Between festivities, visit MySocialSecurity

The holiday season is upon us, bringing with it family gatherings and familiar traditions. As you bustle about from place to place, sharing turkey dinners and catching up with loved ones, there is one errand you can avoid — a visit to the Social Security office. Why take time out of your busy holiday schedule to visit an office when you can conduct most of your business online?

At www.socialsecurity.gov, we have a variety of services available to you, all from the comfort of your home. You can apply for disability benefits or appeal a disability decision. You can also file for retirement benefits, spousal benefits, or Medicare-only benefits while enjoying leftover pumpkin pie.

Even if you are currently receiving benefits, or are not quite ready to file, Social Security has services to bring you holiday cheer. With a my Social Security account, those receiving benefits may change their address and direct deposit information, get proof of their benefits, and request replacement documents like a Medicare card. In addition, if you are not currently getting benefits, you can still check your earnings record, get estimates of your future benefits, and view your Social Security statement. In some areas, you can even request a replacement Social Security card online. Open your account today at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount.

Holidays are fun, and sometimes stressful, times. Let our online offerings reduce the holiday stress so you can focus on what is important — your loved ones. When you need services from Social Security, start a new tradition. Go online at www.socialsecurity.gov.

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.

PALISADES SHOCKER… Many of us are not entirely shocked to hear Palisades is closing. The aging, safety compromised plant has been for sale since the day Entergy bought it from Consumers some seven years ago.

Many times when a manufacturing plant is losing money due to aging equipment, high taxes and payroll, it may be sold to another that will wring out the cash and benefits and then look to peddle it.

Palisades is the white elephant of the nuclear age; it is old, safety compromised, and has a product that is no longer cheap. Wind and solar power are the new poster boys of the power grid, generating power without leaving a pile of coal dust or nuclear waste behind.

As usual it will be the residents, in this case Covert Township and Van Buren County that will be hurt as the giant tax base is converted to a giant tax waste when the plant closes in 2018.

Palisades, with its casks of nuclear waste stored on the Lake Michigan shoreline, will become a nuclear ghost factory maintained by the government for 100s of years.

Meanwhile the citizens of Southwest Michigan will be exposed to contamination risks leaking into the groundwater and the air. All the while, they will also suffer the economic loss of a major employer and tax contributor that will never be replaced.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH WATERVLIET? I go this note from a Record reader this week…

Karl, an observation:

New Buffalo just hired a new city manager who has been employed with the city of Parchment, Michigan for nine years as city manager. His salary was $78,000 and recently received a bonus of $5,000 for meeting certain commission rating criteria.

Parchment is a city of 1,800, has a $2.6M budget, 19 employees which includes five public works employees.

Since he had been at Parchment, he also oversaw the redevelopment of an abandoned 85-acre former paper mill site. With the demise of Parchment’s mill, I would think they were having the same issues we face. Was it the city manager that helped them move forward? Isn’t their budget comparable to ours?

If Parchment could secure a manager who already had a 13-year background in various facets of city manager, why is it so hard for us to find someone? One thing should be certain he did not start at $78K. We were considering a range of somewhere around $53-62K if memory serves me correctly.

Why can’t we find someone? Is it we’re not looking?

In my opinion, Watervliet will never have a successful city manager as long as the city commission is unwilling to delegate authority to a manager and insists on keeping their commissioner committee structure.

Manager after manager has been incapacitated and contradicted by the commission second-guessing the manager and overruling management decisions in the commission committees and by the commission as a whole.

Ultimately, the commission creates an untenable environment for a manager to operate through micromanaging and meddling that force a manager to resign.

When that fails, the commission fires the manager or refuses to renew the manager’s contract.

The other reason Watervliet can’t find or keep a manager is that the citizens allow a dysfunctional commission to remain in office that wastes thousands of dollars in taxes through backstabbing of employees, illegal hiring and firing, and actions that are unethical in the least and illegal at the worst.

I do believe the City of Watervliet could benefit from having a professional city manager. Sadly any benefit will not be realized until the commission adopts management and ethics policies that keep them from meddling in the day to day management of the city.

I don’t think any benefit is derived from the constant turmoil at city hall created by power struggles between the mayor and city commissioners and between commission committees and the commission as a whole.

Raising Christmas visions

We probably all have Christmas memories. They often involve “brighter, happier” times, times when life may have seemed simpler, times when certain people were still alive. Those feelings of loss and loneliness are not uncommon. The older we get the more we have to look back on. But the sadness of those very real losses does not have to cripple us a Christmas. The memories of past joys and companionship can spur us on to renewed Christmas opportunities. We need to raise our vision from a downward gaze to at least a level look at the world around us.

Many people in the world do not enjoy anything like our Christmas – ever. Consider the children of World Vision or Compassion International. A recent appeal from one of those organizations featured an emphasis on sponsoring a child who has your birthday! Wow, what a great idea! But take it a step further. Raise your vision and seize the opportunity. Why not sponsor a child with the same birthday as the loved one you are especially missing this Christmas? Would not that bring back some of the joy of the season?

Perhaps your church or other social gathering group or your family would like to expand that Christmas opportunity to include others as well. Your raised vision may help others better enjoy Christmas too. It is, after all, in the spirit of Christmas to give, right? Instead of just remembering the past you will be creating a legacy for the future, a legacy of love shared rather than only love lost.

