Ask The Answer Person: "Who has served in the military who is now on the Decorah City Council?

(Julie e-mails: "Who has served in the military who is now on the Decorah City Council?"):

The Answer Person says: "Checking with people at Decorah City Hall, the answer seems to be that none of the seven members of the Decorah City Council are veterans.

This question, of course, has surfaced in the wake of the city council vote to eliminate flying the American flag  on two holidays recognizing the contributions of veterans--a vote that was quickly reversed three days later in the wake of outrage by veterans.

The danger in answering this question is that people will just grumble about the city council but do nothing else.  It's important to remember that city council members are asked all the time to cast votes involving areas they do not have personal experience with--for instance, none of the Decorah City Council members have run a grocery store, but they'll be asked May 6th to decide whether to give tax money to a developer to bring Hy-Vee to town.

City council members are volunteers who give their time to help city government run.  Instead of complaining that none of them served in the Marines, we should be inviting them to sit down with people who have, or inviting them to a dinner at the VFW Hall (at their expense!)

It's now become common in politics to think in terms of 'us' versus 'them.'  We can be better than that in Decorah.  Offer to buy a cup of coffee for a Decorah City Council member to share your experience in the military and you'll help prevent another vote to reduce the number days American flags are flown for veterans observances."