To Janelle, I mean the Editor:

One does not have to attend city council meetings to know what is going on. That’s why meeting minutes are available. And, since our city’s information is open and available to any citizen, I do know a lot about our city. I would even say I know more about the operations of our town than other people writing editorials. That’s because I care enough to know by asking questions, by talking to people in town and, most of all, by listening. Further, I don’t want to get into a heated argument with the daycare expansion cult so I don’t attend meetings where they will drag in a bunch of people who shed their tears in front of the city council and convince them of how Reinbeck will just die if the daycare does not expand. As I said in an earlier editorial, the daycare expansion group is by far the very vocal minority (and I emphasize MINORITY), and I refuse to argue with them. What’s that old adage about arguing with a fool makes you a fool as well! I no longer believe I can change any of the city council members’ minds about donating to the daycare expansion. My goals from the beginning, and I have said this repeatedly, are to ensure our citizenry know the truth about the city donating the money, know the implications of this donation to the city’s bottom line and fully understand that we do not have to donate. I want us all to understand that the daycare will never be one of our city’s assets but is, instead, something that we are pouring money into that belongs to the school system. In this light, maybe our town should donate to air condition the high school or expand the parking lot or add a new gym. These would also promise to make our town more desirable, but in the same sense, have nothing to do with city funding. We taxpayers already donate to the school system and should not be tricked into doing so again through our city council. So, my emphasis has been, and will continue to be, to stop donations to the daycare expansion. If successful, the city will not have to donate to the daycare expansion project and our city can spend its limited tax dollars on city business. I have believed from the beginning that the daycare, just like any other business in town, should pay its own way. When we owned the grocery store in town, we never asked the city council to buy us new refrigeration equipment. We knew we had to make it on our own. I think having a grocery store in town is much more important than expanding the daycare and yet we never asked for a handout from our city so we could stay in business. So, in response to a recent editorial, I will not give up in my efforts and I most definitely will not “Let it go!” Stop reading my editorials if you don’t like what you read or, better yet, continue to read them and open your mind to the reality of our town’s true needs. Let logic, instead of emotion, guide your decisions. Finally, the next time you write, focus on the issue of the daycare expansion and not on my “agonizing.” I do agonize over how the city spends our money. You should too.

Thanks again,

Ray Rannfeldt

Reinbeck