This week’s Viewpoint letters
VIEWPOINT
Reader says thank you, Rhinelander
Editor,
You, the Rhinelander community, honored and humbled me at last month’s Chamber of Commerce dinner. To have earned enough respect from Chamber members to be awarded the 2016 Male Volunteer of the Year from the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce was a true delight. The nomination came as a major surprise, and receiving the award itself was even more surprising.
I’d like to thank the person who nominated me and the Chamber members which voted for me. But to an even greater extent, I want to thank the Rhinelander community.
I moved to Rhinelander five years ago, and nearly immediately began calling this place “home.” To me, where I grew up is no longer “home.” Where I went to school is no longer “home.” Rhinelander is “home.”
Sure, we’re a little farther removed from the malls, restaurants, and freeways of an urban area. But we’ve got something better. We have a strong, passionate, and committed community. I see that literally every day through my job, through work in the community, and during my leisure time. I wish more people got to see how special a community we have.
So thank you for your nominations. Thank you for your votes. But moreover, thank you for making Rhinelander the place I’m proud to call “home.”
Ben Meyer, Rhinelander
Veterans health care in Rhinelander
Editor,
Once again it is time to write about VA health care. I have said it before and will one more time: We in Northern Wisconsin are very fortunate to have the VA care that we do. Rhinelander has a great little clinic and 80 miles north, a very good hospital in Iron Mountain, Mich.
I know from what I have heard that everyone is not as lucky as we are, and know that there are places that are not accepting the Veteran’s Choice program. It is too bad that we have to create a whole new program that does not seem to work, but that’s Big Brother at work.
It seems to me that if we want to save a lot of money and still give our vets the best health care, all one has to do is go to the local clinic and if they can’t take care of the vet, they should be able to send him or her to the closest provider that can. I know it sounds too easy, but it would save everyone a lot of time and in the end, save the government a lot of money.
Paul Peltier, Rhinelander
Random Act of Kindness Week
Editor,
Random Act of Kindness week is Feb. 14–20. Please consider doing something nice for other people, not just this week, but all year long. Pay it forward with paying for someone’s coffee, let someone else go first, help someone carry their groceries, hold the door open, smile at others, or take it a step further and volunteer. No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted and it feels so good. Please give it a try.
Jan Leschke, Rhinelander
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