The new math
One big bundle of money, + 3 unprincipled APS board members = 4,300 disenfranchised Alpena County residents. Do these numbers add up? Karen Hansen Alpena
Diet Coke socialism
The Trump administration is drafting a rule that would let married couples with a stay-at-home spouse collect federal welfare benefits. The money comes from a 1990s Health and Human Services fund meant to cover daycare so low-income parents could work or go to school. About 870,000 families ...
A parenting prayer at the beginning of another school year
In the perfect world, or place, or dimension, we are going to pray always (or popularly said, 24/7) in adoration of God who created and loves us forever. Beyond that I can say nothing about Heaven because it is way beyond me, and indeed unimaginable. Here on earth, we imperfectly stumble and stammer in our visiting with our Father. Following the guidance of Jesus and ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, we give much to adoration and thanksgiving to the Father, a lot to His mercy and forgiveness, a small bit to my ‘daily bread’ (He knows our needs and cares for us before we ask), and ...
Recalling Sept.11: From a local police perspective
September 11, 2001 started out as any other day. At the time, I was a sergeant at the sheriff's office in Alpena County. As I remember it, it was a beautiful sunny day. I had a preliminary hearing scheduled for the morning on a domestic violence case that I had investigated. I went into ...
The day that changed the world forever
It’s 25 years later as I sit writing this column on 9-11 and the events of that day and the ensuing emotions all come flooding back. The tears and the fears most certainly are there. So is the anger, the shock and the uncertainty of that day. But they aren’t all negative emotions. The ...
Sept. 11 is my generation’s Pearl Harbor
For years, I listened to my grandparents talk about where they were and what they were doing when they learned that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. Of course I couldn’t relate to what they felt, what the nation suffered through, or understand the significance of Dec. 7. That all changed ...