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Letters to the Editor

He voted no twice in the last four years. Why?

As we approach a highly contentious Alpena Public Schools Board of Education election, I am making a conscious effort to give every candidate an equal opportunity to earn my vote. That means researching their records, asking questions, and understanding the decisions they've made. As the parent of a former APS high school athlete and a future APS athlete, I was surprised to learn that current board member AJ McArthur reportedly voted NO twice in the past four years on resolutions supporting APS membership in the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA). Why does this ...

No Kings anywhere

Today, October 17th, there are thousands of rallies and marches taking place across our nation declaring we are a country of No Kings and that we want to remain a country with No Kings. The rallies and marches today will focus on voting; urging our citizens to exercise this right in the upcoming mid-term elections. Specifically No Kings is about the wealthy, and the power they claim, when they use their wealth to influence elections and even outright purchase the outcomes they want. Elections are supposed to be for the people, by the people. “We the people” means all of us, not just ...

Abdul El Sayed is not a Democrat

Even a Democratic strategist admits that the party is not the party of JFK, nor Barak Obama. The Democratic party is embracing socialism. And it sounds WONDERFUL! Free housing, free medical care, free education. Socialism by it's very definition is "the means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned and regulated by the community as a whole." As in, owned by the government, then redistributed. So are you ready for your income to be collected and redistributed? Are government housing and food stamp programs something for you? Would you be exempt? When we were young we ...

Silence is deafening

Ironically October is National Bullying Prevention Month. The smear campaign literature sent out a couple of weeks ago by the Alpena Republican Party bullying Evan Carlson, Sarah Fritz, Claire Kipfmiller, and Kayla Ratz was deeply troubling and disgusting. School Board elections are nonpartisan and political parties should not be involved. These candidates are our family, friends and neighbors, and they deserve to be evaluated on their qualifications, experience, ideas, character, and commitment to our students—not attacked through partisan political tactics. Just as troubling is ...

Relentless criticism and unwarranted attacks

For a little over three years, we have all watched four of our school board members face repeated and relentless criticism and unwarranted attacks from local liberal parties in Alpena. The ringleaders are interchangeable organizations called "Build a Better Board" and the "Alpena Democratic Party". Why this behavior by these groups? Because the 4 four claim to be conservative and Christian. Look at these groups and see who is involved and who they support. What concerns me most is the issues the political left is pushing on students/parents/APS. Their stances are: Are parents ...

Osmer is not local chairman

Hi, contrary to a recent letter to the editor by Ms. Goike, I am the chair of the Alpena County Republican Party. Jesse Osmer hasn’t held an officer position for quite a while now. I’ve reached out to our state party to correct their online directory. However, I am actually writing for a different reason, to share information: 1. The SAFE PAC that paid for billboards and postcards for Fritz, Ratz, Carlson, and Kipfmiller is registered under Alpena Democratic Chair Sarah Lane and liberal activist Marie Fielder. 2. Both these ladies helped circulate the ‘Build a Better Board’ ...