BGYA thank you
Dear Editor,
The end of 2018 brought several generous donations from our community. These funds will be put to good use for funding summer camp, sports programs, Challenge Day, and 15 videos for casework youth. BGYA has a long list of activities and without donations, sponsor fees, and fundraisers these activities for kids would not be possible.
BGYA wants to thank the following for their donations, Kathleen Leece, Scott Broughton, and the Ortonville Lions Club. With these donations, we were able to go into 2019 with sufficient funds to start the 2019 year, which already has funded various activities involving community youth.
With these donations we have sponsor fees from, Brandon Township, Groveland Township, Village of Ortonville, and Brandon Schools with in-kind services from Brandon Recreation and Brandon Library, for which we are very thankful.
The BGYA Board of Directors and volunteers would like to thank the individuals and organizations for their generous donations. Anyone wanting to make a donation can contact our office 248-627-1800 ext 1717; we are a 501(c)3 organization.
With sincere thanks,
Board of Directors – Brandon Groveland Youth Assistance.
(In response to “Dump this clown,” a letter by J.E.Galer, The Citizen, Feb. 2, page 6.)
Boo on GOP
Dear Editor,
In reading the Feb. 2, 2019 Viewpoints section of our Citizen newspaper I will agree with some of the things Mr. Galer said. I also disagree with all of what Mr. Wayda said. We need a 5.7 billion wall like I need another you know what and I am 79 years old. Mr. Galer’s shortlist of adjectives is a little short Ithink. Trump is incompetent, narcissistic, very vulgar, ignorant, classless, clueless, unethical, cowardly, offensive, derogatory, immoral, self-serving (I love myself, he says), inflamatory (very dangerous), possibly treasonous, aslo a sexist, racist, a bully and been known to throw a tantrum if he doesn’t get his way. I have a six foot tall fence around my garden to keep the animals out but they dig under it-crawl over it. Fences are barriers do not keep anything out. Donnie said when he was elected he would build his wall which would go down in history as the Donnie Trump wall so now with his big ego, he won’t let go of it. If I can’t have my way, I will shut down the government again (repeat).
A wall is so stupid I can’t believe anyone in their right mind would even think about doing it. Next, we will need a wall in Detroit between us and Canada, our good friends. I would like to see a big, four walled enclosure to put guys like Donnie, Putin, North Koriea and other dictators in to keep them from doing things like tax payer money on their little pet projects. We need to tell Donnie to take his big wall idea and stick it where the sun don’t shine. He needs a good spanking and should be confined to his room for a couple of years. We need someone like Nancy Pelosi for president and if a woman runs for the job, she will have my voite. Boo on the Republican Party. Have a great day.
Ken Davis Sr.

Thank You
Dear Editor,
We just want to thank David Fleet, editor of The Citizen newspaper for all that you do in and for the communities that you serve.
We recognize the time, resources & responsibility each article requires. We are grateful to you and The Citizen. You have always helped Victory and us reach out to this community through promoting our dodgeball tournaments, open gym for the youth, past Easter egg hunts and so many other events.
Your commitment to provide a weekly forum for local pastors to write articles that feed not only the body and soul, but also the spirits of your readers, is commendable. We are also grateful for the article you recently wrote honoring the opportunity we have had for the past 16 1/2 years to serve this great community and our recent retirement as Senior Pastors. Thank You David Fleet!
Still serving Him & this local community,
Pastor Jeff and Kelly Stonerock

