In many towns and cities, some members of minority communities do not trust police officers. Many in law enforcement work to build trust among those they serve. Clearly, however, enforcing the law is the department’s overriding priority. We pay police officers and sheriff’s deputies to ...
On the mound was young John Kowalski, age 14. He had thrown between 10 and 12 pitches but had yet to throw a strike. Behind him a coach was standing. It was for good reason the coach was standing there for young Kowalski could throw a baseball hard and fast. But the kid had issues: ...
For eight years, it seemed as if then-President Barack Obama had unleashed every weapon in the bureaucracy’s arsenal against the coal mining industry. Then, Obama invented some new tools to harass coal country. In that context, President Donald Trump’s plan to roll back the regulatory ...
If experience counted for anything today, Hillary Clinton would be president and former GOP candidate Dick Posthumous would be governor. Both of them had experience coming out of their ears compared to their non-career politican opponents Donald Trump and Jennifer Granholm respectively. In ...
Traffic on Second Avenue in downtown Alpena will remain one-way. That was the decision of City Council earlier this month after months of study, deliberation and public hearings. Not everyone is in agreement that is the best solution, but it is the desire of council at this time that it ...
I had laid down and just wanted to watch something easy Saturday night. I share my house with two gentlemen and they have the "Gold" package on cable. Seems like even though there were all those choices, there was nothing I wanted to see. Then, "For a Few Dollars More" caught my eye. I had ...
As I approached the river on Washington, the beautiful display of flags waving in the wind brought tears to my eyes ... this is not only beyond beautiful, it is a wonderful way to honor the brave men and women who fought for our freedom. We are proud to call Alpena our hometown. Even ...
My wife recently spent some time in the hospital and then a lengthy stay in re-hab (she is home and doing fine). Running a house, laundry, shopping, a new puppy, daily visitations with her, paying bills, cleaning house, etc. etc. gave me a new outlook on single mom's. A tip of my hat to you. ...
Regarding Steve Murch’s September 9 op-ed, “The words of our Founding Fathers,” and leaving aside the substance and grammar of the piece, there is the nearly incandescent error at the front. To wit, what Mr. Murch asserts is the preamble to the Declaration of Independence is, in fact, ...
There are many people who want nothing to do with politics and are distressed by dysfunctional government. Possibly it is because it is very hard to find ways to change the system or to feel like our voice and vote matter. Something called gerrymandering does take our voice away. In ...
Donald Trump should have to meet with the 800,000 children and adults who face deportation when the DACA program ends and explain why he canceled it, but only after a dose of truth serum. I think it would go like this: Immigrants: "Mr. President, why are you kicking us out of the country? ...
Eight, nine, maybe 10 times I signed my name on the paperwork, the J getting a little loopier with each go-round. I handed Rich the papers. He handed me the keys. I grinned and gave a little happy hop. The car was officially mine. (A quick note here ... I know there are differences between ...
Perhaps Dr. Seuss said it best. “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” We are excited to have the libraries in Alcona County participating in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library project this year. In our estimation ...
Why? What satisfaction does one get in defacing something historical that was drawn hundreds of years ago? What goes through the head of someone ignoring a “no-burn” edict and doing so anyway, only to start a fire that as of this morning, had burned 36,000 acres of some of the most ...
Texans and Floridians hurt by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are on the minds of millions of their neighbors throughout the United States. But what about our other fellow Americans in the U.S. Virgin Islands? If anything, devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma in the USVI is worse that what is ...
The Talent Attraction Committee of Northeast Michigan Council of Governments recently hosted an event in Alpena that was a gathering of young professionals. The goal was to learn about what draws younger people to the area and what the group likes best about the area. I fit within the age ...
Financial services companies assure us they will handle the confidential information they often demand from us responsibly and securely. As many Americans have learned from data breaches in the past, those are promises not always kept. Now Equifax, the giant credit reporting agency, has ...
Certain positions in government involve handling of sensitive material. To get such a job, one has to obtain security clearance. How deeply investigators look into one’s background depends on the level of clearance required. It can require as long as 10 months to be approved for ...
Years ago, while in New Orleans for work I took a tour of historic homes. The region is steeped in history and the tour guide was a wealth of knowledge, not just about the homes, but also about the lives of those who lived in them. She had acquired her unique knowledge while working as a ...
You don't need a degree in journalism to realize you tell the readers the most important part of the story in the first paragraph. That is based on the notion that most readers will bail out for the sports section after reading the so-called lead if they read it at all. And while nobody at the ...