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Councilman Piercy was elected in a competitive “jungle” election by a majority of Storm Lake citizens and is entitled to speak, in even his inelegant manner. He has simply shared his concerns about certain local eyesores, without specific identification of offending parties, and has not bullied or punched down.
Mayor McKeon did not win in a particularly competitive election, played clever, musical offices and has moved into a largely ceremonial tie-breaking role, and prefers certain social worker values of kindness and not having a shame-based city!
Let’s not slow walk our problems, please!
The problem with circumscribing our discourse in such a manner is that it is hegemonic. Hegemony requires the consent of the governed, and I do not consent!
Feelings of shame are a funny thing, some folks having more feelings than anyone. Others don’t share their feelings because they ain’t got any!
The city of Storm Lake has a very effective police force. Honestly, the Iowa Civil Liberties Union has a legitimate issue if the accused do not receive due process or a fair trial. Freedom from embarrassment (or shame) is not in the Constitution I studied in school.
I truly believe in having a full, honest and robust debate of both city and county issues.
County conservation employees, in exchange for their modest salaries enabling them to play in the woods often, would like to office with a lake view! I say tough, you will office where you are assigned, such as my wetlands of East Fifth Street! If they want lake amenities, earn or inherit them the old fashioned way.
Entitled public servants are an extraordinary bad look. Politicians lose elections just that way. That goes double for the supervisors.
Thank you for your recent human interest story of Rafael Vela and his culinary road less traveled from Texas to Storm Lake in the last few years.
Contrast that local feel-good story with the Chicago, Ill., shooting death of Sheridan Gorman, 18-year-old college student, felled by a bullet to the back of the neck last week. Enabled by the open border of former President Biden, sanctuary polices of the Pritzker-Johnson administrations. The SafeT act kept Medina-Medina out of jail. Blame it on gun violence or other abstract, irrelevant factors. Those politicians are protected by position, wealth, and power should truly feel the shame. Do they? Highly doubtful.
Wyatt Yon, Storm Lake
I've never written a letter to the editor, but it is hard to keep your mouth shut when government comes up with such an incredibly stupid idea as turning the Storm Lake Marina into office space or a “nature center,” whatever that means. The State of Iowa spent millions of dollars creating this beautiful marina facility. Local fundraising raised hundreds of thousands to save the lake and make the lake attractive for swimming, boating, fishing and other lake activities. The marina is a much-needed recreational facility on the water in Storm Lake, and that is what the public majority want it to remain.
The marina building on the water, while occupied by Buoy’s, was a fantastic draw, bringing literally thousands of people to Storm Lake to sit by the water, enjoy the lake and promote our community. It would be a shame to lose the marina without a fight. County conservation officials should have office space, but not on the lake overlooking the water.
Phil Redenbaugh, Storm Lake
Fourteen months into Trump’s second term, the damage is not subtle. The country has been pushed deeper into a culture where power, family branding and personal enrichment run together. Public office looks less like public service and more like a monetized platform. Trust erodes first, then standards, then shame.
The money trail matters. Forbes estimated Trump’s net worth at $6.5 billion in March 2026, up about $1.4 billion over the prior year; Bloomberg estimated the broader Trump family fortune at about $6.8 billion in January 2026, with roughly $1.4 billion of that annual shift tied to digital assets. The crypto piece is the ugliest: Reuters reported the family took in more than $800 million from crypto-asset sales in the first half of 2025 alone, while Trump-branded coins and affiliated ventures enriched insiders as retail buyers got scorched. That is enough on its face without overstating it as a proved criminal “pump and dump.”
Then came the symbolism of excess: the Melania film deal, widely reported at $40 million, and the luxury Qatari jet offered for presidential use and later intended for Trump’s library; estimated value, $400 million, but the cost to turn it into a usable presidential aircraft with all the security upgrades bring estimates that exceed $1 billion. Those episodes did not create the problem; they revealed it. Family, office, glamour, foreign money, private gain — all blending in plain sight.
The projection for the next three years is straightforward. Unless checked by courts, markets, Congress or scandal fatigue, this won’t get cleaner; it will get bolder. More branding, more monetization, more foreign entanglement, more crypto-style speculation, and more insistence that what once looked corrupt should now be called normal. That may be Trump’s real second-term achievement: not merely enriching the family, but teaching the country to watch enrichment happen in broad daylight and shrug.
James Anderson, Pocahontas
ICE spending is out of control. We have large salaries for thousands, hiring bonuses of $50K. Imagine what the costs are for lodging, uniforms, meals and a lot of masks and guns for shooting the good people of Minnesota. They paid $129 million for a facility in New Jersey that was assessed at $62 million! Another warehouse in Pennsylvania they paid $87 million that sold in 2024 for $57.5 million. In Georgia they paid $68 million for a warehouse that was appraised in 2025 for $7.1 million. These are awful expensive detention centers and still have to rehab them on top of this. I am in the process of doing my taxes, this makes me ill.
Now we have a war to pay for!
Jim Gustafson, Milford
I suggest that President Trump & Friends sail their personal yachts through the Strait of Hormuz. Then they can lead a flotilla of > 800 ships through the Strait which are currently parked in the Persian Gulf.
They can have the escort of ships under the command of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. He says that people need to have GUTS to simply sail through that channel. Hegseth and associates seem to have all the guts needed for such a mission.
I noted earlier today that leaders of Germany and United Kingdom are not interested in helping. Also the former commander of the military forces representing the rest of Europe do not want to meddle with a war that they didn’t start (It’s not their war — and besides Secretary Hegseth has said that we don’t need NATO, anyway.)
Norman E. Porath, Denton, Neb.
This is what happens when three despot-led countries tee off in a cauldron of international violence.
No compromise. No intelligence. No consideration for humanity. Just one threat and escalating military action after another with no end in sight.
Netanyahu, Trump, Khamenei.
Three strumpets walking the streets at night looking for new clients to make them rich and famous. Three clowns in a three-ring circus entertaining their customers for a very high price. Three politicians unwilling to return power to the people and do what is right for the rising generations.
The story of this war will make good constitutional curriculum for any country that loves peace, citizen participation, morals, ethics, integrity, science, children, education, public health, small business, religious observance.
In other words, not Israel, not the United States and not Iran.
Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross, Utah
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