Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

Alternate title for this might be: Controversy - A Tale Of Two Baits. In my opinion the only thing Alan Teelander is guilty of regarding the name of the Lowell Showboat is that he took some bait from a group calling itself Progress Michigan. They sent out an email about the name of the boat to a few people in Lowell - Alan made the mistake of answering the email. I know how difficult it can be to NOT answer bait - be it on social media or an email. Many times I have gone ahead and jumped into a fray that was pointless. One of the best things I ever read in Mindful magazine was the advice to pause and breathe before hitting the "send" button. I cannot tell you how many times I have typed in a response on social media and then either not posted it or else have gone back to wipe it out. That is why bait works - it is tempting! The other Bait in this tale is that tossed out by MLive.com. MLive is brought to you by what used to be a bunch of newspapers. Disclaimer - I us...

I recently had an opportunity to address the Lowell City Council and their consideration of allowing a medical marijuana dispensary to operate in our town. Here are my remarks: My name is Cliff Yankovich. Business owner since 2002 - Chimera Design - soon to be resident, moving to the corner of Monroe & King while we refurbish our 2nd floor. I am here to support allowing a dispensary in Lowell. I am speaking as someone who has benefited from Medical Marijuana. 2013: Diagnosed and treated for stage 4 throat cancer. 7 weeks of daily radiation with IV cisplatin chemo administered at the beginning, middle and end of the radiation. Lost 40 pounds, landed in the ER twice with complications, spent 3 days in the hospital, and had a feeding tube installed when I could no longer eat or drink. I could not eat because I had no appetite and because of the pain. In addition, the treatment killed my sense of taste. My post treatment anxiety was through the roof - hard time sleepi...