Features With gas prices above $4 a gallon this summer, Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation (TART) Trails is offering a solution that will make it possible for you to keep your car in the garage. Leave your keys at home and get your bike tuned up, your tennis shoes laced, or buy a BATA pass in preparation for Smart Commute Week from June 2-6.
“The goal of Smart Commute Week is to get folks to consider alternative ways to get around town,” says event organizer Missy Luyk. “Smart commuting includes bicycling, walking, carpooling or taking BATA. We want to promote alternative transportation and educate area residents of the benefits of a smart commute.”

Features Call it the jewel in Michigan’s bike trail crown: On June 7, the Top of Michigan Trails Council will dedicate a new 62-mile trail that will link Gaylord, Cheboygan and Mackinaw City.
The crushed stone trail is the longest contiguous rail trail in Michigan’s nearly 1,400 mile trail system.

Region Watch What to do when
the oil runs out?
As many as 1,000 participants are expected to attend “The Sustainability Conference on Peak Oil and Climate Change” this weekend in Grand Rapids.
The coming crisis in the oil supply is one of three key topics to be covered at a conference bringing together national experts on “peak oil,” climate change and an environmentally-friendly and sustainable economy.
The conference is scheduled for Friday, May 30, through Sunday, June 1, at the Calvin College Fine Arts Center.
Many experts believe that the worldwide production of oil has “peaked” and that the coming decades will bring a decline in the amount of available oil, leading to a global economic crisis unless steps are taken to promote conservation and sustainable local economies.

Dining ACME
Bayview Inn
The Grille @ Grand Traverse Resort Golf Club

ALANSON/PELLSTON/ST.IGNACE/WALLOON LK.
Douglas Lake Bar
& Steakhouse
Driftwood Restaurant
Hidden River Rainbow Room
Lauer’s Between Friends
Maple Ridge
The Inn Between
Walloon Lake Inn

ALDEN
Alden Bar & Grille
The Wild Onion

BAY HARBOR
Cabana Bar@ The Inn
at Bay Harbor
Galley Gourmet Espresso Cafe
Knot Just A Bar
Latitude Restaurant
Sagamore’s South American Room @ The Inn/Bay Harbor

Letters Lyme & journalism
For those of us watching as the pablum of corporate journalism leaves readers in the dark about government, society and everyday life, Anne Stanton’s story on Lyme disease was a brilliant and hopeful study on not only the disease and its ramifications, but also a sign that there are still real journalists writing about subjects that matter.
Anne’s story clearly explained the issues involved in a complex topic and broke new ground by establishing the fact that the disease is a problem in Northern Michigan. Describing the difficulties faced by the victims and the medical community was insightful and fair reporting.
It’s an especially sad story because it involves people we know; and it’s an especially heartening story because it shed some light in the darkness by giving new hope to people who found themselves in especially difficult circumstances.

Joe Mielke • Kingsley

Pets also affected
I was not surprised to see the faces of several of my clients on the cover of this last issue (May 12-18). I have heard their stories and that of many others living with Lyme disease.
I care for their pets who are at an even greater risk of contracting Lyme disease. When I first moved here, 10 years ago from Florida, I was told by several area veterinarians that we don’t have Lyme disease in this area. I asked them how many dogs they had tested for the disease, and the answer was always none.
Obviously, if you are not looking for and testing for a disease, you will not find it. Lyme disease carrying ticks are here in Northern Michigan and a real threat to the people and pets who live here.
The heartworm test we use at our hospital also tests for Lyme disease. We routinely find dogs with antibodies to Lyme disease, some with symptoms and some without.
Thank you for your article; it is my hope it will increase the awareness to this disease, and to its prevention, which is by far the better choice than treatment.
I encourage pet parents to have their dogs vaccinated for Lyme disease; the vaccine is safe and very effective. Monthly flea and tick preventive is also very useful to protect pets and the people they live with. I often hear that my dog is not at risk because of this or that. The people you interviewed probably thought they were not at much of a risk either. Ticks can transmit many nasty and fatal diseases.
Thanks to Northern Express for transmitting knowledge and information to our community.

