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.
Manitowoc landmark ‘must be saved’
The steeple of St. Boniface Church on South 10th and Marshall streets has been a familiar landmark seen for miles since it was built in 1886.
If you were one of the lucky ones who had the opportunity recently to see the inside of St. Boniface, you know what a treat it was seeing this Gothic architectural gem.
It should be saved to be used for weddings, funerals, special events, as well as opened on specific dates as for an additional museum in the history of our wonderful city.
Many teachers in Wisconsin schools would be interested in scheduling tours with their students, particularly universities with architectural departments.
In addition, as a tourist attraction, this would bring additional revenue to our city.
This beautiful church is built of brick with painted arches and a system of stone vaulting and 12 areas symbolizing the 12 apostles. There are lovely stained-glass windows and a circular one above the organ pipes in the balcony.
This landmark must be saved!
Carolyn Lanza
Manitowoc
The demise of American health care leadership
The quality of health care in the United States has long been the envy of the world. Although access continues to be a problem, American medicine has led the way for decades. Until now.
Several organizations are charged with providing medical guidance to Americans. The two most prominent are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. They differ in responsibilities, but both organizations have traditionally been non-partisan, basing their recommendations on peer-reviewed studies by credentialed scientists.
This has now changed. In return for dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, RFK Jr. was gifted the position of secretary of Health and Human Services, which includes the CDC and FDA. He now has the power to promote his personal beliefs, even when they are directly contradicted by established science.
Revised government guidance on COVID vaccinations is one of many examples. Two prominent physician groups are now on record opposing the recent restriction of booster approvals to the public. The first group to object was the American Academy of Pediatrics. The American Academy of Family Physicians followed shortly thereafter with a similar objection.
The result of RFK Jr.’s “start with the desired answer” approach to medical research is mass confusion in many different areas. Who to believe? We used to be able to trust CDC and FDA guidance as being non-partisan and based solely on science. This is no longer the case.
Although all medications carry some risk, I will place my bets on science. Henceforth, I will ignore all medical guidance from an agenda-driven government and follow only recommendations from national physician societies and my own personal physician.
Steve Lankton
Manitowoc
A response on SHIPS for America Act
Meghan Hasse (“SHIPS for America Act would mean American-made ships built with American-made materials,” Sept. 28) is certainly right about one thing: the United States finds itself in a truly pitiful position when it comes to shipbuilding.
Last year, the world’s second-largest manufacturing nation accounted for just 0.04% of global commercial shipbuilding output.
This meager performance isn’t a case of the free market run amok. Quite the opposite. The Jones Act — descended from shipping laws dating back to the 1800s — mandates that ships carrying goods between U.S. ports must be built here at home. This guaranteed, captive market was supposed to ensure robust U.S. shipbuilding. But it hasn’t worked out that way. Our shipyards now trail not only giants like China but even small countries such as the Netherlands and Finland in output.
The few ships built in the U.S. are often five times costlier than their foreign counterparts. Instead of strength, Jones Act protectionism has produced little shipbuilding and a stunning lack of competitiveness.
No one should be surprised that an industry shielded from competition struggles to compete in the international marketplace. Increased tariffs on steel and other vital inputs, meanwhile, only put this withered industry further on its back foot. Before writing another check to U.S. shipbuilders as Hasse advocates, Congress should stop sabotaging them with tariffs and outdated protectionist laws.
Colin Grabow
Cato Institute
Are citizens missing out on once-in-a-lifetime program?
I have a question for our bureaucrats and legislators in Madison about providing rural broadband internet via the BEAD program to those in need.
As you may or may not know, the federal BEAD program (Broadband Equity Access and Deployment) is providing approximately $1 billion to connect Wisconsin citizens, mostly poor and rural, to the internet for the first time, or dramatically increase the speed of their existing connections.
Based on local existing data and mapping from the FCC and PSC, I have uncovered the following data about my county, and where this county’s $10 million share of the larger pie will go:
April 2024 county by county listing of BEAD funding status by BSL (Broadband Serviceable Locations) in Manitowoc.csv shows: 2,309 eligible locations.
July 2025 BEAD Locations 552900.XLSX shows: Manitowoc total eligible locations at 1,763 and not anticipated to be funded at 20.
Yet, the population of Manitowoc County is about 81,359.
The poverty rate in Manitowoc County is about 13.8%, or 11,000 citizens.
Number of rural citizens in Manitowoc County is about 50%, or 40,000 citizens.
It seems to me to be highly likely that these data being used to determine broadband internet eligibility are nowhere close to accurate.
It appears to me that tens of thousands of Manitowoc County citizens will be left behind without decent internet service at the end of this what was to be a once-in-a-lifetime program.
So, what am I missing here?
Michael F. Pitsch
Francis Creek
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: Manitowoc letters address St. Boniface, health care, shipbuilding and broadband internet
Reporting by Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter / Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
