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Letters

Climate change & Prop 3

Climate change is real. This year’s catastrophes are a mere preview of things to come, and a warning to quit procrastinating and demand action.

Scientific consensus states that anything above 350 ppm will permanently change our climate. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon are now over 392 ppm and rising.

Feed-back loops from methane releases are self-reinforcing. More methane means more heat, leading to more releases. Growing evidence indicates we have already triggered this disastrous pattern...

Features Robert Downes Her 2006 book, “Infidel,” detailed her childhood in the self-destructing nation of Somalia and her subsequent flight to the Netherlands at the age of 21 to escape an arranged marriage to an older man she despised.

Features Patrick Sullivan A 2,000-square-foot home in a subdivision outside of Traverse City and full-time jobs at nonprofit organizations didn’t add up to a satisfying life for Rolf and Mari von Walthausen.

Dining Rick Coates Finding authentic “fish and chips” is not always an easy task as there are lots of “posers” out there. The Little Traverse Inn Gastro Pub located on the Leelanau Peninsula between Glen Lake and Leland (at the former North location) offers a signature fish and chips dish prepared in the English tradition.

Dining Rick Coates Fish and ChipsFinding authentic “fish and chips” is not always an easy task as there are lots of “posers” out there. The Little Traverse Inn Gastro Pub located on the Leelanau Peninsula betwee

Features Erin Crowell In a rotted-out building in Suttons Bay, Jeff Bryant sifts through a pile of rusted desks, abandoned cabinets, broken windows and molding furniture. A grape vine, with violet berries still attached, snakes through the gaping hole in the ceiling into the collection of junk.

Features Patrick Sullivan Some environmentalists are alarmed after it was learned that thousands of gallons of flowback wastewater from two high-volume, deep-shale hydraulic fracking wells in Kalkaska County was sprayed on roads throughout the region to control dust.

Letters

Blowing in the wind

I am writing to support Proposition 3, which requires Michigan’s utilities to get 25% of their power from renewable sources by 2025. I don’t think that our utilities, in flatly rejecting Proposition 3, have fairly evaluated the considerable renewable resources that exist in our state.

Take wind, for example. If you look at a wind map of Michigan, (Google “Michigan 50 meter wind map”) you will see that just offshore Michigan is surrounded by winds that are classified as excellent to outstanding. Offshore wind power is rapidly being developed by Denmark, Germany and the U.K. The technology could readily be adapted to the coast of Michigan.

Very little will happen, however, unless we commit ourselves to a significant increase in the production of renewable electric power. There needs to be a market in order for investors and manufacturers to show interest. Proposition 3 will create that market...

Dining Rick Coates Petoskey is the latest to contribute to Michigan’s growing reputation as “The Great Beer State.” Just six weeks ago Beards Brewery opened on Howard Street in downtown. Later this week, a new venture, Petoskey Brewing, is expected to open in the Old Brewing Building on M-119 (around the corner from La Senorita).

Extra Northern Express CITY PARK GRILL: Moderate prices are married to the imaginative  cuisine of the ‘90s, with Petoskey’s best nightlife scene to boot.  Fresh pasta, steaks and seafood. 432 E. Lake, Petoskey,

Features Patrick Sullivan John Matthews knows he is an outsider and he knows he might be a long shot in the race for one of three Elk Rapids Village Council seats up for grabs this November.

Features Kristi Kates Petoskey is regionally famed for a lot of things, including its ‘million dollar sunsets,’ Gaslight Shopping District and the Odawa Casino Resort, to name a few. But now, one man and his ambitious small company are aiming to be the Next Big Thing out of P-town. Keith Schmidt and New Focus Creative are calling themselves “Northern Michigan’s only iPhone, iPad, and Android developer"...

Letters

Appalled by article

I am appalled that a guest opinion writer in the Northern Express would insinuate Kirsten Keilitz was not qualified for a probate judge job simply because she does not have children. The probate court does not only deal with children, but elder law, estates, etc.

Many of us who have children have not yet had to deal with aging parents as Kirsten has. (And let’s be honest, many judges with families are not involved with their own children.) She is both professionally and personally qualified for the job. She is smart, sensitive, rational, and trustworthy. She is the best candidate for judge.

Colleen Shannon • via email

Oil biz targeting Obama

Why are Republicans opposed to Obama’s plan to allow taxes on very high incomes to return to where they were during the Clinton years? Have they forgotten that when Clinton raised the top tax rate, what followed was arguably the best economy in American history...

Features Rick Coates Recently, I was asked what I thought about service in Northern Michigan and I responded, “it depends on the day.” One day I experience exceptional service, the next day I have a less than satisfactory experience. I wrote an article five years ago giving Northern Michigan a C-minus grade for its service industry.

Letters

Man without a plan

Mitt and Ann Romney have five sons who have never served in the military but Mitt wants to expand the military budget. Mitt was of age during Vietnam but he didn’t serve either.

Since the Bush era, we have been in two wars, for what? Iraq isn’t fixed and the Afghanistan people have been fighting since well before Jesus was born and it’s never going to end until they end it themselves. Most times, the reason for going to war is to enable the manufacturers of munitions (and now services) to make money.

The Republicans have made it their mission to replace Obama. Not only is he a Democrat but he’s black. When you overhear someone in a crowd of very well-dressed, deck boat shoe-wearing, bling-dripping Americans say that he and his wife are just “uppity n____s,” it does not bode well for our country.

I really do want to see more tax returns from the Romneys. I’m also wondering whether the reason he’s not providing these returns is that he would owe more to his church for his tithe.

I don’t believe he’s a bad man, but he believes that he and his party can continue to climb to the top of the ladder on the backs of people who are trying desperately how to figure out how to feed their children or purchase their medications. Jobs for any American who wants to work would certainly be a welcome change, but I haven’t heard a plan from Mitt...