R. Craig Brakeman, DVM • TC

Letters Life with Lyme disease
This is to express my appreciation for the wonderful informative article on the frustration of individuals living with Lyme’s disease (May 12 by Anne Stanton).
In 1995 I came down with Lyme Disease and had a terrible time getting it diagnosed. It started with a very painful rash affecting first my ankles, then quickly spread up to my knees and was followed the next morning with flu-like symptoms.
I had to have my daughter drive me to Urgent Care where the doctor treated me with cortisone drugs. The rash and fever went away but joint pain increased and spread. I also witnessed episodes of dizziness and loss of hearing.
My doctor’s office tested me for rheumatoid arthritis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, etc., and gave me drugs that did nothing.
Finally, I was lucky to have a carpool member with family out East suggest I might have Lyme’s disease. Because I was a library media specialist, I did some research and found I had 20 some symptoms out of 60 or so listed. My doctor didn’t agree with the diagnosis, but after having negative results on all the tests, he was willing to prescribe 21 days of tetracycline and my symptoms went away. This was done within 30 days of the onslaught of the disease and so I have completely recovered. But, it was just luck.
I wasn’t tested for Lyme because my doctor felt the tests were inconclusive.
Since then, I have tried to raise awareness that Lyme does exist in this area but most medical personnel remain skeptical. When discussing the vaccine for my dog with the vet, she even said it didn’t exist in this area until I told her of my experience. Your article was so well researched and written, I am sure that it will be helpful in raising awareness for all in this community. Again, thank you.

Barb Berry • via email

A disaster for
Michigan‘s water future
The Great Lakes Compact adoption has passed the Michigan House and Senate, but it remains tie-barred to enactment of water legislation to implement it and set standards for Michigan’s future.
The Senate version, Substitute SB 860a and SB 212, is a disaster for Michigan’s water future, legalizing 25% of the flow of streams to be diminished by groundwater withdrawals from Michigan; a massive amount of water. It also continues to legalize “fish reductions” when fish, like water, are property of the state, a public resource held in public trust to be protected and managed for benefit of citizens.
The House version is a little better, but still not satisfactory, because of these two primary issues, and because there is little public notice, opportunity for hearings, or comment on water withdrawals in Michigan.
It is URGENT that everyone who can contact Senator Birkholz and Rep. Rebekah Warren, telling them to not compromise these principles and to not adopt legislation until these principles have been addressed.
Neither the Senate or House version should be adopted until this occurs.
Please oppose Senate and demand additions that strengthen the House version before it passes.
-- Rep. Rebekah Warren, 517-373-2577
-- Sen. Patricia Birkholz,
517-373-3447
-- Sen. Michelle McManus,
517-373-1725
-- Sen. Jason Allen, 517-373-2413
-- Rep. Howard Walker, 517-373-1766
--Rep. David Palsrok, 517-373-0825

Jim Olson • TC
(Jim Olson is an attorney specializing in the defense of environmental resources.)

Who‘s to blame?

Features Price of gas got your summer boating plans down? Maybe it’s time to switch to a sailboat. Those in the market can find their dreams fulfilled at Sailsport Marine’s new showroom in Traverse City.
After 16 years at their location off of West Bay Shore, Sailsport Marine opened its new building at 13988 S. Robinson Road, just off M-72. The new location has almost doubled their showroom and shop space and added ceiling height for displaying sailboats fully rigged.

Letters Double standard
Quite interesting, the North Carolina Republican Party is airing attack ads on two Democrats who are running for office because they support Barack Obama, who went to Reverend Wright‘s church. Apparently, Wright‘s sermons saying that God condemns America for its acts and punished America in the 9/11 attacks are very radical.
Does anyone recall the same outrage when Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition, talked about 9/11? He stated: “Americans have allowed rampant secularism, the occult, permitted abortions, and legislated prayer out of our schools. So God Almighty is lifting his protection from us.“ The acceptance of homosexuality, Robertson says, could result in hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist’s bombs, and possibly a meteor striking the earth.
Please remind me if the Republican Party made a similar outcry about Jerry Falwell. “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians, ... the ACLU, People For the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this [terrorist attack] happen.‘“
Jerry Falwell also said that AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals.
In fairness to the above preachers, they based their points of view on an early prophetic worldview which explains suffering as punishment for sin. Since all three are using same prophetic world view, why is only Rev. Wright being attacked by the Republicans? Why hasn’t the media gone after Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell like it has about Reverend Wright?
Of course, we can explain the attack ads by the North Carolina Republican Party by the mastermind of wedge issues, Karl Rove, an agnostic, who has successfully used divisive issue to motivate the Christian conservatives to vote for their candidate. Perhaps the Republican Party uses a double standard!

