March 28, 2024

Letters 06-15-2015

June 12, 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!

Military In Schools

Regarding Christine Minervini’s column, I have an issue with the idea that the military is a bad influence in our schools. What world do you live in? My kids were receiving Visa card applications before they received diplomas. Maybe colleges and universities should not receive their information from the schools; or sports teams and their recruiting?

I believe the military still requires parents’ approval to enlist in their programs. If you want to shield children from life, move off grid. The schools have uniformed law enforcement patrolling the campuses with armed weapons. I have no issue with a smartly dressed recruiter in any school. That 2005 Department of Defense study should include college campuses for the same age group; we live in a world where evil affects everyone! Proud to have served,

Wayne Braden, Traverse City

Pristine Freshwater Is Ours

Seeing the "Acme Debate Rages" convinced me to grab a copy to take home to read in the privacy of my Williamsburg rental.

Why don’t we simply admit our local government(s) have been taken, again, by such Emerald City developers?

I attended (mid 50s) elementary and graduated (late 60s) high school here. I moved out of state only to return two years later to my first love, the freshwaters of the Great Lakes.

Why should I find economic pity for said developers, governmental councils and businesses because they, perhaps, have not lived here long enough to experienced the "weather" of this region as long as we have? Granted, we all continue living here because it is temperate yet I can also remember hard winters with intense blizzards.

I applaud NMEAC, Greg Reisig, Michael Kelley and everyone doing this hard and heartfelt work trying to keep our existing lands, groundwater tables, and surface waters as pristine as possible"¦now, rather than waiting for tomorrow’s bad news or the long after-the-fact debate when it really will be too late. Ironically, working seven months in southern Utah taught me that freshwater is far more important than most of us care to realize or understand.

When last November’s complaints erupted about (another) winter being the worst ever, I liked to ask how long they have lived up here.

Sherry Hummel, Williamsburg

Diversity And Soccer

Thomas Kachadurian’s "Sunday in the Park" seems to be trying to delineate contrasts between the well-groomed and financed Traverse City Little Leaguers and soccerplaying "migrant workers" who both use Bowers Harbor Park’s fields.

While waxing sentimental about his own experience as the descendent of an Armenian immigrant, he manages to mischaracterize those under his scrutiny on the soccer pitch. His comments contribute to commonlyheld but skewed perspectives on latinos, as well as the "pale northerners" who allegedly "struggle" with the game.

I am one of several professional soccer referees who officiate the hispanic league games according to FIFA rules. These are not impromptu gatherings of laborers and their picnicking families, but an organized league of community members with deep knowledge, skill, and love of the beautiful game.

Mr. Kachadurian’s statement about "pale northerners" echoes the persistent "white men can’t jump" bias, based on the notion that brown people, while lower on the intellectual and socioeconomic ladder, are natural athletes. In fact, at least half of the soccer players in this competitive, eightteam league are non-Latino. They include former high school stars; some played college and semi-pro level. Players also come from such diverse places as Ireland, Trinidad, the Netherlands, and Morocco. Adult competitive soccer players in the Traverse area are welcome.

The League did indeed begin about a dozen years ago as a recreational Sunday pastime for migrant workers in Leelanau County; it has since expanded to become more formal and inclusive. Over time, many former migrants have "settled out" to become year-round Michigan residents. They are as northern as you and me. They own restaurants, grocery stores, landscaping businesses. The hispanic league name honors its history and our communities’ enduring connections through soccer.

F. Josephine Arrowood, Cedar

It’s All About The Water

The Great Lakes are not a renewable resource. They are the product of glacial melt over 10,000 years ago.

With the drought and depleted groundwater in California and the Ogallala Aquifer running out, don’t you think we should have more concern about the condition and protection of this valuable resource? We cannot take our water for granted.

Marc Bierkens, professor of hydrology at Utrecht, did a global study of groundwater takings in 2010. He estimates if water takings in the Great Lakes are similar to global takings, the Great Lakes could be dry in 80 years.

With global needs increasing and fresh water sources decreasing, do you really think we are immune to the water worries of the world?

Right now Michigan’s greatest threat is the aging Enbridge Pipeline 5 under the Straits of Mackinaw. While it does nothing to help our energy needs, this 62-year-old pipeline is a disaster waiting to happen.

We should also be concerned about erosion, wetland fill, stormwater run-off and the amount of water and chemicals used in hydraulic fracking; they all contaminate and destroy.

We urgently need to view water with new eyes, realize its limits and take urgent action to protect this precious resource. It is up to all of us.

Ann Rogers, Traverse City

Very special thanks to the staff at Venus in Traverse City for makeup and hair for our cover model. Thanks to Ellas for providing sunglasses.

Cover photo by Michael Poehlman Photography

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