Here are this week’s letters to the editor of the Sheboygan Press. See our letters policy below for details about how to share your views.
Trump wants Greenland for its size and his own ego
Why does Trump want Greenland? It’s not for national security, as Trump claims. We already have military bases in Greenland. They are our allies and Greenland is already protecting the United States.
There are only two reasons Donald Trump wants Greenland. One is minerals. The United States invaded Venezuela for its oil. Trump made a deal with Ukraine for its minerals, promising military support. Yet, the U.S. is not giving Ukraine the needed ammunition he promised them. Now, Trump wants Greenland’s mineral rights.
The second reason Trump wants Greenland is the size. If Trump gets Greenland, Trump would be the president of the largest country in the world. Greenland is twice the size of the of the United States. It’s bigger than Russia or China. Trump could brag about how big the country he now owns is.
Trump’s ego is the reason Trump wants Greenland. His country must be bigger than anybody else’s. Trump only owns the biggest, most beautiful things. Just look at the “Big Beautiful” ballroom Trump is building. It’s twice the size of the White House.
I wonder what Donald J. Trump is compensating for.
Robert R. Ries
Sheboygan
Dissent and its role in a free society
Dissent is necessary for a society to truly be free. A free society needs freedom of speech. Without dissent, there is no freedom of speech.
What is dissent? As defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, “to withhold assent or approval” or “to differ in opinion.”
How does dissent look?
It can look like a few things. It can be quiet, and it can be loud. It can be polite, or less than.
We’ve seen it from the politically right and the left in this country.
We’ve seen peaceful protesters in our communities standing on corners holding up signs saying what they don’t like.
We’ve seen the giant billboards from those who didn’t like Biden’s administration with a large curse word and his name on it displayed prominently in people’s yards.
We’ve seen people getting out in public, screaming and yelling when horrible things happen.
These are dissent. And they’re legal.
We, the people, have the right to protest and peacefully assemble. It is in these confines that we dissent.
Does leadership see and hear the dissent and quietly accept it, ignore it, try to listen and understand why people are upset and disagree? Or does leadership actively speak against the dissenters, describe their protests as illegal, label the protesters as domestic terrorists, ask the military to “shoot protesters in the knee?”
Ask yourself, does leadership accept dissent or labels dissenters as loony or criminals?
If we can’t dissent, we aren’t free.
Nicholas Carncross
Sheboygan
Vigilance needed to keep equality moving forward
One cannot turn on the news or read our local newspaper without hearing or reading examples of stereotyping and bias.
When people view their own group/nationality as diverse but group members of another nationality as “all the same,” it often leads to judging other national or ethnic groups as inferior.
Profiling is an example of looking at nationalities of black or brown people and viewing them “all the same”! It is especially distressing when some of the individuals expressing their bias identify with Christian organizations.
Just when I thought we were making some progress in achieving equality, it has become evident that our state and country want to take us backwards to when people of different skin color could not eat at the same lunch counter, ride in bus seats of their choice, live in certain housing or hotels, use the same restrooms, or drink from the same water fountains.
Our state Legislature voted to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November banning all DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives in state and local governments. It locks in a system that may permanently hurt minority groups and women, going back to before the civil rights era. Beware of deceitful wording on this amendment. Carefully examine what it is really saying!
Our next generation’s future rests in our hands. Your vote has never counted more than in this year’s elections. Everyone should be vigilant to make sure that our elections remain free and fair!
Karen Sullivan
Sheboygan
A call for moral courage in Wisconsin’s delegation
To all Congress and Senate members from Wisconsin:
It is not often that I sit down and write a letter about what has transpired and has continued to escalate in our country during the first year of Donald Trump’s administration.
May I remind you that you do represent all Wisconsin residents in the Senate and Congress and should consider the voices of all your constituents, regardless of political party, religion, sexual preference, etc.?
I urge you to take a stand against the current operation of “ICE” as it pertains to immigration, both legal and illegal.
Please do not continue to wash away the wishes of the residents of Wisconsin with the lather of blame. Have some moral strength and take a stand for what is right. You, who are supposedly moral and upstanding people, have the ability to change the direction of, in my opinion, a very immoral and power-hungry administration.
The latest shootings in Minneapolis are clearly evidence of the Trump government becoming judge, jury and executioner against law-abiding citizens standing up for their First Amendment and Second Amendment rights.
I hold you — and any Congress member who supports this regime — personally liable, who continue to do nothing but blame the other side. This has got to stop. You all have blood on your hands from your inability to stand up against what is very evident to most of our citizens. The USA is not great again; it has become a pariah to all nations of the world who are freedom-loving democracies.
John Berken
Sheboygan
Help find St. John’s missing angel statues
The purpose of this letter to the editor is to try to solve a mystery that is almost 50 years old regarding two statues of angels that were removed from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Burlington and are now supposedly in a church somewhere in the Sheboygan area.
St. John’s Lutheran Church was established in 1858 in Burlington as a WELS Lutheran Church with the original church being located on Pine Street. A new church was completed in 1980 and is now located on Westridge Avenue. Many pieces from the old church are on display at the site of the new church. These include the Statue of Christ, baptismal font, lectern and other important original pieces. But what is missing are the two angels that were on either side of the Statue of Christ that were part of the altar in the old church. They are approximately 3 feet tall with the original paint on one being pink and the other blue.
An individual who was concerned with preserving them is the person who removed them with the idea they were taken for restoration. The angels may have been a gift to the church from a confirmation class with this person being a member of that class. St. John’s Lutheran Church never sold the angels nor gave permission for anyone to keep them permanently.
A misunderstanding guided this well-meaning individual to remove them and then later to give them to a family member to relocate. We hold no ill will to these family members, as they may not be aware of the whole story. It is never too late to do the right thing and return them with no questions being asked. If you have any information, please contact me at gilgordy@gmail.com
Beverly R. Gill
Burlington
Sheboygan needs smart decisions on data centers
Recent debates over data centers in Sheboygan reflect a fair and important concern about how our community grows. Residents have a right to ask questions. How many jobs will this create? What will it cost our utilities? What do we gain in return?
The reality is that data centers do not employ large numbers of people once they are built. They use significant electricity, and some designs rely heavily on water for cooling. Those are legitimate issues that deserve serious review.
But judging these projects only by job counts misses their larger role. Data centers are the backbone of today’s economy. Every online transaction, medical portal, remote classroom and cloud service depends on them. Their value shows up in reliability and access to the digital world.
Not all data centers are the same. Energy sources, cooling systems, tax structures and community commitments vary widely. Some projects consume resources and give little back. Others strengthen infrastructure, support education and contribute to long-term stability. The outcome depends on how well a city plans, negotiates and enforces standards.
Strong communities do not accept or reject projects blindly. They set clear expectations for power use, water management, transparency and local investment. They insist on workforce training and long-term partnerships.
The choice is not between development and protection. It’s between passive growth and thoughtful planning.
JJ McDonald
Sheboygan
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 news@sheboyganpress.com and Editor Brandon Reid at breid@usatodayco.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 Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan letters speak out on Trump, DEI, dissent and local issues
Reporting by Sheboygan Press / Sheboygan Press
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