Letter to the Editor

Even though the Beloit Daily News has cut down the frequency of having an editorial page, I still get the urge to post now and again.

The School District  of Beloit recently has had discussions of building a dedicated clinic for district employees - bids were taken from the Beloit Heath System and an outfit near Milwaukee. Beloit Health got the bid - but why is a dedicated clinic even on the table when tax money is in short supply?

I hope that the district did not spend any of Beloit taxpayer's funds to develop their new logo - a rectangle with smaller squares and rectangles of different solid colors.

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I note two possible places the Beloit school system may have wasted money in recent news.

First, why does the School District  of Beloit need a dedicated health care clinic for its' employees? Would it not be more cost-effective for those employees, who have health insurance benefits, to go to any of the existing clinics and immediate-care facilities in the Beloit area, or to their own doctor, like the rest of us have to? This seems like a very bad idea in times of fiscal stress on school districts.

Secondly, if the School District of Beloit really needs a new logo, why was an outside consulting firm brought in to design it? Was any tax money paid for this new design? I would have thought it to have been an excellent opportunity to involve Beloit students, possibly in a contest to design the new logo. What is wrong with omitting the logo altogether?

On another issue, I see that Town of Beloit Board Supervisor Phil Taber is worried about citizens possibly having concealed weapons at board meetings.

Unless he is prepared to order pat-downs of visitors and install metal detectors, how can he be sure no one comes armed if it is decided that concealed carry will not be allowed in the town hall? What about open carry? Declaring an area or building a "gun free zone" simply alerts possible criminals and terrorists that here is a "free fire zone" where no armed response to an attack can be expected. Declaring an area or building to be off-limits for citizens peaceably exercising their Constitutional rights not only infringes on those rights, it is a sign that the person enacting such restrictions is not thinking clearly.

Chuck Kuecker

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