Bohnak endorses Preston

To the Editor:

As the state representative for the 109th District, I am proud to endorse my colleague Dave Prestin for the 38th District State Senate seat.

Dave is a proven fighter for the Upper Peninsula. He is actively battling radical green energy mandates to protect affordable, reliable power for our families and businesses. On mining, Dave is fighting to keep the Tilden Mine open; he supports our vital mining and timber industries. He is a consistent voice on government overreach, defending local control and private property rights.

As a small business owner, first responder, and experienced community leader, Dave is the voice we need in the Senate. We can count on him to put policy over press releases and results over rhetoric.

I urge my fellow residents of the U.P. to join me in voting Dave Prestin for State Senate this August.

-Rep. Karl Bohnak,

109th District

The antidote to bad religion is better religion

Editor:

In a recent Defense Department decision, Unitarian Universalism is one of many faith traditions that have been eliminated from a list of approved or legitimate religions in a soldier’s personnel record. The Pentagon claims this is a long overdue administrative exercise intended to simplify data collection for military leaders and chaplains. I don’t doubt life is easier when we don’t have to accommodate anyone but those in power and what we think of as “ourselves.” But the best definitions I know of sin are these: “to miss the mark” and to “turn inward into ourselves and away from others.” Call it what it is.

Soldiers in one of the “non-religion religions” can check the box marked “no religion” or the box marked “other religions.” The Pentagon states this is “not designed to make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief, nor is it intended to provide a list of ‘officially approved’ religions.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the military’s chaplain corps had been “infected by political correctness and secular humanism” under previous administrations, as if recognizing people’s faith traditions is in error. We should be reminded that the yellow star Jews, Gypsies, Disabled and Queer people had to wear, identifying them as people and categories that can be eliminated, did not just suddenly appear. It was the result of many intentional steps that eroded the ground upon which they stood until that ground became a cattle car, an open pit grave or a crematorium. We should be concerned. We should name the sin that it is.

This is no different than removing rights of women and people of color. The goal is traditional patriarchy, returning power to traditional white males. Not all males believe that. The sin is that while some males are indeed experiencing reduced recognition, there is no awareness or acknowledgment of what others of all genders and ethnicities have experienced. Just like some read the Bible very selectivity, only a selective and incomplete history is being told. This is turning inward, missing the mark sin.

Teach your children that masculinity can be nurturing. Learn history inclusively. Read the Bible starting with Matthew 25: “What you did unto the least of us, you did unto me.” The antidote to bad religion is better religion. Faith and the public good go together.

Retired ELCA Pastor Bucky Beach,

Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Ministry Team member

Atlantic Mine

US Forest Service Restructure Chaos

Editor:

Have you heard? USDA Forest Service is reorganizing, it says. All regional research and management offices will close, it says. This is beyond reorganization. Reorganization implies systematic planning to form a functioning whole (Websters). The Detroit News has called this “a massive restructuring effort.” The Guardian calls it “chaos.” These closures effectively collapse its regional structure. I would call that devastation.

It entails creation of 15 national regions headed by politically appointed “state directors.” Michigan’s Huron-Manistee, Hiawatha, and Ottawa Forests headquarters have been all relocated to Madison, Wisconsin. This includes the USFS Watersmeet Nursery noted in the Mining Journal, June 22. Michigan national forests — collectively nearly 3 million acres — are directly affected.

This restructure includes 57 research centers. In Michigan, centers at Houghton, East Lansing, Wellston in Manistee County, and L’Anse will be relocated to Fort Collins, Colorado. This is miles away from local MSU, MI Tech, State DNR, and Tribal cooperatives which support and participate in projects specific to Michigan Forest lands. The health of these 3 million acres will be severely affected.

USDA/USFS rationale for all of this: “Improve our core mission of managing our forests while saving taxpayer dollars and boosting employee recruitment.” The reality is the total opposite and our state officials are scrambling to assess the impact.

Managing forests? What does Colorado know about our specific diseases and invasive pests? Think of the huge devastation caused by the emerald ash borer invasion. “They’re going to move the Forest Service headquarters to be closer to where the forests are [they say], but they’re closing the research stations that are where the problems are,” said MSU forestry professor Bert Cregg.

Saving money? This huge expense of nation-wide restructuring, is not even legally funded. The 2026 budget (BBB) specifically states that money will not be used “for relocating offices or employees, reorganizing, renaming offices, programs or activities,”

Recruiting employees? USDA has already decimated its current ranks. Federal News Network estimates that “about 6,500 agency employees would be affected by the headquarters relocation, 2,700 would be impacted by research center closures. Thousands of agency employees left last year by taking voluntary separation incentives.”

Again, USFS/USFS offers the empty promise that its “frontline mission work — including forest management, wildfire response, forest and watershed restoration, recreation services and coordination with states, tribes and communities — “will continue uninterrupted” during the agency reorganization. ” However, the extent of this mass disruption speaks for itself and I fear for our public lands. The system of protection for all our outdoor resources is now reduced to chaos and disintegration. Ripple effects will be severe and devastating.

Implementation is already starting, but will be phased in. Before full escalation, before damage is unrecoverable, please let USDA/USFS and Legislators know your concerns. Talk to friends, neighbors, fellow recreation-lovers, local Sport shops…tell them what’s at stake.

Fran Darling

Marquette