Page 8 The Advocate News (Wilton-Durant, Iowa) Thursday, February 14, 2013

OpiniOn

Special delivery: No mail on Saturdays

urely, as the United States Postal Service (USPS) made nationwide headlines last week when it announced its plans to end Saturday mail delivery, our readers had a view. Depending on who you are or should I say whom you represent, those views could be quite different. If youre someone who thinks the mail is nothing but bills, cards and junk mail, then perhaps not having one day of that will seem like a relief. If youre a business owner whose mailbox is filled with payments and other very sensitive information on Saturdays and its left to wait two days until Monday, perhaps its a relief. The following headline was on the front page of the Feb. 7 edition of the Des Moines Register Postal service plan to drop a day concerns Iowa newspapers and unions; others fine with it. The Quad-City Times had a nice bullet point list on its front page Feb. 7, summing up the USPS proposed move as follows: * Saturday delivery of letters and magazines would cease to street addresses and only be available Monday-Friday. * Those with P.O. boxes would get mail as usual on Saturdays. * Post Offices currently open on Saturdays would remain open on Saturdays. * Delivery of all packages, all sizes, would also still be delivered on Saturdays. * Stoppage of Saturday mail to street addresses is estimated to save $2 billion annually. * Changes would happen the week of Aug. 5. Why continue with package delivery? Since 2010, package delivery has increased by 14 percent. Think about it How many of you ordered something online during the holidays? Online shopping is becoming more and more a norm. Weve written several stories during the last three years about moves from the USPS

in these times of losing $16 billion per year. the Postal Service in 2006 has led USPS to Its been made clear that Congress does make such a discriminatory choice. NNA not provide tax money to the Postal Service. disagrees with both the policy decision and It does however still oversee the agency. Since the legal reasoning behind it. We hope to still the government is currently operating on tem- work with the Postal Service on a plan to porary spending rather than an appropriations ensure timely delivery of newspapers. The unfair requirebill, the USPS claims it ments hes speaking of can make this change is the dirty little secret without Congressional that is leading to the approval. continual demise of Time will tell. None the USPS the preof this will occur withfunding of healthcare out deep discussion benefits for future reand blow back due to tirees. the fact that the deciTake it from U.S. Consion seemed to hit our By Derek Sawvell gressman Dave Loebdoorsteps (literally) on sack, our representative the front pages of our newspapers the same products that will be here in Cedar and Muscatine counties, who was quoted in the Des Moines Register saying affected by the move. There are 270 newspapers in Iowa and the following: By requiring the Postal Service many, if not all, will feel the effects. I think to pre-fund retirement health benefits to the of our snow birds and folks who live in other tune of (more than) $50 billion over 10 years, states, that, while our paper is dated for Thurs- which no other agency or business has to do, days, normally get their paper on Fridays or Congress is tying their hands. Saturdays. It may be Monday now You dont have to spend much time reading I think of our Eastern Iowa Bizzzy Bee about recent USPS losses before you stumble publication, included in the North Scott Press, upon this fact. Tough to call it a secret. Well which would be affected. continue to watch what the future holds, but National Newspaper Association President until Congress revamps the USPS, I fear the Merle Baranczyk issued the following state- waters will remain turbulent for quite some ment, The Postal Services announcement time. today that it intends to maintain Saturday *** delivery of packages but abandon delivery Annual INA conventionI traveled to Des of newspapers is an indication the service Moines last week for the annual Iowa Newsis moving further and further away from the paper Association convention and trade show. universal service the American public expects. For the third straight year, the AN was able to This unfortunate decision sees packages as return with hardware. profitable but forgets the importance of money The Advocate News won a first place award in the mail for small businesses and thousands in the Best Special Section Advertising of American communities who depend upon category for our Newspapers in Education local newspaper delivery on Saturdays. The presentation where we have Durant, Bennett National Newspaper Association has a long and Wilton area sixth graders design ads for record of supporting six day delivery. It is local businesses. regrettable the inaction of Congress to deal This is a project that takes weeks of preparawith the unfair requirements it imposed upon tion, presentations, collection, distribution and

Case in Point

selection prior to the final, finished product. Our staff does a wonderful job with it year in and year out. The AN also won third place in the Coverage of Government and Politics category, receiving the following comments from judges (members of the South Dakota Newspaper Association): Solid entry. Good coverage of school issue. The category takes a lot of leg work because 10 work samples have to be submitted. In our class Class III Weeklies (the largest Iowa weekly class of papers with more than 2,200 circulation) its wonderful to be in the running for such a prestigious award. I received the Jay P. Wagner prize for young journalists (see story on page 2). There were three statewide winners. One of the criteria was that you couldnt be older than 30 on Dec. 31. I turned 30 in October so based on this criteria, as of this time next year I will be officially old. However on a serious note, it was a humbling experience to receive such an award from the INA. I feel honored to have the responsibility of connecting with all of you in these wonderful communities. Simply stated, we wont get complacent. Well continue to do our best and work hard for our great cities and their people.