Ronald Marshall • Petoskey

Letters Republicans Gone Wild
The greatest myth perpetrated this election cycle is that the nasty, bitter Democratic presidential campaign will leave the party divided this fall. Sure, supporters of the losing candidate will be angry and disappointed and may sulk a bit, but any notion they will go for Sen. John McCain in November is Republican fantasyland.
When the Democrats leave Denver in August, their presidential nominee will have a double-digit lead and the “battle” over lapel pins and Bosnian snipers won’t even be a blip on the voter radar honed in on Iraq, the economy and eight years of Republicans Gone Wild.
No matter how many times McCain says “my friends,” he will have few of them among general election voters when they give unbridled attention to his position on issues they care about.
Soaring gas prices, stagnant wages and the housing collapse have our economy in tatters, and McCain concedes this isn’t his strong suit. Our failing economy is one of the casualties of the Iraq War that McCain continues to strongly support. At long last, the media are beginning to ask some hard questions about the cost of the war.
As has been pointed out numerous times, Iraq is the first major war that this country has fought by transferring the entire cost to future generations through government debt. President Bush never proposed raising taxes to pay for the war. Worse, in 2003 he substantially cut taxes, unprecedented in war time.
Expect more of the same from a McCain administration. McCain has endorsed tax cuts that would cost more than $300 billion a year, including reduction of the corporate income tax from 34% to 25%. And he wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, another $110 billion.
A constant worry to families across America is our deteriorating health care system where rising costs leave nearly 50 million with no insurance coverage and millions more underinsured. The current system cherry-picks the healthy and tells those with chronic diseases to get lost.
McCain says he would give people with preexisting conditions “an extra tax credit” to help pay for insurance funded by savings in the Medicaid program. Where does McCain think the Medicaid savings will come from? Does he mean cutting benefits to poor people who depend on Medicaid for health care? Or from middle-class families who rely on Medicaid to pay for nursing home care?
Real issues like these keep people awake at night, and only the Democrats offer real solutions. I think I’m really going to enjoy the fall campaign.

Victor Kamber • via email

Letters History of a disaster
Anyone who has ever canoed, fished or hiked in the Jordan River Valley knows it is one of the last pristine wild areas in Northern Michigan.  The proposed deep-injection wells in Alba could threaten to change that.
Cement kiln dust (CKD), when mixed with water, becomes a toxic,  bleach-like soup, releasing large amounts of mercury, arsenic and other contaminants.  The State, DEQ, and developers have known for over 20 years that ground water was mixing with CKD from the former Penn-Dixie cement plant and leaching its poisons into Little Traverse Bay.  Their solution?  Build luxury homes and a golf course over the piles and hope no one would notice.  CMS Energy was one of the developing partners.
The toxic leachates entered Little Traverse Bay.  East Park was closed.  The EPA, in 2005, ordered CMS to isolate, contain or remove the CKD piles to eliminate groundwater contamination.  Such containment would necessitate digging up the golf course.  CMS says it‘s too expensive.  Their solution?  Allow the groundwater to become contaminated, then collect a small percentage of it (the rest is still flowing into the bay), transport it to Alba, a community with far fewer economic resources, and once again bury the problem.  That‘s 135,000 gallons shipped by tanker trucks on hilly country roads every day for the next 10-20 years -- the potential for transport problems are reason enough to oppose the well.
And what if the leachate doesn‘t stay buried?  These wells have an 8% malfunction rate.  When a deep-injection well in Romulus, MI failed, the company responsible for its maintenance vanished, leaving the community to clean up the mess.
Do we want to risk poisoning the Jordan River or the drinking water of area residents?  Do we want to continue to allow leachate to flow into Little Traverse Bay?  The CKD piles should be removed, not dumped in another community, possibly contaminating another watershed.  Join with Friends of the Jordan and Star Township in opposing the deep-injection wells and protect our water.

