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Letters to the Editor

Elusive common sense

Up until recently I have always thought that politics can be resolved with discourse and listening. But I no longer believe that. Why? Because there has been a split in reality between the two major parties. There are reality and fantasy which can no longer be resolved as one side has resorted to imaginary thinking. It started with the belief that you can have and be anything you want to be. Killing infants in utero has been disguised as pro-choice, an illusion because the baby dies. Transgender fantasies allow surgery and hormones but in fact cannot change the XX or XY genes. People ...

Earth Day is less than two weeks away

Two years ago, our small group of volunteers started cleaning city beaches. Specifically we removed lumbering-era bark, and storm-water runoff sludge, from Blair Street, Starlite, and Mich-e-ke-wis beaches. During these two seasons, volunteers removed 107,000 pounds of debris from these beaches. The Alpena News did a great job bringing the news of these cleanup efforts to your attention. As we prepare for the 2026 season, our group has adopted the name MIShores. MIShores has strong leadership with exciting plans for future area projects. MIShores first major effort for this season ...

Waste water treatment plant

The recent article about the waste water plant spending $400,000 for odor control is rather comical. A few months ago in a meeting with the city council and mayor, they blamed septic trucks for the odors . They stopped receiving septic waste along with the revenue it generated, around $400,000 per year, then one week later raised everyone's sewer and water rates. They are also still paying a loan payment to the State of Michigan for money borrowed to build the septic receiving facility, so with no revenue from the haulers and the building and equipment sitting idle, people should ask ...

I know you’re angry

I know you’re angry. You’ve done everything right, but you can’t get ahead. If you’re anything like me, there may be periods of your life when you didn’t know whether you were coming or going. You were so busy working, raising a family, getting your education, or a combination of these things. Yet, the American Dream seems out of reach. One chronic illness, accident, divorce, death or other life-changing situation derailed your whole life. Or, you gradually sank into more debt, only to find yourself barely treading water financially. Extreme hardship has become a way of life ...

Success is no longer a monolith

The recent editorial, "Why Americans Have Soured on Higher Education," accurately captures growing public skepticism, but it risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater by equating all postsecondary pursuits with the failings of elite four-year institutions. While concerns regarding tuition costs are valid, viewing the landscape solely through the lens of traditional "prestige" overlooks the most vital engine of our modern economy: a diverse range of success paths. The narrative that a degree is no longer "worth it" ignores the shifting reality of the 2026 labor market. Success is no ...

Hope for future generations

I’m not alone in experiencing an array of emotions in response to the damage from the latest ice storm. Sadly, it is a foreseeable result of decisions being made by corporate interests every minute of every day. So is the plethora of climate-related disasters that are becoming commonplace across our planet. In fact, these are precisely the types of events scientists began warning us about in the early 1970’s. I was 9 years old when I asked a trusted authority figure about global warming. He said it was a hoax. Since then, I’ve learned a lot. As a business attorney, I came to ...