To the Editor 
I am writing to support Mayor Mary Meuwissen as candidate for mayor of Victoria. Although unfamiliar with the other candidates, I have spent count-less hours working with the Mayor Mary on various projects that we've proposed and built in Victoria.  Our disagreements on issues have been many and well reported!
However, as a 36-year citizen of this community, and from a multi-generation Victoria family, I will confidently vote for her leadership and experience.  She has led this forward-thinking city council through the beginning of its greatest historical growth period ever.
We can begin to see the fruit of her labor and leadership with the opening of our new high school that has given this community an element of pride.  She has led the council in greatly improving our road transporta-tion circulation without compromising our neighborhoods and small town feel.  This was complicated, consider-ing how underdeveloped our road-ways were, as evidenced by the impact of the detour of just one of the only two roads that lead to our community.
She has listened, learned, and embraced the many smart-growth principles that I and other developers and builders have proposed.  This very critical process is providing innova-tive, high quality, new neighborhoods that offer lifestyle choices with parks, trails, and open spaces without being a drain on community environmental and economic resources.
Residential growth will continue as the appeal of this area grows, and I look forward to being involved in the opportunity.  However, as competing developers present their plans, I am confident that Mayor Mary Meuwis-sen will continue to lead this council in building neighborhoods that include the same high quality of life elements that we've set the pattern for.
As a local citizen, I look forward to enjoying a vibrant downtown and local elementary schools that were a part of the Victoria of my childhood, and I know are a part of Mayor Mary Meuwissen's agenda for the upcoming months.
Sincerely, Terry Hartman, Victoria, Minnesota

To the Editor:
Leader (noun):  1) a person or thing that leads; directing, command-ing or guiding head, as a group or activity; 2) something that Victoria really needs.  As we enter the final weeks before the election of Victoria's next mayor, I think it's important to consider the issues we have faced as a community in the recent past:
*We have lost the possibility of having an elementary school in our community.
*We lost the use of our main artery for the entire summer and a good part of the fall.
*We faced constant water restric-tions as a result of five years' worth of electrical problems at the pumping station.
*We sit in traffic on Highway #5 from 6:45 in the morning until 6:45 at night.
*We have a downtown area that appears to be more empty lots than ongoing businesses.
*We have a neighborhood that has consistently dealt with poor water ser-vice from the time they moved into their homes years ago.
What has been the response of our elected leadership to these issues?  It's the county/school board/electric com-pany/Met Council/MnDOT -- not us.
Leaders deal with these issues as they develop, not on an after the fact basis.  Why doesn't Victoria have a re-lationship with NSP to avoid five years' worth of problems?  Why weren't we able to have the needs of Victoria residents recognized by Carver County's road department?  Why did Victoria residents feel short-changed once the final decision regarding the school was announced?
Most of these issues are in the past and we must move on.  When you consider who should be mayor of Victoria, please stop and think:  Who do you feel has the ability to actively plan and execute their vision to do something about the issues we will be facing as a community in 2002?  If we make the right choice, the second definition above will change to "something Victoria has."
Doug and Sally Rees, Victoria, Minnesota

To the Editor:
Some weeks I never find your fishhook.  But this week I opened the paper to find page 24, and there it was holding two leaves together in the notice on composting.  Pretty tricky but easy enough for me to spot.  Bob and I enjoy your paper and love to feel caught up on whatever is gong on in Victoria.  Cheers.
Betty Batzli, Excelsior, Minnesota

To the Editor:
"I expect to pass through this world but once.  Any good I can do, or any kindness that I can show, let me do now, for I shall not pass this way again."  Just a short note, Sue, to tell you how much we enjoy your Victoria Gazette, a remarkable paper.  Thanks so much for your contributions to the community in general and in the church.  Thanks also for being such a good friend to our family, especially Mary.  We love you much.
Bill and Bea Beddor, Excelsior, Minnesota    Click here for more letters.