Here are this week’s letters to the editor of the Sheboygan Press. See our letters policy below for more information on how to share your views.
A response to the discussion about opioids
This note is in response to Robert Ries’ June 2 op-ed entitled “Let’s Leave No Facts Out of the Opioid Discussion,” in which he comments on my May 12 opinion questioning the sincerity of Senator Tammy Baldwin’s ad about drug addiction.
Mr. Ries claims that U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican from Minocqua, was involved in the Tomah VA drug problem: “Tom Tiffany, a Republican from Minocqua, was made aware of the opioid problem before Tammy Baldwin.” After revisiting more than two dozen news articles from 2009 to 2018 and contacting Mr. Tiffany’s office, I find no evidence whatsoever that Mr. Tiffany was involved at all. His name wasn’t even mentioned.
More importantly, Mr. Ries did not address my main claim that Ms. Baldwin did not seem very sincere in addressing the VA problem and the overdose death of Marine Jason Simcakowski. She ignored the problem of opiate overprescribing at the Tomah VA and sat on the VA Inspector General’s report for six months before a whistleblower pushed the issue. He also did not discuss the $90,000 paid to a political fixer to cover up the scandal.
I suspect Mr. Ries is confusing Representative Tiffany with another U.S. Representative from Western Wisconsin, now retired, Ron Kind, a Democrat from La Crosse who was involved. See the article from the Stevens Point Journal on January 14, 2015, entitled “Legislator alarmed by VA complaints, but knew about it for years.”
A retraction and apology to Mr. Tiffany could go a long way toward making things right.
I completely agree with your comment, Mr. Ries, “let’s not leave out facts in the opioid discussion.”
Steven Birkholz, MD
Kohler
Concerns about traffic and tax issues related to SASD’s proposed urban development plan
I encourage everyone to read the traffic impact analysis posted on the Sheboygan Area School District web page. There are alarming statistics about the increased traffic that will occur if a new school is built on Mill Road.
Page 2 of this document under subsection B3. Site Generated Traffic indicates, “On a typical weekday, the proposed high school is expected to generate approximately 1,890 new vehicle trips (945 inbound/945 outbound) under full construction conditions.” The full capacity is 650 students. The current visitor numbers are 595.
In an effort to accommodate additional traffic, lights would be installed at the intersection of 21st Street/Mill Road and Eisner Avenue, as well as at the intersection of Mill Road and State 42. Additional turn lanes would also be required. SASD believes the signals alone would add up to $800,000 in construction costs. That money would be taken from the allowance built into the current budget, which is already or will come out of your pocket.
SASD is expected to close on July 31 on its nearly $1 million bid to purchase a residential development on Mill Road. Many citizens are unaware that if this happens, the city will suffer a significant tax base loss in the future. A previous subdivision plan proposal indicated that the property would contain 80 new homes. At the current average price of $400,000 per home, that would result in a tax base loss for the city of about $32,000 per year. There are many developers begging the city for plots for single-family homes.
Melody Kuether
Sheboygan
More letters to the editor: Click here to read more letters to the editor from the Sheboygan Press
Our letter policy
Letters to the editor are published in the order in which they are received and letter writers may publish only one letter per month. Letters can be emailed to news@sheboyganpress.com and editor Brandon Reid at breid@gannett.com. Letters must adhere to specific guidelines, including being no more than 250 words in length and from local authors or on topics of local interest. All entries must include the name of the person who wrote the letter, city of residence, and a telephone number. Letters are edited as necessary for style, grammar, length, honesty, accuracy, and libel.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan Letters on Opioid Discussion and the Urban Middle School Plan
