Letters

Dec. 26, 2010

From: colleenzan@gmail.com
Subject: letters_12_27
Date: January 3, 2011 8:29:30 AM EST
To: lynn@northernexpress.com

Inhumane treatment
I am responding to George Barnette’s comment on Don Strzynski’s letter
to the editor about the deportation of Liz Larios (Letters 12/20).
Mr. Barnette misses the point entirely; it is in regard to the
egregious treatment that the involved individuals received. Whether or
not they were citizens, they deserved humane treatment. Yes the Jews
in Germany were citizens, and yes they were stripped of their
citizenship and possessions but they were also “deported” to camps
like Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland.
The subjects of the illegal immigrant article were also deported to
border towns that may as well have been Auschwitz. I believe that Mr.
Strzynski being a Polish American probably has a little better
understanding of Nazi Germany than the “average” American. We live in
a country that promotes freedom and democracy, yet we tolerate these
practices and many more atrocities like water boarding.
We are a land of immigrants, a country that is a melting pot. Mr.
Barnette could have also have been the product of illegals or even
have a trace of Latino blood.
America has developed an elitist attitude that we are the land of the
chosen people and that people from other countries are not worthy to
live in the U.S. The problem is not illegals, the problem is our
country’s restrictive immigration policy. Why do people from all over
the world want to live here? It’s because America is supposed to be
the land of opportunity and freedom, but is it really?
Perhaps Mr. Barnette would be surprised if he knew the number of
illegals from Eastern Europe who left to escape the violation of their
human rights. Are they okay, just because they are not Latino?
Whether or not we want to admit it, we are a country of bigots. We
hated black America and it took years upon years for them to gain the
human rights that we stole from them. Now we have a black American for
a president and we have to find another group to hate, and presto,
it’s Latinos. It’s kind of like the Jews of Nazi Germany. We disguise
our bigotry in dollars and cents and how it could affect our standard
of living.
By the way, I do know Mr. Strzynski and he has lived in the west,
California to be exact.

Claire Ahearne • TC

Outrageous action
After reading your article on Liz Larios’ deportation, I was outraged.
I think this article should be forwarded to 60 Minutes or some
national media outlet; then maybe something would be done about these
Gestapo tactics being used by the immigration and customs enforcement
agents.

Dean Johnson • via email

A Northern Michigan girl
I have to respond to George Barnette who clearly doesn’t understand
the ongoing responses we of Northern Michigan are having to the
“abduction” of one of our own.
Liz Larios was brought to the U.S. by her parents when she was young.
She went to school in Northern Michigan, English-speaking schools. She
graduated and is engaged to be married to a local man. She knows no
Spanish and was literally abducted from her front yard and transported
to somewhere in Mexico. Barely with clothes on her back.
The point is we DO NOT live in a border state or near one or anywhere
close to the western part of the United States. This young lady was
brought here not by her own will but by parents that wanted to give
her a better life. She was raised American and felt American. She is
not someone sneaking over our border and bringing drugs in, stealing
cars, developing American hate gangs. She was a Northern Michigan girl
that happened to have her name pop up in a database that said she did
not have the right papers.
Mr. Barnette, please get the info to what you are writing before you
go spewing off about Nevada that is 2,000 miles away from Northern
Michigan. No, most of us haven’t spent 40 years out West seeing what
is happening with the illegal problem, but we live here and it scares
us to think the government is doing this to innocent people instead of
going after the drug lords, gangbangers and true illegals that are
trying to bring down America.

Joe Deater • via email

Be sure to drive 3 mph...
On November 6 at 10:30 a.m. we were on a leisurely drive to Traverse
City to attend our grandson’s soccer game. We had left our home in the
Indian River area, making stops at our favorite shops along the way on
this beautiful, sunny morning. The roads were mainly dry with very
occasional wet spots with the temperature above freezing and the other
vehicles on the roads traveling, as were we, at the posted speeds.
My husband was driving south on US 31 and came to a full stop at the
light in Elk Rapids. When it turned green my husband began to
accelerate the car at an easy pace. He had reached about 20 mph, when,
as we were crossing the bridge just south of the light, our rear
wheels spun out to the right on what appeared to be just another wet
patch due to melted snow. The tires then apparently caught on dry
pavement and our vehicle was propelled across the oncoming lane into
the guard rail on the opposite side of the road and we were
simultaneously hit by another vehicle traveling north.
Our vehicle had rear wheel drive and it is our understanding that this
may have contributed to the accident.
We were told by the officer who came to the scene and the magistrate
in Antrim County where we later protested the ticket, that my husband
was at fault for “traveling too fast for conditions” and that he was
responsible for keeping his vehicle under control.
The fact that the area appeared wet but was actually icy was not
disputed. The fact that the road conditions all along the drive from
Petoskey to Traverse City were dry in general with very occasional wet
areas was not disputed. The fact that our vehicle spun out on ice,
moving at 20 miles per hour was not disputed. The probability that the
rear tires grabbed dry pavement after sliding and propelled the car
across the opposite lane was not disputed.
My husband was told that he should have anticipated that the area was
icy and maintained his speed at 10 miles per hour or even 3 miles per
hour until he crossed it. He was also told that he should have known
his vehicle well enough to anticipate the spin-out although this was a
first time experience.
So, beware: Drivers in Antrim County are apparently responsible for
all accidents due to weather conditions and should maintain a speed of
10 mph or less in anticipation of possible spin-outs on roads that are
not completely dry.
I have considered this many times on my long work commutes on snow and
ice covered roads since the accident, contemplating what it would be
like for the drivers of other vehicles if I maintained a speed of 3
mph. Assuredly, that will be our speed any time we leave that light in
Elk Rapids, no matter the weather conditions, until we are safely
across the bridge. You might want to do the same.

Veronica Jung • Afton