The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 14

Sunday, January 7, 2001 TIMES HERALD, PORT HURON, MICHIGAN fab Members of the Times Herald editorial board: Chuck Wanninger Denise Richter president and publisher executive editor Thomas D. Walker Shawn Starkey opinion page editor city editor Holly Quaine Garth J. Kriewall sales manager features editor Michael Basha, Janice Littlefield community members Opinion EDITORIAL BOARD To contact any members of the editorial board, or to schedule a meeting, call opinion page editor Tom Walker at 989-6278. OUR VIEW THE LOCAL SCENE Opinion by Garth Kriewall HOTIIEfl VIEW Lansing must fix felony-murder rule What's really going on in the Legislature? For 16 years, the Michigan House of Representatives overlooked a bill to make the new felony-murder rule Michigan adopted in 1980 retroactive. In 1980, the Aaron Bill changed the way criminals were punished in the state of Michigan.

The old felony-murder rule would convict criminals of murder if they were in the commission of a felony and someone died My uncle, John D. Coulter, is housed at the Saginaw Correctional Facility for this very offense. While in the commission of a felony, his partner killed a woman. His partner pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and served 20 years. He has been out of prison since 1984.

My uncle, on the other hand, pleaded not guilty for the crime of murder. To gain a conviction, the prosecution charged him with felonymurder, a life sentence with no chance of parole. My uncle has been in prison for nearly 40 years. The state House has been unable to come to a conclusion for 20 years as to whether it should make the Aaron bill retroactive. This would allow a little more than 100 prisoners who have spent more than 20 years in prison the opportunity for new trials.

Prosecutors have made great use of the felony-murder laws in Michigan and in other states. Here, the laws have been used to gain leverage for the bills that suit specific advocacy groups. Proponents are trying to pass MARY COULTER COMMUNITY COLUMNIST pity manager job must go to best qualified KEY TOPIC: Government Port Huron's top position is too critical for concerns about gender The most important decision the Port Huron City Council will make this year is hiring a city manager. The status of sewer separation, SEMCO Energy's promise to construct a new building in Port Huron and the future of the south side are just a few of the challenges Port Huron faces. The city needs a top administrator to help shape and act on its priorities.

The next city manager should mend the divisions in city government that were polarized with former City Manager Larry Osborn's controversial dismissal last year. Mr. Osborn's successor must be able to restore public confidence in city government and promote greater cooperation between the administration and the council. Meeting these goals will be formidable. The next city manager will need vision, impeccable organizational and management skills, a thick skin and the ability to perform well under pressure.

Those qualities are hard enough to find in any public official. But City Council-woman Sally Jacobs has little confidence in any female's ability to do the job. "This might sound sexist, but I'd prefer somebody who was male," Mrs. Jacobs said in a Jan. 1 Times Herald article.

"If you watch us, you see that women tend to get emotional and cry. I think men handle that kind of stress better." Surely, Mrs. Jacobs didn't mean to say that. Surely, she has more respect for her colleagues, Mayor Laurie Sample-Wynn and Councilwoman Kim Prax. Surely, she has a better opinion of herself.

Mrs. Jacobs should be encouraging women to take on leadership roles as she has. As president of Woodrow Wilson Elementary School's PTA, she restored public confidence in the organization after it was wracked by a financial scandal. She later won a City Council seat on her first bid for public office. It's disappointing that Mrs.

Jacobs seems unwilling to inspire young girls to prepare themselves for such roles. It's regrettable that she apparently holds such low regard for women who have distinguished themselves as key leaders in the public and private sectors here and throughout the nation. If nothing else, Mrs. Jacobs has inadvertently shown city residents what factors the discussion should ignore. Gender, race and other superficial concerns have no place in judging which candidate is best qualified for the job.

The ability to manage, to lead and to make city government more accountable must be the critical requirements. It shouldn't matter if a male or female possesses them. All that should matter is that he or she can use them to the city's best advantage. The City Council must make the city manager search its top priority. The council must ensure it is accountable to the public and that city residents have a say about the qualifications the candidates should have.

The goal should be clear: Port Huron needs the best man or woman it can get. anti-hate legislation that would provide tougher penalties for crimes against gays. This effort includes the use of the felony-murder rule as it currently stands. As a nation of people who are supposed to uphold the law and view it with the highest regard, I am appalled to see the very law we are supposed to uphold used by the Legislature and by lobbyists to push through their causes. Clearly, it is an instrument to serve their political purposes.

It is not a fair and just law. The Legislature knows the matter should be resolved. But lawmakers ares unwilling to do the work it will take to address this matter and correct it. But, they sure can make good use of this law to further their careers and keep their special interest groups happy. This is a gross misuse of a mistake.

