http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/Archived Opinions, Editorials and ColumnsenSun, 20 Apr 2008 17:53:32 PDTMovable Type Enterprise 4.29-advance http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/noArchived Opinions, Editorials and Columnsflintopinionhttp://feedburner.google.comhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/VWuODG5vCeM/bullying_has_farreaching_conse.htmlCommunity: ClioCommunity: Davison city and townshipCommunity: FlintEileen Button108485040050467455819191097501097541097581097604918109752109756Eileen Button | Flint JournalSun, 20 Apr 2008 17:53:32 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.877729 ]]>Lakeland, Florida is beautiful. The small city where many Michigan retirees spend their winters is within reach of some of the best attractions Florida has to offer. Flint Journal extras Also by Eileen Button: • Joy of reading is a sublime gift for our children • 'Here comes the sun!' (sing it with me now ...) • Spending is not a social responsibility as federal tax rebate checks coming soon • More by Eileen ButtonBut Lakeland has gotten some negative attention lately that has raised the ire of parents everywhere. It's the hometown of a group of teenage cheerleaders who beat 16-year-old Victoria Lindsay unconscious, leaving her with cuts, bruises and permanent damage to her eye, ear and face. Her emotional trauma cannot be measured. The girls accused Lindsay of trash talking on the Internet. To punish her, they filmed the beating and posted it on YouTube. As Lindsay's head was being bashed into a wall, the girl holding the camera called the footage "good."...http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/bullying_has_farreaching_conse.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/ZGLG5DIUw30/playing_with_our_kids_can_give.htmlCommunity: ClioCommunity: Davison city and townshipCommunity: FlintEileen Button4558170637913109744109741109737109735109739109743Eileen Button | Flint JournalSun, 20 Apr 2008 12:43:08 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.877690 ]]>When I was a child, I remember making a few promises to myself that I swore I would keep as a grown-up. Lakeland, Florida is beautiful. The small city where many Michigan retirees spend their winters is within reach of some of the best attractions Florida has to offer. Flint Journal extras Also by Eileen Button: • Joy of reading is a sublime gift for our children • 'Here comes the sun!' (sing it with me now ...) • Spending is not a social responsibility as federal tax rebate checks coming soon • More by Eileen ButtonI would never, for instance, read the newspaper instead of playing a game of hide and go seek. (How boring!) I would never walk up an escalator. (And take away from the enjoyment of the ride? No way.)...http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/playing_with_our_kids_can_give.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/9RqiJ52Btvc/flint_journal_editorial_butron.htmlEditorials6639209674907100Chris Machniak | Flint JournalWed, 16 Apr 2008 04:21:01 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.885994 ]]> Flint Journal extras • April 8, 2008: Technicalities derail Burton bond vote • March 27, 2008: Mayor Charles Smiley vows no tax or water increases connected to bond If residents of Burton are unhappy about the city's plans to sell $11.5 million in bonds, they must be doubly unhappy now that their effort to force a referendum has been turned aside. A group calling itself Citizens for Government Accountability collected 2,850 signatures on petitions asking that the bond sale be put to a public vote. However, a bond attorney with the law firm of Miller Canfield has told the city that the petitions are not valid because they don't meet all the requirements. For one thing, opponents of the bond sale didn't turn in sworn affidavits along with the petitions -- something they claim they were told wasn't necessary....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/flint_journal_editorial_butron.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/FFu51d-Pxek/talk_back_todays_topics_detroi.htmlTalk Back111365Matt Bach | Flint JournalWed, 16 Apr 2008 07:17:05 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.883231 ]]>Flint Journal Talk Backs from April 15, 2008: WOEFUL CATS: The best thing for the Tigers would be to learn to play as a cohesive unit. Too many individuals can only hurt the team in all aspects. Maybe the entire Toledo Mud Hens should trade with the Tigers to see who is better. Is it possible the Tigers can break that miserable record of 2003? -- Flint Township...http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/talk_back_todays_topics_detroi.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/B8b5f5JqgXY/flint_journal_letters_to_the_e.htmlCommunity: ClioCommunity: Davison city and townshipCommunity: Fenton city and townshipCommunity: FlintCommunity: Vienna TownshipLetters110714743121294854824110271582286878350398Matt Bach | Flint JournalTue, 15 Apr 2008 08:25:44 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.883196 ]]>Letters to the editor in The Flint Journal on April 15, 2008: MTA art explanation from general manager makes it worse Robert J. Foy, General Manager of the Mass Transportation Authority recently wrote an opinion column in The Flint Journal, defending the MTA spending $524,052 for art for the MTA bus station, the administration offices and the 14 facilities ["Mass Transportation Authority art project plays key role in revitalizing Flint," If You Ask Me, March 10]....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/flint_journal_letters_to_the_e.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/Gadmhgol2SY/not_filed_your_tax_returns_yet.htmlCommunity: FlintCommunity: Flushing, Flushing TownshipDavid Smith518638946793055622457358110061Matt Bach | Flint JournalTue, 15 Apr 2008 08:54:33 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.880727 ]]>If you are reading this while working on your taxes, I have a couple of suggestions for you. First, your priorities need work. Finish this column, and then have a double fudge brownie. There will always be time to pay taxes.Flint Journal extras More columns by David Smith • April 1, 2008: Times are tough, hence the need for fools among us • See more belowBesides, if you are filling out your 1040 today, you clearly don't have issues with procrastination. Every year on April 15 the media clamors around the mailbox at midnight to talk to the hapless souls who are scrambling to get their tax return in before the deadline....