06-08-2017 Letters and Commentary

TOP POP LETTERS…

For my son

Dear Nic Kling,

 Like you, a good dad wears many hats (yes, the pun was intended).

One who teaches kayaking, camping, hunting, fishing, one who passes on the love of old trucks (Rat Rods) and good music, one to veg with and binge watch shows, one who gets involved with baseball games, one to be just plain silly with and knows when to be serious. One who takes his son to U of M football & NBA games. One who teaches his son to give girls flowers. One who teaches 4-wheeling & so much more. Most of all one to dream with.

Your son Jett was the best thing that ever happened to you – I’ve always told you that. And he had ALL of those things in you.

Unfortunately, God thought that he deserved you more than we do and he took you way too soon. You will not get to see the great man that Jett will become. But the 12 years that you did have with him he learned a lot from you.

Jett has learned what it is like to have a really great dad, who thought the world of his son. The love that you had for him just oozed out all over your face. From you, Jett has learned what a great dad is and in the future Jett will be a great dad, as well – this I am sure of because Jett learned from the very best!!

We will all look out for Jett, this is my promise to you.

With all my love,

Your mom, Barbara Greco

Best thing that ever happened to me

Dear Editor,

When I think about what it takes to be the perfect dad, my dad’s name always crosses my mind. Thirty-one years ago, when I was just two-years-old, the man that I now call Dad walked into my life. Little did I know that he would be the best thing that ever happened to me.

It has been said that being a dad isn’t defined as the man who makes the child, but rather a man who extends his hands and time to help raise that child and gives his heart and love as well. That is exactly what happened for me. Not only am I proud to call him my father, but super proud to call him my daughter’s Papa. If it weren’t for my dad, my daughter wouldn’t have a babysitter, a playmate, a doctor, a discipliner, etc. I pray every day that I can be half the parent that he was and is for me still.

He deserves so much more than winning The Best Dad Contest, but with how rough things have been for our family, I cannot think of a better way for him to take some time for himself and relax instead of stressing over who he needs to help next or what needs to be fixed next.

Help me give my dad, Lou Brule an awesome Father’s Day!!!

Casey L. Brule

Boys’ club soccer needs community support; attend school board meeting June 12

Dear Editor,

Thank you for the well-written summary of the Watervliet School Board meeting in your May 18 issue.  I especially appreciate the portion regarding the Middle School Boys Club Soccer team. There was a lot of information presented and discussed and Mrs. Noack did very well at including all of that.

The group of parents at the May meeting was tasked with returning to the June 12 meeting with additional information and specific requests.  We have been working hard to gather this for the School Board.  Our goal is to form a Middle School Boys Club Soccer team with the support of the School Board.

This support needed from the School Board would be to provide practice space and home field game space and time.  In order for us to be truly effective, we need the community to show their support as well.  With the number of children who play soccer with AYSO, SWM or Midway Baptist Church’s soccer camp, we know the Watervliet community values soccer programs.  To show this value, we are asking the community to attend the June 12 School Board meeting at 6 p.m. in the H.S. Media Center.

The formation of this team will allow a greater group of students to play the sport they love while representing and showing school pride with their Watervliet colors.  Most of these students currently do not play any other fall sport offered by Watervliet Middle School.  This will also give the community more opportunities to gather together in support of each other.

Many of the plans for parks in the area have included soccer fields. This sport is continually growing and we want to be a part of it!

Thank you again for reporting all this.

Community, we hope you will join us in making Watervliet a great place to play Middle School soccer!

Sincerely,

Jackie Ward

on behalf of parent group for

Watervliet Middle School Boys Club Soccer

BILL HODGE NEEDS TO RESIGN SOMETHING… Bainbridge township supervisor Bill Hodge won his lawsuit against the Berrien County Commission (the people) to get his salaried position back on the Road Commission.

When Hodge ran for township supervisor last year, he checked on the legality of holding both public offices. He was told the situation was covered by the “Incompatibility of Office Act” that prohibited an elected official from holding public offices that had contractual obligations to each other. In this case, the Road Commission contracted with Bainbridge Township to provide roadwork in exchange for township tax funds.

Hodge told me he sued the county for what he called “the lack of due process” by not being notified in writing that he was to be removed from the position and offered a public hearing.

Now he had his day in court. He will get back salary of $3,500 and a stipend of $55 per meeting for the past half-year or so. All the while, the Road Commission was held to operating with a member absent because of the pending lawsuit.

Now Hodge can hold his head up high and say he was right. Now he should do the right thing and resign from the Road Commission or as Bainbridge Township supervisor.

GOODBYE TO THE JONES’… Friday, June 9 at 2 p.m., the G.W. Jones Exchange Bank will close its doors permanently on Main Street in Watervliet.

I want to thank the Jones family and all the bank’s wonderful employees for the valiant effort to provide bank services in Watervliet when so many others left.

The loss of a Main Street bank branch is not the death knell of business in Watervliet, but it is a symptom of the changes in this new 21 century for Main Street America.

Service businesses have been gobbled up by larger corporations who ultimately absorb the hometown business and move it (and its profits) to larger buildings and or towns.

Even so, thriving communities like Watervliet, typically replace those vacant storefronts with new businesses. Watervliet replaced a grocery with two, B&B Outlet and Family Dollar, the car dealership was replaced with a busy brewery, which is stimulating more development.

