Northern Express - April 27

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NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • april 27 - may 03, 2020 • Vol. 30 No. 17

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letters Health of a Nation If it isn’t bad enough that our country is in the middle of a deadly epidemic taking thousands of lives, we are also subjected to a horrific economic meltdown that has closed thousands of businesses and left millions out of work, many of whom live from paycheck to paycheck. And as result of businesses closing and employees losing their jobs, millions are additionally faced with the prospect of losing access to healthcare.

This insane situation has always been an embarrassment to this country, but never have we seen the effects of our for-profit health system affect our citizens in such a life and death struggle. If there ever has been a time to institute universal health are coverage, it is now. We are way past the point of debating the pros and cons of universal healthcare.

All citizens deserve to have access to all phases of medical coverage immediately, without concern over whether they can afford the trip to the doctor or not. It not only makes moral sense but economic sense as well. Our nation’s health and future demand we act now.

George Robson, Petoskey Protect, Don’t Defy An open letter to the sheriffs of Leelanau, Benzie, Mason, and Manistee counties: Your defiance of our state’s shelter-in-place mandate was as transparent in its motivation as it was detrimental to public health, law enforcement, and the need to shed light on public confusion.

As professionals, you simply could have announced that some provisions are not likely to be enforced in order that your limited resources could concentrate on higher risk activities, such as dense social gatherings.

As you know, the motorboat restrictions were intended to discourage people from vacationing in our area, a problem you acknowledged was of great concern. And, as you know, when law enforcement openly defies, or publicly criticizes, laws they are legally bound to enforce, they encourage people to defy them. As such, your actions have likely had a negative impact on the safety of the communities you are charged to protect.

Not only do your actions undermine public confidence and your abilities to execute the duties of your office professionally and without political favor, they have sewn division at a time when unity is our best defense.

Timothy Young, Honor Well-Regulated is Key Now that Grand Traverse County has chosen to become a Second Amendment sanctuary, I hope that commissioners live up to their calling and to the language of the Second Amendment by enacting and enforcing strong regulations on the ownership of firearms, as commanded by the first three words of the amendment stating, “A well-regulated … ” Our Founding Fathers’ intent to demand close regulation of firearms could scarcely be made plainer than by the language of their own words.

James Hallemann, Traverse City Crazy Days of COVID 19 My mood these days is in a constant state of flux — angry to sad, to fear, frustration, gratitude and joy. And so it goes during these crazy days of COVID-19.

These dark days have brought a degree of suffering to everyone. My family in NYC live on the edge of fear every day. And by extension, so do I. My children and their families in New York, Illinois, and Michigan are all sheltering in place. Some are working from home, some have been laid off, some have had their pay

reduced. Our collective job is to get through this pandemic healthy.

I am very grateful for my friends and extended family members, close by and scattered by time zones and continents, that keep in touch or have reconnected. And my gratitude extends to all the front-line workers in healthcare, food and mail distribution that have kept us going.

But I can’t seem to calm my anger at those who choose to put others in danger. There isn’t a person in this world that hasn’t been affected by this pandemic — healthwise, economically, socially. But instead of compassion and patience we hear this: “I want what I want now, and I’ll do as I please.” This is total disregard for anyone else’s safety and suffering. I don’t know them, but it’s very personal. You are putting my family and friends in harm’s way.

There is no justification for that. Ever!

What is it about our society that causes people to react in such an unthoughtful and divisive way? If ever there was a time that we needed to work together, it is now.

For now, I will tell my family and friends that I love them. I will continue to shelter in place until it’s safe to re-engage. I will practice social distancing and wear a mask when I go shopping.

I will protect others. As a citizen of this country, and of the world, it is my responsibility. I will do my part. If only everyone felt the same.

CONTENTS features Crime and Rescue Map......................................7

The Earth Day Celebration That Wasn’t.............10 Bespoke Boats...............................................13 The BioChar Guys....................................................15

columns & stuff Top Ten...........................................................5

Spectator/Stephen Tuttle....................................6 Opinion..............................................................8 Crossword...................................................17 Freewill Astrology..........................................17 Classifieds..................................................18

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Donna Stein-Harris, Grawn Actions v. Words We have been doing everything to keep our family safe from the coronavirus. I feel threatened by those who are ready to give up on the very thing that has kept us safe: staying at home and following CDC guidelines. You might have no symptoms but can infect 50 others. COVID-19 is contagious and deadly; not political. There is no cure.

Trump is anxious to “liberate quickly” so the stock market can make more money for him and his donors. Trump encourages his followers — the same people who say they’re “pro-life” (apparently for the unborn, not the living) — to protest. Actions speak louder than words.

Nearly 40,000 Americans died from COVID19 in two months, each a precious loved one.

Experts say we need testing to learn who has the virus and who doesn’t so life can return to normal. But Trump refused tests from the WHO. Trump also said there are enough tests for everybody. Not true. He says he alone has the authority yet doesn’t accept responsibility.

He doesn’t need plans; he flies by the seat of his pants. My advice: Don’t pay attention to what Trump says, look at what he does.

To get through this pandemic: Be kind.

Love thy neighbor. Stay safe!

Beverly Christensen, Cedar Hopeless Dolts Those whose reasoning abilities are so limited that they cannot fathom the danger they put others in by flagrantly flouting the law must be disparaged as hopeless dolts.

The reference here is not merely to the hapless idiots who engaged in a so-called demonstration in Lansing, running around the Capitol, happily rubbing elbows with the virus, but also to the president of the United States, who in his typically puerile manner, goaded them on in tweets.

Governor Whitmer is right: We must stay home until every worker can be tested each time he or she enters a workplace or we are doomed.

And for those who pompously shouted slogans about their rights to infect others (under the misguided symbols of swastikas and flags), I say, “The pox on them all.”

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Northern Express Weekly is published by Eyes Only Media, LLC. Publisher: Luke Haase 135 W. State St. Traverse City, MI 49684 Phone: (231) 947-8787 Fax: 947-2425 email: info@northernexpress.com www.northernexpress.com Executive Editor: Lynda Twardowski Wheatley Finance & Distribution Manager: Brian Crouch Sales: Kathleen Johnson, Lisa Gillespie, Kaitlyn Nance, Michele Young, Randy Sills, Todd Norris, Jill Hayes For ad sales in Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Boyne & Charlevoix, call (231) 838-6948 Creative Director: Kyra Poehlman Distribution: Dave Anderson, Dave Courtad Kimberly Sills, Randy Sills, Roger Racine Matt Ritter, Gary Twardowski Listings Editor: Jamie Kauffold Reporter: Patrick Sullivan Contributors: Amy Alkon, Rob Brezsny, Ross Boissoneau, Jennifer Hodges, Michael Phillips, Steve Tuttle, Craig Manning, Al Parker, Intern: Sophie Boyce Copyright 2020, all rights reserved. Distribution: 36,000 copies at 600+ locations weekly. Northern Express Weekly is free of charge, but no person may take more than one copy of each weekly issue without written permission of Northern Express Weekly. Reproduction of all content without permission of the publisher is prohibited.

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Northern Express Weekly • april 27, 2020 • 3

this week’s

top ten Get Out at Home: Virtual Mackinac Tours It may not be possible to plan a trip to Mackinaw City or Mackinac Island this spring, but the park system has invited guests on a virtual tour of the past.

“Explore at Home” highlights the main attractions of Mackinac State Historic Parks — Fort Mackinac, Colonial Michilimackinac and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse through online exhibits, movies and kid-friendly activities.

“Our ‘Explore at Home’ pages give us a chance to share stories from our museums and historic sites with people who might not be able to physically visit us in person,” said Craig Wilson, curator of history. “I hope people get a little extra taste of Mackinac at home.”