A vow for the deeper story
Dear Editor,
I have a confession to make. Last week, when I saw the photo of what I took to be a mob of young men in MAGA hats, taunting a Native American elder, I jumped into the polarized vortex. A moderate liberal, I’d been carefully avoiding social media because of its use for radicalization, and its role in the polarization of our nation. But this picture spilled into the mainstream media, and my knee jerked. Later, as the larger context for the picture emerged, I could see that what was captured by that picture was only part of the story. I felt embarrassed and ashamed that all I‘d seen at first was the red MAGA hats. Why was that? While these hats and other trump paraphernalia have likely contributed to the approval ratings for our current president, I, and, I suspect others like me, have come to see these hats as symbols of a new and dangerous nationalism, founded on hatred for anyone who isn’t white, “American”, and probably straight male. David Neiwert expressed my concern in a recent Daily Kos article: “Something is going wrong—badly, horrifically wrong—with America’s young white men. It’s happening largely online, but it’s seeping into the real world.”
Examples: Lane Davis, 33, a ‘Gamergate’ conspiracy theorist in Samish Island, WA , killed his father in an argument over the ‘Pizzagate’ theory; Nikolas Cruz, Parkland, Florida, killed 17 people and wounded another 17. Cruz was fond of online chat rooms, where he was known to obsess about race, guns, and violence, often promoting racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBT views; Zephen Xaver killed five women in a Florida bank. On social media, he favored Milo Yiannopoulos, an anti-feminist ranter; Scott Paul Beierle, who also devoted hours to online rants against feminists, killed two women and wounded five more in a Yoga studio in Tallahassee. The list continues
A pattern? A trend? An Anti-Defamation League’s recent report notes right-wing extremism as the source of every single extremism-related murder in 2018. The common thread here, with the possible exception of Omar Mateer, is that every one of these young white men has been radicalized online, a world of conspiracies that severs its fans connection to reality. The radicals of our time are not Islamicists, or ISIS, but white nationalists, who, egged on by our Tweeter-in Chief, have grown by more 600 percent since 2012.
I share these grisly reminders with you, not to make a case for guilt by association, – I certainly do not lump the Covington boys, in with the list above, but to explain, possibly, my knee-jerk reaction – my taking the MAGA hats as a symbol of the hatred generated by white nationalism, enhanced by presidential tweets.
Reflecting on my initial reaction to the MAGA hat/Native American Elder picture, I vow to lay low on opinions while stories are being played out. Either that, or as Don Rush suggests, spend hours every day, doing my own research. I also vow to look for the deeper story that is being revealed by these iconic moments, as our beloved nation, true to its dedication to open dialogue, continues to wrestle with and reconcile its diverse and evolving values.
Sincerely,
Lois B. Robbins

(In response to, Dump this clown,’ a letter by J.E. Galer, The Citizen Feb. 2, page 6)
Behavior from the right?
Dear Editor,
First of all: Thank you Mr. Galer for agreeing with me regarding the language used by Ms. Talib several weeks ago that made National News. Let us not forget that at the time she made her remarks it was Not some sort of private affair, it was her victory speech having just been elected to the U.S House of Representatives. If it was private then why was it covered by the press? Nope, it was a gathering open to the public, so can we dispense with the excuses. That type of language is unacceptable for ANY public official regardless of political affiliation.
You mention that the news is FULL of the same sort of behavior from the right (Republicans) that happens daily. If that is true then please share ALL those incidents with the rest of us because I’m drawing a blank on that one! Yes, the Republican Party has evolved over the years and is no longer the party it was 40-50 yrs. ago. I agree, but let’s apply those same observations towards the Democrats because they sure as heck are not the same party of John Kennedy ! If you missed it they are becoming more Socialist….Is that what we want? The Democrats, under Nancy Pelosi had the motto of “RESIST, RESIST, RESIST” Now it’s “DELAY and NO COOPERATION.” That’s not the way I think we should go. Towards the end of his SOTU speech last night President Trump laid out an olive branch by urging Congress to “work together” to achieve great things. He made it a point to pay ALL the ladies in Congress (particularly the Democratic ladies) a compliment by acknowledging their contributions. They responding by all standing, giving each other “High-Fives” and chanting “U.S.A, U.S.A” It was impressive. Nancy Pelosi was not happy!
Working together works for me,
Paul S. Lucas