying that what they’re doing is good enough. It’s not.
Charlie Schmidt
Orrock MN
