Earlier this month I was embarrassed by Steve Marquardt's rude response to Patricia Harding's sensible letter. I also fly my Norwegian flag but always below our American flag. Marquardt must not have a clue as to the huge difference between Norwegian immigrants and illegal aliens! Norwegians came here legally and weren't drug dealers, felons or thieves like some of the illegal people today.
Our dad came from Norway at 18 and he learned to read and write without one penny cost to our government. Dad didn't expect instruction manuals on purchased items to be printed in Norwegian as well as English, like today we get one in Spanish and one in English, which we consumers are paying for.
Anyone wanting to live in this country should be required to learn the language. One example is, the young-school age daughter of the farmer dad would let him use her school books and would help him learn to read. She was Beatrice Herfindahl, who many of you later knew as Beaty Hanson, wife of a prominent former Benson banker.
Marquardt needs to eat crow and hear how hard our dad worked. When he left one farm to work for another, his former boss said he had to hire two men to replace Dad and I'm not saying that to brag. It was a fact. Those Norwegians were hard workers.
Three years of drought came some years after Dad married and bought his own farm. I wasn't born yet but they had five children but never accepted one cent of welfare. Dad took a road construction job besides farming, milking cows, raising pigs, and chickens. Our mother worked very hard, had a garden and canned. They made it on their own and never went hungry.
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I am proud of them but I'm ashamed of those who come here for handouts and break the law coming illegally. That should never be tolerated and those who knowingly hire illegal aliens should have to stop it, and pay big fines.
IngaMae Urke
Starbuck
