We deserve a Congresswoman like Callie Barr

Dear Editor,

NY Times Columnist David Brooks said goodbye to his column on January 30th. He wrote a final column on his departure and it is a good read. I was particularly struck by this hopeful passage, “I still believe we’re driven not only by the selfish motivations but also by the moral ones — the desire to pursue some good, the desire to cooperate, to care for one another and to belong. Life is about movement, and the flourishing life is the same eternal thing, some man or woman striving and struggling in service to some ideal.”

I realized Brook’s thought has particular relevance for those of us in Congressional District 1. We have a candidate for that seat, Callie Barr, who has impressed me with her “striving and struggling in service to some ideal.” Initially, it was her advocacy for her husband’s and other veterans’ access to medical services through the VA. To make herself a more effective advocate she earned her law degree while she worked and cared for her family. Right there is evidence of a woman striving and struggling in service to an ideal.

Now, she’s running for Congress. I believe Callie knows why she’s running — there’s no selfish motivations. She has an authentic desire to pursue some good. To improve the options available to all residents of the 1st District. I urge you to participate, in the next several months, in one of the 14 Town Halls she’s scheduling throughout the geographically vast 1st district. Get to know Callie, in person or through her website, callieforcongress.com.

We all deserve a Congresswoman like Callie.

Paul D Mitchell

Houghton

Gutting Roadless Protections Will Cost Taxpayers, Increase Fire Risk, and Harm Our Health

Editor:

I’m a mother of three and a recently retired nurse with years of experience supporting families with at-risk newborns. I’ve seen how wildfire smoke from hundreds of miles away increases the number of Michiganders sent to emergency rooms with asthma attacks and breathing troubles. In recent summers, emergency department visits for asthma were 17% higher than expected during continuous wildfire smoke days.

That’s why I’m worried about the proposal to repeal the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The roadless rule limits new roadbuilding in some of the wildest parts of our national forests. It was adopted partly because the U.S. Forest Service already had more than 380,000 miles of roads and a multibillion-dollar maintenance backlog. Repealing it would invite more development into remote areas, increase human-caused wildfire ignitions, and saddle taxpayers with the bill for even more roads the agency can’t afford to maintain.

Michiganders already struggle with asthma. According to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 11.5% of Michigan residents are living with asthma, compared with 7.7% nationally. Fine particle pollution from wildfire smoke is especially hard on people with asthma and heart or lung disease. When the air turns hazy, they can’t just stay inside. Many still have to get to work, school, and medical appointments, often living in older homes without proper filtration.

There are real forest health needs, and we do need to reduce fuels and protect communities from fire. But repealing the roadless rule isn’t the answer. The existing rule already allows hazardous fuels reduction, prescribed burning, and other wildfire mitigation projects. Instead of spending scarce dollars punching new roads into remote backcountry, we should fix the roads we have, focus treatments near communities, and keep our children from breathing even more smoke.

Suzanne Steinrueck

South Haven, MI

Fire and Ice

Editor:

Let us reflect upon Robert Frost’s brilliant poem.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire.

Some say in Ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To know that for destruction Ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Phyllis Ramos

Calumet