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Letters to the Editor

See through the hate and political rhetoric

Imagine teaching our children that bullying, name-calling and personal attacks are acceptable ways to get what you want. Now imagine those tactics showing up in the homes where children live. That is exactly what Alpena voters received last week in a political mailer attacking four candidates for our school board. What makes this even more troubling is that the mailing was paid for by the Alpena County Republican Party, for an election to nonpartisan school board seats. School board elections are supposed to be about the people willing to serve our children, their qualifications, ...

League of Women Voters event

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, I attended the League of Women Voters candidating event, where the candidates running for seats on the Alpena Public Schools Board of Education and Alpena County residents had the opportunity to meet in a non-confrontational and informal session. Attendees were seated at five tables (the original plan was for eight tables), but three of the eight candidates did not appear. Lindsey Klein, Vincent Thomas and Robert Bruning apparently did not provide a reason for their absence. The candidates were allowed 15 minutes at each table where they answered as many ...

The Great Double Down (The Limit of American Powers)

There is a man, a Russian man, that has sworn with total conviction that he will not end the war with Ukraine until Russia has taken control of all of the contested Ukrainian territory and he backs his conviction at the rate of 1,000-to-1,200 Russian Army casualties being granted every day. In America we have a man, a great American man pledged to help this Russian man, working to end the war with Ukraine. Now ask yourself given: 1) The Russian man's sworn conviction and his resulting action. 2) The Russian man's awareness of and constant communication with the great ...

Democrat circus

Monday’s school board meeting once again put the Democrat circus on full display. The attacks against Trustee Dziesinski and her professional career continued. During last week’s workshop, she read a heartfelt letter submitted to the board by a woman’s grandson. The letter was submitted to a public body and included the woman’s name and references to medical issues. Before reading it publicly, Trustee Dziesinski asked the grandson for permission, which she did not even have to do. There was no wrongdoing—just because you are in the medical field doesn’t mean you can never ...

League steps up to host candidate’s forum

Many thanks to the NE MI League of Women Voters for stepping up to host a well-run, non-partisan candidate’s forum for the upcoming APS Board of Education election on Nov. 3. The attendance was outstanding and the dialogue focused almost without exception on non-partisan issues that will build a better APS board and ultimately a better education for Alpena kids. It was also especially noticeable that the League emphasized the non-political nature of serving on this important board given what we seem to be overwhelmed with on other election fronts. Congrats League for an ...

​​No To MacArthur

For the last four years, the community has listened to APS board member AJ MacArthur complain that his business is under boycott by community members who disagree with his decisions and actions while on the school board. The community seems to feel MacArthur is on the board in service to something other than the public school system that thousands of Alpena County families depend on. It seems counterintuitive that MacArthur is on a public school board as he homeschools his children; always has and likely always will. During a recent board meeting, MacArthur said he would not be attending ...