This summer marks the park system’s 125 anniversary.

“We hope these resources will be helpful to those unable to visit us now, but at least provide a glimpse into what our sites have to offer,” said Steve Brisson, deputy director.

Virtual tours are at mackinacparks. com/exploreathome.

2 tastemaker

The Bread Lady’s Loon Cookies

To bring awareness to her beloved water birds (and her burgeoning bakery business), Rachel Beckwith — aka The Bread Lady of Lake Ann — chose the Common Loon to be the icon of The Bread Lady logo and what might be the coolest and (sweetest/softest/ perfect amount of crunch-iest) sugar cookie we’ve ever inhaled.

“Loons are my favorite,” she said. “They’re endangered in Michigan, and Lake Ann has only about 12 loon pairs left, where we used to have around 50.”

Now, despite having lost 90 percent of her business’ income during the shutdown, a change that’s pushed her goal of opening a physical bakery in the Village of Lake Ann from June 1 to (hopefully) August, Beckwith is still helping others. This time, though, it’s her fellow humans.

To Lake Ann Elementary, which is trying to provide food for at-home students from its limited budget, she baked 100 loaves for only the cost of the ingredients. To several local families she knows are struggling, she provides free bread and baked goods on a regular basis. Why, when she’s struggling to get her own bakery off the ground, does she give away her handcrafted goodies?

“When I was growing up, my family was homeless for 2 ½ years,” she said. “I don’t know, it just makes me kind of tear up to think of other families dealing with that, too.”

We think a good way to help Beckwith help her community is to help yourself — to an order of her custom loon cookies ($13.50 per set of six) or any of her artisan-style breads, cupcakes, muffins, spreads, and other excellent eats. Find all her products listed at www.facebook.com/TheLakeAnnBreadLady, plus look for her post of weekly specials each Sunday or Monday. Call (231) 633-2515 to place your order and arrange pickup.

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Good News: Parallel 45 Says the Show Must Go On — Even if Not Its Own Quick on the heels of Parallel 45’s recent cancellation of its upcoming summer season at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center, Artistic Director Kit McKay announced that the group is creating a Virtual Summer Season instead. And, while we theater junkies anxiously wait to hear what P45 is planning, she’s pulled together a bunch of archival (and new!) theatrical works from professional theatres across the country, all available for streaming — and many free.

We’ll link to the whole list at www.northernexpress.com (it’s a doozy!), but here are a few we’ve already watched (or listened to) and loved: “Soundstage,” Playwrights Horizons’ podcast series of plays making their audio world premieres (www.playrightshorizons.org); the live recording of David Byrne’s Broadway performance of “American Utopia” (on Spotify); and the Chicago premiere of Mike Lew’s devastatingly funny play about perception, disability, and the lengths we’re willing to go to rise above our station in life, “Teenage Dick” (www.theaterwit.org). More at www.northernexpress.com

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Munson Looking for COVID-19 Recoverees

Munson Healthcare is looking for recovered COVID-19 patients to take part in a convalescent plasma trial.

To conduct the trial, they need plasma donations from people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and recovered.

Munson is joining an emergency Investigational New Drug (eIND) trial to collect and administer convalescent plasma to severely affected COVID-19 patients. Convalescent plasma is the liquid part of blood collected from patients who have recovered from the virus; it contains viral antibodies that have treatment potential for severe cases of the disease.

“We’re excited to bring this new COVID-19 treatment option to patients here in northern Michigan,” says William Kanner, M.D., Munson Healthcare pathology section chief and Munson Medical Center blood bank director. “Local donations will help us obtain and continue receiving convalescent plasma to directly treat patients in our hospitals.”

Donors must have had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 by a physician and laboratory testing, and they must be symptom free for 28 days before being eligible to donate or, if symptom free for 14-27 days, a negative test must be verified.

For more information, call (866) 702-HOPE or email MICplasma@versiti.org.

Q-Tip: How to Get — and Give — Local Retail

Stuff we love big brothers big sisters Over the past 17 years, Traverse City’s Tony Anderson has run — and finished! — 50 marathons, every single one to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan, which connects kids in need with supportive mentors. The pandemic derailed plans for his final Marathon4Kids in Cincinnati, Ohio, but true to form, Anderson isn’t missing a step. This Sunday, May 3, he’ll log his last 26.2 miles in a sanctioned virtual race in — where else? — his hometown of Traverse City. For obvious reasons, you can’t be there to cheer him on, but there’s another option we bet Anderson would appreciate even more: Right now, you can volunteer to become a real-life Big mentor, virtually.

The Bigs program last week opened a virtual mentoring program to help kids in Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Antrim, Charlevoix and Emmet counties who are feeling especially isolated these days. Every step in the enrollment and mentoring process is accomplished virtually. You’ll “hang” with your Little by phone, Facetime, email, or video-conferencing a minimum of once weekly. And you’ll have full access to mentor training and Bigs’ professional staff for support every step of the way — even to get ideas for virtual activities.

Volunteer or learn more at www.Bigsupnorth.com/volunteer.

We don’t know about you, but after weeks spent living in sweatpants, and with winter finally receding, we’re hungrier than ever for a spring wardrobe refresh.

But before you log on to Amazon Fashion or other far-away retailers for your fashion fix, we beg of you: First envision what it’d be like if your downtown’s shops and boutiques were permanently shuttered, then point your mouse to the shop-able sites of local retailers instead. We found several offering great online sales, personal styling by phone, and/or shipping and gift certificate bonus deals right now — and, if you choose to support them, likely in the future. (Retailers — if you’re running a good deal for customers but don’t see your web address below, email lynda@northernexpress.com, and we’ll add it to this article which will live on at www.northernexpress.com.)

WOMEN www.thelimabean.net www.thelimabean.net www.haystacks.net shopthreadsonline.com www.shopv2v.com www.relishtc.com

MEN, WOMEN & KIDS www.bahles.net www.swingbyellas.com www.bearcuboutfitters.com www.sweetpeatc.com www.goldenshoestc.com

8 bottoms up Virtue Cider Rosé Two things drew us to seek out and select a six-pack of Virtue Cider Rosé. One, it’s advertised as “an all-day drinker.” Conveniently, in this sixth week of quarantine, so are we!

(Though we don’t recommend advertising it.) Two, it boasts a curiously complementary blend of bright botanicals — citrus oil, hibiscus, and sage — with the flavor of locally grown apples.

Generally, we savor ciders most in fall, but this gal — a grand dame, really, one matured like fine wine, in a French oak barrel — well, she’s entirely right for this season, a deeply experienced pink lady who brings to mind (and nose) that blink-and-you’ll-miss-it burst of apple blossoms only we year-round Northerners are lucky enough to catch each spring.

She’s clean, tart, only 2 grams of sugar per can, and — we’ve verified — the ideal companion for these long (read: looooong) days at home and those solo ambles in the nearby woods.

6.7% ABV. We found ours for $9.99 at Tom’s West Bay Food Market. 13940 SW Bay Shore Dr, in Traverse City. (231) 947-7290.

Northern Express Weekly • april 27, 2020 • 5

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THE DUMBEST PROTESTS spectator

by Stephen Tuttle The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees that Congress “ ... shall make no law abridging ... the right of the people peaceably to assemble ... ”

Both sides now like to show up at the others’ rallies in a counterprotest, which usually results in the Antifa ninjas fighting the swastikawearing alt-right.

We’ve been exercising that right for a very long time. It could be reasonably argued such a peaceably assembled protest led to our Revolution, as well as the Constitution protecting it.

