Letters 04-06-15

April 5, 2015

Our simple rules: Keep your letter to 300 words or less, send no more than one per month, include your name/address/phone number, and agree to allow us to edit. That’s it. Email info@northernexpress.com and hit send!

Vote On The Boardman

The talk about restoring the Boardman River to its natural, free flowing state resurfaces. As long as culverts, bridges, roads, dams and other structures remain in, on, over, and around the river it will never be "natural." Besides the Michigan Department of Natural Resources declared it a natural river back in the 1970’s. A "wild and scenic river" they called it with the dams in place. Will they change where it now empties into West Bay back to where it was originally? Will they let ALL fish in West Bay migrate upstream as far as the want? What about the eels and carp?

A lot of questions remain after over $2 million has been spent studying removal. Another $9 million plus will be spent removing the next dams. Is this how you want you tax dollars spent? The commissioners have a conflict between good intentions and the desire to hold and use their power, the power we gave them and the power we would like shared with us. Let’s put dam removal to a vote (by more than seven people). We are only one unusual event away from another catastrophe. Shared responsibility. Taxation with representation.

Norbert Tutlis, Traverse City

Stop Sanctioned Discrimination

I woke up this morning from a bad dream that in my country, in the year 2015, the State of Indiana signed into law government sanctioned discrimination against someone’s sexual orientation. But then I realized it was true! Similar legislation is pending in Arkansas.

With the faith based adoption agency bill now pending in Lansing, will Michigan be the next to legislate discrimination? Will we all have to start carrying I.D. cards stating whether or not we are gay or straight? Will business owners be able to arbitrarily guess one’s sexual orientation, and choose not to provide services as they see fit? Who’s next?

Are we losing our minds?

Charles Willmott, Petoskey

Oppose Health Care Cuts

Governor Snyder’s 2016 budget proposal eliminates graduate medical education, cuts $36 million from small and rural hospitals and $11 million from rural hospitals that provide obstetrical care. Yet he claims that hospitals are an essential partner in the state’s move to improve Michigan’s health and wellness.

In the past year, 830,000 Michigan residents became insured through Insurance Exchange or Healthy Michigan. More physicians are needed to cover the increase patient load. Graduate medical education funding supports direct patient care and provides advance training for physicians in inpatient and emergency care in hospitals and family practice, pediatrics and obstetrics in outpatient clinics. This funding is crucial to recruiting and retaining practiced physicians to our communities.

Our rural hospitals provide critical services such as emergency, and obstetrical care to expectant mothers, elders, indigent,etc. Many of these residents live in remote areas where there is no other access to health care. Cutting millions from the hospital access pool could result in closure of hospitals, which occurred in Cheboygan.

Northern Lower Michigan has 9 birthing hospitals and one neo-natal unit in a 21 county (11,000 square mile) area. Travel can be an hour for expectant mothers and several hours for high-risk pregnancies. Hospitals lose money for delivering babies as Medicaid pays less than it costs to staff obstetrics. Cutting $11

million from these hospitals could result in closing the obstetrical departments. Expectant mothers would then have to travel further, jeopardizing mother and child. The health and wellness of our residents is a non-partisan issue. Call your state legislators and speak up against these health care cuts to our hospitals.

Catherine Hunter, Boyne City

No To Sales Tax Jump

Were being asked to approve a one cent increase in the sales tax for the purpose of fixing our roads. But wait, one cent is a 16 percent increase that’s tough on the poor and middle class. And only 40 percent will go to fix roads? And 60 percent will go to the state coffers for whatever pet projects the politicians want? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

Randy Bond, Beulah

Scarlet Letters In a stated effort to protect religious freedom, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has signed a bill that allows business owners with strongly held religious beliefs to refuse service to gays and lesbians. I would like to suggest some additional refinements to this bill:

1. To help business owners determine who is homosexual, the bill should mandate the wearing of a red letter G or L on the outer garments of all gay and lesbian patrons.

2. Since there are many other religious infringements to consider, I would suggest the following additions:

a. The red letter A for adulterers

b. The red letter I for infidels

c. The red letter B for blasphemers

d. The red letter D for divorced persons

3. Since at this point everyone will be wearing at least one of those red letters, we could simplify the bill by mandating that everyone must wear the red letter H for human.

All business owners should then, under this bill, in order to protect their religious freedom, refuse service to everyone.

Bob Ross, Pellston

Vote No

Why are businesses getting huge tax cuts while other programs are being slashed? The Center for Michigan reported in 2013-2014 that the taxes paid by all Michigan businesses amounted to only 9 percent of the state’s income. Additionally, last year businesses received a huge tax cut eliminating personal property taxes. Over the last ten years local revenue sharing was cut by 31 percent, funding for colleges and universities cut by 29 percent, K-12 education cut by 16 percent, transportation cut by 15 percent.

Does it have anything to do with lobbyists carrying satchels of money for campaigns? Amazingly, now the Republican legislators decided we need to fund these necessary programs, but they want the rest of us to pay for it with an increase in state sales tax. Unfair! Will promised education dollars be available to K-12 schools, colleges and universities, or to fund more privately managed, forprofit charter and cyber schools? The cap on the number of charter schools was lifted. Whose roads will be repaired? When? Which municipalities will get funding? Who decides? Big money donors?

Vote no on Proposal 1. Think! There are too many unanswered questions and and potential for massive corruption.

Beverly Christensen, Cedar