The felony-murder rule in Michigan does not work for justice, it works for politicians. Mary Coulter of Port Huron is a community activist. Community columns appear on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. that is to make fun of them, get people to laugh at them. That's how you take care of people like that." Mr.

Denison's tale of his 10-year-old son and the neighbor children strikes me as funny. They were left alone, unattended illegally. They searched the neighbor's house illegally. They found a hidden gun, put it together and loaded it without permission. Then, they took the gun out to play without permission.

His own son was fighting over the loaded gun no upbringing. But who was at fault? Why, Larry Thompson, for wanting to keep his rights. Ho, ho, ho. Laughs come from all directions. Although I'm not a member of any gun club, I do believe that we need to live under the Constitution as written, and that includes the republican form of government given to all the states, where all live under the common law brought down from the time of Moses.

So I guess, in Mr. Denison's eyes, I'm simply a jokester, too. Mr. Denison is quick to give statistics on how many store clerks were killed, even though armed (thousands). He fails to mention how many were shot who weren't armed, or how many robberies were unsuccessful because honest people were armed.

Also, these people don't need concealed weapons permits to protect stores. No one wants to see a kid hurt, and everything should be done to prevent accidents from happening. But I think you will find that, in many cases, one or more laws were broken by the parents, the kids or someone responsible for the kids at the time of the accident. And, of course, accidents do happen. Do you teach your kids not to run in the street? To be careful riding bikes? Never go out in a boat alone or go swimming alone? Never mess with guns? Accidents happen in all these things and more.

But that is life. DON DUNCAN Goodells, Jan 1 As more people carry guns, Michigan will be a lot safer In regard to the concealed weapons legislation that Gov. John Engler signed into law, please people, get a grip! Yes, there will be twice as many people carrying guns into malls, theaters, etc. But the point of concealed weapons permits is that you aren't supposed to know that they are carrying a gun. If you see a gun, the law is being violated, and you are well within your right to turn the person in.

If they carry a gun into an establishment that is posted as a "no gun" area, they are violating the law whether they conceal their gun or not. Good grief! All of the people getting frenetic about this haven't even bothered to check on what the law will require or the good things that might come about as a result. Think about it: More people who own guns will have to be more responsible than they are right now. The chance of getting robbed, raped or murdered will go down because the bad guys will no longer know if someone is armed. There are many statistics to back this up from the FBI and the Center for Disease Control.

People need to know what they are talking about before they get upset. It would really help if the media let us know what the law says and what people must do to comply with it instead of encouraging a fear frenzy. But wait: That would go against taking sides, wouldn't it? LAURA R. CHARRON Emmett, Jan. 3 YOUli VIEWS Don't refer to Bush as elected; Supreme Court appointed him The people of the press are going too far when they write about George W.

Bush and use the word "elect," as in President-elect George W. Bush. He's not a president-elect. He's a president who was appointed a big difference. Mr.

Bush was appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Bush family Daddy and brother Jeb, and, oh yes, don't forget the Florida secretary of state. I don't think a lot of people know the difference between the words "elect" and "appoint." Elect is when all the votes are counted on Election Day. The candidate who gets the most votes is elected. That's not the case here.

George W. Bush was appointed president, pure and simple. If the people don't know the difference between those two words, please open your dictionary and read the definitions. C.HOUEL Lexington, Dec. 29 Electoral college works: Check out the numbers and believe These are some statistics that your liberal Gore readers might find interesting: States won by Al Gore: 19; States won by George W.

Bush: 29; Counties won by Mr. Gore: 677; Counties won by Mr. Bush: Population of counties won by Mr. Gore: 127 million; Population of counties won by Mr. Bush: 143 million; Square miles of country won by Mr.

Gore: Square miles of country won by Mr. Bush: 2,427,000. Professor Joseph Olson of the Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, has produced another interesting new statistic. Professor Olson looked up the crime statistics for all of these counties and came up with this: Average murders per 100,000 residents in counties won by Mr.

Gore: 13.2; Average murders per 100,000 residents in counties won by Mr. Bush: 2.1; Now, what area of this country do you want electing the president of the United States Mr. Gore's or Mr. Bush's? The electoral college works. PAULW.CONROY Port Huron, Jan.

3 Columnist belittles those who fight to keep gun ownership Community columnist Ray Denison's last two articles are strictly against guns and against anyone who wants to keep and maintain the law. He makes fun of those who want to protect themselves or their family or property. It's similar to President Truman's attempt to destroy Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Since he couldn't attack the general's logic, he said something to the effect of, "The way to fix guys like JOIN THE DISCUSSION We welcome your comments on editorials, columns and other topics in the 77mes Herald or on any subjects important to you.

