Letters 10/13/05

Oct. 12, 2005

The road to Brethren
While driving south on US 31, I passed the road sign to Brethren. I realized that to travel to Brethren, one must go to the middle of nowhere and turn left.
A man and his pack of wolfdogs was living in the northern woods of Michigan when he was terrorized and murdered by a gang of gunslingers. Why did four police agencies travel to the middle of nowhere to shoot and kill this man? They were so high on power and control, they might have even put a bullet in one of their own.
This whole scenario fills me with sorrow. The man is dead because he was protecting his loved ones; his “family.” Now, his family is dead too. Must we stand idle and allow this kind of terror?

Kim Burke • TC

(See Anne Stanton‘s cover story on the killing in this issue. -- ed.)

The solution
It took me a couple times to finally get it, but after reading the guest opinion column “Bush Made me Do It” by Jeff Gibbs a couple times, it finally struck me (9/27). Jeff has a rare and valuable talent for explaining issues in a way that average Americans can understand. What’s even more powerful is that the solution to our problem is so simple - impeach George Bush!
It’s not a red vs. blue issue. Jeff’s article confirmed in my mind that our politicians and mainstream media on both sides purposely make most issues too complicated for average Americans to understand. Jeff’s talent for identifying the root problem to our nation’s problems is to be applauded. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he decided to apply his talent in public life? Our nation needs people like Jeff who can make things easy for us regular folks to understand.

John Murray • Cedar

Pure of heart
If there is a voice in the opposition to war that deserves to be heard and honored, it’s the voice of Veterans For Peace (re: “Peaceful Warriers,“ 10/6).
I am fortunate enough to know John Lewis and I was so appreciative of your article on him and VFP in your last issue. John is a truly gentle, wise and giving man, dedicating himself to making this planet a more peaceful, healthier, safer place to live. As the mother of two draft-age sons, and one who will be before Bush is out of office, I have turned to John many times, and he is always there with his love and support, and wealth of information and knowledge.
It brings me a great sense of hope and reassurance knowing the VFP are out there across this country, committed to standing strong in opposition of war, and in the fight for truth and justice. That they are educating our young men and women on the true atrocities and realities of war, and helping them to resist the military, is a gift they give unselfishly simply because they know first hand that nothing is won with hate and violence. Their intentions are pure of heart and true in spirit. Their vision of a peaceful world makes it a little easier for the rest of us to keep the faith, and gives us strength to keep speaking and acting out.
I urge others to support the Veterans For Peace so they can continue to carry on their mission. “Blessed are the Peacekeepers.”

Monica Evans • Honor

Category 5
Category 5 is not only for hurricanes anymore. After hearing and reading President Bush’s comments on “intelligent design,” I hereby declare him a Category 5 president, with a yellow warning! Ummm, or is it orange? Or, perhaps, it’s red? I dunno! These color warning systems confuse the heck out of me.

Barbara R. Bell • Ann Arbor

More gas gab
This is in response to the letter claiming that I am clueless about the causes of high gasoline prices (9/27). First, my letter was taken out of context. Everyone knows that profits are soaring for major oil corporations. Is it price gouging? It could be, at least to some extent. Maybe Representative Stupak should create an investigative committee instead of creating political capital.
Look at most gas pumps, and the sticker will tell you that we pay $0.41 cents per gallon in taxes here in Michigan, a sum based upon an assumed price of somewhere around $1 per gallon (as taxation is applied as a percentage). Now, most of us can extrapolate what tax revenue is for the government now that gas prices are near $3. Sounds like a great tax (revenue) windfall for our representatives (Republicans and Democrats have Washington Fever after signing pork-laden transportation and energy bills).
Brett Yokom, P.E. • TC

The scourge of pride
There can be little doubt that the tragedy in New Orleans was not only the result of a vicious hurricane. It was also the result of human failure due largely to the economic status of those left in the flooded wards and parishes of Louisiana. Those too poor to evacuate the city were left to the mercies of government at all levels and government failed them badly. The fact that our national response has now dispersed the refugees to relative safety doesn‘t absolve our society generally from dealing with the issue of poverty.
Recently I was at a local resort enjoying a night out when I encountered several businessmen from downstate who had just returned from a party. We were all in a festive mood and somehow I brought up the situation in New Orleans. Soon enough the stereotypes began to appear. One man stated that all poor people are lazy and that if they only worked harder society wouldn‘t have to care about them. Another man quoted the Bible and said that “the poor will always be with us.” Another man stated that poverty could never touch him because he was a model citizen, a member of the Rotary Club downstate, and he just couldn‘t understand why many poor people couldn‘t get their act together.
Listening to such comments it became clear to me what the root cause of poverty is. It isn‘t the lack of a social program per se, although such programs can fill an empty stomach. It wasn‘t the lack of antidiscrimination laws either since we have plenty of those. The root cause of poverty is the dreaded sin of pride. Few of us care to believe that we aren‘t all the masters of our own destiny. We have made it so why haven‘t others? After all, aren‘t our own life experiences common to all? The harsh reality about life is that they aren‘t. None of us can truly know what many of our fellow citizens of this world go through on a daily basis. It is so easy to criticize and preach.
Yet pride and judgement never helped anyone. Are we as a community and a nation too judgemental about others? Do we have an arrogance about us that causes us to be cold and indifferent to human suffering not only in New Orleans but in our own community? Do we accuse others of having made bad choices without fully knowing the circumstances of that person‘s life?
Yes, there are those among us who wallow in their poverty and who refuse to better themselves when given the chance. Yet we surely cannot make such an assumption about the vast majority of those finding themselves at a disadvantage. I am also tired of hearing otherwise good people quote the Bible out of context. Yes, the poor will always be among us, but that fact alone doesn‘t absolve us of the obligation to wage war upon this scourge and to uplift our fellow man and our world to new heights of material and spiritual abundance.