Kaufmann chairperson of Beginning Farmer task force

As we begin our fourth week in the Capitol, We are moving that to 7 percent as well as a major pieces of legislation are beginning to 5 percent expansion credit for the beginning move. I anticipate the education reform bill farmer to expand his/her operation to include to come out of committee this week. The bill livestock, more equipment and diversification. passed out of subcommittee after a rigorous The intention is to give the beginning farmer a debate. I will be calling each of the Super- little more incentive and ability to compete with intendents in the district this week to solicit the big farmers who can pay higher rent. The 5 percent expansion opinions on how it will is an attempt to help affect our schools. I also beginning producers anticipate an allowable who want to expand growth debate to come a current or retiring shortly thereafter. livestock operation. I My column next firmly believe one of week will be dedicated the best ways to get into to education so please farming and to build get in touch with me up equity is through this week if you have By Rep. Bobby Kaufmann livestock. any input. I also want The second bill coming before us this week to thank all of you who have been coming out to my weekend forums. Attendance has is one that I find especially intriguing. I have been strong, great questions are being asked, mentioned it briefly in other columns, but I and I take all of your input with me to Des want to give more details now. The DNR has roughly 20,000 acres that are tillable. We Moines. One of my biggest responsibilities is would like to give beginning farmers first agriculture. Representative Grassley is the crack at renting those acres. The DNR often Chair of the Agriculture Committee and he requires a lot of labor to help take care of their has an aggressive agenda. He has created the ground because of conservation practices and Beginning Farmer Task Force and made me wildlife preserves. DNR ground is often times chairperson. It is a bit daunting but a wonder- a split of hay, pasture, preserve and crops. I ful opportunity. This bipartisan task force is believe a mutually beneficial relationship can comprised of five Representatives. We have be formed where a beginning farmer gets a been meeting weekly, and bringing in speakers first shot at ground and the DNR rents and experts from every aspect of agriculture. to an individual dedicated to fulfilling their I expect two pieces of legislation to move out conservation practices. More bills are being explored, such as rotaof that committee this week with much more tional grazing on preserved grounds, but they to come. The first piece gives tax incentives to are in the discussion stages. We are working beginning farmers, as well as strengthening with the DNR, biologists and farming groups the ones that are already on the books for to explore environmentally friendly ways to landowners who rent to a beginning farmer. expand beginning farmers horizons. Iowa is one of the fortunate states because Currently, if an owner rents to a beginning farmer, the owner gets a 5 percent tax credit. we are in good fiscal shape. A large part of that is agriculture. I look forward to continuing to work on not only beginning farmer issues, but on all issues relating to agriculture and any helpful hand we can lend to our family farmers. The bottom line is that we want to keep our young people in this state. Again, my column next week will be about education and beyond that, we are looking forward to getting to work on crafting the budget, property tax reform, transportation issues and continuing to look at mental health reform. This week I filed a bill that changes the open enrollment laws to allow school districts to keep some of their property tax dollars in the district. Thanks to Pat Kedley, Lowden, for his strong advocacy on this issue. Listening Post Schedule: Feb. 16, 1:00 p.m., Stanwood City Hall. Capitol Visitors: None Contact me: Email: Bobby.Kaufmann@legis.iowa.gov Address: 1527 330th St. Wilton, Iowa 52778 Number for Capitol: 515-281-3221

Your Capitol Voice

'Keep up the good work'

Editor: I have been a subscriber to the Wilton-Durant Advocate News for a number of years. The past couple of years have shown a major improvement in terms of news, editorials, opinions and advertising. At times, I do not agree with some of the editorials written by the editor (as I read between the lines, I feel he may be an Obama supporter). I do enjoy digesting the thoughts and opinions of all the editorials printed. Although I have been away from the area for several years, to sum it up, Keep up the good work! Ronald Pete Soteros Frisco, Texas Wilton High School class of 1953

Going to miss Phil

Editor: Thanks, Wilton-Durant Advocate News, for the great article on our retiring United Parcel Service driver Phil (Bladel). Im sure I speak for all our Wilton residents when I say how much we appreciate Phils years of service and commitment to our town. To Phil personally, good luck. Were going to miss you. Jo Ellen Meyer Tallgrass Business Resources Wilton (formerly Matthews Office Supply)