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Letters to the Editor

Directional intervention

EDITOR: Congratulations to the current federal administration. If your goal was to create an attitude of total distrust, mission accomplished. How about other readers? Do you think our country is on the right track? While being trained to be a medical first responder, I was taught the ABC’s...airway, breathing and circulation. If any of these three were compromised, they required immediate medical intervention. Otherwise, as our instructor emphasized, the patient will be quickly put into the category known as “circling the drain.” I wonder if our country could be classified as ...

Misleading headline

EDITOR: On February 29th, 2024, the Escanaba Daily Press published a completely misleading headline. It stated “77% local vote goes to Trump”. The reality is Trump received 51% of the vote. There were 6,695 votes cast, Trump received 3,590 of them. Keep in mind, Biden is basically unchallenged so a lot of Democrats did not vote. Trump is being challenged by Nikki Hayley, who received almost 20% of the vote. As the article states, the general atmosphere suggests that strategic voting (Democrats/Republicans voting in a different party primary) is less than normal. Which by ...

Healthcare for kids

EDITOR: Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin has stopped accepting Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Health Plan (Medicaid.) What this means for U.P. kids on UPHP who need pediatric services is a 22 hour round trip car trip to lower Michigan to receive care instead of two hours away in Appleton. Whose fault is this? According to an appeal letter I received from UPHP my daughter and her insurance was not accepted by Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. According to a CHOW representative I was told that the problem lies with UPHP for not continuing negotiations with WCHO on provider ...

Firearms law

EDITOR: Sadly, it didn’t take long to see a demonstration of the impotence of Governor Whitmer’s gun storage law. A two-year-old child was killed through the negligence of her father (law or not) regarding access to a loaded firearm. Two articles in the Daily Press and other sources provide similar accounts, but also leave out vital information. Not only do gun control laws not prevent the crimes for which they are written (as is so plainly demonstrated here), but pre-existing laws (felonies) were violated earlier in this case. The Feb 22 article noted “(the father)… also ...

Jail diversion

EDITOR: The Daily Press recently republished a Traverse City Record Eagle editorial titled, “Jail diversion correct the systems.” Diversion programs are more successful and less costly to taxpayers than jail and prison. Delta County is missing some diversion options that some other Michigan counties have: day reporting, random drug testing, random residence searches for contraband and a sheriff’s work camp. Day reporting requires criminals on probation to report daily, often very early, between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. Once present, they’re randomly tested for drug use. ...

A sacred right or a sacred cow?

EDITOR: Michigan’s new clean energy legislation was adopted last November and makes Michigan a national leader in using solar and wind to transition our state away from fossil fuels to create electricity. The new law pits local zoning officials against local landowners who want to place clean solar and wind on their land. According to Citizens for Local Choice, “local zoning control is a sacred right enjoyed by local units.” Really? If that were true, vital public services like highways, telephone, internet, and electricity could be stopped by local zoning boards. Thank goodness ...