Civics: the study of responsibilities, citizenship

Dear Editor:
Recently, I became convinced that many of us are in need of a course (or a refresher) in civics.  Having been unable to find out who the school board members were from the school website (which I’ve since found), I called the public library. After the recipient of the call checked with two others, I was given this answer, “We don’t know, and if we did know we would not tell you because it is private information.”
Though I said nothing, my thought was these are public elected officials. They work for us. This is not private information. And yet, I do think that we have somewhat operated along those lines for years. We (if we are good citizens) try to research who the best candidates are and then vote for them. Then, we hope that they will do a good job for their term of office, and we go about our own lives.
If anything, I hope the last few months have shown us that if we are going to keep the liberties and freedoms our wonderful country has provided, then we are going to have to get involved. We need to pay attention to what is happening at school board, city council, and county commissioner meetings.  We need to keep an eye on the Unicameral, the House, and the Senate. We need to make our opinions known. Yes, we think about our rights, but do we fulfill our responsibilities?  
Freedom comes at a cost. For many of our veterans, they gave their all. Will we do what we can do to keep the torch of freedom burning brightly in our land? Will we stand for truth — at great cost? Will we stand for truth even at a little cost? Will we vow to quit being part of the silent majority? We must do this – for our children and grandchildren. Remember – if we are not doing something to be part of the solution, we are part of the problem. Let’s not sleep walk through these next few months and wake up too late. Determine to make your voice heard.
Iris Bergen,
Aurora

Spreading lies in Hamilton County
Dear Editor:
Sad shame once again as the racists and bigots of Hamilton County come out to spread lies about the health measures and Critical Race Theory, and of course the Aurora News-Register is more than happy to spread the racist and bigoted lies, and pastor bearing false witness.  
Of course when the ANR publishes editorial cartoons calling all immigrants criminals and rapists and other racist and bigoted editorials from the Hastings Tribune, it is no surprise it continues spreading that hate in its articles as well.
Clive Baker