Kendall Stanley: Gathering the hate
I can always tell when Yahoo decides to reprint one of my columns — my hate mail takes a huge jump!
Something along the lines of this: “You're just another far-left mentally ill f****t Democrat who spouts off about gun control but who will NEVER discuss the outrageous amount of Black-on-Black gun murders.
“About 20K a year and not a peep from you f*****s. About 800 a year just in Chicago. That's just one of the many s***hole Democrat cities. Democrat on democrat gun murders are the vast majority of gun murders in the country. If you refuse to address eat a cyanide capsule.”
Sorry, not going to go down that racist alley.
I’m guessing he’s also really not suggesting we try to address the issue of Black-on-Black gun violence to lower those numbers, but I digress.
Then there was the multi-page missive, with annotations from several sources, about why carrying guns or having them always available is the only way to go.
And the local writer who says the NRA believes in gun training and safety. Of course they do, but their goals now go way beyond training and safety to making sure there are no regulations on guns in the U.S., period.
How bad has it become? You’re not hearing much about prayers and concerns anymore because why bother — mass shootings have become so commonplace these days that prayers and thoughts reek of insincerity.
To say it’s almost reached the point you can find multiple killings about every day would not be hyperbole.
Wither the water?
If you won’t do it, we will!
That seems to be the view of the Interior Department when it comes to the divvying up of the Colorado River’s water after states that use the water have failed to come up with a plan to share the water.
According to The Washington Post, “Overuse and a 23-year-long drought made worse by climate change have threatened to provoke a water and power catastrophe across the West. The Colorado River supplies drinking water to 40 million Americans as well as two states in Mexico, and irrigates 5.5 million agricultural acres. The electricity generated by dams on the river’s two main reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, powers millions of homes and businesses.”
The issue with the two lakes is if the water levels drop too far it won’t spin the turbines that supply electricity, and if the levels continue beyond that, the lakes would become “deadpools” where no water would flow past the dams.
If the flow were divvied up between California, Nevada and Arizona, those states would see their allotment of water dropping by one-quarter. Not a pretty picture for the Southwest.
California historically has the rights to most of the water, which would be disastrous for Phoenix and Tucson who get their water through an aqueduct.
Heavy rains and a large snowpack this winter have eased the drought, filling some reservoirs in California. But the drought continues and an equitable plan has not come down the pike to suit all water claimants.
We’ll just have to wait and see how the seven states react to the federal plan to share.
Remembering Dave
If you take a look at the picture of David Heinz that accompanies his obituary you’ll see a wonderful smile that was his hallmark. And better yet, there was a great laugh to go with it.
I worked with Dave back in the late 1970s at Squire Electric. He was the installer for the appliance side of the business and the service technician. I haven’t needed any help installing a dishwasher or microwave since after learning at Dave’s side.
He had been in the U.S. Navy and in his truck he kept a battered white bucket hat. I asked him about it one day and he said he got it as a souvenir when his ship stopped in Corfu, Greece. He thought it was one of the most beautiful places he’d ever been and wearing the hat reminded him of the island.
For 17 years, he was the head electrician at the Odawa Casino and had helped the casino win many awards for its energy efficiency efforts.
He was active in the community, most recently working with the county’s veterans’ affairs committee, and like his dad and brother before him, took some turns in public office.
He was a great guy and he looked great in that Corfu hat.
— Kendall P. Stanley is retired editor of the News-Review. He can be contacted at kendallstanley@charter.net. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and not necessarily of the Petoskey News-Review or its employees.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Kendall Stanley: Gathering the hate
