TO THE EDITOR:

The American people have lost sight of the power we have. With a simple action of filling in a circle on a ballot, we can control where our country, state and county is headed.  If you want to change something start with the closest in proximity.  Three out of five county commissioners have taken it upon themselves to value their own worth. Any elected official who gives themselves a raise views our tax dollars are better in their pocket than invested into the community.  Being a representative of the people was never meant to be a for profit endeavor. These positions should be funded at a level where you cannot afford to stay for extended lengths. I feel these positions should be funded on a per diem and mileage basis, and any pay increase should be up for vote on a ballot.  If you can not afford to run for office with your current lifestyle, we as citizens can not afford to have you manage our tax dollars. 

Ryan Peterson

Clear lake, MN.

TO THE EDITOR:

I don’t care if you believe in man-made climate change/global warming or not, but to close a perfectly good generating plant like Sherco, before anything else exists, or has been built which can replace the 24-7 generation of 680 megawatts of electricity, should be viewed as criminal. (Remember when comparing coal to solar or wind, you can operate the coal plant at its rated power any time of the day, if there is no wind or sun shining, solar and wind generations is zero.) The “virtue signaling” by Xcel, in their impossible “race to a carbon-free power grid by 2040”, is going to result in brown outs/black outs and unnecessary deaths, not to mention a significant increase in your electric utility bill as they purchase replacement power from companies that continue to use coal and natural gas generation. Instead of closing their own reliable generating plants, especially when the demand for electricity is expected to increase by 4.7% in the next 5 years1, Xcel should continue to operate their coal fired plants and construct more coal, gas and nuclear plants.

Bret R. Collier

Big Lake, MN.