Letters 8/4/05

Aug. 3, 2005

Torch Lake Babylon
To all who enjoy the Torch Lake Sandbar:
I have been a full-time resident of Northern Michigan since 1988, and a seasonal resident for 25 years before that. As we all know, there have been many changes that have occurred in our area; some good, some not so good depending on your perspective.
As a youngster spending summers on Torch Lake, I often took my sisters or friends in our small fishing boat to the sandbar at the south end of the lake to enjoy the shallow, pristine water... not to mention the comfortable sandy bottom... undoubtedly a great place to hang out for an afternoon. In 1977 I can recall a certain Saturday afternoon in July that we visited the sandbar... I think we were one of 10 boats anchored that afternoon. Here comes one of those changes I mentioned... fast forward to July 2005...
Over this past 4th of July weekend I once again took some friends to the sandbar for the afternoon. I think I counted roughly 250 boats. I realize that life is change and change is good! I am all for people hanging out, socializing and enjoying the natural beauty that Northern Michigan has to offer, especially the “world famous” Torch Lake Sandbar, but I have one major concern!
As I was wading through the shallows to visit friends at other boats, I was absolutely blown away by the amount of “trash” floating in the water: beer cans, beer boxes, soggy hamburger buns, plastic bags, cigarette butts, etc...
I realize that many people who visit the sandbar, especially over a holiday weekend, may not have the love, affection and memories that many of us have for the area, but the blatant disrespect for our precious natural resources, especially Torch Lake, has to stop!
My plan, and my plea to others is to try and spread the word that whatever you bring out to the sandbar, take back to shore, including cigarette butts that can be neatly packed into one of those beer cans!
Supposedly we have the third most beautiful lake in the world, let‘s keep it that way...
“Respect the Torch Lake Sandbar -- no trash, cans, or butts about it!”

Kurt A. Schuler •Torch Lake

Religion‘s bottomless pit
I thought it exquisitely ironic that I would find myself reading Jim McCormick’s glorification of Islam on Aldous Huxley’s birthday (July 26, 1894)! In memory of the great English man allow me to throw the following Gordian’s knot on my readers‘ kitchen table.
(Gordian’s Knot: a knot tied by King Gordius of Phrygia, which an oracle reveals will be undone only by the future master of Asia: Alexander the Great, failing to untie it, cuts the knot with his sword.)
Now, if it is true, that Jesus Christ’s mystical appearance and disappearance from earth was orchestrated to take the power of the Jewish law (Yahweh/Allah’s transcribed will) out of the hands of Sadducees and Pharisees and to facilitate the reopening of a spiritual passage way to heaven for all humanity, how is it then possible that the same Godhead would send the archangel Gabriel back to earth six centuries later to instruct an Arab merchant named Muhammad to re-enslave all humanity with the same theological chains?
Perhaps Muhammad and his followers are the locusts that came forth from the bottomless pit as described in Revelation to punish those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads (Revelation Chapter 9 v 1-5).

Steve A. Redder • Petoskey

Meijer‘s in Acme...
One cannot help but notice that the highest concentration of signs opposing the Acme nine-month moratorium on big box stores are in close proximity to the Meijer property.
Could it be that many of the naysayers are pro-Meijer’s due to the possibility of profiting on potentially inflated land values while the rest of us are left to deal with the traffic and other headaches? Could this vote be an issue of community values vs. a quick buck? The previous board’s actions to push for big box utopia after seeing the results of the elections doesn’t pass the smell test either, let alone reflect the will of the majority.
Contrary to the propaganda, this moratorium is not anti-Meijer’s. Heck, most of us shop there often. This is just a brief respite to allow the board to do the job they were elected to do.
Several years ago Meijer’s was told that their property wasn’t suitable for their intent. Why should Mr. and Mrs. Acme have to alter their values to amend for a big corporation’s failure to do its homework before purchasing real estate? As far as a newsletter claim that Meijer’s is a “great corporate neighbor,” witness Meijer’s recent failed lawsuits against Acme. Seems more like bullying to me.

Bill Hagan • Acme Twp.

Migrant memories
Your article on immigrants brought back many fond memories of my childhood growing up on a fruit farm in Leelanau County, just outside of Empire.
Each year, my family would look forward to the return of the Flores family from Texas to help my parents in the orchard. At one point, we had three generations of their family living on our farm, with the fourth on the way. My father took great care in providing them with a safe, comfortable, clean home while they were with us. He wouldn’t have dreamed of expecting them to live in a place where he wouldn’t have sheltered his own family.
They stayed in our basement, which was converted into an apartment only for them. We all used the same door to enter and leave our home, and there was never even the thought of locking our house or hiding away what little we had of value. There were also two more apartments in the backyard that were for them alone.
There were hours of play shared with the children of the Flores family through the summer. Running through the yards and orchard, climbing trees, playing games of our imaginations, and all of us piling in the back of my dad’s pickup truck for a day of swimming in Glen Lake. It didn’t matter to us, in the midst of our childhood innocence, that we couldn’t always speak the same language; we shared the language of children: laughter, respect and friendship. I can remember watching, mesmerized, as the women would slap the homemade tortillas back and forth between their hands so quickly -- until they were just right for cooking. It was my first experience with food from a different culture, and it was delicious!
One of my favorite childhood family photos is of the entire Flores and Shalda families, in an intermingled pose in our backyard, arms intertwined, hands on each other’s shoulders, during one of the last summers they spent with us working the farm. Not long after that photo, the family farm was put to rest, along with my dad, and more recently my mom.
But for a few short weeks each summer, our families blended together. I wish, looking back with the “wisdom” that comes in adulthood, that I would have asked more questions, learned more about their lives away from us. I wish we would have kept some of those letters that were exchanged between my mom and their‘s. I wish we could have kept in contact. But mostly, I guess I wish that whatever paths their lives took them on, that they walked (and continue to walk) them in good health, good fortune, and surrounded by good friends, just as I have. They will always hold a special place in my life and in my heart.

