Can’t kill what’s already dead
Every time I read about a manure spill, oil spill, or chemical spill somewhere in Iowa I see the sentence: “No dead fish have been observed.” Of course not. There were no live fish in Iowa prior to the spill because Iowa creeks and rivers are full of manure, oil, and chemicals.
Marty Ryan, Des Moines
Note to Sarah Trone Garriott: Real Christian pastors don’t support abortion
Why vote for a hypocrite? Merriam Webster defines “hypocrite” as 1. a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion; (and) 2. a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.”
State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott meets both definitions. In her campaigns for state Legislature, and now for Congress, Trone Garriott features her role as a Lutheran pastor. As such, she would be expected to uphold the biblical teachings that God “didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb (Psalms 139:13), and knew us even “before I formed you in the womb” (Jeremiah 1:5); that “thou shalt not kill”; and “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” Luke 17:2.
Yet, she sees the killing of an unborn child as merely a “deeply personal, private health care decision.” She has claimed that “The near-total abortion ban is devastating reproductive care in our state, putting lives at risk.” If she is actually concerned about “lives at risk,” why zero concern for the unborn child threatened with abortion?
To use one’s position as a Lutheran pastor and to claim a concern about “lives at risk” while supporting abortion are the actions of a hypocrite. Her positions are consistent with her designation as a “Planned Parenthood champion” but wholly inconsistent with being a Christian pastor.
Donald W. Bohlken, Indianola
Headline was unfair to Rob Sand
I have questions about the headline “Auditor questioned over his role in $27M judicial branch misallocation” in the May 2 Metro & Iowa section.
The headline clearly implies Auditor Rob Sand is a party to, if not complicit in, mismanagement of funds under the judicial branch’s control. But the story explains exactly the opposite. It states that Sand wasn’t informed of the misallocation, wasn’t asked by the judicial branch to investigate the problem, and didn’t have the necessary computer coding personnel in the auditor’s office to solve it.
Meanwhile, a few Republican legislators, with an assist from the Register, are attempting to connect Sand to this mess. Could it be the legislators are better served by stirring up a deceptive story backed by a colorful headline because it provides such a juicy, and misleading opportunity to diminish Sand as the jockeying begins for the 2026 state election cycle?
Frank McDowell, Spirit Lake
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Pollution can’t kill Iowa fish if the fish are already dead | Letters
Reporting by The Register’s readers / Des Moines Register
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