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Letters to the Editor

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 ...

Ask a Big Question, Win a Big Prize

Every American newspaper should ask every elected official on the local ballot, from drain commissioner to U.S. senator, one question: Do you believe the Big Lie? Putting them all on record would be an incalculably valuable public service. Every newspaper would deserve a Pulitzer Prize. Rephrase the question. Make it: "Was the 2020 presidential election rigged?" Yes or no answers. Unequivocal. No waffling. Publish the results prominently. Give special note to any officeholder too cowardly to answer. It will be the most-read copy you've published in a long time. Your subscribers ...

Elect Clowns, Expect a Circus

When community members attend a school board meeting they do so with the expectation their time will be spent in a useful manner. What they do not expect to witness is a clown-car side show production meant to prove some useless point. If the community members attending the August 25th school board meeting expected to see a group of elected officials conducting the urgent business of school priorities, they were certainly disappointed. It was a three-ring circus clown show. When you elect clowns to do the serious business of piloting a school system you will have a circus… people not ...