Traverse City Record-Eagle

Opinion

November 16, 2012

Letters to the Editor: 11/16/2012

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Lost his enthusiasm

The Record-Eagle's selection of a Commander-in-Chief doesn't surprise me, as any enthusiasm I had for Obama was lost early in 2009. I didn't expect the R-E to follow the lead of liberal national newspapers in dumping Obama.

It's not what he did for America, it's the time needed to undo what he's done. Remember, we're a Judo-Christian nation put together by our brave founding fathers, not only for America, but for the world.

Donald B. Jocks

Bellaire

The bottom line

I grew up spending summers tenting along the banks of the Boardman, canoeing and trout fishing on the land my father bought more than 50 years ago. He built a small family cabin. It's not fancy or large, but this is my second home. It's been placed at risk by those who thought to "save a buck" by eliminating the river-regulating dams.

As I'm sure you have already done the calculations, would the county Treasurer, Ms. Heidi Scheppe or the Commission Chairman, Mr. Larry Inman, be our public servants and publish the decrease in property values of those along the Boardman and the dam ponds and also the decrease in property tax revenues?

Did the county also calculate the increased costs of flood insurance and the lack of resale value in the properties along the river and former lakes? Have those been compared directly to the projected savings from the dams? Do they offset one another?

I believe that the Grand Traverse region will lose more than a well-regulated scenic river (when it becomes a muddy trickle in a summer drought or floods in the spring), they'll lose revenues. And that, sadly, is what seems to be the bottom line.

Sharon Komar

Phoenix, Ariz., and Boardman River resident

Send a personal letter

Dec. 31 is the deadline. By then, our present Congress must decide whether to continue Bush tax cuts.

But, these tax cuts benefit the rich.

Some 7,000 millionaires pay nothing (my information comes from the Quaker lobby in D.C.). Some of the largest corporations pay no taxes, even receive tax refunds.

But the U.S., deeply indebted, especially to China, should collect sufficient revenue to meet its actual needs. Congress needs to renew before Dec. 31, tax cuts only to those earning less than $200,000 a year.

E-mail doesn't cut it for messages to get through.

Send a personal letter to your U.S. Rep., to your two U.S. Senators. Their addresses are in the phone book.

Marian Gyr

Empire

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