LETTERS OPINIONS
River News: Our View
What happened on Oneida County roads over Thanksgiving — or didn’t happen, as the case may be — was not merely a matter of routine public-sector incompetence but a complete and abominable public-safety failure. County highways remained snow-covered and icy through two of the busiest travel days of the year, …
Thank You Sheriff Joe Fath!
To the Editor: After more than four decades of dedicated service, Vilas County Sheriff Joe Fath will be retiring this December. As someone who has known Sheriff Fath for many years, I want to take a moment to publicly thank him for his extraordinary commitment to the people of Vilas …
Gwendolyne Kerchefski (nee Mohr)
With her journey here on earth ending, Gwendolyne Kerchefski (nee Mohr) met peace and joy with our savior on November 30, 2025. She was born December 31, 1941, to late Raymond and Ruth V. Mohr. Also predeceased by her brother Leonard Mohr, nephew Richard Mohr, and special friend the late …
Mamdani could ease Trump’s return to New York
There’s no mystery why Zohran Mamdani wanted to get along with Donald Trump. The president threatened New York City with funding cuts, deployment of federal forces and other unpleasantries if its voters elected the self-described democratic socialist as mayor. But why after calling Mamdani all kinds of names, even warning …
River News: Our View
The Rolling Stones, in their inimitable, ageless way, once offered up some wisdom for the ages in a single verse: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find that you get what you need, oh yeah.” Oh yeah.
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Gratitude for music fest fundraiser success
To the Editor: On Nov. 9 the Northwoods community gathered to enjoy 75 talented area volunteer performers for the 4th Annual Joyful Song Ecumenical Music Fest. Those of us who had spent months organizing this fundraiser set a seemingly unattainable goal of $10,000 to support three area nonprofits in an …
How low can deviancy go?
The central scandal in the Epstein’s sex abuse ring targeting children is not the sex. It’s the children.
Our golden age
We media types obsess about America’s problems. But we should acknowledge that today, life in America is better than life has been anywhere, ever. For most of history, the norm was hunger, disease, illiteracy, slavery and war.
River News: Our View
First things first, let’s give credit where credit is due. Our Northwoods representatives, Rep. Rob Swearingen (R-Rhinelander) and Rep. Calvin Callahan (R-Tomahawk), were right to vote against the rushed reauthorization of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program last week, as we report in today’s edition.
An open letter to Congressman Tiffany
To the Editor: The United States has a terrible health care system. Compared to other developed countries, we don’t live as long, infant and maternal mortality rates are higher ... the list goes on. For these abysmal results, we pay twice as much per citizen as any other country.
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The threat of an overproduced elite
Success breeds failure. Policies and practices well suited to society at one juncture in history are often poorly suited to the world they have beneficially transformed. If you carry a good thing too far, it can turn out not to be a good thing anymore.
Trump the socialist
“America will never be a socialist country!” says President Donald Trump. I hope not. Trump rightly declared socialism “the wrecker of nations and destroyer of societies.” But I fear he’s confused about what socialism is.
Dems won victory in defeat
In 1940, Winston Churchill ordered the evacuation of 338,000 troops facing annihilation on the beaches of Dunkirk. Churchill called the successful operation “a miracle of deliverance.” Historians portray it as a perfect example of victory in defeat.
Stripping away local control: A reader challenges Oneida County’s mining maneuvers
To the Editor: Back in 2009 a company called Tamerlane approached Oneida County about acquiring rights to the Lynne Deposit, a known zinc/silver/lead deposit that was discovered in 1990 by Noranda under a glacial aquifer just upstream of the Willow Flowage on county forest lands.
Hatchet job haven: The Justice Department gets torched
“Everything she writes,” Mary McCarthy famously said about playwright Lillian Hellman, “is a lie — including ‘and’ and ‘the’.” Historians wrestling with how Americans permitted their democracy to be so badly debased during the President Donald Trump era will have to first assess why so many millions of us consumed …
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