Letters to the Editor

The Comet welcomes letters to the editor responding to articles and events in the news. They must include the author's name, address and telephone number. The letter writer's name and city/town will appear in the paper - no exceptions. Letters must be 400 words or less in length. Please send your letters to: editor@carrollcountycomet. com; Letters to the Editor, Comet, P.O. Box 26, Flora, IN 46929 or P.O. Box 179, Delphi, IN 46923; or fax 574-967-3384 or 765-564-2010. By submitting a letter or opinion article, the author grants the Comet the right to publish, distribute, archive or use the work in print, electronic, on-line or other format.

Dislikes cartoon

Your editorial cartoon of Jan. 10, 2007, is a slap in the face of every honest, hard working and dedicated U.S. postal employee in your circulation area and indeed the whole country. There is nothing true about the words you printed and nothing funny about the picture portraying it. Most of all it is irresponsible of you to perpetrate a false urban legend.

William J. White

Postmaster, Cloverdale

What's really in our best interest?

It appears that dollar signs have replaced common sense. Agri-business corporations, with a "get big or get out" mentality, are displacing independent, self-sufficient farmers here and abroad, abusing the democracy that made America great. Subsidies from our tax dollars, intended to help small farmers, also unnecessarily benefit mega-farms.

Food, the sustainer of life, has become a commodity controlled by a few major corporations. Most brands eventually trace back to Kraft (owned by Philip Morris), ConAgra Foods, or one of the dozen or so companies with tremendous lobby power, maintaining their grip on our dollars and their interests. Supporting them crushes small businesses and family farms. One must be a careful label reader to find alternatives and foods without chemicals and additives. Agri-business, seeking a use for excess corn, discovered high fructose corn syrup, now found in nearly every canned food. This contributes greatly to obesity and diabetes.

It concerns us that more and more of our food supply is concentrated in the hands of only a few. Each 1,000-head dairy DAFO has the capacity to displace 10 family farms. Carroll County has gone from 800 hog farms 25 years ago to 80 today. What happened to those farmers? How many are working in factories but given a choice, with adequate income, would be back on the farm? Adding a dairy CAO to hog CFOs doesn't diversify but merely adds to another factory. Have we forgotten the devastation and starvation from Ireland's potato blight? Concentrating huge numbers of animals not only multiplies the number of problems but also makes the nation's food security vulnerable to epidemics, terrorist acts, and environmental or natural disasters.

Let's open our eyes and get informed! Check out the reputation of Vreba-Hoff, the developer for the dairy CAFO, and their impact on the environment in Michigan. This is not a farm but a milking factory with lights, noise, and trucking, day and night, introducing a variety of problems along with only a few possible gains for a few people. By signing contracts, farmers give up their independence, placing power in the hands of the unknown. Is this really an improvement in the best interest of Carroll County? Check out the book, "Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan at your library. It's good food for thought.

Grace and Tony Woodruff

Cutler