Only submissions that include name, address and day and evening phone numbers and that are verified by the 77mes Herald can be considered for publication. Letters to the editor of 250 or fewer words and opinion columns with a maximum of 600 words and a minimum of 500 words have the best chance of being published. All submissions may be edited for length, accuracy and clarity. Letters to the editor, opinion columns and articles submitted to the 77mes Herald may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms. BY MAIL: Send all submissions to the 77mes Herald, P.O.

Box 5009, Port Huron 48061-5009. BY PHONE: Call our TalkBack line any time at 989-6297 with your comments. You also can use that line to dictate a letter by including your name, address and day phone number. BY FAX: Our fax number is 989-6294. BY ELECTRONIC MAIL: Our Internet address is tmshrldic.net.

We will publish a letter by the same author no sooner than 14 days after his or her previous letter. except to have the nation pledge to run its elections better the next time. Don from Marysville: "To the River Road resident concerned about how Marysville is handling the erosion problems there: Don't blame the City Council for your stupidity. About 20 years ago, you were given two or three choices to put the road in behind your houses, and you turned it down. That is the only way to solve this problem.

You people want a private road at taxpayers' expense. You're a bunch of selfish people." WHAT DO YOU THINK? CALL TALKBACK throw something in those holes until that road is fixed. Gratiot, too, over there on the lake, is like a washboard." Evelyn from Port Huron: "I don't feel there should be two members from one family on the City Council. I think that's a conflict of interest, and I'm very much opposed to it." You'll get another chance to vote in November, Evelyn. Clare from St.

Clair: "What are the facts behind Paul Harvey's comment on radio that so many New Yorkers voted illegally in Florida?" I can't say for sure. But as I recall, he didn't say they voted in both places; he just said that a number of people were registered in both. Meanwhile, there remains in question the accusation by about 400 blacks that they were intimidated from voting by Florida troopers. I don't know how to resolve these issues of Michigan Road crossing the three railroad tracks at Griswold Road to tie into Michigan Road. That surely would solve a lot of problems.

It would be nice to drive from Marysville to Lake-port without being stopped or killed at a railroad crossing. I know the train engineers have pleaded for an overpass for decades, especially after a bad accident on Range Road crossings." Rosemary from Port Huron: "Is anyone else experiencing less-than-clear reception on several cable channels in the past few days? Comcast took over from Adelphia this week. I wondered if that could have something to do with it. Also, oddly, one television in our home is broadcasting the TV listings on channel 16, an 'extra pay' channel we should not be able to access for anything. As George Gobel used to say, 'Strange things are Cherokees will ride into auto sunset I own a Jeep Cherokee.

I see Chrysler, citing falling sales, is dropping that line. As a teen-ager, my first car was a Plymouth Fury, a '66, as I recall, with sleek lines. Plymouths are history, too. My next car, when I went to college, was a giant Oldsmo-bile 88, again of late '60s vintage. The Olds line has been dumped, too.

I'm starting to feel like my uncles, who talked lovingly about their Studebakers, DeSotos and Henry J's. I used to chuckle at these old men and their ancient cars. I'm not laughing these days. Now, to the phones: Ted from Clyde: "I see in the paper that there's a possibility for an overpass west tial election of 2000 will be a major topic of conversation and controversy long after the next presidential election. It was a major travesty.

Someone reported there were thousands of Florida ballots on which people voted for a presidential candidate, exactly as instructed, and then wrote in the name of the same person just to be sure. Don't you think a hand counter could tell who those voters' choices were? I sure do." Get over it, Angie. The race was Al Gore's to lose and he did just that. Bob from Fort Gratiot: "Boy, the businesses that are doing front-end alignments and putting tires on cars must be making a mint this winter. M-25 from Lakeport down to Krafft Road looks like it has bomb craters.

Some of those holes are the size of trash can covers. I can't believe the money we pay in taxes and they can't Robin from Columbus: "I wanted to respond to your comments you made to my wife's TalkBack question. How could you possibly say that Al Gore's victory or anything about it would taste of ashes, when this man won the popular vote by 500,000 votes, and he won Florida (in the recounts in Florida he was quite a bit ahead of George W. Bush with only one third of the counties recounted yet)? The Miami Herald down there is saying that by the time the recounts are all done, Al Gore would have won Florida by 23,000 votes. So, who's victory would really taste like ashes? I think there's an interloper roon to be in the White House whose victory should taste like ashes George W.

Bush and his Supreme Court justice pals." Angie from Fort Gratiot: "Garth, as much as you want it to go away, the presiden GARTH KRIEWALL TALKBACK 989-6297 TalkBack is the newspaper's version of a radio talk show. The opinions are Garth's and those of his readers. The TalkBack line is open 24 hours. The TalkBack line is open nours tn Toll free: Call 1 -800-462- 4U57 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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