Top Ten

North Manitou Light Celebration Planned

An outdoor, in-person, socially distanced event to celebrate the ongoing restoration of the North Manitou Shoal Light will take place in Leland this Saturday, Sept. 19.

Anyone interested in the crib (so called because it’s a lighthouse situated in the middle of Lake Michigan, one mile offshore from North Manitou Island and eight miles offshore from Leland) is invited to hear presentations on restoration and management plans, future opportunities to visit the crib, its history, and information about the North Manitou Light Keepers.

The “Light Keeper Rally” is scheduled to take place at 5pm at the Main Street Gallery on S. Main Street.

Stuff we love Ensuring Northerners Get Their Fair Share

So we loathe the suddenly accelerated Census response deadline of Sept. 30, 2020. Seeing as it’s tough to accurately count people in normal times, forcing a faster count during a pandemic strikes us as silly and, well … a bit scary. Money for our schools, roads, and social programs are on the line here. And, red alert, y’all: If we miss counting folks, the amount of federal funding (you know, the money you pay the Feds in taxes) Michigan stands to lose is $1,800 per person … per year … for the next 10 years. Which brings us to our latest love: www.NorthwestCounts.com, where you can log on to answer nine quick questions and ensure you and yours are counted. And no, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a permanent or seasonal resident, a renter, a college student, or an immigrant; you count. And counting you helps our entire community.

TC’s Porchfest Rocks On

Porchfest is back in Traverse City’s Central Neighborhood (you know, that gorgeous neighborhood of 450+ homes that’s been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979). And for its second annual event, not much will have changed. Friends, families, and other interested folks are invited to stroll the sidewalks, sit on the lawns, and take in a series of all-outdoor music performances by talented artists performing pro bono “in the spirit of promoting music, entertainment and the value of community in Traverse City.” Porchfest 2020 runs 1pm–5pm, Sunday, Sept. 20. Find it on various porches bounded by 5th, Locust, Union, 9th, and Division Streets, south west of downtown Traverse City. (To register as a performer or to host a group on your porch, visit tccna1.wixsite.com/tcporchfest2020.)

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ZOOM IT! SCIENCE, FAMILY AND FAITH

In Yaa Gyasi’s newest novel, Transcendent Kingdom, she writes about Gifty, a doctoral student exploring the underpinnings of addiction and depression — maladies that have hit her own immigrant family. In her debut novel, Homegoing, Gyasi “brilliantly renewed and expanded the fiction of double lives” and in Transcendent Kingdom she “explores the science of the soul.” (New Yorker) The book also explores Gifty’s tangled relationship with her Pentecostal upbringing and whether science and faith can exist harmoniously. The Sept. 23, 7 p.m. event is virtual; registration info at NationalWritersSeries.org.

bottoms up Two K Farms’ Spitzenburg Cider

Two K Farms’ 2018 Rosé and 2017 Riesling might have won at the prestigious by-invitation-only Jefferson Cup wine competition last year, but we suspect the cidery and winery’s 2019 Spitzenburg Cider is the libation that would win the approval of an even more impressive Jefferson’s cup — that of Thomas Jefferson, American statesman, architect, philosopher, Founding Father, and enthusiastic fan of Esopus Spitzenberg apples, “discovered,” as it were, by Dutch settlers in New York, circa 1770. Turns out, much like Two K’s bro co-owners George and Max Koskela, the United States’ third president also devoted a big chunk of orchard at Monticello to cultivating those buttery yellow, incomparably sweet apples. While we can’t comment on the cider Big J’s Spitzenburgs made, we can tell you the stuff the Two Ks have squeezed forth is as complex as the Founding Father himself, yet smooth and heady with fruity perfumes and a unique passionfruit taste, a light mouthfeel, and a zingy 6.9% ABV. We the people recommend you drink some. $15.99 for a six-pack. Find it at Two K Farms tasting room, 3872 SW Bay Shore Dr. in Suttons Bay, or online at www.twokfarms.com.

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When Mr. Trump came down his golden escalator eschewing his hateful rhetoric, this child was 13, maybe 14 years old. He wanted to be a law enforcement officer. At one time didn’t we all? If this incident hadn’t happened, when he met the age requirement, he could have applied. More than likely he would have been accepted. And more than likely, once established, he might have been happy to throw children into cages, kneel on someone’s neck until they died, or shoot them in the back.

One can only imagine in horror where another four years of this divisiveness will lead as another generation comes of age. Instead of making America great again — again, perhaps it’s time to worry about America’s soul and pray that it can heal. That our souls can heal. Parents, teach your children well.

John Hunter, Traverse City

Development as Destruction

Traverse City has three levels of local government: Grand Traverse County Commission, the Traverse City City Commission, and the Traverse City DDA (Downtown Development Authority). Are their goals all the same? They seem to conflict. Actually, have the taxpayers ever been told what their goals are? And, have the taxpayers ever been asked what their goals should be?

It seems the only goal today is to develop every square inch of land and crowd in as many people as possible. What about carrying capacity? Whatever happened to concern for all the support systems that we cannot live without?

Preserving our water in all its forms and protecting our air, farms, and forests is not just an economic benefit, it is a total necessity for the health of all of us, including the inhabitants of those ecosystems. Creating an action plan to deal with the climate crisis is also critical.

There is no such thing as sustainable growth. To be sustainable we need to measure every decision against what it does to the environmental systems that sustain us. If we destroy them, we destroy ourselves.