          Anne Zukowski • Charlevoix

Rising food costs
How crazy our policy makers have become.  Food costs as well as other commodities across the spectrum have gone through the roof.  Starting in large part with our government‘s effort to appease the global warming crowd and burn corn ethanol in fuel tanks.  
The existence of global warming and certainly that which is man-made is highly debatable, but that’s another topic.  This ludicrous policy, by the law of supply and demand, has raised the cost of  basic food staples this country and others need to survive.  Without such, malnutrition, starvation, and the political unrest that follows shakes the foundation of governments and the world at large. The recent food riots in Egypt and elsewhere have only begun to surface.  We need to reverse this absurd policy immediately.   
Energy is readily available if those who want our country to be back in the Stone Age would allow many of the world’s great companies to go get it and put people back to work.  Those radical elements of our society that have prevented us from doing so dislike nearly all of our realistic options.  They don‘t like oil.  The don‘t like coal.  They don‘t like the incredibly clean nuclear.  They don‘t even like wind farms off the coast of one of their favorite spokesmen, the great senator from Massacheusetts, Mr. Ted Kennedy.  
To those who believe in such grave policy, please stop blaming big oil for rising fuel costs.  Don‘t blame your local grocer for rising food costs.  When the food riots become common and potentially spread throughout much of the world, look into a mirror and reflect as to who is truly to blame.  Seven dollar per pound burger is just around the corner. 

                        Brian Spencer • TC 

Features Ojoba Drums

Art Kinney of Unity Fair Trade Marketplace in downtown Traverse City is ready to rumble with a handmade Ojoba drum from the west African country of Ghana. Made of tweneboa hardwood, the craftpersons who make these drums plant a new tree for every one that is harvested. The result? A musical instrument from a renewable resource that supports indigenous people and a cultural tradition. Prices range from $100 to $275.

Letters Get informed
In their respective letters, Lisa Mai Shoemaker (“So childish,” April 7) and Gary Woodhams (“Cut the crap,” April 14) both show a detrimental level of cynicism toward our political process.
In her letter, Ms. Shoemaker fancies herself an “independent” and labels those who see a difference between Republicans and Democrats as “childish.” She tells readers that “nobody gives a damn” about their opinions.
A week later, Mr. Woodhams follows suit by openly mocking anyone who “swear[s] total allegiance to any political party” and even finds political jokes from coworkers insufferable.
Ms. Shoemaker laments that there are no “perfect” candidates and that no party can claim to have any “brains.” For his part, Mr. Woodhams rejects candidates Obama, Clinton, and McCain as being equally unsatisfactory.
In other words, Mr. Woodhams and Ms. Shoemaker would like us to think that they are somehow above the fray of politics, as if it were a pursuit only for simpletons and knuckle-draggers of the worst kind.
It is precisely this type of cynicism that degrades our political discourse instead of elevating it and, to borrow a phrase from Ms. Shoemaker, “makes me want to ralf.”
Cynicism of this kind is merely a transparent stand-in for doing actual political homework, and it prevents one from making an informed decision come election time.
The truth is our choices in the election booth do matter, and in this election cycle there is a lot at stake. Economic and foreign policy decisions, which profoundly affect us all, don’t just sprout out of the ground; they are made by the people we choose to make them, which means that now is not the time to plug our ears and scream, as Ms. Shoemaker would have us do, solely to dodge our civic responsibilities or to avoid “offensive” political commentary.
The president wields an enormous amount of power and influence. It is our job to pick one that will use it in the right way, and, despite what Mr. Woodhams would have us believe, there are significant ideological differences in the candidates. Furthermore, if Mr. Woodhams is right that lobbyists and special interests control Washington, it is only because we the people collectively sit back, throw up our hands, and let them.
An uninformed, cynical citizenry allows good politicians but bad leaders to seize the reigns of power. In the last few years, we have seen and felt the consequences of electing these types of people. But don’t blame it on them. We put them there.

Chip Corwin • Bellaire

Letters Cut the crap
I enjoyed reading Lisa Mai Shoemaker’s letter in the April 7 Northern Express (“So Childish”) and agree that the “Democrat/Republican crap” should just STOP. The partisanship has reached a ridiculous level.
I’m sick of receiving emails from friends/coworkers with political jokes that are word-for-word the same except for “Bush” appearing as one punch line and “Hillary” appearing as the next. Same joke, different parties/candidates/elected official.
If you honestly swear total allegiance to either political party, I have a bridge to sell you over the Boardman River. Both parties have made a mess of this country and neither party speaks for the average voter. Corporations, the rich, lobbyists and special interest groups have highjacked the political system and the rest of us are getting the shaft.
There may come a day when talk radio hosts, newspaper editorials and columnists and internet bloggers point out the problems with the behavior of both parties in an even-handed manner, but don’t hold your breath waiting for it.
To illustrate how broken the system has become, consider how much time, effort and money has been spent to determine the next president, and the best they can come up with are Obama, Clinton and McCain?