The greater Watervliet community offers more services and job opportunities than any other community its size in the area, including a hospital, motel, national automotive parts supplier, airport, excellent and full schools, chain and local restaurants, a newspaper, hardware, flower shop, specialty shops and much more.

Even so, the Jones Bank will be missed for its convenience and wonderful service. Thank you folks.

NOT PLAYING BY THE BEST MOM RULES… I got an unsigned letter last week in which the writer complained that the winning Best Mom letter was more than the 150 words required in the rules.

The letter read: Dear Editor,

I have always played by the rules in life regardless of what they are; Traffic laws, amusement park lines, posted hours of various venues, etc. The “rules” the Tri-City Record posted for the Mother’s Day Contest stated that the Best Mother Competition on should be in 150 words or less, yet the winner had over 200 words in their winning entry. Why post rules if you are not going to insure people adhere to them.

I’m sure there are other disappointed and angry folks that wish they knew they could break the rules to have a better shot at the winning selection. Shame on you for your very biased approach to this contest!

My disappointment is NOT in the fact I did not win but is the despicable way you handled the contest.

I hope you have enough professional courtesy to publish this note so those who are as frustrated as I am can vent through my note.

The unsigned writer is correct and I apologize for not acknowledging what happened. The person nominating the winning Best Mom sent two letters; one of about 150 words and a longer one.

She wrote, “I understand my shorter letter is my entry of my mom in the contest. I’m sending the longer version because I had so much to say about her. I’m hoping you can use it, but if you can’t, I’ll understand.”

I replied to her that I would use the longer version if I had room. (That’s why there was a 150-word rule in the first place. Many letters were very long in the past.)

I’m sorry my not explaining the longer published letter in the first place caused anyone distress or disappointment. The length requirement will be dropped in future Best Mom contests. Please note there has never been a length restriction in the Top Pop contest. For some reason letters to dad for Father’s Day are usually shorter.

TOP POP… Father’s Day is just round the corner… Please send a letter to the Record nominating your dad as our Top Pop. See the rules in this week’s issue.

A SWEET TIME… can be had this weekend at the Hartford Strawberry Festival. Make sure you stop by for this happy hometown event. See the story in this week’s Record for details of the many attractions.

Every day is Internet Security Day

Being safe online is important every day. There may be days devoted to internet security awareness, but you need to be careful every time you go online.

Here are some tips to use while visiting the Social Security website and the other websites you use.

Take advantage of multifactor authentication: Many websites offer the option to use a second factor – or method – in addition to just a username and password to ensure that only you access your information. Using more than one factor to establish identity makes it harder for someone to get into your account and steal your personal information. Beginning June 10, 2017, Social Security requires multifactor authentication to access a my Social Security account. Customers choose whether to receive a one-time security code to either their phone or email in order create a new account or sign into their account. Visit this link to find out more about how to secure your personal my Social Security account:  www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount/verifyandprotectid.html. Consider using multifactor authentication whenever it’s offered to protect your information.

Read scam alerts: For information about fraudulent activities related to Social Security, you can find information at our blog Social Security Matters under the Newsroom section at blog.socialsecurity.gov. One way to avoid identity theft is to create your own my Social Security account, if you haven’t already. When you have an account, no one else can set up an account using your information. Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General investigates fraud involving Social Security and they publish Fraud Advisories at oig.ssa.gov/newsroom/news-release.

The Federal Trade Commission website publishes information about scams that appear in the news at www.consumer.ftc.gov/scam-alerts.

You’ll want to be aware of current scams to avoid being tricked.

Protecting your identity can be daunting. Guarding your personal information requires investing some time, but is worth it. Discourage theft and fraud by adopting these security practices when you use the internet.

Vonda VanTil is the Public Affairs Specialist for West Michigan.  You can write her c/o Social Security Administration, 3045 Knapp NE, Grand Rapids MI 49525 or via email at vonda.vantil@ssa.gov.

10,000-foot view, no deer

In Michigan there are usually many ways to get from here to there. Our route to an airport for a skydiving adventure took us through a state game area. We were on constant lookout for deer. I hit one once and that was enough for me! Running a tad behind schedule, I was pushing it a little. That made it even more interesting. We arrived and everything went well. We had a great afternoon and celebrated my wife’s skydiving success with lunch out and Sherman’s ice cream for dessert (I had stayed on the ground. I’m not that much of an adventurer.)

There were a few amusing skydiving bumper stickers displayed at the airport. One read, “Skydivers: Good To the Last Drop.” Considering our drive to the airport and the relative safety of skydiving vs. driving, I thought of another: “I Never Hit a Deer Skydiving.”

God gives us opportunity for adventure along the way, and we should be willing to accept the challenge. It may not be for skydiving (although it might be). It may be for stepping out instead to fulfill God’s purposes for us that take us in faith beyond where we’ve been so far. It could be that we are designed for whatever it is, and without going forward we will never discover God’s sufficiency in that area too.

What are we designed to do? Ephesians 2:10 states: “…we are His workman-ship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (NASB) To walk is to step out, maybe out of our comfort zone, our “perfectly good airplane.”

But unless we are willing to skydive into our designed purposes, we may never experience that unobstructed 10,000-foot view of the world around us – the view that we could never otherwise see.