Election season is in the air. I was saddened to read the most recent letter from Freeborn County Commissioner Dan Belshan, where he runs his typical 11th-hour election tirade play. As he often does in his official role as a county commissioner, he reaches into his old bag of tricks and thrashes out against those around him, this time also including the clean water efforts of the Shell Rock River Watershed District. In recent years, Commissioner Belshan has repeatedly used his pulpit in an attempt to undermine the positive impact the watershed has had on our community and our environment. In response to these few pockets of negativity, our local community has rallied around the positive impacts from the district-wide clean water projects and, especially, the ongoing Fountain Lake restoration/dredging project.  Through the support and investment of our community, the district has brought in nearly $32 million in outside leveraged funds. Some people like to build things and others thrive on trying to tear them down. I am proud of the direction our community has taken to build something positive.  Commissioner Belshan would do well to follow the lead of our community and not focus on tearing things down.

Gary Pestorious

chairman

Shell Rock River Watershed District Board of Managers