To the Editor:
We are back from our long trip out east and had lots of adventures.  Saw one of our pretty brown-eyed granddaughters graduate from high school.  She will be attending Kent State in Ohio next month.  Her sister who is a senior at Villanova took us for a tour of Valley Forge, King of Prussia Mall, and the Villanova Campus.
Our daughter Pam and her family have moved again into their first home.  Many Moravian congregations provide a home for the pastor and his family.  I did not see a copy of the Gazette at their home which means she did not give you her address change. 
Soon we'll be taking our fourth and final major trip to celebrate our 50^th wedding anniversary.  We will be driving to Vancouver, BC, to pick up a cruise ship for a two week cruise to Alaska and stopping at many Alaskan ports.  Then we have taken a timeshare exchange for a week in Whistler, BCV, which is north of Vancouver.
We are also taking a day's bus tour of the Vancouver area.  On the way home, we will be stopping at Rexford, ID, to visit some friends.  On the way there we will go through the Grand Teton National Park, which we missed during several trips to Yellowstone.
When Harriet attended a Toast-master's meeting with our son Rick on Long Island, she was surprised that a young man at the meeting told her that he knew Victoria as his parents, Ronald and Jane Landry, live in Victoria.  Boy, is not than an unusual happening!
Keep up the super work on the Gazette.
Uncle Ron Holtmeier, Victoria, Minnesota, via e-mail

To the Editor:
Chaska Sanitation, Inc., is very proud to announce that we have sold our business to Waste Management of MN, Inc.  We, the family and employees of Chaska Sanitation, appreciate you as our customers.  You are our backbone.  We would like to say thank you for all of your support, loyalty, and friendship for the past 47 years.  This will remain in our hearts forever.
Our entire staff of employees is joining the new Chaska Waste Management team to ensure your continued personal service.  Please call us at 952-448-2547 if you have any questions.
Gary and Pam Lano and Sons, Chaska, Minnesota

To the Editor:
I read the column of Tom Stumpf, the Cowboy Correspondent, in your July, 2001, edition and take issue with two of his statements.
First, Mr. Stumpf says, "SHAME ON YOU" to the people who are skeptical or wonder if the facility proposed by the Copelands will have a negative impact on our community.  I believe that this is an extremely shallow and nearsighted response to legitimate concerns about a complex and controversial issue.
The people are the meeting referred to by Mr. Stumpf expressed concerns about the impact of the Copelands' pro-posed children's home on property taxes, property values, and safe of their homes and families.  All of these are legitimate and valid concerns to which the residents of this community deserve definitive answers supported by facts, figures, and expert evaluation.  However, at this meeting, the Copelands and their chief sponsor, Target Corporation, responded to these concerns only with platitudes and sweeping generalities.
Concerns regarding impact of a facility on property taxes, value of adja-cent property, and community safety would typically be addressed in a business plan and feasibility study with appendices containing the facts, figures, and results of research that support the conclusions drawn in the study.
However, in spite of requests by my-self and other residents, the Copelands and Target Corporation have not even indicated that they have completed a feasibility study for this project, much less offered to share it with the residents of Victoria.
This takes us to Mr. Stumpf's second statement that requires a response, that is:  "Does it not occur to these people that the Copelands and their major financial spon-sors wouldn't have to go through this tremendous effort if a need would not be present?"
If, in fact, the Copelands and Target Corporation have not completed a comprehensive, formal business plan and feasibility study, then they have made no objective assessment of need and are rely-ing only on perception and intuition.
It is possible that their perception and intuition might be accurate; however, it is equally likely that they are seriously in error.  In any event, if an objective formal feasibility study has not been completed, healthy skepticism is well-founded.
A project that would undoubtedly have a major impact on our community as well as on the lives of the children it intends to serve deserves to be carefully and thoroughly examined, planned, and documented in a formal business plan and feasibility study.
Instead, it increasingly appears that the Copelands and Target Corporation are asking the residents of Victoria to give them a blank check to implement a project for which no comprehensive business plan and feasibility study have been prepared.
To embark upon a project of this nature without completing the research and planning that would typically go into the decision to construct a new Target retail outlet shows a reckless disregard for both the residents of this community and the children the facility is intended to serve.
I say, "SHAME ON YOU," Mr. Stumpf, for trying to use guilt and shame to castigate residents of this community for expressing valid, legitimate, and, what increasingly appear to be, well-founded concerns.
Sincerely, Lawrence W. Gubbe, Victoria, Minnesota

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Please visit Sharing and Caring Hands in Minneapolis and you'll see there is no reason to be afraid.  You will see that the Copelands rely on much more than perception and intuition for their projects.  You can also see their work by clicking on Sue's Album at www.VictoriaGazette.com.  Meanwhile, the Copelands have not purchased any property in Victoria on which to conduct a feasibility study. 
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