Letters to the editor

Think Green

Ralph Kayler hit the nail on the head last week when he pointed out that every last one of our elected representatives in Washington, DC, have been bought out by multinational corporations, and it is considered illegal to do so.

That is the reason why nothing ever changes, except to get worse for working Americans. All is not lost, however. There is one electoral party on the ballot in every state that refuses campaign contributions from corporations — the Green Party.

The Greens are the party of grassroots democracy; all are welcome.

The need of the hour is to assert the power of the people over the power of money.

The Green Party is the only political party prepared to do this. — Greg Kruszewski, Columbiaville

Review fire-run insurance coverage

A response to: Oregon Township board must be accountable

Well of course it should! The board should be accountable to its residents with respect to fairness and justice. And Kenneth Heathcock Sr, in his Letter to the Editor of Jan. 28 feels that all township residents should be pleased to plop down $2,500 for completely unnecessary fire runs. Mr. Heathcock’s letter was quite remarkable in that it was written with the insight, perspective and tone of a township board member. Mr. Heathcock has not been elected to a current term on the board.

I hope that every resident of every township makes a careful review of his/her fire run situation. If you live in a township in which fire runs are billed to residents, then you should have a long chat with your homeowner’s insurance agent. You should determine if there is absolutely any conceivable situation in which your homeowner’s insurance would not cover the cost of any kind of fire run to any location billed at any amount in your name.

You may be surprised at the number of exceptions in your coverage. What would happen if your car were to catch fire in another township? What would happen if a passerby should have his car catch fire and turn into your driveway? If your township bills for fire calls, expect a lot of grief.

As it turns out, there is quite a list of reasons that a fire run may be made in your name, even if you have absolutely no need for fire services. In my case it was a faulty smoke alarm that was part of a monitored alarm system.

There is a retired lady in Mayfield Township who was burning a small amount of leaves in the ditch in front of her home when the wrong person drove by and called the fire department. She was billed for a fire call even though there was absolutely no need for fire services.

Even more unfortunate in this difficult economy, there are many residents who cannot afford homeowner’s insurance. What would happen if an unnecessary fire run were made to such a home? According to my township supervisor, if the fee were to go unpaid, eventually that home would be sold at auction to pay the fire call.

Please join me in taking the time to meet with our state representative, Kevin Daley, any time he visits Lapeer. Tell him how important it is to enact legislation to protect township residents from the horrors of unnecessary fire runs. His phone number is 517-373-9981. — Rick DeLorme, Oregon Township

Unemployment a national crisis

The Lapeer County jobless rate is 18.6 percent according to your paper, and yet President Obama is only now just talking about an aggressive jobs program.

The so-called stimulus package did next to nothing to stimulate jobs other than for porkbarrel spending to support Democratic causes across the country. Rather than spending so much time on health care, there should’ve been more thought to creating tax cuts for small businesses because that’s where the jobs are.

I get it that the President can only do so much, because it’s Congress that actually adopts budgets and makes laws, yet he certainly should’ve been more out in front of this mess.

The national unemployment rate is above 10 percent and will probably go higher, so it’s a national emergency and not just a Michigan problem. — Douglas Waldron, Burnside Township

Many people aided coat program

A big thank you to all who donated to our coat program this year. A special thank you to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Hadley Clipper, Christ the King Lutheran Church Sewing Club, and to Lisa Schultz and family for organizing a coat drive at Murphy Elementary and Rolland-Warner Middle School.

Because of all of you, we gave away 1,048 coats, 27 swimsuits, 102 snow pants, 295 boots, 421 hats, 565 gloves, and 397 scarfs.

Thank you to The County Press for their support in spreading the word regarding our need for donations and our coat distribution dates.

Thank you and God bless you all. — Kathy Warren, St. Paul Lutheran Church