Traverse City Record-Eagle

Your Views

October 16, 2009

Letters to the Editor: 10/17/2009

A benefit for all

I recently watched the PBS series on the national parks. It struck me that people talked about the same problems associated with establishing parks as are now being stated about Medicare, i.e.government takeover, money, private enterprise can do better, etc.

It made me realize that although much is said about the failure of government it is really a problem of controlling the money interests. Today there is an unconscionable amount of money going into elections and as a result elected officials need to accept lobbying money and therefore their influence.

Government is not the problem. Government does a good (not perfect) job in schools, police, firemen, parks, roads and much that we depend on every day. Good medical care should also be one of these necessary services.

National parks, state parks and local parks have been a real benefit for the quality of life of all our citizens. Medical care for all would be a similar benefit.

Elsie Peterson

Glen Arbor

Check the label

In response to Mr. James Schierbeek's letter in the Oct. 13 Record-Eagle, Hyundai, Toyota, Kia and Honda are foreign cars. They are only assembled in the United States. The majority of the components come from their homeland, not America.

Imagine the jobs there would be here if the majority of their parts were manufactured in the U.S. Then they would be American-made cars, not like Mr. Schierbeek wants readers to believe. Imagine the benefits of the taxes paid by a greater employed work force in the U.S. We wouldn't be in the fix we are now, especially Michigan.

I purchased a domestic vehicle this spring. I did check the label like Mr. Schierbeek suggested. The label on the one I purchased did not show any foreign-made parts. There was another model in the showroom; the label showed the engine made in Mexico and the transmission made in Japan. So, he is right, check the label.

I resent that cash for clunkers used my tax dollars to help foreign manufacturing. Would foreign governments do the same for American-made vehicles assembled in their countries?

Larry R. Lozen

Traverse City

Name the septage plant

Congratulations to Gov. Milliken on having a state park named after him. Future generations should know that there were once progressive Republicans -- now extinct.

I suggest we also rename the septage plant after John Engler for the job he did as our governor.

Kent Wood

Mancelona

Nicely put

In response to Charlene Eggli's letter in the Oct. 12 edition, she so nicely worded all the topics discussed in our home daily!

Obama is jumping too quickly into too many things; it makes your head spin. Hyperactivity is dangerous and Obama appears, to me, to be dangerous also.

Charlene did a good job; let's hope more people read her letter and act.

Charlotte Lafeve

Fife Lake

It can be done

I am writing in response to the letter from Tina Suarez, a Traverse City "local" from Florida.

I was one of the many locals who worked on "Capitalism: A Love Story." I produced and engineered music for the film, using local arrangers, musicians and studios to bring composer Jeff Gibbs' score to life. (Jeff also lives in Traverse City.)

I also got to meet and work with talented specialists from the film world who lived, worked, fell in love with and spent money in Traverse City.

As an instructor at Northwestern Michigan College, I hope we can educate and train the people necessary so filmmakers won't have to bring so many folks from outside TC.

We need to have the infrastructure and the trained talent to lure more films here. Michael Moore proved it can be done.

Steve Quick

Traverse City

Drop the lawsuit

I am a native of Traverse City, a city resident and boater. I have attended two of the sessions held concerning expanding the swimming areas east and west of Clinch Park.

The first meeting was sponsored by the Department of Natural Resources to gather public input concerning the city's request to expand the swimming area. The response was that the swimming areas should not be expanded. The DNR denied the city's request.

The city appealed this decision to the Natural Resources Commission. At the second meeting the city commission was seeking a compromise that would expand the swimming areas, not quite as much as originally requested.

The overwhelming response was to not expand the swimming areas. At these meetings, only one or two city residents spoke in favor of expansion of the swimming areas.

The Natural Resources Commission concurred that the swimming areas should not be expanded. Now the city commission is considering a lawsuit against the resources commission to overturn their decision.

Having a staff attorney is not a good reason to force the state into an expensive legal process. Why are a few city commissioners insistent that more swimming areas are needed?

Commission, please drop this silly lawsuit.

Roger Williams

Traverse City

A threat to economy

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., as reported in the Record-Eagle on Sept. 20, extolls the care she received for breast cancer. She then derides government-sponsored health care plans. She shows she is badly confused because her insurance plan is provided by the federal government.

Our goal should be to allow everyone to choose the kind of plan she has and that is the purpose of President Obama's proposals for health care reform.

Further, she demonstrates her lack of information about health care plans by equating the Candadian and British systems. They are very different but under neither does anyone die for lack of medical attention, as she implies. In our country, on the other hand, 45,000 people die each year due to inadequate health care.

She claims that proposed reforms in health plans would be an economic threat. The biggest threat is actually to fail to reform our dysfunctional system. If we do not fix it, it is going to bankrupt the country. It is already eating up all the productivity gains that have been achieved.

Walter Sikes

Frankfort

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