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Letters to the Editor

Johnson misleads on USPS, DeJoy

As chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Senator Ron Johnson’s opening statement at the Aug. 21 hearing on the U.S. Postal Service contains several false or misleading claims. Sen. Johnson stated, “The bipartisan Postal Board of Governors engaged a professional search firm that identified Louis DeJoy as an outstanding candidate with the necessary background and skill set to tackle the enormous challenges of the postal system.” This is false. Robert M. Duncan, chairman of the Postal Service’s Board of Governors, has admitted that DeJoy was not included in the ...

Bergman vote on House postal bill wrong stance

EDITOR: U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman voted against the “Delivering for America Act,” the bill that passed the U.S. House on Saturday. It prohibited the U.S. Postal Service from making changes to operations or levels of service from those that were in effect on Jan. 1. In short during the COVID-19 emergency, the Post Office is prohibited from: changes in the nature of the service that would affect service on a nationwide basis; revisions of service standards; closures or consolidations of post offices or reduction of facility hours; prohibitions of overtime pay; changes that would prevent ...

Too much speed on Park Avenue

EDITOR: There is a growing concern about the traffic on Park Avenue in Iron Mountain. This street is used as a bypass for the downtown by drivers who want to “make up time” by avoiding the traffic lights on Stephenson Avenue. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a marked increase in pedestrian traffic on Park. More dog walkers, families with children and strollers, couples, joggers and bicyclists are using Park Avenue. Most drivers are considerate of the increased “people presence” but a certain percentage are not. Those drivers speed from stop sign to stop ...

Participate now in deer survey

EDITOR: Upper Peninsula deer hunters who have not already participated in a recent DNR survey online, asking for hunter input about future changes in deer hunting regulations, have until Friday to do so. The survey only has six questions, three of which deal with U.P. deer hunting, and only takes a few minutes to complete. To access the survey, go to the DNR website at mi.gov/dnr and click on hunting, then click on deer hunting. There’s a gray box with 2020 deer season dates. At the bottom of that box is a link to the survey that says, “please fill out this survey.” A direct ...

Looking more closely at BLM

It has been interesting to read in this column the dialogue regarding Black Lives Matter. Both sides make salient points; so what can we learn from each other? Many of us are sympathetic to the statement “Black Lives Matter” and the emotion behind the statement. Believe it or not, beneath our skin, we are all the same, and the idea that some should be harmed, belittled or deprived because of the color of that skin is abhorrent to us. Because of this consciousness, we would love to be able to back this organization. Recently, a reader wrote an amazing letter in this column ...

Need to care about people, not the deficit

I have been listening to the news recently. They keep talking about the economy and how we are now in a depression. Why is this happening? I understand people don’t want us to increase the deficit but what happened to the deficit when they gave tax breaks to the rich? I understand their reasoning. They thought the companies would use that money to create more jobs. That did not happen. Most companies used money to buy back their own stock or give money to their shareholders. The funny thing about people who own stock is that 85% of stock is owned by the rich. So the tax break did not ...