The Milwaukee Post

May 25, 2018 • Milwaukee County Post • 9 Allowing girls into Boy Scouts might weaken both Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts To the editor: The article in the May 11 issue on girls being allowed to join the Boy Scouts of America needs some clarification. I've been a volunteer Scouter since 1967 and I've wit- nessed a lot of changes in the organization. This one does not sit well with me and many other volunteers. But Boy Scouts of America, being the undemocratic group that they are, didn't give us a vote. First of all, the headline is misleading. Cub Scouts don't have troops, they have packs. My information is that any girls who join will be in a den of all girls, but both girls and boys dens will belong to the same pack. Secondly, the statement, "While there is substantial change coming for girls, the boys won't have much to prepare for" doesn't make any sense. What change are the girls making? From not being a member to being a member? Boys joining a pack have to make the same change. I can understand that Paul Schwartz, CEO of the Potawatomi Area Council, would deliver the company line on these changes, but I was informed differently. He states that "... there will be boy troops and girl troops. They will not be together." That's not what I was told and I hardly think that separate troops would work. Besides, we've always had that: Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Why change? The statement that, "... the name change to Scouts BSA is to make older girls in the Cub Scouts program feel more welcome" doesn't make any sense. My understanding is that the Scouts BSA applies to the former Boy Scout program name, not to Cub Scouts. Also, how old is this "older girl" in the Cub Scouts? When you reach the ripe old age of 11, you move up or out. It's my feeling that this change will weak- en both the Boy Scout program and the Girl Scout program. I hope I'm wrong but I've seen it happen in other organizations. Tom Tarkowski Milwaukee Wisconsinites should push for 10-year extension of SeniorCare To the editor: Now is the time for Wisconsinites to take action if they want the nation's most inno- vative and cost-effective state prescription drug savings program for seniors to be extended for another decade. SeniorCare helps more than 92,000 Wisconsinites age 65-plus with prescription drug costs. The waiver that allows Wisconsin to offer SeniorCare as a creditable alterna- tive to Medicare Part D is set to expire Dec. 31. A request from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services calls for the waiver to be extended for a 10-year period. We at AARP wholeheartedly support this extension and hope the federal government also recognizes the value of SeniorCare. Lately there's been a lot of discussion among lawmakers about the high cost of pre- scription drugs. SeniorCare is Wisconsin's creative and innovative solution to help sen- iors manage their medication budgets. By any measure, SeniorCare is a win-win program for Wisconsin and its participants. The costs of the program are largely man- aged by the state's ability to negotiate dis- counts and pricing as well as through servic- es like medication therapy management to ensure proper utilization and safety. Enrollees pay an annual $30 fee and deductibles are based on their average income. After the deductible, SeniorCare has a co-pay of $5 for generic drugs and $15 for name-brand drugs. A big part of SeniorCare's popularity also stems from the fact that it's easy for partici- pants to enroll in and utilize.. Wisconsin has set the bar high for not only creating a very accessible program for seniors, but one that is also an extraordinar- ily cost-effective use of taxpayer dollars. We encourage all Wisconsinites to pro- vide comments about the value of SeniorCare before the June 7 deadline. Learn more and provide comments on the DHS website at dhs.wisconsin.gov/ seniorcare/input.htm. Lots of supportive comments from the public about the program will go a long ways towards helping the waiver to be extended. Written comments on the proposed appli- cation are also welcome and can be sent to the Division of Medical Services at DHSSeniorCare@dhs.wisconsin.gov Helen Marks Dicks State Issues advocacy director AARP Wisconsin OPINION LETTERS TO THE EDITOR By OWEN B. ROBINSON While there is still a long way to go before Wisconsinites can evaluate the full impact of the Foxconn development, so far it is proving to be the economic boon for Wisconsin that Gov. Scott Walker and other supporters of the deal predicted. The offi- cial groundbreaking ceremony will be June 28, but the work has already started. When Walker announced the deal with Foxconn, it marked the largest economic deal the state of Wisconsin had ever struck. Liberals vacillated between bemoaning cor- porate welfare and declaring that Wisconsin should have gotten a better deal. Conservatives cringed at the massive amount of tax dollars involved to lure one company to Wisconsin. Walker touted the deal as a transformational economic devel- opment that would benefit Wisconsin for generations. It is possible that everyone was right, but certainly Walker deserves credit for getting it done. Before the first shovel could be put in the ground, nearly 500 subcontractors, suppli- ers, service providers, vendors and other companies attended an information session hosted by Foxconn for the projected $10 bil- lion construction project. These businesses came from all over Wisconsin and the world for the chance to partici- pate in one of the largest construction projects in United States history. Late last month, Foxconn began announc- ing the contractors that they would use. True to their word, Foxconn offi- cials strongly favored Wisconsin companies. Ninety percent of the contracts so far have been awarded to Wisconsin companies. In just the first phase of the project, 27 Wisconsin companies and one Illinois com- pany are sharing $100 million to do the preparation work for the site including excavation, erosion control, soil and water testing and stormwater management. A $100 million project would already be one of Wisconsin's largest construction projects, and that is only 1 percent of what Foxconn is planning to spend to complete the project. Furthermore, as Walker predicted, the eco- nomic benefits are not limited to southeast- ern Wisconsin. One of those Wisconsin companies already working is a Black River Falls construction company. It has been tasked with moving about 325,000 dump- truckloads of dirt and installing 120,000 lin- ear feet of sewer. That company, Hoffman Construction, has indicated that it will need to hire about 150 additional seasonal work- ers to handle the work. MJM Truckin' LLC of Nekoosa, Wood County, Panacea Group LLC of Seymour, Outagamie County, and other businesses throughout the state are already seeing money flow from Foxconn into their busi- nesses. The Foxconn project is just so incredibly huge that southeastern Wisconsin does not have the people or material necessary to complete it. A study by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce estimates that Foxconn's new Wisconsin plant will con- tribute about $51 billion to the state's econo- my over the next 15 years. Calculating the exact economic impact of the massive Foxconn development is inherently diffi- cult, but Wisconsin is already seeing a rip- ple effect spread across the state. All of this positive development makes the stance of some of the Democratic candi- dates for governor even more puzzling. While some may disagree with the deal that Walker struck with Foxconn, it is done. The contracts are signed and both sides are obli- gated to honor their side of the agreement. Yet some of the Democratic candidates are hoping to see it all fail and rip a hole in Wisconsin's economy as it does. Rep. Dana Wachs has said, "we will find a way to end it." Matt Flynn said that he will end the deal, "no matter what." Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and Rep. Kelda Roys want to renegotiate the deal — whatever that means. Try to imagine a world in which one of these Democrats wins the governor's chair and uses it to douse the Foxconn eco- nomic fire with a vat of cold water. Not only would it hobble the Foxconn economic jug- gernaut, but it would neuter Wisconsin's ability to attract business for decades to come. What company CEO in his or her right mind would make a long-term com- mitment to Wisconsin if all it takes is a new governor to tear up the contracts? The argument over whether or not the Foxconn deal was a good one for Wisconsin will be decided in the years to come. One would hope that whatever one thought about the terms of the deal, we could all root for it to live up to its promise. Fortunately for our state's economy, so far it has. (Owen B. Robinson is a West Bend resident whose column appears occasionally in The Milwaukee County Post. He can be reached at owen@bootsandsabers.com.) Foxconn begins to deliver on its promise Robinson

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