Letters to the editor on the minimum wage, property tax law, banning books and the presidential election

Here are this week’s letters to the editor of the Herald Times Reporter . See our letters policy below for details about how to share your views.

Minimum wage increase needed

The federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, has not been raised since 2009. It is also $7.25 in Wisconsin, despite 34 other states having increased it.

Efforts at the federal level to increase the wage to $15 an hour have failed in Congress and our Wisconsin state Legislature has made no moves to increase it. Any increase should have common-sense, bipartisan support.

Lower income families struggle to pay for basic necessities such as food, housing and child care. The wage should be increased now to $15 per hour federally and ideally in Wisconsin as well. Workers should have the assurance of economic security. If paid a living wage, they would be able to buy American products made in America.

The minimum wage ideally should be tied to the Consumer Price Index to allow wages to reflect cost-of-living increases. The subminimum wage for tipped workers (mostly restaurant servers) is $2.33 in Wisconsin. Restaurant servers are then dependent on the generosity of the customers to bring that up to the standard wage of $7.25. The subminimum wage should be eliminated entirely.

When wages don’t cover costs, people are unable to get ahead. A feeling of hopelessness results from a cycle of debt, borrowing more to pay off more interest and loans.

Inequality in income and wealth have never been higher. CEOs and shareholders become wealthier while workers struggle to feed, house and educate their families.

Something is wrong with this picture!

As election time approaches, the question of “Would you support a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour?” should be asked of all state and federal candidates for office.

Working people deserve better. The fact is we all do better when we all do better.

Darlene Wellner

Manitowoc

Wisconsin property tax law must be revised

Statutes & Annotations of the state code, Chapter 70, Section 70.05 (5)(b), mandates cities and towns reassess property value at least once every five years. In 2023, the town of Manitowoc obliged, resulting in a large annual property tax increase for every homeowner in town. This law is an affront to homeownership and gives elected officials the incentive to ignore economy and spend, spend, spend.

This unjust fiscal nonsense must stop. Taxpayers have a fundamental right to keep their money; it’s theirs, not the government’s. And citizens should not be punished simply for living in their own home.

Cities and towns must focus on shrinking, not expanding, the size of government; must spend the tax dollars of hard-working citizens on essentials like roads, bridges, police and firefighters, and not fluffy projects best left to the private sector.

Here’s a suggestion: reassess property value at the time of sale only, adjust the tax levy accordingly, then leave it alone until the next sale. This would help provide budgetary stability and fairness to the homeowner.

The interests of taxpaying citizens must be the priority of government at all levels, and voters must hold elected officials accountable at the polls.

James K. Blakely

Manitowoc

These books should be added to the list for banning

I learned Lincoln High School had a PTA meeting in which some people advocated the banning of certain books in the school library.

According to the American Library Association, the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2023 have some similarities. People objected because seven include LGBTQ+ material, two include sex education, a few include discussions of rape and incest, and only one claims equity, diversity and inclusion. All are claimed to be sexually explicit.

Based on these criteria, I would add to the list of books to be banned.

The first book that must be removed is the Holy Bible. Based on the criteria, it must be removed for its numerous discussions of rape and incest, and Jesus defending a sex worker.

Greek mythology, including “The Iliad,” must also be removed, if not for Achilles, Apollo and Heracles explicitly having male lovers, then for Zeus’ record in many myths of being a serial rapist, including Io, Leda, and Ganymede.

Shakespeare has also got to go. His plays are riddled with inappropriate humor; a number of his characters cross dress; Hamlet’s mother and uncle commit incest; the Athenians in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” are drugged by a love potion; “Othello” contains IED content.

Banning books is a great loss for our libraries and classrooms. But I will continue in this effort to restrict the minds of our children.

Jacob Puestow

Manitowoc

Something to think about

A selfless president has placed country over power. So different from his predecessor, who refused to have a peaceful transfer of power and led an insurrection against the Capitol of our great nation.

We are now left with a choice: Do voters support a person convicted of 34 felonies with a promise to pardon himself and all those involved in the insurrection, a person who unilaterally withdrew our country from treaties agreed to by our allies, a person who would severely weaken NATO that has successfully kept us out of war for decades, a person who would turn his back on Ukraine as it defends itself from an unprovoked attack from our biggest adversary in the hopes that that adversary wouldn’t seek other lands to conquer? A man who never held elected office until he became president and then showed complete ignorance of the importance of the balance of power among our three branches of government and utter disregard for the rule of law? Or do we support someone who is trained in law, prosecuted criminals, served in Congress and served as vice president?

Our former president and commander-in-chief of our military called those who lost their lives defending our country losers and suckers. I shall take the word of an esteemed general, John Kelly, on this over the word of the country’s most truth-challenged president in our history.

Our former president said he will be a dictator for one day because he can be.

Nancy Lodl

Manitowoc

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Our letters policy

Letters to the editor are published in the order in which they are received and letter-writers are limited to having one letter published per month. Letters can be emailed to htrnews@htrnews.com and Editor Brandon Reid at breid@gannett.com . Letters must meet specific guidelines, including being no more than 250 words and be from local authors or on topics of local interest. All submissions must include the name of the person who wrote the letter, their city of residence and a contact phone number. Letters are edited as needed for style, grammar, length, fairness, accuracy and libel.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Letters to the editor on the minimum wage, property tax law, banning books and the presidential election