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Letters to the Editor

Township made a mistake on fire protection

After a successful six-month contract with the City of Alpena to provide fire protection, the Alpena Township Board of Trustees voted to reject a long term agreement by a vote of 3-4. The township board is hoping to rebuild the fire department at a significant cost to the taxpayers. So far they are having little success in hiring adequate staff. I feel that Alpena Township made a mistake by not contracting with Alpena City for our fire protection. The rejected contract was for five years at a cost of $400,000 with two percent increase to a maximum cost of $475,000. If the average cost ...

Need a school board that supports everyone

As a lifelong resident of Alpena, and a retired teacher of APS, I strongly urge you to support Sarah Fritz, Anna Meinhardt, Tom Hilberg, and Ned Heath in our upcoming school board election. We need school board members who will work to support all students in our district, no matter their race or gender. In addition to this, they need to value our teachers and our school staff. The role of a school board member is to be a staunch advocate for our public schools. They need to hold the conviction that public education is important and demonstrate a willingness to work with our ...

Solutions needed for traffic flow by schools

I have lived and worked in this community for 50 years, 35 years I was at Alpena High School. Now as a grandparent, I take my grandson to the junior high school. At 1 today (Wednesday) I was trying to turn left from Bagley onto Third Ave. There were four cars in front of me and it took four light changes to be able to turn left. If you try this when TBJH leaves at 2:20 p.m. and Alpena High School, good luck. We need a green arrow or arrows for turning at this intersection. Some of the people turning left either went through a yellow or red light. If you can imagine, it is far worse ...

Please, do your research before you vote

Before you make a decision and vote for school board members — between now and November 8--research the options carefully. Are your candidates committed to attending at least two in-person evening meetings each month, and will they come to each meeting prepared and ready to learn, discuss, and vote on what’s best for students? Have your candidates recently volunteered in a classroom or for a school-wide event or attended recent school board meetings? Will your candidates review minutes of recent meetings and attend meetings before they are sworn in and begin serving as a board ...

Politicians need to work for the people again

How did politicians’ views become so extreme? ‘We The People’ have literally turned over our country’s democratic future to politicians and the oligarchy who can buy, well, a Supreme Court! Perhaps this ethical breakdown we are experiencing started when corporations became “people…with equal rights” to humans. Or the audacious ability of politicians to lie, cheat and abuse whatever law they choose without consequences. This narcissism makes politicians believe that they, no one else, must be in charge of every aspect of Americans’ lives, changing constitutional ...

Vote Hansen, B. Heath, MacArthur, Pena

Over the last several years we have witnessed a slow decline and erosion of our schools within the community we live. There has seemingly been a lack of transparency and parents’ concerns are going unheard. We as a community need to stand up and stand together to restore trust once again in our school systems. We need to see that our young students, young adults, and future leaders are prepared to enter the working world as a productive member of society. Presque Isle County has two townships that attend Alpena Public Schools. Presque Isle township as well as Krakow Township. The ...