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Letters to the Editor

Let The School Board Do Their Job

Why do teachers/retired teachers care so much about bids for snow removal, paving of parking lots, bids to service toilets, policies for media usage, etc. Isn't that the School Board’s job? DISTRACTION. They are trying to DISTRACT the voters/parents/students away from the real issues at APS, which are illiteracy rates, poor test scores, truancy and even discipline. According to the teachers, they are not effective because parents are (and I quote from a FB discussion with teachers AT APS… "loud and bossy,” "uncaring,” "don't care about their kids,” "lazy,” "we are ...

Protect Our Roadless Spaces

I think we can all take comfort in the fact that we have protected natural spaces in the United States, mandated to be free from roads and from timber harvest. This protection comes from a piece of legislation called the Roadless Rule. A rare protection of the wild world. In June of this year, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins declared plans to end the Roadless Rule. 45 million acres of public land, our backcountry spaces, will be opened up to traffic and to logging. Brooke Rollins claimed the repeal of the rule was an attempt to reduce fire risk, claiming the roads would ...

Building a healthy community

Back to basics: Supporting families and building the community. Kelli Vanderburg’s commentary in the Alpena News on September 24 was enlightening. She reminds us of the importance of building a stable and healthy environment for our children, so they can build their own foundation to advance in life and, in turn, support our community. If you start with access to a strong education, health and safety, economic security, and family and community, you provide them with a solid base to move forward, contribute to society, and build their own strong families. It takes all of us to align ...

Please, Let’s be Fair to Clowns

There have been multiple editorials lately highlighting APS school board dysfunction and comparing school board members Sarah Costain, Monica Dziesinski, AJ MacArthur and Eric Lawson to clowns, which may be unfair to clowns. To compare: 1. Clowns make people happy. By comparison, many people are unhappy with what the school board is doing, and with what they’re failing to do. 2. Clowns cater to the needs, wishes and happiness of children. Some school board members wish to shame, humiliate, and marginalize a segment of APS students, also known as children. 3. Clowns responsibly ...

Holding Elected Officials Accountable is Not Harassment

The ability to disagree with elected representatives — and each other — is a cornerstone of our democratic process and community wellbeing. That’s why Teresa Smith’s September 13th letter to the editor is so worrying, especially due to its timing and tone. Smith claimed concern about the safety of the situation with the Alpena Public Schools Board of Education, yet she used inflammatory language to describe those with which she disagrees. Referring to your neighbors as an "angry mob" having a "full-blown meltdown" is dangerous. Smith refers to targeting board members' ...

If You’re Happy and You Know it…

Well, certainly don’t clap your hands at any school board meetings! At the board meeting this week, Mr. Lawson, school board president, in a never-ending attempt to look ever more clownish, premiered a new rule. If you clap during the meetings you will be removed from the room by Law Enforcement. Except wait, there was clapping at that meeting and Lawson did not have THOSE people removed. It seems the new rule applies only to people Lawson decides should not clap. New rule, different applications. Some will be removed. Some stay. Will Lawson decide on an individual basis who goes ...