Letters to the Editor: If you are anti-choice, you are not my choice. Period.

Please be safe on your motorcycles

Sen. Gary Peters,

I read your letter concerning May being Motorcyclist Safety Awareness Month in the May 25 edition of the Petoskey News-Review. I appreciate you bringing this information to the attention of the public.

As a coach for the Michigan Motorcycle Rider Education Program for the last 32 years, I am familiar with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation curriculum, which you reference. In your suggested list of safety practices, one item was omitted that we stress in our courses — wearing an approved helmet. It is probably the most important thing a rider can do to protect themselves.

Thank you for emphasizing the importance of riding with the headlight on. It is very frustrating to me to be preaching "lights on for safety" to riders while law enforcement — city, county and state — undermines this message with their sporadic headlight use, actually becoming a hazard to the public ... let alone being a poor example.

Keith Munson

Petoskey

This was their plan all along for energy

The Biden Administration fuel price blame game should not fool anyone. On Joe Biden’s first day in office, he signed multiple executive orders targeting the domestic fossil fuel industry. Those orders effectively killed the energy independence of the United States. The high fuel and energy prices Americans are now struggling to pay, are a result of this Administrations’ policies.

Electric vehicle manufacturers have made tremendous technology gains in the last decade. It will take continued technology improvements and breakthroughs to make electric cars more affordable and practical for more than the 1 percent of the population who currently own an EV. The same holds true for the alternative energy (wind/solar) industries.

America will need fossil fuels to provide electricity, gasoline, and diesel fuel to our country for many years to come. Joe Biden should permanently reverse his executive orders and support the United States return to an energy independent country. Reversing those executive orders, with assurances to the industry, would start the decline in fuel / energy prices. Waiting until the 2024 election and a change in administration is not soon enough. Americans need fuel price relief now.

J. Daly

Petoskey

If you are anti-choice, you are not my choice. Period.

In her June 25 article, “Who gets rights in America,” Karin Brulliard of The Washington Post wrote the following:

Mary Kay Watson, who works in the automotive industry and lives north of Detroit, said she long assessed political candidates’ views on abortion as one consideration among many. The right to the procedure seemed firm, she said.

But Friday’s ruling — which she said she worries could affect her two daughters’ ability to receive medical care if, for example, one miscarried in a state where abortion is banned — changed that.

“For me personally, now, I’m done. I’m doing away with the “Let’s take a view on what the person is as a whole” said Watson, 56. If you are anti-choice, you are not my choice. Period.”

That the Post, which often seems to view issues through a rigid partisan lens included Watson’s sentiment, may point to the growing recognition that abortion is not partisan. It’s personal. Let’s face it: In this country liberty is highly prized even over life, making liberty about as personal an issue as it gets. This means people will be highly motivated to vote.

The question is, for who?

I have three daughters and can relate to Watson. Just a few nights earlier, I had studied NCMC’s stream of the Michigan state candidates’ forum, listening carefully to candidates’ views on abortion and crossing out the names of any whose personal convictions might prevent them from supporting access to abortion healthcare.

The candidates participating in the forum were honest about their views, and that deserves respect. Be that as it may, if both Watson, north of Detroit, and I in Northern Michigan are of similar mind, how many other Republicans and Independents feel the same?

Ann Chatterson

Petoskey

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Letters to the Editor: If you are anti-choice, you are not my choice. Period.