Despite our long history of protests, it’s fair to say we’ve never seen any quite as foolish as what we’re now seeing at various state capitols.

These are protesters knowingly and willingly endangering the lives of people who aren’t even there while extending the restrictions against which they protest.

Those protests and marches with which we’re most familiar did have significant impact and required incredible staying power.

Their theory is that Gov. Whitmer does not have the authority to shut down anything, especially their protests.

Constitutional scholars all, they’ve decided their rights supersede the health of everyone else.

They are wrong.

The suffragette movement officially started in 1848 and required decades of relentless protesting before women were finally given the right to vote in 1920. When you add to that additional gender-specific issues generating protests — pay equity, choice/life, harassment and assault among others — women are still resolutely on the march.

Civil rights protest marches and the modern Civil Rights Movement started in 1954, both at great risk to any participants. Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and dozens of other civil rights activists, some known, many just regular folks, were murdered for the cause.

Their theory is that Gov. Whitmer does not have the authority to shut down anything, especially their protests. Constitutional scholars all, they’ve decided their rights supersede the health of everyone else.

They are wrong.

One step in that protest journey was ascended when the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and another with the Voting Rights Act in 1965. It had taken 100 years since slavery was constitutionally abolished to guarantee rights to many minorities. That struggle continues unabated, particularly with the current rise of extreme-right racist hate groups.

Since we have no coherent national testing program — the states are now competing against each other for testing supplies — we don’t know who is infected. And since at least 25 percent, and maybe as many as 50 percent, of those infected have no symptoms but can infect others, it’s just plain stupid to be gathering in numbers for any reason.

You could argue Vietnam War protest marches helped end that mistake, but it took six years from the biggest march in 1968 before we finally exited Southeast Asia. The front lines in those marches were often met with tear gas and clubs, and marchers often responded in kind.

Protesting could be a full-contact exercise if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

They’re also wrong about the governor’s powers in a declared state of emergency.

Modern protest marches have turned into something entirely different. Regardless of the ostensible cause, the march will be become an amalgam of the extreme.

Assume it’s a pro-choice rally, an important single issue for many. But rally attendees will include vegans, save-the-whale folks, climate change protesters, anti-GMO people, and those representing any other unrelated issue on the fringes. It is also likely the so-called Antifa thugs will show up in their cute little ninja costumes and throw rocks or set cars on fire.

Or assume it’s a right-to-life rally, also an important single issue for many. Attendees will include anti-government sign-wavers, those believing it’s a Trump event, climate-change deniers, and others seeking attention. Regrettably, it will also include neo-Nazis and other far-right extremist hate groups.

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They don’t like the governor’s emergency orders that closed much of the economy and created social distancing rules. They march in violation of those orders because, as a woman at the Lansing event said, “It’s our God-given constitutional right to protest.”

Public Act 302 of 1945, titled Emergency Powers of Governor, specifically allows the governor to control occupancy and use of buildings and public spaces, control traffic, and even impose a curfew. That law has stood for 75 years without being overturned.

But if that’s not quite enough, Public Act 390 of 1975, the Emergency Management Act, gives the governor additional codified powers — including that her orders in a state of emergency have the force of law, without legislation. And it specifically references epidemics as one of the events for which emergency powers can be used.

The protesters in Lansing and elsewhere have no constitutional right to endanger the rest of us. And Gov. Whitmer clearly has the statutory authority to do what she is doing.

Staying home shortens the lockdown and helps limit the contagion.

Gathering to protest extends the very restrictions being protested and spreads the contagion. It’s dangerous and just dumb.

Crime & Rescue CRIME SPRESS SUSPECT SOUGHT Traverse City Police are looking for a man in his 20s who was carrying a small child and left behind a small amount of methamphetamine after crashing a car twice.

The car first crashed into a parked car at State Street near Franklin Street around 5pm April 22.

The owner of the parked car confronted the suspect and later told police that the suspect appeared to be intoxicated.

The suspect drove away and crashed a second time, this time near the intersection of Wellington and Webster streets. Witnesses saw the suspect leave the scene carrying a small child and a small box that could have been a lunch box. A small amount of methamphetamine was recovered near the scene of the crash.

Officers and Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s deputies with a tracking dog combed the area.

Witnesses reported that someone who fit the suspect’s description was spotted getting into a vehicle at the Family Video location on Eighth Street.

The suspect vehicle’s owners were tracked down in East Bay Township and told police that someone had taken the car without permission.

The suspect is a white male in his 20s who was wearing a dark jacket, jeans, and a ball cap.

Anyone with information should call detectives at (231) 995-5002 MAN KILLED IN CRASH A 30-year-old Cadillac man was thrown from his pickup truck and killed in a crash in Manistee County.

State police responded to the rollover crash at Big Four and Mallard roads at 9:40am April 18.

Investigators said Travis James Johnson failed to make a turn, left the road, and rolled over. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 28-year-old passenger suffered non-lifethreatening injuries.

Police said alcohol and drugs likely played a role in the crash.

DRUNK DRIVER ARRESTED Leelanau County Sheriff’s deputies who were dispatched to investigate a domestic dispute arrested a woman for drunk driving.

At 10:42pm April 15, deputies were called to a home on South Maple City Road in Kasson Township, where they learned that an intoxicated woman had just driven away from the residence.

They tracked down the 37-year-old woman’s vehicle, determined she was intoxicated, and arrested her for drunk driving with a high blood alcohol level.

The woman had to be treated by EMTs after she intentionally banged her head on the patrol car partition while on the way to the jail, deputies said.

WOULD-BE ATM THEIEVES SOUHGT Manistee County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for whoever attempted to break into an ATM machine they removed from a bank lobby.

On April 19, deputies responded to Osceola State Bank in Norman Township, where they found a heavily damaged ATM lying on the sidewalk in front of the bank.

Three suspects attempted but failed to break into the machine; no money was taken.

Surveillance showed the suspects, with faces covered, fled east on M-55. Deputies believe the same suspects also broke into a business in Irons in Lake County that same night.

The suspect vehicle is a blue Ford F150 with damage

by patrick sullivan psullivan@northernexpress.com

to the passenger side’s rear bumper area. There is also a toolbox that spans across the truck bed. The rims are aluminum with no lug nut covers. Anyone with information should call police at (231) 723-8393.

MAN ARRESTED FOR CLERK ASSAULT Traverse City Police responded to Tilley’s Party Store at 10:17pm April 18 after a customer got aggressive with a store clerk and was pepper sprayed.

The incident: Two customers had entered to purchase alcohol and when the clerk asked them to hurry out of concern over coronavirus, one of the customers reached over the counter and attempted to strike the clerk in the face with his hand.

The customer then charged around the counter, prompting the clerk to spray the man with pepper spray and press a panic alarm.

The suspects left the store, but police found one in a nearby alley attempting to wash the pepper spray off of his face. After an interview and review of surveillance footage, the 49-year-old Glen Arbor man was arrested for assault. The 32-year-old clerk was not injured.

MAN ARRESTED FOR CREDIT FRAUD A 20-year-old Lansing man was arrested for repeatedly using fraudulent credit cards at Target.

On April 19, after a customer had, over the course of several days, used several credit cards with different account numbers and names to purchased high-end electronics and gift cards, Target loss prevention called Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s deputies to investigate suspected credit card fraud.

Deputies arrested the suspect and detectives got a search warrant for the East Bay Township hotel where the man was staying. There, they found merchandise, gift cards, and equipment that can be used to manufacture fraudulent credit cards.

The suspect was charged with using a computer to commit a crime, identity theft, and other crimes.

TEENS ARRESTED FOR BREAK-INS Two teenagers confessed to breaking in to more than 20 houses in Manistee County.

