Saturday's Emmet County town meeting with area legislators at the Estherville Public Library Community Room seemed just like another ho-hum, politics-as-usual session.
And then talk turned to a possible marriage amendment to the state constitution spurred by last year's Iowa Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage and changes to the state's right-to-work law. Both issues drew significant debate.
Representative Marcie Frevert said the voters in November could vote for a constitutional convention to decide a marriage amendment to the state constitution.
Pastor Jerry Miller of First Baptist Church in Bancroft said Democratic leadership - House Speaker Pat Murphy and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal -have already gone on record that they would make sure the marriage amendment didn't even come up.
"That's dishonest, mam," Miller said to Frevert. "I've got to call you on it."
Frevert said he was entitled to his opinion.
"I think Gronstal is right and we should deep-six this," said Emmet County Democratic Chair John Nelson.
"It's biblical. It's not a civil right," retorted Wendell Steven of Fenton and member of Love Iowa which is pushing for heterosexual-only marriage.
John Wittneben of Estherville asked why anyone should be bothered if a same-sex couple decide to get married.
"A marriage is between a man and a woman," Steven said.
Steven later broached the subject of attempts by unions to abrogate the state's right-to-work law.
"There's no bills to repeal the right-to-work law," said Kibbie, noting other labor bills in the hopper that deal with fair share, employees' choice of a doctor and collective bargaining.
Kibbie said that for years Minnesota has had in place the same bills now under consideration in Iowa. He noted Iowa is a low-wage state.
"I don't think the right to work we have in our state helps Estherville," Kibbie said.
Kibbie and Steven debated the relative merits of unions in Iowa.
"In northwest Iowa we don't have many unions," Kibbie said. "Somehow, some way, we've got to find a way for folks to make a living."
Frevert said Iowa college graduates have the highest debt load of any students in the nation. That's why many go to other states for higher wages, she said.
And Kibbie said 50-60 years ago the prevailing wage in Estherville was higher than it is now. With Smithfield looking at closing its packing plant and moving to Mexico, said Kibbie, "Pretty soon Iowa's going to be a place that used to be - that used to process livestock."
"No one forces anyone to join a union. That is the stereotype. It's based on a majority of those employees," said Preston DeBoer of Hartley, staff representative for Iowa Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.
DeBoer said in fact that statistics show that where the standard of living is higher people tend to stay longer.
"I worked at the packing plant and we got a pretty good wage," admitted Don Koons of Estherville. "Unless you've worked in a union, you've got a lot of misconceptions."
Koons, who retired when Morrell's closed, said the company reneged on the health insurance benefits it had promised. "I had it for four years before our judicial system stepped in," Koons said. "Every time we had a contract negotiation you know who benefitted, the non-union workers in town. This town, when you drive down Main Street, it looks like Fenton," Koons said.
The next Emmet County town meeting will be 9 a.m. Saturday, March 6.
