Dear Editor,
This week we celebrate Independence Day, the most important national holiday in the United States.
It commemorates the formal adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
This year we are also celebrating the founding of Clarkston 175 years ago. This is also the 15th year of the incorporation of the City of the Village of Clarkston. Recent events in our City, outside and during City Council meetings, have caused me to question why we are a City and just what that means.
There have been questions about our police, our Charter, our laws and Ordinances, what they all mean, do we really need them, and what value they have, if any. There have been those that even question the reason for Clarkston being a city at all.
It seems appropriate at this time to consider independence on a local level and what it really means. To me it is the ability to make your voice heard, to have your vote count, and be able to see the results of those actions. We have all become more and more alienated from our government and feel that decisions are made by someone else who we have no contact with or control over.
That is not independence and should not happen in a city the size of Clarkston. It was the reason this country declared itself independent in 1776.
As we celebrate Independence Day, our areas 175th anniversary, and consider what we want our city and the surrounding area to be, I strongly urge everyone to be more involved with your city of Clarkston and the surrounding Township of Independence.
Voice your opinion, demand that your elected representatives respond, and do all you can to make this area the best you can for everyone. It is why this city, and our country, were founded. When we forget this, or simply no longer participate in it, we will have lost the independence we now celebrate.
Cory Johnston
Clarkston