S h e r i f f ’s deputies pulled over a car April 20 and became suspicious

that numerous items inside the car had been stolen.

After questioning, a 17-year-old from Kaleva and a 16-year-old from Copemish confessed to stealing the items.

Deputies seized over 40 items from the vehicle, including rifles, crossbows, compound bows, game cameras, and fishing equipment.

LOST MONEY RECOVERED Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s deputies tracked down the owner of a large amount of money that was found on a rural country road.

Deputies investigated after money was discovered strewn along County Road 633 in Blair Township on April 15.

After interviewing witnesses, investigators tracked down the owner of the money, a 60-yearold Interlochen man who, in a confused state, had thrown the money out of the window of his car.

Most of the money was collected by citizens and turned over to police; deputies said $500 is unaccounted for. Anyone with information should call (231) 995-5000 and leave a voicemail for Deputy Mark Noffke.

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Conservative forces are leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic as a means to further erode women’s reproductive health rights.

Efforts in red states to link abortion services to the virus are putting women at risk. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists ranks abortion as “essential” healthcare, yet Republican lawmakers are using the pandemic as an excuse to restrict access to legal abortions, with the claim that the highly time-sensitive procedure is “nonessential” care.

State lawmakers in Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas have ordered women’s health clinics to cease providing the legal procedure. The false rationale they employ is that the bans on abortion are necessary to free up critical care medical supplies needed to treat COVID-19 patients.

These Republicans are conveniently ignoring the fact that most early abortions are in pill form and don’t require any specialized devices or personal protection equipment.

All of the states have had their restrictive laws struck down in the courts — with the exception of Texas, which got a judicial nod to continue with their cruel and misogynistic ban. The average distance a woman in the Lone Star State will now have to travel to seek out-of-state care is 243 miles. A violation of the ban comes with a $1,000 fine or six months in jail. The other states with abortion bans will force women to drive 100–200 miles to exercise their reproductive rights.

Fifty-eight percent of American women of reproductive age live in the 29 states considered hostile to abortion rights. That’s 40 million women.

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These same people who claim to care deeply about the health and well-being of others and the prevention of the squandering of precious medical resources are suing Michigan’s governor over her stay-at-home order because it prevents them from protesting outside the doors of women’s healthcare clinics.

The Guttmacher Institute, an international women’s reproductive health advocacy group, finds the attack on women’s rights appalling, saying “using the current health crisis to target abortion is a ruthless move that reveals just how far some politicians will go to limit reproductive freedom and autonomy.”

These bans aren’t the only hurdles placed in the path of women of reproductive age in the midst of the pandemic.

The United States Centers for Disease Control

are encouraging Americans to have a 90-day supply of prescription drugs as a means of limiting visits to the pharmacy. Unfortunately, many health insurance companies still have a 30-day cap on drugs, including contraceptives.

Because the responsibility for birth control usually falls on the female, many women will have to enter the pharmacy once a month — probably not a good idea during a pandemic.

Some insurance companies have reluctantly changed their policy on a temporary basis.

Due to the uncertainty of the risk COVID-19 poses to pregnant women and newborns, couples are choosing to put off planned pregnancies, thereby creating a critical need for contraceptive protection and abortion services. Prenatal and postnatal exposure to the virus is a very real concern. The Guttmacher Institute reports that during the 2015–16 Zika epidemic, demand for contraceptives saw a significant spike.

The Trump Administration’s budget cuts and restrictive rules governing healthrelated programs are creating their own havoc. Women’s health clinics face a gag rule preventing them from talking about the abortion option under Title X federal funding restrictions. Guttmacher reports a 46 percent drop in available contraceptive services under Trump’s new rule.

Trump and his fellow Republicans have a history of attempting to deny women contraceptive care. In the past few years, they have issued rules designed to exempt employers from covering birth control on religious grounds, even though the Affordable Care Act has a provision requiring coverage.

Now Republicans are bent on stripping that mandate from the ACA — potentially affecting 62 million American women who obtain their contraceptive coverage through the mandate.

Michigan’s Attorney General, Dana Nessel, has joined 21 other state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief with the United State’s Supreme Court in opposition to a case in Pennsylvania that is challenging the coverage requirement. Nessel said: “For millions of women across this country, contraception is a critical part of their health care. The Affordable Care Act provides for this preventative care, and employers shouldn’t get to substitute their interests in place of a doctor’s professional judgment. The federal government should look for ways to support and promote women, not create barriers that affect a woman’s health and well-being.”

Trump’s reckless political schemes designed to gut the Affordable Care Act, just when our nation needs it most, are putting millions of lives at risk, including women using prescription birth control and expectant mothers and infants.

That’s hardly “pro-life.”

Amy Kerr Hardin is a retired banker, regionally known artist, and public-policy wonk. You can hear and learn more about the state of Michigan politics on her podcast, www.

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Northern Express Weekly • april 27, 2020 • 9

NMEAC Co-chair Ann Rogers

THE EARTH DAY CELEBRATION THAT WASN’T As Earth Day turns 50 — not with a bang but a whimper — we look at what worries northern Michigan environmentalists most while another human crisis has our attention.

By Patrick Sullivan This year’s 50th Earth Day didn’t arrive with the fanfare that long-time environmental activist Ann Rogers had hoped.

After all, it wasn’t just a milestone for Earth Day, it was also the 40th anniversary of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council, of which Rogers is co-chair.

The nonprofit’s Environmentalist of the Year award celebration scheduled for April 24 in Traverse City had to be canceled.

“That was a big disappointment, not to be able to celebrate that, too,” she said.

Rogers has been celebrating Earth Day since the inaugural one, on April 22, 1970.

“I was teaching back on the first Earth Day, and we did all kinds of things,” she said.

“We really went all out on it, as did a bunch of other schools.”

At the school where Rogers taught, Long Lake Elementary, students and teachers organized forums on the environment, tree plantings, and neighborhood clean-ups.

This year, Rogers said she’s planning a solo honoring of the day; she’ll simply plant some trees in her own yard.

“It is kind of dismal. But the earth is such a beautiful place,” Rogers said. “Just going out in my yard and seeing the trees that are here is pretty comforting.”

While the 50th Earth Day celebration came and went, Northern Express talked with activists from across northern Lower Michigan about the environmental concerns that worry them most amid the coronavirus crisis. There is a lot to worry about, they say, but there is also a slight chance that this crisis could fundamentally change things for the better.

application for the Line 5 tunnel while would-be protestors are stuck at home.

In Petoskey, Jennifer McKay, policy director at Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, said there are grave reasons to be concerned right now about Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac, a controversial fuel pipeline owned by the Canadian energy company Enbridge.

“With COVID-19 and the restrictions that are in place limiting travel and the stay-at-home orders, there are a number of permit applications that have been put out there, and they’re not getting the full public review that they would otherwise,” McKay said.

“We are not going to go back to a, quote, normal situation. That’s not going to happen,” Rogers said. “I worry about my children and grandchildren having to deal with all of this. We need a total shift in how we treat the earth.”

LINE 5 TUNNELS AHEAD The concerns raised by northern Michigan environmentalists ranged from global — worry that the distraction of the virus will set back efforts to stem climate change by years, to local, like anger over a move to go ahead with the permit

10 • april 27, 2020 • Northern Express Weekly

Following an anchor strike in 2018 that damaged but did not breach the line, Enbridge proposed building a tunnel to safeguard the Straits from a leak. Line 5 opponents want the 66-year-old pipeline removed. Now, state regulators are processing the application that would enable Enbridge to build the tunnel.

“With COVID-19 and the restrictions that are in place limiting travel and the stayat-home orders, there are a number of permit applications that have been put out there, and they’re not getting the full public review that they would otherwise,” McKay said.