The real message of Christmas is God’s love shared (John 3:16). How can we not do the same for others? Jesus gave Himself. What of ourselves can we give to others? Christmas joy is renewed when we raise our vision upward and outward.

Why not do it now by calling World Vision: 888-511-6548 or Compassion International: 800-336-7676?

Merry Christmas!

A tribute to my wonderful brother, Alton Ray Campbell

 We came to Watervliet, Michigan in 1945, Ray was in the tenth grade and well liked by both students and faculty. He especially liked to joke with the teachers.

He was a fullback in football and a catcher in baseball; he loved both sports a lot. I remember at a baseball game the batter hit a foul ball and Ray threw off his mask and caught the ball, the other team players asked who the older man catching was, you guessed it, he was a little bald, and he laughed about that.

Then when he was a senior he was playing linebacker, the other team player got through the defensive line, and Ray hit him hard. Ray suffered a concussion. He stayed playing, his teammates had to tell him where to run when playing fullback. He did not know his family at all. Dr. Reed came to the house and treated him. Ray could not play football anymore so he quit school and joined the U.S. Army along with two other men from Watervliet. After training, he was sent to Korea in 1950.

I was at school in study hall when my sister, Grace and Mrs. Ringle (faculty) were outside the door; my sister was crying, I knew instantly what was wrong. Our family was devastated.

His body was shipped home, the funeral was held at the school with a very large crowd in attendance. He was awarded the Purple Heart and bronze star with V for valor for his actions in battle.

He was my hero, tutor, idol and loving brother.

Submitted by Ed Campbell

Share a photo of your “Hometown Hero” with your friends, neighbors, and relatives who read the Tri-City Record. Make sure you write your hero’s name on the back of the picture and include any other information about it you would like to see in the paper, including local connection, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, and so on. Send the “original” photo to the Tri-City Record, P.O. Box 7, Watervliet, MI 49098. Or email to news@tricityrecord.com.  Pick up the original photo after it appears in the paper or include a stamped, self-addressed envelope and we will mail it back to you.

Where are your “Hometown Heros”?

Job growth is much higher when a Democrat is in the White House

Dear Editor,

In November, the U.S. economy added 178,000 private sector jobs, the 74th consecutive month of private sector job growth. During this period, more than 14 million private sector jobs have been created.

President Obama came into office during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Jobs were being lost at a rate of 800,000 a month. The policies that he and the Democratic-controlled congress put in place saved the economy from total collapse. After a little over a year, private sector job creation began to exceed job losses. That pattern has continued to this day.

The Great Recession began during the last Republican presidency. The economy was saved by a Democratic president and congress. Historically, job growth has been twice as high when there is a Democrat in the White House.

In spite of these facts, many Americans continue to believe that more jobs will be created with a Republican president. Sadly, this false belief convinced millions of people to vote in the recent election for an unqualified narcissist for the presidency of our country.

Trump sold himself as the “champion of the working class.” In spite of the overwhelming evidence against this claim, many working class individuals believed it. Since winning the Electoral College vote (while losing the popular vote by a margin of 2 and 1/2 million), Trump’s cabinet appointments have made it very clear that the only class he is interested in championing is the wealthy class, his class.

The Democratic Party is the only major party that is genuinely committed to improving the lives of middle and low income individuals and families. In the next two years, Democrats in congress will be the ones fighting for justice for the working class. Hopefully, by the time 2018 and 2020 come around many of the people who voted for Donald Trump and Republican senators and representatives will recognize that they have been conned. The only hope for working people is to vote for Democratic candidates.

In the meantime, all of us can do everything we can to resist the anti-working class policies of Trump and his Republican accomplices.

Larry Feldman

Lakeside

Why fake news is dangerous

Dear Editor,

Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely.” He was talking about why education matters in a representative democracy, but it’s a safe bet that had he known about fake internet news, he’d have said the same thing—except maybe with more pointed words.

Our representative democracy depends on ordinary people making sound judgments about politicians and policy. This is hard to do at the best of times. To fold into that mix deliberately false news makes the citizen’s task much more difficult — maybe even impossible. Yet astoundingly, that’s where we find ourselves now. These days, purveyors of fake news get paid to mislead the public. Outside of criminal activities like bribery, it’s hard for me to imagine a greater disservice to our country.

Responsible media outlets are increasingly aware of the problem and are seeking ways to counteract it — as well as to call out politicians who blatantly traffic in misrepresentation. In coming years, real journalists’ ability to identify bogus stories, rebut ignorant claims that go viral, and stymie efforts at misinformation will be a vital part of their responsibilities.

Similarly, the platforms that have given an outlet to fake news — Facebook and other social media — are recognizing their obligation to fight it without compromising users’ access to the real stuff.

Which, of course, is what makes what to do about false news so devilishly difficult. When misinformation has spread in the past, we’ve always been able to depend on the truth catching up and eventually prevailing. Now, however, the circuits are being overloaded — not just by the proliferation of platforms and sources of information, but by people who are using the tools of democracy to undermine it. We must strive for an environment in which truth wins the day in the war over information.

I can’t pretend to know how we will ultimately help Americans sort through what’s truth and untruth, what’s serious argument and what’s propaganda, but I do know that this is one of the key battles of our time. Fake news is a threat to our system, a land mine that can cripple representative democracy by making a mockery of its most basic tenet: that the people will make the right decisions.

This is a challenge we need to address head on and without delay — the future of our representative democracy is at stake.

Lee H. Hamilton

Senior Advisor, Indiana University Center on Representative Government