Roe V. Wade
Women faced with an unexpected, difficult pregnancy deserve good resources to help them through it and this is where we should be focusing our attention. We certainly do not need Governor Whitmer doing line item vetoes to remove resources, effectively making women feel that their only choice is abortion. Her recent vetoes for the 2022/2023 budget struck $4million allocated for maternity homes that provide “safe housing and comprehensive support services without charge for pregnant women who are without a safe home and in need.” She struck $2 million in tax credits to adoptive parents and $10 million designed to provide factual information to pregnant women about adoption as an alternative to abortion.
There will be a fierce emotional battle over abortion in the coming weeks and months. There will be heart tugging stories of women in the media. Know that there are stories on both sides, even if these don’t make your Google feed. I know women who have been frightened by prenatal tests showing anomalies and were counseled to abort – who went on to deliver perfectly healthy children. For every woman who stands up with pride to tell of her abortion experience, know that there are many more who regret their abortion and suffer silently and inconsolably. We must have civility and respect for all these women, but we also need to consider and speak for the unborn, who are most vulnerable and have no voice. One’s right to be born cannot be defined by whether or not one is “wanted”, or useful, or attractive, or able, or disabled. Thank you for considering these points.
Mary Lou Gagnon
Goodrich

Slow down
On Monday, August 1, 2022 at 11 a.m., I drove into the Oxford bank parking lot. I stepped out of my car and before I stepped past my car I looked to see if any cars were coming into the lot, a big, black pick-up truck drove past me going too fast for a parking lot. If I had not looked before I stepped past my car, I would have been hit. The truck was going too fast to stop in time.
The truck did not stop, but continued through the parking lot and turned left onto South Street. Vehicles have been using the Oxford Bank parking lot because the repair of the bridge prevents them from coming from the other way.
I have also seen vehicles drive too fast in other parking lots in the area. A person can be hit or a child who has stepped away from a parent even if the parent is careful to keep their child close. Please slow down to save a life, and so you don’t have to carry that guilt for the rest of your life.
Please don’t drive too fast on Mill and South Street, if a car is parked on those streets close to the side street, and a car is pulling out from one of those side streets it is hard to see a car coming down Mill or South Street until it’s close.
These has been problems for years because of people who are driving too fast. Because I could have been hit August 1st and even other times, I decided it was time to write.
Now people are blowing their car horns if a car doesn’t make a turn fast enough. Okay, they don’t take off from a stop light fast enough, or any other silly reason.
I know we have a lot going on in the world today, Russia invading the Ukraine, COVID-19, high inflation in the US, floods in the south, wildfires out west, but blowing your horn for no good reason, and driving carelessly will not stop any of these problems.
Marion Hyatt
Groveland

Patriotic Poem
We are a generation
of Americans

That started with a
group of disgruntled
british subjects

that took a flintcock
off the wall
stood on a village green
confronted the world’s
largest standing army

and started the greatest
nation on Earth
Duane Getzmeyer
Brandon Township
Past VFW Commander