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Letters to the Editor

Major change in receipt program

EDITOR: Super One recently made changes to its Community Dollars program. Non-profits benefiting from this wonderful sharing platform could receive 1 cent for every $1 of grocery receipts we turn in to the store. That doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up and can be used for the betterment of our community. Unfortunately, we now have to have $30,000 worth of receipts before we’re eligible to participate. We must meet this quota every three months each and every quarter to qualify for $300 Community Dollars. Miss the deadline for even one quarter and the non-profit organization ...

Cut could harm vital assistance

EDITOR: Dickinson County will suffer from Republican plans (21-6 in House Budget Committee) to cut SNAP (food stamps) by $230 billion and Medicaid by $880 billion so that the top 1% can reap a $1.1-trillion windfall. The Green Book December figures, put out by Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, show that 2,666 Dickinson County residents depend on SNAP. That’s 1,741 adults and 945 children, 10% of the county’s population. In December, $425,009 in Food Assistance was provided — $5 million dollars annually. If this assistance goes away or is significantly reduced, ...

Responding to ‘Jim Crow’ letter

The letter titled “Is Jim Crow coming back in America,” printed in The Daily News on Thursday, begins with “Is the country recessing to the era of Jim Crow?” I think the writer was trying to say regressing, but I digress. The next whole paragraph stammers on about some irrelevant, long-gone era in which the Democrats were treating the black citizens of the deep south like animals and trying to say that’s the way it is now, under the current administration. I would agree with that if the writer was referring to the Biden Administration’s time in the White House. ...

Dickinson board’s decision to cut 4-H funds draws criticism

EDITOR: At the January Dickinson County Board Meeting, the Commissioners voted to end funding for the Michigan State University Extension Services. At the center of this issue was funding to support a full-time 4-H Coordinator position at a cost of $81,000, which would come out of the county’s share of marijuana state tax use revenue. At Monday’s meeting, a request by Commissioner Joe Stevens to call a meeting to revisit this issue was denied by Board Chair Dan Harrington. Mr. Harrington stated that Michigan State University was bilking the taxpayers of this county and that they ...

Service should still have value

In a small town like ours, the “grapevine intercom” is loud and clear — and means more than all the advertising of our big box stores! I have been boycotting a certain store in our area from April 2023 to November 2024. For over 18 months I managed to not step foot in the place. I have bought all my birthday gifts at other fine stores in our area and our small, privately owned shops. At Christmastime, I did not give in. You see, in April of 2023, a good Samaritan blessed me by surprising me by paying for my order with her own credit card! She is married to a fine businessman in ...

Problems with pardons

A full-page message of Police Officer Appreciation was featured in the Jan. 27 issue of The Advertiser. The intended encouragement of our law enforcement community seems a bit hollow after President Donald Trump’s mass pardons Jan. 20 for roughly 1,500 rioters and the commutation of the sentences of 14 of his supporters in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Advertiser proclaimed “Blue Lives Matter.” Those brave officers who defended the Capitol, America’s democracy and its democratic processes should get the same support. According to the ...