A group of 15 environmental groups and tribal entities have banded together to ask the state to delay making a decision on the permit, McKay said. There is also a petition against the tunnel at the Oil & Water Don’t Mix website.

“It’s not going as well as we would like,” she said. “The state is proceeding to move forward with them. We’re concerned that the voices of Michigan citizens are not going to be heard.”

If the pipeline permit is going to go forward, it should happen at a time when the public can participate in the process, said Emily Magner, director of statewide political outreach at the League of Conservation Voters.

“As Michiganders, we’ve been directed to stay home because we need to curb the spread of coronavirus,” Magner said. “Public input is impossible, so the permit should be delayed. It’s possible to protect our environment and our public health and we must do both.”

Also alarming, McCay said, is a March 20 move by the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (a division of the U.S Department of Transportation) to roll back oversight of pipelines like Line 5 during the crisis.

McCay said the agency announced that it would no longer enforce pipeline oversight

requirements for operator qualifications, control room management, or employee drug testing.

“That lets the guard down significantly when, obviously, pipeline incidents can have catastrophic consequences,” McKay said. “I don’t think we can do anything about this. I don’t know if there are national groups that are looking at this and potentially trying to sue.”

Meanwhile, a move by the Whitmer administration to essentially suspend the state’s Freedom of Information Act during the crisis drastically limits the public’s ability to understand what’s going on.

FOIA requests are a critical tool for citizens and the media to understand proposed projects or the safety record of a pipeline like Line 5.

“It hurts the public’s ability to gain information,” McKay said. “The public’s voice is already going to be limited. Now we’re going to limit individuals’ access to acquire information.”

A STRUGGLING CLIMATE CHANGE FIGHT One of the few upsides to the crisis, from the perspective of Kate Madigan, director of the Michigan Climate Action Network, is the temporary reduction in emissions because people are not driving or flying while stayat-home orders are in place. That’s bringing clean air to cities typically blanketed in haze,

and it means improved health for the people who live there.

But Madigan doesn’t expect that dip in air pollution will outlast the coronavirus crisis.

There were minor air quality improvements during the economic crisis of a decade ago, and those vanished once conditions improved.

“We saw after the recession in 2008 that there was a lot of investment in coal and fossil fuels, so that reduction didn’t last as the economy got going again,” she said.

But what’s more troubling for Madigan is that she sees her side losing ground amid coronavirus.

“The climate crisis itself is not on hold.

Overall, we know from the science that we need to cut emissions significantly this decade,” Madigan said. “We really cannot afford to lose a year or two.”

Unfortunately, she said, the shift of U.S. policy away from climate-friendly measures has only accelerated during this crisis.

Since the crisis began, the EPA eliminated Obama-era mercury rules, which reduced mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. The EPA also rolled back auto emission standards at the end of March.

Those actions had been expected, but they were taken while people were distracted.

The decision at the EPA to stop enforcing environmental regulations amid the crisis, then, was a real punch in the gut for environmentalists, said Dave Dempsey, senior policy advisor at FLOW, For Love of Water, a Great Lakes advocacy nonprofit in Traverse City.

“In a way, this policy was more troubling than the rules rollbacks, because we knew those were coming,” he said.

While industry doesn’t have to worry about enforcement of environmental laws during the pandemic, in addition, stimulus spending has favored the fossil fuel industry and cut out renewable energy companies.

“There’s a whole lot happening here and none of it is really good,” said Skip Pruss, Northport resident, the former director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, and clean energy advocate. “The administration is undermining things in a number of ways.”

Through the stimulus package that was meant to save the economy and small businesses amid the crisis the Trump administration has pursued its agenda of propping up fossil fuel companies and punishing renewable energy, he said, even as some of the country’s largest corporations have recognized that clean energy makes economic sense.

“We have a failing fossil fuel industry.

The price of oil is falling dramatically, and what are we doing? We’re trying to subsidize this failing industry,” Pruss said.

FOCUSING ON A SINGLE WATERSHED While some are focused on worldwide or regional concerns, Christine Crissman, executive director of the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, has focused her attention on how lax enforcement of environmental laws could harm water quality in Grand Traverse Bay. Crissman said Watershed Center is monitoring water discharge permits in the region because permit holders can now file a waiver with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy that would exempt them from being required to monitor discharges into the watershed to ensure they comply with permit requirements.

“What it basically would mean is, if we want to show that there is still an environmental impact if the owner of the site doesn’t have to do their own monitoring, then we might have to do that monitoring for them,” she said.

So far, Crissman said, no permit holders in the watershed have applied for permit waivers.

But even that doesn’t mean that permit holders — anyone who discharges into the bay, directly or indirectly — haven’t gotten lax about meeting their permit requirements because state regulators are not paying attention.

“Folks could still be not complying, even if they haven’t applied for the waiver from the state,” Crissman said. “We had an email from the EGLE person that said that basically they have the expectation that permit requirements are being followed, but they’re not going to be doing enforcement.”

Another area of concern for the Watershed Center is the loosening of requirements for shoreline landowners who want to build a breakwall or some other barrier to stave off the record high water levels that are expected this summer.

Crissman said the state will see a massive transformation of its shoreline over the next year, and there will be little oversight.

“My understanding is pretty much in the first half of this year they will have more permits to harden shoreline than they had all of last year,” she said. “We’ve seen some things that have been installed [on shores] that have already broken up, just from not being installed properly.”

What’s more, Crissman said, is that the already streamlined permitting process

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KEEPING THE WATER FLOWING If there could possibly be something good to all of this, Liz Kirkwood, executive director of FLOW, said it’s that some water utilities across Michigan have stopped shutting off people’s water for lack of payment.

“It’s taken a global pandemic health crisis for the state of Michigan to open its eyes and recognize the harsh and inhumane consequences of water shutoff,” Kirkwood said. “I think the silver lining of this terrible public health crisis is that we have an awakening as to the vital role that water plays in our society and the obvious conclusion that water and clean health and access to clean water are inseparable.”

Water shutoffs have been an issue for FLOW for years. FLOW advocated for the Public Water Justice Act in 2018 in Michigan, legislation that would have charged 25 cents per gallon to a company like Nestle that currently takes water from Michigan for free.

The money would have been used for things like replacing lead drinking water pipes in places like Flint, contamination cleanup and a fund to ensure that water is affordable for all residents.

The legislation did not become law.

Kirkwood said if it had, it would have been a safeguard for the people in Michigan who today live with bad water or no water at all because their access has been turned off because they could not afford their water bill.

A pandemic, Kirkwood said, is not a good time to worry about access to safe water.

“If you can’t wash your hands, you can’t fight this disease,” she said. “It’s a really powerful way to think about natural resource protection and also water finance, which is just a huge, huge issue.”

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for shoreline hardening has gotten even easier since state regulators stopped performing site inspections in the face of the coronavirus.

Another potential impact from all of the shoring up of the shore is that in many cases, the measures only shift beach erosion from one property to a neighbor’s property, making it more likely the neighbor will seek a breakwall permit as a result, accelerating the loss of natural shoreline in the state.

Crissman said she believes it’s a shame that all of this is happening because it’s mostly senseless.

“If you’re doing it now because you have erosion, it’s too late,” she said. “It totally changes the landscape. It’s going to change your neighbor’s property.”

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BESPOKE BOATS

A former construction worker plied his skills into his passion for fly fishing.

Now he’s handcrafting $30K drift boats for Hollywood celebs.

By Ross Boissoneau Phil Croff loved fly fishing. As a youth, he first was introduced to it by tying flies. Then at about age nine, he began hanging out with a cousin a few years older who fished. A lot, according to Croff. “I learned from him, and my uncle, too,” Croff said.

