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Congress MIGHT Do Something to Help Small Media Outlets AND Small Businesses

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 Originally Published in the Lowell Ledger 10.4.23 HR. 4756 - A Bill To Provide Tax Incentives That Support Local Media In July of this year Republican Representative Claudia Tenney (NY 22) introduced a bill to provide tax incentives that will support local newspapers with a great one-two punch. The bill was co-sponsored by Democrat Suzan DelBene (WA 1). HR 4756 goes by the name Community News and Small Business Support Act. Since that time the bill is gaining some traction with support from eight more Representatives, four from each party. The bill is designed to support all kinds of local media including local papers, digital media outlets, radio stations and even TV stations. For the purpose of this article, we will only be considering the importance and impact of small town newspapers. HR 4756 would be a great help to small media outlets and small business at the same time. Before we look into the great possibilities of HR 4756, it is imperative to examine the current situation w

Loretta Visser Completes The Appalachian Trail

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Originally published in the Lowell Ledger 10.4.23  Loretta Visser is a MYTHical Hiker and a True Adventurer With Lowell having the National Headquarters of the North Country Trail ensconced on Main Street, one almost feels guilty writing about the Appalachian Trail (AT). Our focus today is not to compare and contrast these two trails, but to celebrate the fact that Loretta Visser has recently completed hiking the entire length of the AT. Loretta Visser celebrates on a mountain top in Maine. We should start off with some fun facts about the AT. The most current listing of the mileage from the genesis of the trail at Springer Mountain in Georgia to the end of the trail at Mount Katahdin in Maine is 2,1987.4 miles according to Appalachian Trail Conservancy website. The AT winds its way through fourteen states and has a low point of just 124 feet above sea level to an impressive elevation of 6,643 feet at its highest point. Thankfully encounters with bears are very uncommon, but you need t

Christine Beachler - Literacy Champion

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Originally published in the Lowell Ledger September 27th, 2023  Lowell Area Schools Library Media Director Honored by Kent District Library Christine Beachler has been a staff member of Lowell Area Schools for 35 years. She graduated from Central Michigan University with a teaching degree in Business. For her first 13 years Christine taught accounting and computer classes. She became a school librarian in 2001. Since then she earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and then earned a Master of Library Information Systems certification, both from Grand Valley. To be a school librarian, a person must have a teaching certificate plus a master’s degree or its equivalent in library science as well as the specific certification required by the State of Michigan. Christine works in and oversees the libraries in all six schools. Christine Beachler was recognized by the Kent District Library as a Literacy Champion. A nyone who spends any amount of time with Christine will come aw

Banks Want To Be Best Buds - Really?

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Originally Published in The Lowell Ledger August 30, 2023  Friends Don’t Charge Friends Fees, Do They? WARNING: the following column represents my best imitation of a combination of two crotchety old guys: Andy Rooney and Lewis Black. (Young people, ask an older person about the Andy Rooney segments on “60 Minutes” back in the day when we only had three TV networks from which to choose.) Andy and Lewis represent two very different styles, methodology, and personal affects, but they do have one thing in common in that they like to examine things that really honk them off.  Since we are Best Friends, can we skip the fees please? Today, I want us to examine a subject near and dear to everyone’s heart: Bank Fees. Did your blood pressure take a bit of a jump just reading those two words in that order? Cool, then we can proceed. Note: from here on all banks will be lumped together as “they” or “them.” This is my column and I get to choose the brush size I use, okay? Also, “they” are not cred

Love Wines Opens Tasting Room in Lowell at Red Barn Mercantile

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  Red Barn Mercantile Opens Tasting Room for Love Wines Originally Published in the Lowell Ledger August 16, 2023 Hopefully by now anyone reading this article appreciates how important it is to shop at locally owned businesses because studies consistently demonstrate how dollars spent at a local mom and pop results in way more of that money staying right in the community. Want to know a way to double down on that principle? It happens when you support a local family owned business that is selling a product produced by another family owned business. The Red Barn Mercantile at 217 West Main is a mom and pop business owned by Laurie and Marty Chambers. After lots of phone calls, form filling, and hoop jumping, they are very pleased to open their tasting room for Love Wines – hand crafted wines produced by another family operation located in Luddington, MI. The wine tasting room is one more step for Red Barn Mercantile in their effort to provide a nice selection of Michigan Made food, b

The Streets of Lowell – USDA Loans, Revenue Sharing, and Marijuana Taxes

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 Originally published in The Lowell Ledger 7.12.23 The Streets of Lowell – USDA Loans, Revenue Sharing, and Marijuana Taxes It is safe to assume that everyone reading this will agree that the streets in Lowell, and most other communities in Michigan, are a mess. Our recent unscientific, purely speculative, hunch based opinion would award Washington street as the most pot-holed stretch of pavement in the City. (My bet is that some other ones might be coming to your mind.) For the sake of this article, how about we pretend that Washington is the worst. Then why the heck is Monroe getting a total make-over before Washington? The USDA provided funding for the Monroe Project. Here are some other questions we can examine today: Why is Lowell borrowing millions of dollars to fix our roads? Does the USDA fund road repairs? What happened to all the money from marijuana sales in Lowell? What is the difference between a storm sewer and a sanitary sewer? And the one that seems to never go away on