Gary Woodhams • TC

McCain‘s poor record
Your article about John McCain left out some important things about his history and thoughts about war. For if he was critical about Vietnam why can he flip-flop about Iraq? I respect the fact that he went to answer his country‘s need as a brave solder, but solders do not make leaders, only followers, and always cheer for their use of military might even when they‘re dead wrong about why it‘s needed.
Further, he is also a flip-flopper about torture, economics, ethics, lobbyist monies, and worse, he has a criminal past in being one of the Keating Five, who cheated the American taxpayer out of $1.4 trillion in the ‘80s. Why isn’t the press covering some of his “bad decisions,” as he put it, past screw-ups?
Where is the honesty in covering the truth about potential presidents? It sure didn’t happen with W; so are we ready for another incompetent, misguided and unethical leader? Look how worse off we all are now by W’s massive screwups; living in fear, over-burdened, everything is on edge, and not enjoying freedoms.
I wish Jesse Ventura was running, if he could. He put it right as to starting war a: “You would only go to war if you were willing to send your own son or daughter.”
Very wise words and where is that in McCain?

Bradford Krull • Glen Arbor

Letters Don‘t overdo it...
As I read your article on training women for the 28th Annual GT Bodybuilding Championship, and now that the competition is over, and as someone who treats those with eating issues, weight and fat phobia, and body hatred, I feel a responsibility to give voice to reason.
At any age, it is dangerous to have six percent body fat. In fact, science shows that anything less than 12 percent for a female can be dangerous. Low body fat can lead to what is called the “female athlete triad” in which there is a decrease in hormones, interruption of the menstrual cycle, and loss of bone mass. Osteoporosis can occur if one’s body fat is too low for too long. The same condition can occur when a woman is anorexic and her body goes into semi-starvation mode.
A certain amount of fat (at least 12 percent) is essential to normal, healthy functioning, as it‘s stored in bone marrow, organs, the central nervous system and muscles. Fat also regulates body temperature and cushions organs and tissues. For those of us who aren’t bodybuilders (and that’s most of us), 25-35 percent of this “essential fat” is normal, depending on your age. Studies show that women at the higher end of this range are healthiest over time and live longer.
To all those that just competed in the 28th GT Bodybuilding Contest, congratulations and now, eat up! Please.

Lisa Franseen, PhD

Bay Harbor syrup
It was pleasant to read Jennifer McKay’s thoughtful column on the proposed Alba well and to know of Tip of the Mitt’s continuing concerns for the health and welfare of the region.
And it is heartening to read Kevin Elsenheimer’s letter to Governor Granholm on the inadequacy of the safety bonding.
But it may also be fitting to remind people that there are 2.5 million tons of hazardous material buried under the Bay Harbor golf course -- material that turns into a burning syrup laden with mercury, lead, and arsenic when wetted by groundwater and by the additional thousands of gallons of irrigation water used on the golf course. And that poisonous syrup leaches into the environment – into the Bay, into upper aquifer layers – where it does, and will continue to do, harm.
An order was issued by the EPA over three years ago to remove, isolate, or contain those toxic materials. It hasn’t happened.
Since then, much attention has been focused on drilling a deep well in Alba to dispose of less than five percent of the toxic burden – a “solution” that risks contaminating the entire Jordan River valley, to boot.
Such an exercise, if carried out, would still leave over 95 percent of the problem untouched, an omission which would shortly involve the affected property owners, developers, the municipality, and the general public in grievous losses in land values, quality of life, health, and liability.
Isn’t it time to tackle the whole problem, as ordered years ago?

Jack Norris • via email

Features Twenty years of salt and fresh water sailing has left Captain Dave Conrad with an unusual log of marine experience and adventures in both northern and southern climes.
He’s counting on all of that and a good crew this spring as he launches Solstice Sailing Company, a full-service charter company and sailing school located on West Grand Traverse Bay. The new business will offer Great Lakes and Caribbean sailing instruction and charters, and ASA-certified sailing instruction.
And instruction will be tailored to students’ schedules.