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Letters to the Editor

Could the DNR have gelded Roger the elk?

As a “city mouse,” I am fully aware that my fisheries and wildlife knowledge is not as extensive as others. So I will just jump in and ask the question as it occurred to me: “Roger” is an Elk. Big guy. Because he could have “raging hormones” in the fall, it was safest to put him down. Horses are also big guys. Unaltered (gelded) horses can be a first-class pain to everyone when they think any other guy horses are sniffing after their fillies. A horse person explained this recently and I learned a whole new batch of stuff about ‘em. Which set my city-mouse brain to ...

Don’t ever believe those who lied about Biden

For four years, the Democrats, Kamala Harris, and the media tried to hide Joe Biden. But the little that America did see of him, we could tell he had major mental decline. But Democrats, Harris, and the media all said behind the scenes he’s “sharp as a tack,” “the best Joe Biden ever.” What we were seeing was “cheap fakes” from Republicans. Then he debated Donald Trump without a teleprompter and that lie was exposed. Democrats, Harris, and the media needed a new candidate. They would have been perfectly happy with America having a president with dementia. The ...

The next Springfield, Ohio — Alpena, Mich.?

I have heard from reliable sources that a planeload of illegal aliens and a busload of them has recently arrived in our quiet little town. I hope this is not correct, but I will wait for our source of news and local authorities to confirm or deny this. Our tax dollars are being stretched way beyond our ability and we need to object when we are being taken advantage of. I wonder how many other small communities are being invaded in the middle of the night. Just like Springfield, Ohio, our government may be taking advantage of our hospitality and we do not even know or have a ...

Commissioners need to listen to will of people

I usually get my letter to the editor in print. One lately, I noticed, made it to the round file. In it, I asked what was the good of holding tax millage votes if the commissioners were just going to disregard the public will and keep holding more votes until the voters gave up and it passed anyway? This maneuvering and circumventing the public will should be shut down by replacing the commissioners, I’m thinking, and a newspaper that colludes and has an invested political policy rather than being fair and unbiased will soon have a lighter readership … DAN SCHACKMANN, Alpena ...

Must pass Alpena County’s property tax ask

We need to pass the millage in November. The new millage is NOT an additional cost beyond what “we already voted for” in the past. The Headlee Amendment was created to protect property owners. It “temporarily” reduced millage rates during years where the property taxes and millages combined would cause property owners to pay taxes “higher” than the inflation rate. This was a little sketchy because property values going up didn’t mean the cost of things “we voted to fund” were going down. The good news was Headlee allowed the millage rates to return to “what we ...

The needs of the many vs. the wants of a few

What happens when the wants of a few are prioritized over the needs and rights of the many? This is the situation that resulted when our Alpena County Board of Commissioners considered the wants, and ultimately met the demands, of a few individuals in addressing a conflict they had with our library concerning book placement. To review, a small group of residents sought to override the decisions of the library Board of Trustees and undertook a program of in-person and social media harassment of library staff and board members to achieve their desired outcome. These actions resulted in ...