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/not_filed_your_tax_returns_yet.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/gEqxwteP6S0/flint_journal_letters_to_the_editor_the_topics_booster_seats_presidential_candidates_and_american_health_care.htmlCommunity: BurtonCommunity: FlintCommunity: Genesee TownshipLetters110273106371102713506390069Matt Bach | Flint JournalMon, 14 Apr 2008 12:35:27 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.880830 ]]>Here are The Flint Journal letters to the editor for Monday, April 14, 2008: Booster seats protect our children Before September of 1999 it was legal to put a 13-month-old baby in the back seat of a car with nothing but a lap belt to protect it from injury or worse in the event of a crash....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/flint_journal_letters_to_the_editor_the_topics_booster_seats_presidential_candidates_and_american_health_care.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/1nbbuPoQH4Y/parents_seeking_assistance_nee.htmlCommunity: FlintKori Carson Dean19887913549325832211026210929447991Matt Bach | Flint JournalMon, 14 Apr 2008 11:58:55 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.880738 ]]>Dear Kori: I was saddened to read your response to a mother who wrote you about being unhappy with her child's progress in a local public school. I had hoped that your first response would be to have her visit her child's school and ask for better services....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/parents_seeking_assistance_nee.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/c948KPCWjGc/more_should_be_like_university_1.htmlCommunity: FlintEditorials5429411003311003111003557490Matt Bach | Flint JournalMon, 14 Apr 2008 07:03:30 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.879574 ]]>FLINT, Michigan -- Flint could use a few more champions like Paul O'Donnell.Flint Journal extras More Flint Journal editorials • April 14, 2008: Flint Journal editorial: Public must accept need for Flint schools closings • See more belowThe Flint JournalPaul O'Donnell, foreign language professor at University of Michigan-Flint, has big ideas for the city of Flint.Where others see doom and gloom in the sagging housing market, he sees opportunity. O'Donnell, a foreign-language professor at the University of Michigan-Flint, has taken up the cause of promoting incentives that he thinks will make more people want to move into Flint. His effort started out as a research project on the growing population of Spanish speakers in the area. His research suggests that two to seven people who speak Spanish are moving into Genesee County each week....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/more_should_be_like_university_1.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/8K_AXPUkfuI/flint_journal_editorial_public_1.htmlCommunity: FlintEditorials633811100225713811002452931944662066Matt Bach | Flint JournalMon, 14 Apr 2008 06:52:01 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.879510 ]]>Stuart Bauer | The Flint JournalInterim Chief Financial Officer Andrea Derricks goes over financial options the board considered before arriving at their proposal Wednesday, April 9, 2008.Flint Journal extras More Flint Journal editorials: • Flint Journal Editorial: Public entities must accept their responsibility for decay • See more editorials belowFLINT, Michigan -- No one wants to see a school close. Certainly not parents, who are concerned about the disruption a child can experience having to adjust to a new building and different teachers. School administrators and school board members don't want to close schools either. But in Flint, there is no other option. Here's the stark reality: the Flint School District has capacity for 37,000 students and an enrollment of just under 16,000. You can't operate a school system that way. The cost of operating too many buildings for too few students will kill you....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/flint_journal_editorial_public_1.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/zy0ViIph1KQ/national_siblings_day_is_every.htmlCommunity: Flushing, Flushing TownshipJackie Braun56884111461111459Matt Bach | Flint JournalWed, 16 Apr 2008 08:05:53 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.886643 ]]>National Siblings Day was April 10, 2008. I'm not sure how long this "holiday" has been around. I only know that growing up with seven older brothers and sisters, I was unaware of it....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/national_siblings_day_is_every.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/-KmGwUJp-V0/detroit_education_could_have_u.htmlCommunity: FlintJohn Tomlinson135858894672091567921Matt Bach | Flint JournalThu, 22 Oct 2009 12:05:37 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.874727 ]]>April 4 was the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. He is famously remembered for a dream we all want to come true. But 2008 also marks the five-year anniversary of another dream -- one not so well-remembered....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/detroit_education_could_have_u.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/DH805QPonhg/joy_of_reading_is_a_sublime_gi.htmlEileen Button1059361059341059441059431059303194010593211858105938105940105942Eileen Button | Flint JournalSat, 12 Apr 2008 22:11:30 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.858838 ]]>There are certain childhood milestones that we are not likely to forget. We remember first steps, teeth and words. Jordan, my 7-year-old, just accomplished another. He read his first chapter book, Junie B., First Grader: Cheater Pants by Barbara Park....