Letters

Science & vaccines

I am writing this in response to Heidi Kistler’s letter “Chose not to vaccinate.” While I wholeheartedly agree with Ms. Kistler’s views on freedom of choice and the importance of personal research, her logic train derails before it even has a chance to leave the station.

What she calls “fear-based rhetoric” is actually science-based medicine and it is responsible for the high quality of life we enjoy in modern western civilization. The number of ways modern medicine has benefited humanity is rivaled only by the number of logical fallacies in her argument...

Letters

Blowing in the wind

I am writing to support Proposition 3, which requires Michigan’s utilities to get 25% of their power from renewable sources by 2025. I don’t think that our utilities, in flatly rejecting Proposition 3, have fairly evaluated the considerable renewable resources that exist in our state.

Take wind, for example. If you look at a wind map of Michigan, (Google “Michigan 50 meter wind map”) you will see that just offshore Michigan is surrounded by winds that are classified as excellent to outstanding. Offshore wind power is rapidly being developed by Denmark, Germany and the U.K. The technology could readily be adapted to the coast of Michigan.

Very little will happen, however, unless we commit ourselves to a significant increase in the production of renewable electric power. There needs to be a market in order for investors and manufacturers to show interest. Proposition 3 will create that market...

Letters

Seniors & taxes  Regarding the 4/29 letter “Runaway Train.” What an entitlement attitude regarding senior taxes. I’d like to ask the question: When did the citizens of Michigan decide that the working folks could and would support retired individuals...

Disaster in Kalkaska Recently, the Canadian-based Encana corporation filed applications to drill 13 more gas/oil wells in Kalkaska County. The combined cumulative water estimated to hydraulically fracture these wells is in excess of 327,000,000 gallons. This water would be removed from the Manistee Watershed permanently, because the chemicals added to the water render it too toxic for any future use -- even for more hydraulic fracturing...

Solar & wind benefits People talk often about what wind turbines and solar panels are about. This is what they are not about -- gas explosions, oil spills, coal mining accidents, using millions of gallons of water laced with chemicals, some of which are carcinogenic...

Fracking giveaway There is a fracking gas/oil rush in Michigan because the state's DEQ and Office of Oil, Gas and Minerals give multinational energy corporations our fresh water for FREE and our state lands for pennies...

Need fracking moratorium Michigan citizens have recently been told that we possess a wealth of natural gas, and that the oil and gas industry will respect our environment in it’s production. The advertising campaign promoting “clean” natural gas in Michigan began appearing the same time residents of other states were reporting environmental problems with horizontal hydraulic fracturing, a.k.a. “fracking”...

Correction Last week's article on the new Uptown restaurant in TC included the wrong phone number. The correct number is 943-1344.Got Extra?

Letters

Helmets & motorcycles Properly worn motorcycle helmets, particularly full-face helmets, are quite effective in preventing head injuries during a crash. Like Jim Lumley (featured in the April 29 issue), I always wear a helmet and am fully covered (i.e. jacket/pants/ boots/gloves) while riding, even when the temperature exceeds 90 degrees...

Fear-mongering lobby Today’s NRA is not the same proud organization my father belonged to. The NRA today has become a fear-mongering lobby for the gun manufacturers...

Don’t blame others Regarding Pete VanBerlo’s letter (May 6) it seems to me that he has fallen hook, line and sinker for the tactic legislators want us to fall for: blaming each other for our problems and not addressing the real issue...

Taxed by Snyder Wait a minute Pete (re: May 6 letter). Entitlement attitude. What makes you think that you somehow support us retired people who collect Social Security?

Dear Beloved Michigan He is one tough NERD. Never. Ending. Rights/Resource. Destroyer. Yes, look out Pure Michigan... 

Corrections

-- Credit for the photo in last week's story on Serenity Wellness is due to Lisa Newhouse of Cherry City Consulting.

-- George Colburn (“Eisenhower's Secret War:”) was a councilman in East Lansing, not Lansing. Also, it was a former Eisenhower staffer who asked him to create documentaries, rather than a fellow filmmaker. Additionally, Bob Elliott is not a translator, but the “voice” mouthing translations of Russian, German and French commentators.