Then the Petoskey native found other interests. He discovered baseball. And later on, the joys of earning money of his own.

As he grew to adulthood, fly fishing took a backseat. “I had to start making money,” Croff said. He found his way into the construction trades, building houses. Eventually he was running his own construction company.

Yet, in the back of his mind lurked the enjoyment he’d derived from fly fishing. By and by he found his way back to the rivers, this time with an accomplice — actually, a couple of them.

“I was doing a lot of fly fishing with my wife, Amy,” he said. Also along for the ride was his wirehaired pointing griffon, Hardy.

He had adopted the dog two weeks after his first wife died. “She helped me get through it all. She’s on every guide trip and … guides upland bird hunting in the fall months.”

TURNING POINT As Croff got even deeper into fishing, he decided to use his construction skills to further his passion. He began building a drift boat — the flat-bottomed boat with an arc from bow to stern that fly-fisherman use to float rivers — by hand. Not only did he find building the boat satisfying, it turned out so well that others began asking for him to build them one just like his.

Croff was happy to oblige.

As you might suspect, these aren’t just any old boats. Each handcrafted drift boat is unique, the product of a collaborative effort between Croff and the person for whom he is building it. You never know what walk of life a buyer might come from, Croff said. He built one for a designer who himself builds top-secret submarines. Currently he is building one for a Hollywood producer.

Each takes a year to build, and he builds them one at a time in his shop. No jigs, no forms. It’s just Croff and his tools, determining which piece will go where, guided by the purchaser.

“We work together. There are a lot of emails and phone calls.”

Not only does he build the boats, Croff builds the trailers for the boats as well. Then he delivers them to the new owner, such as the one he’s currently working on. “I have to deliver it to Sun Valley, Idaho,” he said.

PRICED TO SUIT As one might expect, these one-ofa-kind drift boats are pricier than their mass-produced brethren. The latter might run around $5,000; Croff ’s boats run right around $30,000.

“It’s pretty high-end for a drift boat,” he admitted.

Why go to such extremes? Croff said it comes down to two things. One is that it is designed for the buyer, custom for their wants and needs. For example, take the boat he’s building. “This one will be on some pretty big water,” Croff said. So it will have slightly higher sides than most.

Another client was planning to fish on

bigger lakes, and he didn’t want to have to paddle to the middle. So he got a small electric motor he can run with a foot pedal. “He can run it and cast all by himself,” Croff said.

The other factor is they are for a buyer who wants something that no one else on the planet has. “It’s all custom. It’s an original, a piece of fine art.”

That’s only half Croff ’s story. As he drifted back into fly fishing, he found himself using the services of those who knew the waters. As word got out among his guide friends regarding his boats, one suggested Croff knew enough that he should also try his hand at guiding. Soon he was working at both. “The first year I did 14 trips and a couple shows,” Croff said.

RIVER GUIDE ON THE ROAD Today he lives just north of Kingsley, in Mayfield — significantly, the birthplace of the Adams fly, one of the most famous flies in fly fishing (and a favorite of local trout).

He works as a guide from March through November, in Michigan as well as southern states like Tennessee and Arkansas. He’ll spend four to six weeks in a location, renting a house where he and his clients stay when they’re not on the water.

Different states have different rules for guiding, as well as for licensing. Some have tests; others simply charge for licensing.

The cost can range from $100 to more than three times as much. “In Tennessee, a nonresident license is $650,” Croff said.

In the winter months and between guide trips, you’ll find him in his shop, bringing to life whatever boat is his latest. The boatbuilding side of his business is especially

important since the pandemic hit.

“The DNR has shut down all guides. I had a full schedule for March and April,” he said. But no matter. “It just gives me more time to work on the boat.”

As for home-building, Croff no longer bothers. The experience he gained provided him with the skills he’s put to use in boatbuilding, but he doesn’t miss residential construction. Now, he said, he’s happier than ever.

“I wish I’d realized you could make money as a guide. I didn’t know that job existed,” he said. “It’s a great gig. I love guiding — and building boats.”

Northern Express Weekly • april 27, 2020 • 13

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The result: Biochar

Pyrolysis in action.

The BioChar Guys

By Craig Manning “Very few cultures worldwide have really learned how to build soils. Most cultures rise and fall, and when they crash, they’ve usually taken their soils with them.”

That’s the wisdom of Tim Overdier, a retired Northport-based soil scientist who has spent his career getting to know the differences in soil types across the country. He’s worked in 10 different states and on 24 different Indian reservations, trying to understand how different soils affect everything from plant growth to groundwater quality. Over time he’s come to a realization: soil is society’s purest and most important currency, and we as a population aren’t treating it well — at least not yet.

Saving the Soil A few years ago, Overdier was introduced to Paul May of The May Farm in Northport, a grazier who rears cattle, lambs, and chickens.

The two found they shared a passion for the idea of “biochar,” a type of charcoal produced by burning organic plant matter that can then be put back into the soil. Biochar is rich in stable carbon molecules and can theoretically store that carbon in the ground for hundreds or thousands of years. Comparatively, even naturally decaying plants emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

In a completely natural cycle, other trees would absorb this CO2 in a sort of “circle of life.” In our current global scenario, where CO2 emissions from human activities are already too much for our forests to absorb, plant decay only adds to problems with greenhouse gases and global warming. Biochar, by stabilizing the carbon and sequestering it in the soil for an extended period of time, helps remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while also delivering side benefits, such as improving the fertility of the soil, boosting agricultural outcomes, and protecting water quality.

Overdier and May ultimately joined together to launch “The BioChar Guys,” a business aimed not only at selling biochar materials to growers and environmentalists throughout northern Michigan, but also at educating the public about biochar and the importance of soil-building techniques.

“There’s a book by a guy named David Montgomery called “Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations,” and it tells extensively how, worldwide, we have depleted our soils over

time,” Overdier said. “Right now, we are doing the same thing in the United States, and it’s because of our commercial agriculture. Our agriculture is usually an extractive technique, using plows and chemicals and things like that.

But a few cultures have learned how to build soil, and we can too. It’s just a matter of choice and understanding.”

A LONG HISTORY Right now, Overdier and May are on a mission to spread that understanding throughout northern Michigan — even though biochar is anything but a new concept. On the contrary, Overdier says that the science behind biochar dates back 8,000 years, to Amazonian cultures that burned biomass “into a carbon-dense char material” and then put it back into the soils. In the Amazon Basin, these biochar-aided soils are known as “terra preta,” which translates to “black soil” in Portuguese. These dark soils are known worldwide for their high levels of minerals, nutrients, and fertility for plant growth.

Despite this long history, biochar is largely an obscurity in Michigan — particularly Up North. The BioChar Guys are working to change this narrative — in part because northern Michigan soils have some commonalities with the soils that Amazonian cultures were treating with biochar thousands of years ago.

“Here, we’re actually not all that different from the tropics in that we have highly acidic soils,” Overdier explained. “It’s just that, unlike the tropics, where they have clay soils, we have sandy soils.”

LOST IN THE SAND For agricultural applications, sandy soils are far from ideal. Sand lacks the structural stability of other types of soil, which means it is low on nutrient-holding capacity, has little “buffering capacity” to protect against pollution or toxicity, drains rapidly when wet, and is highly vulnerable to erosion.

These issues can pose challenges for growers, property owners and developers, and environmentalists alike. Overdier notes that, because of its low water-holding capacity, sandy soil requires a lot more irrigation to keep plants from drying out in the sun — hence the need to water your lawn daily in northern Michigan come summertime.

