Breaking News

Letters to the Editor

Rain garden an investment in Alpena’s future

The Alpena Public School board is considering a rain garden project at the high school — an initiative that would provide lasting benefits for students, the environment, and the community. While some may have concerns about maintenance, rain gardens are a proven, low-cost way to manage stormwater, reduce erosion, and create a valuable educational space. With a well-structured plan, this project could be a model of sustainability and hands-on learning. Rain gardens absorb runoff from rainstorms, filtering pollutants and reducing flooding risks. They require some initial care — ...

Real-life starting to mirror fiction too much

I so enjoy a good book, or movie for that matter. Most are mirrors of real everyday life. Some of my favorite genres are ‘Who Done its’ when the detective uses intuition and experience deducing human atrocities; but mostly the intricate use of local, or countrywide/worldwide facilities such as the Center for Disease Control, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Crime Information Center, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Central Intelligence Agency, or Secret Intelligence Service (James Bond) to “catch the villain!” All of these agencies are utilized and highly important ...

Some Trump voters being played for fools

Dear Editor, I recently read a letter from a Trump supporter who had a few things confused. Firstly, she said Americans had been “playing the fool” by the Associated Press. She was confused about the meaning of the idiom she used. “Playing the fool” is not something that is done to a person, it is an act that one person puts on for another. Secondly, she was confused about who had been played for fools (which is what I think she may have thought the idiom meant). Those who voted for Donald Trump because of his promise to reduce inflation were totally played for fools. But, as ...

Kiwanis thanks community for book sale success

Dear Editor, On behalf of the Kiwanis Club of Alpena, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Alpena community for their incredible generosity and support of our recent used book sale. Thanks to the overwhelming number of book donations from local residents and the enthusiastic turnout at the event itself, we are proud to say that thousands of books found new homes. The generosity of our community has made this event a resounding success, and we are thrilled to report that all proceeds will go directly to support children in the Alpena area. We also want to offer a ...

AP stories shouldn’t be published anonymously

Dear Editor, We are very fortunate to have a community newspaper with such a variety of features and an editorial page that devotes equal space to diverse viewpoints of a given issue. I only wonder that, if staff stories include a reporter’s byline and letters to the editor “must be signed,” shouldn’t the same standard be applied to Associated Press (AP) stories that are published anonymously? For example, the Feb. 5 edition included an AP story bemoaning the “unaccountable power” of politicians, yet the story was published unsigned. Since AP does produce signed ...

American irony not serving the country

Irony — incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs. Donald J. Trump — a self-confessed liar and cheat and convicted federal felon. A walking and talking con-man and President of the United States of America. Elected by an electoral and low-income people (people desperately suffering from the worst effects of inflation), evangelical people (people who claim a religion that believes in Jesus Christ), and the GOP (people of great wealth and power). President Donald J. Trump is pledged to recognize and satisfy all of each of these three group’s ...