To the editor:

So you did not like how the County Board handled the well testing. Yes, they said it was free. Then please pay our taxes, as I am sure it would have been paid for by the taxpayers.

There are already notices to us livestock producers how we should spread our manure and it is to be plowed in, etc., not just spread on top.

When we heard that a county ditch had been declared impaired I became worried as that county ditch empties through my pasture or into the stream that goes past my yard, so we took samples and had them tested, well they came back as good to drink.

Let’s get back to manure. It shall not be spread near streams, tile, ditches, inlets, etc. In a state west of here I saw a sign that there were once more bison than there are beef cows, and there were also more deer than the state now has sheep and horses. They did not mention all the other animals that run wild, nor the geese, etc. that create manure. I am sure they did not spread their waste near streams? I am sure they had a way of getting water to drink well away from the streams.

In the Lewis and Clark journals it talks about seeing bison (buffalo) drinking in the river, then another herd pushing the first herd in so they went over the falls. There is comment that the stench of dead buffalo was so strong the captains walked on shore. There is an article about wildlife in Minnesota telling about dead animals out in rivers.

In my mind we really need to know what, when, where and how our Earth works, not the taxpayer is paying out money and cutting our own throats.

As a landowner, taxpayer, living in Milford Township, Brown County, Minnesota I am so thankful Brown County Commissioners killed the FREE well testing as you did, before we get another set of rules which are hard to understand and hard to follow.

Harley M. Vogel

New Ulm