Ann Rogers, Traverse City

Third-Party Threat

No. No. No. Ms. Grundle-Krieg’s advice [Sept. 7 Guest Opinion, “Why Voting Libertarian is Not Wasting Your Vote”] is misguided. The stakes are much too high in the coming presidential election to vote for a third party, Libertarian or otherwise. The American vote already may be hobbled by a crippled U.S. Postal service, which jeopardizes voting by mail, a right that is so necessary this year in particular.

It’s also threatened by confirmed interference in voting registration rolls by our own officials and confirmed foreign meddling in campaign messaging and media headlines. Add to that the antiquated and biased Electoral College, which has handed victory to candidates who lost the popular vote on several occasions — much to the detriment of our democracy this last time.

If ever there was a time to make your vote actually count for something and affect our future, it’s this year. Yes, campaign season might be an excellent time to share platforms and opinions of minor political parties. However, when it comes to actually voting, it’s essential to choose either the Democrat or the Republican on the ticket, one of which you know full well will win and, along with their team, steer our nation for the next four years. Do not dilute the vote and do not delude yourself: A third-party vote certainly is a waste and possibly a spoiler. Let’s be clearsighted, rational, and pragmatic. This moment requires it.

Sheri Greenhoe, Bellaire

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

I staffed the phones at the GT Dems office this morning. I want to share a call I received verbatim:

Me: Good morning, Grand Traverse Dems, how can I help?

Caller: I had six Trump signs stolen by you. How are you going to pay me?

Me: Lots of signs on both sides are being taken. We advise everyone to take their signs in at night.

Caller: I just put up a giant Trump sign and surrounded it with razor wire. I patrol it every night with my gun. If any of you try to get it, I will blow your f**king heads off.

Me: Goodbye.

There are so many things wrong with this on every level. I never remember anything like the threats and rhetoric we are hearing this election season. This is what we have come to?

Vote blue for reason and compassion, specific programs, and collaborative governing — for our kids and our nation.

Lynn Larson, Traverse City

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spectator by Stephen Tuttle

On May 25, George Floyd died in Minneapolis with a police officer’s knee on his neck. The protests have not stopped since.

Additional violent interactions between police officers and African Americans, some obviously justified and others questionable, have kept the unrest roiling. There have now been protests in more than 1,000 U.S. cities and in 60 countries around the world, on every continent but Antarctica.

The cause is social and criminal justice and an end to law enforcement bias against minorities, particularly Black Americans. The vast majority of those involved believe in their cause and, though angry and chanting, want to march without violence. The official Black Lives Matter organization has, as one of its primary tenets, nonviolent protest. But way too many of these gatherings have not been peaceful at all. The lunatic fringes on the far left and far right have kidnapped the demands for reform and turned them into violent chaos. Their ideologies would not be recognizable to most of us. Attorney General William Barr says he has spoken to all the chiefs of police in cities where the troubles are brewing, and they have assured him the cause is left-wing extremist groups. But at least a half-dozen chiefs have said they did not speak to Barr, and they are not at all sure who’s responsible in their community. There’s ample blame to go around. On the left are the anti-fascists (antifa). Webster’s first definition of fascism is, “a government system led by a dictator having com- plete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.” There’s a lot in there to be against. Antifa has no centralized national organization or leadership and, according to law enforcement, is a small collection of autono- mous individuals in most cities. They have to stretch to link our capitalistic system to fascism, but U.S. antifa groups aren’t too fond of government at all. They long for a day when government and commerce are communityto-community exercises, and we no longer need police. They do not shy from violence and particularly enjoy going after groups on the far right. Lately, they don’t have to go far to find willing combatants. The far right now shows up to counter the protesters. security isn’t the extreme left, but racist white nationalists on the far right whose creed almost always includes violence.

Like antifa, extreme right-wing, super nationalistic organizations have members in most cities. Their intent is chaos, violence, and destruction. They’ve been showing up in greater numbers.

We know the first fires set in Minneapolis were by a white nationalist Ku Klux Klan sympathizer. We know members of Boogaloo, which advocates for a racial civil war, has been on the ground in Seattle and in Portland. We know the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist white supremacy group has been involved in the violence in Portland. We also know a neo-Nazi group calling themselves the Atomwaffen Di

The vast majority of those involved believe in their cause and, though angry and chanting, want to march without violence. The official Black Lives Matter organization has, as one of its primary tenets, nonviolent protest.

vision also has been agitating violence. The list of right-wing extremist groups is evergrowing. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which keeps track of such things, now lists nearly 1,000 active hate groups in the U.S., about 75 percent of which are racially or ethnically motivated.

So, the peaceful protesters march while the extremists on both sides set out to fight each other, break stuff, and undermine our system of government. The destruction of private property is on the agenda, along with increasing levels of violence, including murder.

The initial cause is lost in a flurry of Molotov cocktails, bricks, and arson.

There is reason to march in U.S. cities with a long history of policing bias. Those now attempting reform may need a generation to slowly weed out the bad apples in their own ranks. We’ll likely see more troubling videos before the cleansing is complete. We will not see the overwhelming majority of such inter- actions that are professional and completely peaceful. (It’s noteworthy there have been no claims of law enforcement racial bias or excessive force in Northern Michigan for more than a decade.)

The legitimate protesters would be well served to find an approach that separates them from the troublemakers. The public understands the issue — we’ve all seen the horrific Floyd video — but the cause is lost in the smoke and flames. The nightly violence and destruction addresses no issue, serves no cause, and solves no problem.

The rest of us should reject the white suprema- cy and racial violence of the extreme right and the anti-government violence on the far left. Neither will win by throwing rocks, starting fires, and stealing. The change the nonviolent among us want can happen with our ballots in less than two months.