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Thanks to the Press Citizen for the article last week about the Healthy Lakes Forum held in Walker recently. It was the fourth such event that has been held on this topic. The same edition also had a local letter writer expressing concern that only partisans of a certain political persuasion affected the tone of discussion. That is inaccurate and unfortunate. She failed to note that the conservative Walker representative of the Minnesota House, scheduled to speak, failed to appear in his own home town. Not mentioned was the fact that every conceivable interest group in natural resources in Minnesota put hundreds of hours of work into the proposed standards for shorelands that the governor summarily dismissed.

She also did not mention that the lifeblood of the economy in this part of the state is tourism, based on clean water and healthy forests and woodlands. Business owners, volunteer groups and individuals have for years been fighting to protect this heritage and it is a battle we cannot lose. We need to come together, not bicker, on this topic. Partisan politics have NEVER been a part of this forum; open communication and networking have marked the event every year.

The writer suggests that only by cutting the state budget in other areas can we redirect dollars to natural resources preservation. In that the sitting governor has already cut almost $1 million from state payments to Northland District 118, is she suggesting that the state NOT repay that money and instead have it go on the property tax? Or perhaps from the "welfare" category, should the state stop funding for healthcare for seniors in Cass County? Has she talked to anyone on the Cass County citizens budget review committee? They would show her that vague generalizations about waste simply do not have merit. We need to come together, not tear each other apart.

I would invite her and other citizens concerned about natural resources in our area to work with the Association of Cass County Lakes, the Leech Lake Watershed District Board and other local grassroots groups in a non-partisan way.



Steve Johnson

Longville[[In-content Ad]]

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