Letters 8/03/06

Aug. 2, 2006

Sen. Allen & big tobacco
State Sen. Jason Allen’s secret financial accounts are extremely troubling, especially given his ties with tobacco interests. While several other states now require all bars and restaurants to be smoke-free, Sen. Allen, as chair of the Commerce & Labor Committee, has refused to even allow a vote on a bill to ban smoking in Michigan restaurants.
In light of the fact that tobacco interests, and the Michigan Restaurant Association, each gave Sen. Allen at least $1,000 during 2005 (and possibly more money in 2006), it is easy to believe that there is some connection between these donations and the senator’s refusal to allow this potentially anti-tobacco vote to occur. One way to remove all doubt would be for Sen. Allen to allow this vote.
Perhaps feeling the heat, Sen. Allen recently stated that tobacco interests have not “bought” his vote, but rather that he has refused to hold a vote because “... he was opposed to regulation of businesses, and ... the [smoking ban] issue was handled best at the local level.” (Petoskey News-Review, 6/29/06. Emphasis added).
If Sen. Allen honestly feels that smoking bans are best handled at the local level, then he should vigorously promote legislation to rescind Michigan’s tobacco-friendly pre-emption law, in order to restore local control.
With the recent U.S. Surgeon General’s report emphasizing the importance of smoke-free bars & restaurants, the timing could not be better.
Sen. Allen, you can eliminate all doubt about whether the tobacco industry is buying your influence by actively promoting the elimination of Michigan’s pre-emption law. Doing this will definitely make Big Tobacco unhappy, but will allow Michigan’s local units of government to give the gift of healthy air to all the workers and patrons who spend time in restaurants and bars. Whose well-being do you value more?

Kenyon Stebbins, PhD (Medical Anthropologist)•Harbor Springs

Making things right
“Finding a Safe Passage,” the Express cover story (7/20), tells how northwestern Michigan volunteers travel to Guatemala with hands-on aid for the “garbage dump scavengers,” mostly children. These are the victims of 40 years U.S.-initiated and supported military dictatorships that fostered 250,000 killings, illegal land confiscation, and general oppression of the Mayan peasant peoples.
It began in l954, with the CIA overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Jacobo Arbenz. Four U.S. fighter planes with U.S. pilots and trained mercenaries carried out the coup. From then on a long list of U.S. officials put their stamp of approval and sometimes involvement in the bloody trail of revolving dictatorships. This list includes Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the U.S. Information Agency, officials in U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, the School of Americas at Fort Benning, GA. among others. Under the guise of anti-communism U.S. policy often worked to protect the interests of the United Fruit Company.
A l998, four-volume report by “The Project for the Recovery of Historical Memory,” found that 89.7 of deaths in the period were attributed to the military and their surrogates (death squads, civil patrols, police military) and 4.8 percent ascribed to guerrillas.
Readers can follow the story in: “Through a Glass Darkly: the U.S. Holocaust in Central America,” by Thomas R. Melville, Orbis Press, 2005, or “Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala,” Anchor Press: Double Day, l982
Whether intentionally or not, efforts like “Safe Passage” are a gift of U.S. citizen-based reparation for the atrocities committed by certain factions of our U.S. government against the people of Guatemala and Central America.

Tom Shea • TC

Piling on punishment
I‘m impressed with most of the Northern Express‘s articles. Your two-part story entitled “A Mother, a Daughter and a Drug Dealer“ by Anne Stanton was effective in showing the strong allure of drugs and also in portraying the law enforcement branch as less effective and ethical than we should expect.
What puzzled me was a shallow attempt at anonymity while publishing pictures and the correct names of two of “Jay‘s“ dealers. These two men, as stated, are now serving prison time for their crimes.
However, once out of prison, these men are generally forced to locate in the jurisdiction of the court that sentenced them, keeping them close for parole purposes. Also, they may have family they would like to be close to and, hopefully, get support from. Upon their release, they are expected to find gainful employment quickly to pay off past fines and court costs; pay fees for mandatory drug testing and classes such as anger management; pay for their tether if one is ordered; and to pay back child support. Oh, and also find a suitable place to live.
With an assist from the Northern Express, these two men face an even more insurmountable climb to personal responsibility and a productive life.
Everyone is responsible for their actions. Thank goodness the white flower and the main drug dealer have been protected.

Barbara Price • Northport

Right-on rabble-rouser
“rab·ble-rous·er (rb’ l-rou’zr) n. : A leader or speaker who stirs up the passions of the masses; a demagogue.“

“dem·a·gog n.: A leader of the common people in ancient times.“

It’s my honor and privilege to know Bruce Peterson, and to consider myself a good friend of his. He’s one of the finest people I know. He speaks without fear, stands up for what he believes in, and he works for the greater cause.
Personally, I took no offense to Bruce being referenced as a “local rabble-rouser” in Bob Downes’ Random Thoughts (7/13).
To me, being called a rabble-rouser is one of the highest forms of compliment. John Lennon, Sojourner Truth, Gandhi, Susan B. Anthony, Desmond Tutu, Eleanor Roosevelt, Frederick Douglas, Elizabeth Cady Staton, Margaret Sanger, Nelson Mandela, Gloria Steinem, Neil Young, and Martin Luther King, Jr. have all been called “rabble rousers.“
Bruce is in good company!
The world could use more people like Bruce. He’s dedicated to peace and justice issues, is committed to the survival of independent media, and cares deeply about the good of the community.
One of the truest tests of friendship, acceptance and civility is to disagree, but to have respect for another’s views and principles. Imagine our world if we all adhered to that ideal.

Monica Evans • Honor

Deck desperation
Grant Parson’s article attacking the parking deck proposal was so disappointing—and not because his view is different than mine. Rather, it is because his piece was such a low-class exercise in smarmy sarcasm.
Repeatedly putting everyday words like “explain, real, city explanations, and $16 million bond“ in quotation marks in order to deprecate another point of view is some real grade-school stuff—a way to sneer, name-call, and attack an opponent, rather than an opponent’s argument. Any rhetoric professor will tell you this is so.
His letter strikes me as desperate, written by someone who is out of factual ammunition and has to go for gonad-kicking instead.
If I was living in TC, I’d vote for the deck. There’s plenty of evidence that it will actually slow property tax increases by expanding the town’s tax base, and will definitely make TC more walkable—a good thing. And if, as Grant insists, it actually cost the city $200,000 to do the rough design on something that will attract $45 million in private capital investment and pay for a new, city-owned deck, I’d say your city fathers (and mothers) engineered y’all a pretty good deal!
A final note: All the stuff about Jason Allen is a distraction. It has nothing to do with the actual merits of the proposal, which are considerable and well within the standard, ethical, legal practices of well-managed municipalities. Please remember that when you vote on Tuesday. The time to think about whether Mr. Allen is on the straight and narrow is not now. That is on November 7.

Jim Dulzo • Beulah