Monica Shalda Evans • Honor

‘No‘ to Acme moratorium
On July 25, the Northern Express published a letter from former Governor William Milliken supporting a moratorium ordinance proposed for Acme Township. I believe the moratorium is intended to prevent the development of a Meijer store in Acme Township on land specifically designated for the Meijer store in the Acme Master Plan.
Unlike Mr. Milliken, I am a current and lifelong resident of Acme Township. In fact, my family has resided here for five generations. We farmed our land for over 50 years. I‘m voting NO on August 2nd because I feel we have a right to profit from all the traffic that passes through Acme on its way to Traverse City. I want a Meijer and amenities closer to home.
While Mr. Milliken states that he is a steward of Michigan‘s lands and concerned about large scale township growth on “local shops and weakened downtowns,“ his alleged stewardship seems to ignore the large resort and condominium development by the Milliken family in Elmwood Township. Great Glacier Bay is twice the size of the Great Wolf Lodge, includes 1,000 condos, and contains retail space to rival the Grand Traverse Mall.
Is this wise stewardship of the land? The truth of the matter is that the Grand Traverse County Planning Commission recommended against the moratorium and that both the Acme Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance designate the Meijer property for a new store and permit the development.
I joined Acme Taxpayers for Responsible Government because of all the misinformation that has been passed as truth by special interest groups in this area. If you support Acme Township, please vote “NO“ against the moratorium.
LaVern Andres •Acme

Milliken on target
I now better understand why Governor Milliken was in office for so many years. What a great statement about the Acme moratorium! (Express, 7/28). He presents both sides in a calm, logical manner. His recommendation is then based on what is good for Acme Township and the whole region, rather than the narrow interests of one corporation and a few individuals.
Please follow the Governor‘s advice and support the Acme trustees by voting YES on August 2.
James E. Wibby • TC

Remember Hiroshima
The Little Traverse League for Peace and Freedom hopes that you will inform your readers about the 60th anniversary of the most important date in history. It is, of course, the day when an atomic bomb was dropped by the United States on Hiroshima: August 6, 1945, ushering in the nuclear age.
Consider that this one “small” bomb, which outshone the sun, killed several hundred thousand men, women and children with its blast, heat, and ensuing radiation. It destroyed much of Hiroshima and, three days later, another Japanese city, Nagasaki.
Today’s nuclear bombs are incredibly more powerful. The detonation of just one, one-megaton nuclear warhead with its explosive force equal to one million tons of TNT, over a major city would result in an estimated 1.8 million deaths.
While the bomb did end the war between the United States and Japan, questions remain about the necessity to inflict such horrific casualties well beyond military targets.
In the past 60 years we have seen a race among a number of nations to also develop nuclear weapons, a race which now extends to Space with a U.S. proposed “Death Star” weapon powered by highly radioactive nuclear fuel for control of the heavens. Star Wars is described by some as a $100 billion boondoggle, the largest industrial project in the history of earth.
The trillions of taxpayer dollars squandered on nuclear programs since 1945 are, as President Eisenhower warned in 1953, “a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” In 1961 he warned of the military-industrial complex which today holds sway over our lives and economy.
Let us remember the victims who were instantly vaporized by the first bomb, or whose eyeballs melted as they looked up at the blast, or later died from radiation. Let us reflect upon the morality of, as historian Howard Zinn says, “easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress.”

Barbara MacArthur • Charlevoix

Fire Karl Rove
In this troubling time it is very upsetting to see our President just ignore reality. It is definite that Karl Rove exposed Valerie Plame, even if he did so by calling her the wife of Joe Wilson. Joe Wilson had just exposed the fact that there was no attempt to sell “uranium yellow cake by Niger to Iraq.” Suddenly Valerie Plame is exposed and placed in extreme danger. Not only she was in danger but her fellow C.I.A. agents were also discredited.
Coincidence... I think not, revenge... I think so.
I urge you, as the press, to keep this story on the front page. We can‘t keep overlooking this president‘s cover-ups any longer. Our CIA and FBI deserve our support.
Prez. Bush, you must fire Karl Rove as you had said you would.

Debbie Appelman • Kalkaska

Beer too expensive
Last Sunday afternoon, in the blistering humidity of an ant-infested hayfield, Boyne Mountain forced 10,000 hungry, thirsty, hot and exhausted Kid Rock fans to pay $3 for a cup of lukewarm water. Some of us even paid $9 (that‘s nine dollars) for a cup of beer. With overwhelming hunger we paid dearly for a lousy hot dog.
Exhausted and disappointed, we finally reached the exit only to be told we couldn‘t get out that way. Of course we joined the countless others in jumping the fence to escape the chaotic stampede.
It‘s a shame the owners and management of Boyne have found just one more way to cash in. With the potential of being the best concert venue in Northern Michigan, Boyne Mountain has manged to make “No. 1“ on our list of worst events in 25 years.

Kelly Key • Afton

APOLOGIES to Tony Denim whose excellent (but uncredited) photos accompanied an article on migrant workers of Mexican heritage in last week‘s Express. Tony deserves credit for taking the photos.
--Apologies also for mistating the title of Bill Knopp of the Park Place Hotel in a recent letter to the Express. Bill is the Director of Sales at the hotel and not the General Manager as stated. That honor goes to Amy Parker.