Opinion

Sweet season, Sweeter day

Letters to the Editor July 25, 2026

Valentine's Day will not be your usual chocolate and/roses sweetie day. Nope. The NFL will be hosting Super Bowl LXI that day at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Personally, I think that Michiganders will be glued to the TV that day because this IS finally the year that the Detroit Lions will be playing in the NFL's most coveted event. Looking at the talent level, the schedule, and the head coach, the Detroit Lions have the makings of a championship football team this year. So, the prediction here is heading into their bye week, the Lions should be 4-1 and after the ...

Faulty faults for forest fires

Editorials and columns July 25, 2026

The Alpena News recently published a press release from the office of Congressman Bergman bemoaning the causes and effects of the Canadian wildfires. He cast blame. Nowhere is thick smoke thicker, the density of dense thought denser, a dim light dimmer than in a political office contriving a ...

Moving, downsizing, can be somewhat traumatic

Editorials and columns July 25, 2026

While on vacation recently with a group of new friends, we talked about some of the choices we have made in our lifetime. Each had an interesting story to tell, and it reminded me of one of the more emotional choices Diane and I ever faced, and that was moving from Michigan to Ohio. The ...

Surprise us: Win a Pulitzer

Letters to the Editor July 25, 2026

Here's a modest proposal I've been suggesting to American newspapers for four years. It's an easy story assignment I guarantee will produce readership no one has seen since the last 3-for-1 tire sale. The Alpena News would be the first to take me up on it. Surprise me. Demand every elected official representing Northeast Michigan voters, from drain commissioner to U.S. senator, answer this question: "Did Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election clearly, fairly, and without question?" Insist on a yes or no answer. Be fair and inform respondents what will happen if they refuse to say ...

Proposed time change will hurt kids

Letters to the Editor July 25, 2026

I was shocked watching the NBC nightly News last night as they announced that the mighty U.S. Congress has finally passed the Sunshine Protection Act which now goes to the U.S. Senate. If these people were in office centuries ago the pyramids might just be completed! Now all they have to do this century is pass the SS and the Safe act. The final clock change could occur in March 2027. From there there would be no longer a "fall back" in November 2027 The bill allows states to opt-out Clause. The way I see it, it looks like it's back to square one! The problem is this was tried before ...

Setting the historical record straight

Letters to the Editor July 25, 2026

I am writing in response to Dave Myers' column in the July 18th edition of The Alpena News. First, I want to say that I generally enjoy Dave's folksy writing style and him personally. But this column made my blood boil. His piece is argued from a Christian nationalist framework, which explicitly rejects the traditional separation of church and state. Rather than offering a unifying blueprint for a fractured nation at its 250th anniversary, his piece reinforces the very ideological divisions it laments—especially for those who are not of the Christian faith. Furthermore, he is wrong ...