Limited nutrient-holding capacity makes it difficult to grow healthy plants or crops, while fast drainage means nutrients and toxins can

Paul May

Tim Overdier

Two northern Michigan dudes on an 8,000-year-old mission to resuscitate … dirt? Why the earth, our food, water, wine, and even lawns stand to benefit. leach quickly from the surface of the ground to groundwater sources, risking contamination.

As for erosion, the lack of stability in sandy soils renders them particularly vulnerable to issues such as rising water levels — a problem Michigan is currently contending with statewide.

Biochar, in many ways, is the direct opposite of sandy soils. Overdier says that the key characteristic of biochar — beyond its carbon density — is its “incredibly porosity.”

The porous nature of the charred material enables it to absorb virtually anything it comes into contact with. It absorbs water, which keeps soils moist and reduces the need for constant irrigation. It absorbs minerals and nutrients, which help foster greater health for plants grown on biochar-enriched ground.

It absorbs pesticides, nitrates from fertilizers, and other chemicals, slowing their drainage through the soil and preventing groundwater contamination.

BUILDING BIOCHAR The process of creating biochar, Overdier says, can be either high-tech or low-tech.

Research institutions like Cornell University use expensive kilns to execute a controlled burn of organic material, measuring emissions figures and other key metrics along the way.

The BioChar Guys, meanwhile, use a makeshift kiln made from old oil tanks, which they cut in half and bolted together to create a 10-foot-long trough for burning branch material ranging from 0 to 3 inches in diameter.

Overdier says the key is to get a hot fire going and continuously add material on top to allow for “pyrolysis” — defined as the burning of organic materials at high temperatures in an oxygen-deprived environment to bring about chemical decomposition. Finally, The BioChar Guys “inoculate” their char with manure or compost, to ensure what Overdier calls a “reeflike home for a lot of biological diversity.”

BUILDING NOMI’S SOIL In addition to selling their own biochar and coaching locals on how to execute a controlled pyrolysis burn on their own, The BioChar Guys have also been ramping up local outreach efforts in hopes of making more of a mark. Some of those efforts — including a half-dozen public speaking engagements — were canceled due to COVID-19. However, Overdier still thinks local growers and environmental organizations are

starting to see the benefits of biochar.

The BioChar Guys currently have five landowners lined up who want to learn how to use dead tree material on their properties to create biochar-enriched garden plots.

Recently, Overdier and May consulted with the Glen Lake Water Association about utilizing compost-inoculated biochar in resident lawns, to prevent fertilizer nitrates from leaching into Glen Lake and causing algae blooms.

Perhaps most notably, Overdier and May have been approached by numerous local wineries interested in using biochar to help establish “terroir.” A French term that translates to “taste of the place,” terroir refers to how the environment — from climate to soil health — can impart a specific flavor identity to the wine itself. Overdier says that northern Michigan wines don’t have a terroir in the same way that, say, wines from California’s Napa Valley wine region do. Better soils could, theoretically, improve the health of wine crops while also establishing a more distinct regional flavor.

“In most places, the flavor of the wine is characteristic of the soils that the grapes are grown on,” Overdier said. “California understands that, which is one of the reasons that they are looking at biochar a lot more than we are.”

Despite these potential benefits and others, Overdier says more research is needed to understand the effects of biochar — particularly in places like northern Michigan, where its use has been minimally tested. Biochar skeptics say that it can work very differently depending on the soils in which it is applied, hence the need for testing. Critics, meanwhile, tend to raise a wide range of concerns about biochar, from the possibility that it may deplete atmospheric oxygen to fears that the dark color of biochar can increase reflectivity of soil and potentially lead to negative implications for climate change.

More testing and research in a broader range of industries could help answer some of these questions and determine the role biochar should play going forward. Ultimately, Overdier thinks there’s still time to save North America’s soils but notes it’s not ready for the spotlight just yet.

“Right now, we don’t have the infrastructure, the financing, the policy, the research, the education, or the production techniques to adopt biochar widely,” Overdier said.

Interested in learning more? You can find The BioChar Guys online at www.thebiocharguys.com.

Northern Express Weekly • april 27, 2020 • 15

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lOGY

APRIL 27 - MAY 03

BY ROB BREZSNY

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Is there an area of your life where you would like a do-over? A chance to cancel the past and erase lingering messiness and clear a path for who-knows-what new possibility? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to prepare—not to actually take the leap, but rather make yourself ready for the leap. You will have God and fate and warm fuzzy vibes on your side as you dare to dream and scheme about a fresh start. Any mistakes you committed once upon a time could become irrelevant as you fantasize practically about a future breakthrough.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Novelist

Fyodor Dostoevsky believed that the cleverest people are those who regularly call themselves fools. In other words, they feel humble amusement as they acknowledge their failings and ignorance—thereby paving the way for creative growth. They steadily renew their commitment to avoid being know-it-alls, celebrating the curiosity that such blessed innocence enables them to nurture. They give themselves permission to ask dumb questions! Now is a favorable time for you to employ these strategies.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What

wonderful improvements and beautiful influences would you love to be basking in

by May 1, 2021? What masterpieces would you love to have as key elements of your life by then? I invite you to have fun brainstorming about these possibilities in the next two weeks. If an exciting idea bubbles up into your awareness, formulate a plan that outlines the details you’ll need to put in place so as to bring it to fruition when the time is right. I hereby authorize you to describe yourself with these terms: begetter; originator; maker; designer; founder; producer; framer; generator.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): If I asked you to hug and kiss yourself regularly, would you think I was being too cute? If I encouraged you to gaze into a mirror once a day and tell yourself how beautiful and interesting you are, would you say, “That’s too woo-woo for me.” I hope you will respond more favorably than that, Aquarius. In fact, I will be praying for you to ascend to new heights of self-love between now and May 25.

I will be rooting for you to be unabashed as you treat yourself with more compassionate tenderness than you have ever dared to before. And I do mean EVER!

PISCES (Feb 19-March 20): In the coming weeks, I’d love to see you get excited about refining and upgrading the ways you communicate. I don’t mean to imply that you’re a poor communicator now; it’s just that you’re in a phase when you’re especially empowered to enhance the clarity and candor with which you express yourself. You’ll have an uncanny knack for knowing the right thing to say at the right moment. You’ll generate blessings for yourself as you finetune your listening skills. Much of this may have to happen online and over the phone, of course. But you can still accomplish a lot!

ARIES (March 21-April 19): I always hesitate to advise Aries people to slow down, be more deliberate, and pay closer attention to boring details. The Rams to whom I provide such counsel may be rebelliously annoyed with me— so much so that they move even faster, and with less attention to the details. Nevertheless, I’ll risk offering you this advisory right now. Here’s my reasoning, which I hope will make the prospect more appealing: If you commit to a phase in which you temporarily invoke more prudence, discretion, and watchfulness than usual, it will ultimately reward you with a specific opportunity to make rapid progress.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 1855, Gemini-

born Walt Whitman published his book of poetry Leaves of Grass. A literary critic named Rufus Wilmot Griswold did not approve. In a review, he derided the work that would eventually be regarded as one of America’s literary masterpieces.

“It is impossible to imagine how any man’s fancy could have conceived such a mass of stupid filth,” Griswold wrote, adding that Whitman had a “degrading, beastly sensuality”

driven by “the vilest imaginings.” Whitman’s crafty Gemini intelligence responded ingeniously to the criticism. In the next edition of Leaves of Grass, the author printed Griswold’s full review. It helped sell even more books! I invite you to consider comparable twists and tricks.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In your efforts

to develop a vibrant community and foster a vital network of connections, you have an advantage.

