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February 22, 2003Letters to the EditorConfusion, cynicismIt is undeniably important to remind the public to maintain vigilance in the face of threats from terrorists. The war against al-Qaida must go on, perhaps interminably, because it has greater urgency than the presumed immediate need to eliminate Saddam Hussein. The ancient rise in rhetoric accompanying a color index elevation from yellow to orange, a symbol of incipient danger to our country from terrorist action, serves not only to raise awareness, but also raises the level of anxiety we feel about unspecified danger. We must certainly be warned, but when anxiety reaches chronic proportions as a result of frequent alarms, the result can be a contradictory degeneration into apathy at best - and at worst, a more destructible degeneration into a pervasive paranoia more characteristic of the feeling that afflicts the people of Iraq as Saddam Hussein exhorts them about our intentions. The fumbling attempts by this administration to mollify the public can result in confusion and cynicism after it created a quasi-hysterical atmosphere in the country. Duct tape and plastic won't cut it and can only bring on security fatigue. People can behave in a reasonable, cautionary manner when not prodded by irrational leadership. We have been, and may be again, attacked by criminals. We have a history of being able to deal with criminal behavior without developing pathological suspiciousness of each other, the kind of collateral damage that can eventuate from loosely focused prescriptions for safety. We should, we must, sift out that which is reasonable and, as adults, glean from the rhetoric rational behavior and ,as citizens of a free society, act without fear of reprisal from an administration that is becoming more addicted to a restrictive paternalism. Frank Tosiello Traverse City Profits over safety? This is concerning the Jan. 15 article, "Panel to discuss Big Rock transfer." How does Consumers define "greenfield" by 2004 at the Big Rock Point nuclear power plant site in Charlevoix? I attended a meeting last February between Consumers representatives and federal "regulators" at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission here in Washington, D.C. There I witnessed Consumers propose to "walk away" from much of the radioactive mess they've made on the site. Claiming they did not want to "disturb" the radioactive contamination in the sediment in a canal leading out into Lake Michigan, Consumers proposed to not even look at how badly or far out into Lake Michigan the contamination extends. I even heard Consumers say that the groundwater under the site would wash the radioactive contamination into Lake Michigan, and since that was off their property, they needn't worry about it. Consumers' attitude shouldn't be a surprise, for the company it hired to "clean up" Big Rock - British Nuclear Fuels - has turned the Irish Sea into one of the most radioactively contaminated bodies of water on earth, due to the large-scale discharges from its Sellafield nuclear facility in the U.K. Scandalously, NRC - lapdogs, not watchdogs on the nuclear industry - allows for such abuses. A recent NRC-sponsored poll of its own employees revealed that a full third question the agency's commitment to safety, almost half do not feel it is "safe to speak up," and many complained NRC is influenced by the nuclear industry to the point that its regulations have atrophied. A recent NRC Inspector General report criticized NRC for putting industry profits over public safety at the corroded Davis-Besse reactor near Toledo, risking the closest call to a major nuclear accident since Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. So it's up to concerned citizens to see through Consumers' spin doctoring and put a stop to such abuses. Kevin Kamps Mt. Rainier, Md., and Kalamazoo Kevin Kamps is a board member of Don't Waste Michigan, from Kalamazoo, and a nuclear waste specialist, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Washington, D.C. Help with local needs On Feb. 4, a Red Cross-sponsored blood drive held here in Traverse City, coordinated with five local banks, pulled 100 local donors, so I'm told by newspaper and TV coverage of the event. I asked my local bank what the purpose was for their efforts, and was told it was for the war on Iraq. This cannot be true. The U.S. government currently plans to request help from domestic blood collection agencies only if the military's own blood service becomes unable to provide for our troops' needs. This has not happened yet. If it does, Michigan Community Blood Centers-Northwest (as part of America's Blood Centers, a nationwide network of community blood banks that provides 50 percent of our nation's blood supply each year) will be included and will support military blood needs. Also, if we do need blood for a war, it will be freshly drawn by community blood centers that are members of America's Blood Centers, as well as the Red Cross. So what am I all worked up about? Well, first, none of that 100 donations is available to our community's current needs, since the Red Cross has no contract with our hospitals here. Second, I know that blood components are better when fresh. Third, 100 donors are now ineligible for two months to help supply our community blood center, and we do have a local demand for blood that is increasing. Munson used more than 10,000 units of blood last year and projects 11,000 will be needed this year. Come on, donors, help with local needs. Make a phone call to find out more about how your community blood center needs your help. Call (231) 935-3030 or (800) 935-5311. Phil Knapp Williamsburg Phil Knapp is on the board of the Northwest Michigan Blood Program. Column an inspiration Being aware that possibly I write too many notes to the paper/individuals here's another one! I commend you for printing Michael Reagan's column of today - Feb. 14. It is not only beautiful to read but helpful to many of us out here. We are watching - at home - the same hurts that Nancy and the Reagan family are forced to handle. Until one experiences the daily failings of loved ones, that loss is never understood. We at-home care-givers watch our loved ones deteriorating on a frequently daily basis, constantly changing from that individual with whom you fell in love to an almost stranger. The fun-filled holidays a nothing. But Mr. Reagan's column indicates how well they are handling it. Acceptance, though difficult, is the answer. We were great admirers of Ronald Reagan, not only as president, but as an individual. I was honored to work as a volunteer on both his campaigns. He is and was a good, gentle man. As well, he taught his son the meaning of goodness with love in God. These last few months have not been the easiest here. Bad roads, can't get the patient out - but your publishing of today's "Reagan" column is a great prescription. It is easier to forget this was a beautiful holiday once upon a time. God bless. Peg Simmons Traverse City Windpower is easy I am writing in response to the recent articles and opinions about windpower in northern Michigan. Achieving 20 percent of our electric supply in Michigan can be easy if we want to do it. They did it in Denmark and they're working on it Germany. It can be done, because it has been done. There is one county in northern Denmark where 130 percent of their electric consumption is from windpower, exceeding the needs of 12,000 citizens. All this has been done with older and smaller windmills. Here, two to five larger windmills can supply all the annual electric consumption of a typical township. Properly sited these windmills will preserve farmland, be a pleasant site on the landscape and be visual representation that we are making clean power. After 30 years the windmills can be removed and the landscape restored. We can't say that about the rural sprawl and condo developments that are permanently changing our landscape. Having this visual representation of clean energy beats the invisible pollution we each are responsible for creating in our air and water, the mercury, CO2, SOx, NOx. Global warming is real, in spite of what Rush Limbaugh thinks, and we have a lot of work to do, to abate this coming catastrophe. Steve Smiley Suttons Bay
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