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/joy_of_reading_is_a_sublime_gi.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/uW4e7d1bhG8/flint_journal_editorial_public.htmlEditorialsChris Machniak | Flint JournalSat, 12 Apr 2008 20:21:01 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.875426 ]]>While unscrupulous private property owners get the bulk of blame and criticism for the many examples of blight in Flint, public entities should not be let off the hook. Katie Rausch | The Flint JournalWhaley Pool used to be a summertime hot spot, but the city closed its pools several years ago. A Journal review of dilapidated property in Flint shows that some responsibility falls squarely on governmental bodies -- including the city, the Flint School District and Hurley Medical Center and its foundation. Because such public entities are cash-strapped to the limit, it's easy to sympathize with them or to make excuses. But they have the same responsibility any property owner does to act responsibly and proactively in the maintenance and eventual razing of some of the nuisance buildings they own....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/flint_journal_editorial_public.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/xbs0KvGTS58/_members_of_the_great.htmlCommunity: FlintKelly Flynn897998980189804108104Kelly E. Flynn | Flint JournalSat, 12 Apr 2008 16:27:58 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.868842 ]]> Members of the Great Schools Initiative recently asked Flint Schools superintendent Linda Thompson what they could do to help the district. Their offer was sincere and well intentioned....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/_members_of_the_great.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/jCbqvdLdRZs/presidential_candidate_john_mc.htmlRickey Hampton7913689891093116792150708Matt Bach | Flint JournalSat, 12 Apr 2008 12:34:34 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.874853 ]]>Sen. John McCain may very well have made the most disingenuous comment I've ever heard by a politician.Flint Journal columnist Rickey Hampton | Read more of his columns.And that is saying a lot, since some politicians are willing to say or do anything for a vote. But I have to put McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, in that class after listening to his speech at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tenn. McCain was speaking to a crowd gathered at the site where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, in remembrance of the 40th anniversary of civil rights leader's death. The hotel, now a civil rights museum, is considered by many who have visited there as hallowed ground. McCain told the crowd that he made a mistake in opposing the King national holiday in 1983. "We can be slow as well to give greatness its due," McCain told the crowd....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/presidential_candidate_john_mc.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/2wxK1BMrwk8/loving_those_readers_digest_pu.htmlCommunity: Atlas Township, GoodrichCommunity: Grand Blanc city and townshipJack Blosser51836109228109230109231Matt Bach | Flint JournalSat, 12 Apr 2008 11:05:08 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.874560 ]]>GRAND BLANC, Michigan -- Now, I'm no mathematician, but I do understand odds, so I doubt you'll ever see this Scotsman in a casino. I can't bear the thought of money leaving my sporran (a pouch worn suspended on the front of the kilt) without getting anything in return....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/loving_those_readers_digest_pu.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/Qw-KhpxUCjA/a_journey_out_of_the_red_for_c.htmlCommunity: Flint548531093191093177594Matt Bach | Flint JournalSat, 12 Apr 2008 04:46:54 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.874922 ]]>The city of Flint faces yet another multi-million dollar deficit. Would $3 help? Flint Journal extras: Other money-related articles: • Budget cuts hitting Flint city-owned golf courses • Parents, community members upset over Flint schools plan to close four buildings, cut teachers • Flushing Township board backs millage proposal to help fund police department That's what I asked a couple of months ago when I turned in my family's Flint income tax return at City Hall, realizing for what seems to be the umpteenth year in a row we would be getting less than $10 back. And the same thought came to mind when the check arrived in the mail just a couple of days ago....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/a_journey_out_of_the_red_for_c.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/GUoRGl_pcdg/wide_awake_club_im_special.htmlWide Awake ClubJeff Rauschert | Flint JournalThu, 10 Apr 2008 10:40:28 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.871218 ]]> pdf of page 1 pdf of page 2 April 10, 2008...http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/wide_awake_club_im_special.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/flintopinion/~3/baDt2ZL-kZM/flint_journal_editorial_new_un.htmlEditorialsChris Machniak | Flint JournalThu, 10 Apr 2008 05:11:46 PDTtag:blog.mlive.com,2008:/flintjournal/opinion//1019.868272 ]]>Flint Journal extras Related articles: • April 8, 2008, New University of Michigan football ticket policy upsets students in Flint, Dearborn Students at the University of Michigan campuses in Flint and Dearborn have traditionally been treated the same as their counterparts in Ann Arbor. Journal News Service filesA view showing most of the more than 100,000 people who crammed into Michigan Stadium in a 2006 photo. Suddenly, that is no longer the case for football tickets. Under a new UM athletic policy, students at the satellite campuses are being given a lower priority when it comes to seating at Michigan Stadium. In the past, the university used credit hours to determine who would receive tickets in the student section at the stadium. The more credit hours, the higher the priority. That meant freshmen had the lowest priority....http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/opinion/2008/04/flint_journal_editorial_new_un.htmlnonadult