Brian R Morgan • Gaylord

Character call
So, after scurrying hither from trollville with dew rag in her left hand, our mighty maid governess has once again deftly sopped up the toxic political spill her administration created on the south bound lanes of the Mackinac Bridge. Or, so it would seem, but all does not bode well in ‘06 for our blushing Betty Boop.
I wasn’t invited to the signing of the peace treaty of Saint Ignace. Does anyone know if Governor Granholm had a traumatized New Orleans hurricane victim anxiously clutching the fabric of her pant suit as she ignominiously surrendered the reputation of the Director of MDOT to the Mackinac Bridge Authority?
I could not understand the local outrage directed at Detroit native and the first female and African-American to serve as a state DOT director Gloria Jeff, when she (in light of our current state budget crisis) authorized two emminently sensible cost-cutting measures.
But, now my mind has been made right, (albeit, I have a mild concussion from a snow ball blow to my left temple, a flesh wound in my upper back from a knitting needle and have been nearly blinded by the metaphysical lights of social-racial-gender- and political enlightenment) I now understand the pork barrel spending on the Mackinac Bridge is “our” pork, not Lansing’s. I have also concluded that Governor Granholm, like Louisiana’s Governor Blanco, has once again demonstrated that she lacks the courage and character necessary for a governor of the State of Michigan to make tough decisions.
Steve A. Redder • Petoskey

Raise taxes on gas
World oil production is about 85 million barrels a day and world demand is about 84 million barrels a day. With less than 2% slack in the system any delay of any kind means shortages and price increases.
We have three choices: increase production, reduce demand, or do both. We can not increase production quickly, to find, drill, install pumps, install storage tanks, and build pipelines takes about five years. Existing wells are almost at capacity.
The quickest way to reduce prices is to reduce demand. We can do that by driving fuel efficient vehicles, driving more efficiently, and by driving less.
One thing we should do, ‘STOP SPENDING DOLLARS DRIVING to SAVE DIMES’ on something we want to buy. Everyone should calculate the cost of driving their car and then calculate what it will cost to drive to save on a purchase and compare it with the amount that can be saved.
For example, you cannot drive one extra mile to save two cents a gallon on gasoline. You will spend more on gasoline getting there and back than you will save and if you count the capital cost of your car, you can’t afford to drive an extra block.
Our population must learn how to do arithmetic and use it. We also need to learn some simple economics. Lowering prices increases demand, raising prices lowers demand; therefore lowering taxes on gasoline would only increase demand. To lower demand, taxes should be increased.
In Michigan we pay $.18.4 Federal tax, $.19 State tax, $.00875 underground storage tank tax, and .06% (of the cost at the station) sales tax on each gallon of gasoline. Our taxes are about average for our country.
We have never had an energy policy in our country. President Carter came close to having one but the Iran hostage crisis allowed the ideologues to derail his plan. The energy policies of our last four presidents and the solutions now being offer by the politicians has been and is a joke.

Richard R Riker • Mackinaw City

Tips on tipping
I am writing this letter to educate people on how and what to tip a server and what they make a hour. Most people don’t even know or care what the servers get paid. They get paid by the tips they receive, and a small hourly wage of (usually) $2.65 per hour. This is not enough to even constitute a paycheck; it is just enough to pay the taxes. Most servers checks are void.
Servers get their pay every night at the end of the shift by the tips they get from the customer. They must report what they get in tips so the employer can take state taxes out of it.
That is their pay, their living for the night. Without tips there is no paycheck.
Servers work six to eight hours a shift or in case of a double shift they work from six to 12 hours with little or no break, all that time spent on their feet.
Of the tips that they do receive, up to 20% must be given to the bartenders, bussers, and expediters on that shift. They already make anywhere from $6 to $12 an hour plus they divided the 20% tips from all the servers from that night’s shift.
A standard tip should be 20% of a customer‘s check. Anything less than 15% and the management questions the server‘s ability, which threatens their job.
When you leave a small tip you only hurt the server personally, not the restaurant, and the manager does not have an opportunity to make your experience in his/her establishment a good one. Also, if you have questions about how to tip, ask the manager. Ask if the server must share tips or if they are paid a decent hourly wage.
Michigan law requires that an employer pay only $2.65 on hour for a server, not the $5.25 minimum wage that most get that are working in all other fields of employment. However, all servers I know love their jobs and working with the public so that is why they do it for so little hourly rate of pay. It is hard work. They are standing on their feet for hours, walking and carrying heavy trays, cleaning up after people and so on, some working a double shift of 12 hours or more and no breaks.
Also, when a customer comes into a restaurant for a dinner and stays for longer than two hours, the server loses money. Holding a table for long periods of time keeps the server from serving more customers and that causes that server to lose money. Please keep this in mind when you tip a server after taking up a table for a long night of conversing with friends in a restaurant.
Rule of thumb: checks of $20 or less the tip should be $5 and everything over $20 should be 20% of the customers check.
And if you are staying longer then a few hours the tip should be more than the standard 20%.

Tommy W. McKellar • Kalkaska