Traverse City Record-Eagle

Your Views

March 20, 2010

Letters to the Editor: 03/21/2010

Jobless rate keeps going

President Barack Obama sold us his $1 trillion "stimulus" bill by claiming it would halt unemployment at 8 percent. He said if we didn't spend this money unemployment would reach 9 percent. So what did we get for our borrowing $1 trillion from the Chinese?

Answer: A national unemployment rate that peaked at 10.1 percent. Here in Michigan it is above 14 percent. We got sold a pretty big bill of goods on that one.

In fact, after the Democrats' bill was signed into law, the president's top economic adviser, Christina Romer, admitted it was "unfortunately pretty realistic" that unemployment would soar above the levels they had projected.

It is especially unfortunate for the record 16 million Americans relying on unemployment checks instead of a paycheck from their job.

Eric F. Grebe

Traverse City

Freedoms being stripped

Regarding the gentleman in the March 11 article pleading for yet another ban against smokers, I say enough already.

I am not a smoker and I am at the library at least twice a week. The article claims he "... doesn't want to sniff cigarette smoke as he enters the Traverse Area District Library on Woodmere Avenue."

"He doesn't want to be bothered by it in the parking lot either. In fact, DeFoe would love to see the entire campus go smoke-free as soon as possible."

Do you see where this is going, America? Little by little our freedoms are being stripped away because somebody doesn't like this or that.

I wonder what irritating habit this man engages in that we would like to see banned? This country can thrive with its citizens making their own choices. Don't you think the government has passed enough laws regarding smoking already? Some people will never be satisfied until they see to it that everyone stops smoking, period. It just sets a precedent for the next habit to eliminate.

This is a slippery slope we are on, America, and too many people are oblivious to what is going on.

Barb Huber

Traverse City

Turning lane would help

Division Street is always in the news with little done. Every day the traffic is backed up to Front Street from Grandview Parkway, and all we need is to add an extra turn lane at the Parkway. It is almost there now. All that is needed is to move one pole on the right side or move the left lane over a little to the left. It would be done with little cost. We do not need a $50,000 study. It is there now. Get it done. It would be so easy.

Donald L. Duchene Sr.

Traverse City

Must be changes

It saddens me to hear about Tim Schubert's speeding violation. After he ended the lives of Adrian Morris and Christan DeWitt in a 2004 traffic accident, I truly believed he had learned a very hard lesson. After all, he was going to have to live each day of his life knowing he took the lives of two wonderful, innocent teens.

It had been just a little more than five years since this unnecessary accident occurred, and here he is speeding again.

When will it stop? I am outraged that this man is even allowed to drive any type of vehicle.

I only can hope that our elected officials will continue to change him before this man causes another innocent person to lose his or her life.

There must be changes.

Linda Mitchem

Interlochen

Hold them responsible

The septage plant as it stands today is oversized, poorly designed and poorly constructed. The project manager, attorney Michael Houlihan, designer Gourdie-Fraser Inc. and their construction contractor should be held responsible for all expenses beyond the original contract and the extra expense to operate beyond the area's required capacity.

Before I retired I was employed by an engineering and fabricating company. If we did not design a project properly or made mistakes in manufacturing, the company paid the entire bill to correct the problem, whether it would bankrupt us or not. Therefore, Grand Traverse County, the bonding townships, septic tank users or taxpayers should not have to bear this expense.

John Summers

Traverse City

Gas not renewable

Robin Beardsley, in a Feb. 26 letter, suggests natural gas for Traverse City Light & Power's proposed generating plant. Although not a customer of this utility, I am concerned about using natural gas for generating electricity. The Michigan Public Service Commission is encouraging utilities to use renewable energy. Natural gas, as well as oil and coal, are not renewable.

Using natural gas is a waste of premium fuel best suited to residential heating and feedstock for the chemical industry. When the supply of a commodity is decreasing and demand is increasing, the result will be higher prices. Millions of homeowners will experience higher costs even though other energy sources can be used to generate electricity.

Citizens should be asking their elected representatives, particularly at the federal level, the following questions:

1) Why don't we have a comprehensive energy policy as it has been discussed for the last 30 years?

2) Why has it taken 30 years to resuscitate the nuclear power industry?

3) Why do only the eastern corridor and major cities have decent passenger rail transportation?

4) Why did it take competition from the Japanese to finally get our auto industry to start producing hybrid and all-electric vehicles?

Robert Bosch

Suttons Bay

Schneider commended

In reference to the March 9 article, "Labor, business backing Meijer."

Grand Traverse Prosecutor Alan Schneider is to be commended for his strong stance against the Big Three -- Meijer, the Chamber of Commerce (the friend of Big Business and Republicans everywhere) and Big Labor (the toothless dragon after eight years of the Bush administration).

It's good to know that there are still a few public officials who are willing to spend the time and effort to look after our interests.

I hope Mr. Schneider is successful in his effort to find out what really transpired with Meijer and their push to build a store in Acme. Good luck to him.

Patricia Gaines

Traverse City

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