Letters 6/23/05

June 22, 2005

Save Arbutus Lake
I sat down to write a letter expressing my concerns about the effects of the McKeough Land Company‘s plan to develop the land on the west shore of Arbutus Lake (southeast of Traverse City). But then I thought, wait a minute; this is just a little lake in what used to be a relatively remote spot in Michigan’s northwestern lower peninsula. What’s the big deal?
Think of all the great condos that could have been built on Sleeping Bear; Isle Royale as a private upscale hunting, fishing and vacation camp; how great it would be to have your chalet on top of El Capitan in Yosemite -- and I realized that sometime, somewhere, someone has to say “no.“
We can’t leave our grandchildren a portion of northwestern lower Michigan that looks as it did before we cut down every last tree, but we can leave them a small piece of lakeshore on a small lake that looks pretty much as it did right after the saws went silent.
Go out and look at the western shore of Arbutus Lakes two, three, and four. You can get to it by water from the public launch site on lake four and decide what you would like your grandchildren to see there.
I think we should save it.

James W. Cook • Arbutus Lake

Weigh the options
I’m a father, a business person, a lifelong Catholic and a Vietnam infantry veteran.
I woke up to my military experience two years ago, and I’ve spent extensive time researching war, the military, politicians, and business. The bottom line for me is summed up by two-time Medal of Honor recipient, Marine Major General Smedley Butler. After completing his career, he looked back and said “war is a racket.” He wrote a booklet with that title.
Military recruiters are doing their job, just like General Butler did, just like I did. But the results of these jobs are the continuation of death and destruction as a means to resolve conflicts.
The only protection the military has is for WE THE PEOPLE to speak up. The military is not “service” to the country. The military is a pawn, used by politicians and the mega-rich, to gain markets and generate billions in profits. Once you get past the slogans, and the flag waving, the history is clear.
Before you send your kids to the military, do the research. If the military is such a great career, then the children of the politicians and the mega-rich should be swelling the ranks, and recruiters would be unnecessary. Actions speak louder than words.

Arnold Stieber • Grass Lake

Investigate Bush
A coalition of veterans’ groups, peace groups, and political activist groups announced a campaign to urge that the U.S. Congress launch a formal investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war.
The campaign focuses on evidence that recently emerged in a British memo containing minutes of a secret July 2002 meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials.
John Bonifaz, a Boston attorney specializing in constitutional litigation, sent a memo to Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, the Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, urging him to launch a formal investigation into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House to impeach President Bush.
Bonifaz’s memo begins: “The recent release of the Downing Street Memo provides new and compelling evidence that the President of the United States has been actively engaged in a conspiracy to deceive and mislead the United States Congress and the American people about the basis for going to war against Iraq. If true, such conduct constitutes a High Crime under Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution.”

Mark Morgan • Redford