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Acquiring the old U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dredge, the William A. Thompson, seemed like a win-win proposal. The old dredge was put out to pasture this year and — according to previous news articles — was planned to be a part of the Minnesota Marine Art Museum on River Road in Winona.
Should it be any surprise that the government would add stipulations to the gift? I’d like to meet the bureaucrat who wrote up these conditions. The red tape that comes with the decommissioned dredge is large enough to have the museum folks trying to decide if it’s worth it. What “paper shuffler” at the Corps has enough time on his or her hands to make the Thompson acquisition undesirable? If the museum doesn’t take the boat, what will the Corps do with it?
If bureaucracy and red tape halts this deal, I would hope the Corps parks the boat in the backyard of whoever runs the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps needs to get some reality slapped in its face.
This agency has itself buried in bureaucratic paperwork. It doesn’t have to spread red tape into the private sector. The Corps should give this deal see some fresh air, common sense and cooperation. It might be a pleasant change.
New building isn’t attracting studentsA third of Winona’s public schools failed to meet attendance, graduation and testing standards of the federal performance requirements this year.
It’s ironic that the newest school in the district that was built in the most deceptive politicking in recent school board history can’t keep students in school.
I have the greatest respect for many of the teachers at the Area Learning Center, but even with a nearly free lunch program and a brand new building, the ALC still flunks attendance. It supports my argument that spending more on education doesn’t improve education.
I know school leaders are trying to keep these students in school. One enticement is the lack of homework for the ALC students. The school district is lowering the bar for these students and it only takes a couple weeks for these students to drop their expectations as well.
It’s a maddening problem and the district’s latest solution of giving this school a new building demonstrates that a nice building isn’t the answer. Old board members profess, “If we build it they will come,” in their argument for a new ALC.
Well? The district built it and the students didn’t come.
No ice is nice
Winonans won’t be faced with a recreation referendum this fall. Residents were going to vote on taxing themselves for the $6 million
down payment on a host of projects connected with recreation.
In the nest of projects was an additional indoor ice rink. It was also the project that had some private donations tied to it.
Even the private contributions fell short, and the city wisely recognized it might be biting off too much. Indoor ice is a luxury that is in short supply in Winona. Ice skaters find themselves waiting until late in the evening to secure rink time. Ice skaters are not a large group, but they have intense interest and influence. The city recognized their aggressive lobbying for more ice in the referendum package.
The city said that voters would not be asked to finance the project unless $2.5 million could be raised privately for the extra ice. As of this week, less than $1 million had been pledged.
It’s nice to see the city balk at taking on more debt. It may be out of character, but it’s refreshing to see city leaders acknowledge that the money isn’t there.
Walz not such a bad guyFolks are still defending U.S Rep.Tim Walz for using credit cards to pay for expenses while he was off work campaigning for Congress. I don’t think using credit cards at a 20-plus percent interest is a wise decision when you need to borrow money.
I hear good things about Walz, and I’m not surprised people defended him. If those same people are swallowing his newest plan, the Middle Class Tax Fairness Act, they are as naïve as the rookie congressman.
Walz wants to give the middle class a tax cut. He calls middle class folks hard working — like only the middle class works hard. The middle class has a pretty sweet deal on the tax burden already.
Walz picks an old cliché to pay for the tax cut. He’s going to make “big oil” give up some of its subsidies and profit. Walz should know better than to further tax big oil companies. They will simply pass down the added tax to the consumer — us.
And if Walz did cut into the profit of the big oil companies, he might find that his teacher pension is heavily invested in these profit
centers.
Walz would be better off attacking the waste in Congress. That’s a bottomless pit of pork and corruption. Walz isn’t the first rookie member of Congress who plans to reform the system.
Let’s hope he does some good before he becomes part of the problem.
Galewski is the retired editor and Opinion page editor of the Winona Daily News. His views don’t necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper. If you have an idea or tip about a Winona issue, call Jim at (507) 452-3960. His email is Editor@Luminet.net.
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