Your emotionally rich, nurturing spirit instills trust in people. They’re drawn to you because they sense you will treat them with care and sensitivity. On the other hand, these fine attributes of yours may sometimes cause problems. Extra-needy, manipulative folks may interpret your softness as weakness. They might try to exploit your kindness to take advantage of you. So the challenge for you is to be your generous, welcoming self without allowing anyone to violate your boundaries or rip you off. Everything I just said will be helpful to meditate on in the coming weeks, as you reinvent yourself for the future time when the coronavirus crisis will have lost much of its power to disrupt our lives.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Now is an excellent time

to take inventory of your integrity. You’re likely to get crucial insights if you evaluate the state of your ethics, your authenticity, and your compassion. Is it time to boost your commitment to a noble cause that transcends your narrow self-interest? Are there ways you’ve been less than fully fair and honest in your dealings with people?

Is it possible you have sometimes failed to give your best? I’m not saying that you are guilty of any of those sins. But most of us are indeed guilty of them, at least now and then. And if you are, Leo, now is your special time to check in with yourself—and make any necessary adjustments and corrections.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I predict that

you will have more flying dreams than usual in the coming weeks—as well as more dreams in which you’re traveling around the world in the company of rebel angels and dreams in which you’re leading revolutionary uprisings of oppressed people against tyrannical overlords and dreams of enjoying eight-course gourmet feasts with sexy geniuses in the year 2022. You may also, even while not asleep, well up with outlandish fantasies and exotic desires. I don’t regard any of these likelihoods as problematical. In fact, I applaud them and encourage them. They’re healthy for you! Bonus: All the wild action transpiring in your psyche may prompt you to generate good ideas about fun adventures you could embark on once the coronavirus crisis has ebbed.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It’s time to work your

way below the surface level of things, Libra; to dig and dive into the lower reaches where the mysteries are darker and richer; to marshal your courage as you go in quest of the rest of the story. Are you willing to suspend some of your assumptions about the way things work so as to become fully alert for hidden agendas and dormant potentials? Here’s a piece of advice: Your fine analytical intelligence won’t be enough to guide you through this enigmatic terrain. If you hope to get face to face with the core source, you’ll have to call on your deeper intuition and non-rational hunches.

ScORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): When was the last time you researched the intricacies of what you don’t like and don’t desire and don’t want to become? Now is a favorable time to take a thorough inventory. You’ll generate good fortune for yourself by naming the following truths: 1. goals and dreams that are distractions from your primary mission; 2. attitudes and approaches that aren’t suitable for your temperament and that don’t contribute to your maximum health; 3. people and influences that are not in alignment with your highest good.

“Jonesin” Crosswords "Around the World in 1000 Steps"

--a world tour of the home. by Matt Jones

ACROSS 1 Door frame parts 6 Some laptops 10 Ring decoration 13 Fish tank buildup 14 Heart chambers 16 “Ceci n’est pas ___ pipe” (Magritte caption) 17 *Largest city in Somerset, known for Roman-built spas 19 Tajikistan, once (abbr.)

20 “Abnormally Attracted to Sin” singer Tori 21 *Brooklyn neighborhood, colloquially 23 Hulu show starring Aidy Bryant 26 Big figure in pop?

27 “Whatever” 28 Cry of pain 30 Bobcat’s cousin 31 Soccer stadium shouts 33 Be changeable 35 Actress Day of Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” 39 *City in southern Ontario, a little over an hour from Toronto 42 Superfluous 43 Spider monkey’s feature 44 Breeze 45 Greek vowels 47 Internet address ender 49 ___-Magnon 50 On the train 53 Nut and bolt spacer 55 *Country home to Legoland 57 Part of SVU 58 Word before Palmas or Cruces 59 *Portland thoroughfare often mispronounced by visitors (it’s an “oo” as in “boot”) 64 Land in a riviËre 65 Friendly, gender-neutral address for a child 66 Pakistani money 67 Make a wager 68 Backside 69 Writer Zola

DOWN 1 Boxer’s move 2 “Blue Rondo ___ Turk” (Brubeck song) 3 People in charge, briefly 4 Believer in spiritual unity 5 Respectable 6 GQ and EW, e.g.

7 Hartsfield-Jackson airport code 8 Item on a seafood menu 9 Tough and stringy 10 Blasts of wind 11 Follow logically 12 Streep of “Florence Foster Jenkins” 15 Back-of-the-book material 18 2010 Eminem song featuring Lil Wayne 22 Battle of Hastings combatants 23 Light up 24 Shape of a DNA strand 25 Scarlett’s Butler 29 Hopes to get 30 Sheet music line 32 Roller coaster reaction 34 “PrÍt-‡-Porter” actor Stephen 36 Dressing named for the type of location where it was created 37 “Go ahead, ___ you!”

38 Flavor quality 40 Place to put your fedora 41 Circus performers 46 Cleverly skillful 48 ___ d’hotel 50 Extemporaneous response 51 Fictional anchorman Howard of “Network” 52 Beginning stage 54 Play the banjo 56 African antelope with curvy horns 57 “That ain’t good” 60 Inserts in some car changers 61 ___Pen (injection for allergic reactions) 62 Fish that goes into some British pies 63 Concert wear

Northern Express Weekly • april 27, 2020 • 17

NORTHERN EXPRESS

CLASSIFIEDS

Bright Idea As leaders worldwide search for ways to encourage people to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic, officials in Indonesia are taking advantage of its citizens’ superstitions, Reuters reported on April 13. Kepuh, a village on Java island, is employing village residents to dress as “pocong,” or the trapped souls of the dead, in Indonesian folklore. The ghostly figures, wrapped in white shrouds with their heads covered and dark-rimmed eyes peering out, surprise unsuspecting pedestrians, then disappear into the night. The strategy appears to be working: Villagers have been seen running off in fright when the pocong appear. “People will not gather or stay on the streets after evening prayers,” resident Karno Supadmo said.

Desperate Measures Olive Veronesi, 93, of Seminole, Pennsylvania, wasn’t shy about letting loved ones know what she needed during the lockdown. “I need more beer!” read a sign she held up, along with a can of Coors Light.

A relative posted Veronesi’s photo to social media, KDKA reported, and her predicament went viral. “I have a beer every night. ... I was on my last 12 cans. You know what, beer has vitamins in it. It’s good for you, only don’t overdo it,” Veronesi said. On April 13, she got her wish: Molson Coors delivered 10 cases of her favorite brew to her front door. Her new sign reads, “Got more beer!”

Names in the News A baby born on April 6 in Sheopur, Bhopal, India, will carry a special name with him through his life: Lockdown. Manju Mail, his mother, confirmed to hospital staff: “Yes, he is Lockdown, as he was born during the lockdown period.” Her husband, Raghunath, told The Times of India: “It is a significant name. The whole world using lockdown as a means to stem this pandemic. We should not take Lockdown lightly.”

Similarly, in Chhattisgarh, India, another couple blessed their twins, born March 27, with timely names: Corona and Covid. Preeti Verma, 27, told the Press Trust of India her children’s names symbolize triumph over hardships. “Indeed the virus is dangerous and life-threatening, but its outbreak made people focus on sanitation, hygiene and inculcate other good habits,” she said.

The Continuing Crisis Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s deputies responded to a home in Saugus, California, on April 7 after a dispute over toilet paper turned violent, CNN reported. A 26-year-old man was arrested and charged with battery after his mother told deputies he had punched her.

Sheriff ’s department spokesperson Shirley Miller said the man had accused his mother of hiding toilet paper, which she admitted to deputies, saying her son was using too much. “This is the first arrest I’ve heard of that started out over an argument over toilet paper,” remarked Miller.

OTHER

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