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Letters to the Editor

A hard pill to swallow

It must have been a hard pill to swallow when school boards members, Sarah Costain, Monica Dziesinski and Eric Lawson, who were facing a recall effort, realized over 4300 individuals in the community felt they were quite bad at their school board job. Over 4300 community members picked up a pen and signed a recall petition which would have put these three back on the ballot in November so voters could decide whether to continue with the chaos and waste they bring to the school board, or replace them. All was on track for the “replace” option which is likely what drove their decision ...

Critical points missed in Alpena News story

The News missed critical points in its headline story on Aug. 4 when they announced total signatures for three school board members did not meet the threshold number necessary to trigger a recall? The front page story that day surely should have made mention that school board members Sarah Costain, Monica Dziesinski, and Eric Lawson retained the services of an out-of-town law firm, Butzel, to challenge the legitimacy of the recall effort based on the weakest claim imaginable. Butzel claimed dozens of petitions, in their entirety, needed to be disqualified because the petition ...

Who has my signature?

As a matter of transparency it’s important for the community to know that all the petitions from the school board recall effort are now in the hands of unknown numbers of individuals. The day after the recall petitions were filed with our County Clerk, community member Dennis Schultz submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Schultz wanted all petitions, numbering close to 2000, to be copied to a thumbdrive and turned over to him. Schultz paid for the FOIA and by that action, had in his possession the names and addresses of over 4300 individuals who participated in the ...

Proper role of law and government

I begin with a principle: the proper role of law and government is limited and specific. Law exists to protect the equal rights that every person already possesses—rights to life, liberty, and property. These rights existed before, and beyond, government. The law’s only legitimate function is to organize the individual right of self-defense on a collective scale, so that no person may harm another’s person or property with impunity. Beyond that protective purpose, using law becomes a violation of the rights it was meant to secure. When government uses its taxing power to take from ...

Cheers & Jeers and the ADA

Each year near the anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (July 26, 1990) I reflect on the progress my community has made in making our part of the State more accessible. Here are this year’s top cheers and jeers. Cheers: · The City of Alpena for the redevelopment of Culligan Plaza. After a few setbacks, including a loud call from citizens to reconsider the original proposed design, we now have an accessible community space. As part of that project, we also are blessed with accessible public restrooms. · The City of Alpena for the ...

APS Recall: Thank you community

The views expressed are my own and do not represent the Board of Education or fellow Board members. I want to thank the more than 20,000 registered voters who chose not to sign the recall petition. Thank you for seeing through the noise and continuing to trust us. I also want to thank our county clerk and every local clerk who managed this process. It required significant time, effort, and taxpayer resources during an already busy primary election. Considering the lengths some political activists went to collect signatures, the result is exactly what it should have been. We heard ...