FAIRFIELD —
On Jan. 30, the Legislature of Iowa was holding a public hearing on medical marijuana. I contacted them in advance expressing my strong desire to give testimony. I was told that they would call me. Because I am paralyzed from the neck down and bedridden, I was physically unable to attend the hearing, which was quite far from my home. I was told that they would call me. I waited around most of the day and eventually sent an email to one of the representatives inquiring what was going on. He wrote back immediately, very polite and apologetic but between him and the representative conducting the hearing, they “FORGOT” to call me. These representatives have a lot of control over my life. It doesn’t give me a lot of confidence to see that they cannot conduct a public hearing and forget to do something. If their forgetting to do something involved something trivial, I can understand.
That basically they violated my rights as a law-abiding, taxpaying citizen.
If they are taking advantage of me, what about people in worse shape than me? I cannot use my body, but my mind is clear.
Maria Smallow
Fairfield
Letters to the Editor
February 6, 2013
Legislators need to remember who they represent
- Letters to the Editor
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- Ask for salvation now Ask for salvation now Matthew, Mark and John were eyewitnesses of Jesus -- they wrote what they learned! Read Matthew 10:28. There is a hell! Pray to God! Ask for salvation! Ronald S. Davis Ottumwa Spend money on park To the city council members
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- Pay attention to safety concerns Time to make Ottumwa a quiet zone for trains, it would make for safer crossings that cannot be driven around when the arms are down. Then they can also concentrate on that instead of changing all of the traffic flow at Evans Middle School, opening cl
- Injuries to infants, children can be prevented In the April 25 Courier, there were two stories of very young children who may have been severely harmed by a caretaker. We only know the circumstances revealed by the media, but our community has heard of these tragedies before. Only about 2 percent
- Church extends a heartfelt thanks As I sit here in my office that still smells of smoke from the fire our church suffered this past week, I remind myself how fortunate we are to be in a city where people still watch out for one another, and we, the members of the First Church of God,
- Program helps new parents In light of recent developments, I would like to increase the public's awareness of the NEST Program available through our Wapello County Extension and Outreach at 214 E. Main St. This program is available for parents of newborns through age 5, as we
- One giant mud hole to China Once upon a time, long, long ago, the neighbor kids and I used to like to dig in the ditch after a nice rain and make mud pies. We’d squat beside our hole in the ground with our long-handled spoons and take turns digging and filling our muffin pans
- Superintendent says 'thank you' May is School Board Appreciation Month. Today, the district held its Staff Appreciation and Teacher of the Year Breakfast, and last week was the Faculty Follies program organized by the Education Foundation for Fairfield Public Schools. I am full of
- Address mental health concerns for veterans Memorial Day will soon be here and we will pay tribute to our deceased loved ones. This Memorial Day, let's pay special tribute to our deceased veterans — like my dad — Don Butts, who served in World War II (Battle of the Bulge — one of the worst bat
- It's the death of a republic It's the death of a republic Our first president -- and founding father -- once said during his administration that "at best, government is a fearful master; at worst, it is a consuming fire." During the later 20th century, the number of defenseles
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