Free Press readers share opinions on criminal justice, President Trump, James Comey and more.
In Michigan, driving without a valid license, failing to display a valid license, driving with a suspended license, and driving without insurance are all criminal misdemeanors. The fine can be up to $500 and/or 93 days in jail per offense. Even unpaid parking tickets can result in a hold being placed on your license.
If someone was driving without a license and was among the state’s poor and “working poor” population, that individual is at risk for not only being entangled in a web of debt, but also being deemed a criminal. In Michigan, traffic offenses cannot be expunged.
We obviously need legislative reform. However, we should also invest in diversion and second-chance programs as sustainable and cost-effective solutions.
The Southwest Detroit Community Justice Center operates the city’s only Community Court program in partnership with the 36 th District Court. We work with people who receive misdemeanor tickets and provide community service opportunities to help people resolve matters with the court in an achievable and dignified manner. We also provide resources to clients such as referrals for jobs, housing, medical care and civil legal assistance. Ninety-two percent of our clients successfully complete the program.
Some people believe the answer is as simple as not driving if you don’ t have a license, but we should consider whether the penalty is proportional to the offense. Are there other ways people can be held accountable that are not linked to how much money they have in the bank?
Tonya M. Phillips
Executive director,
Southwest Detroit
Community Justice Center
Women have been where Comey was
When James Comey said he sat “stunned” by President Donald Trump’s statement to let the investigation into Michael Flynn go away, he is at the beginning of the learning curve many woman have been through.
“Excuse me, boss, but did you just suggest that my keeping my job here is dependent on (fill in a sexual euphemism) ?”
The pundits are so self-righteous with what they would have done if they were in Comey’s position. Women have been facing this type of behavior for years. The fact that Comey told his boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, not to leave him alone with Trump is one sign that Trump is a predator. We girls stick together and have learned to always have a witness with us and refuse a one-on-one “meeting.” As in the classic sexual assault case it comes down to he said/he said. I stand with Comey: “Lordy, I hope there are tapes!”
Sally Hart
Waterford
Which one to believe? Let the tapes tell us
Comey v. Trump! Who are we to believe? This can be easily resolved in one or more ways. President Donald Trump can testify under oath as James Comey did or investigators can review the White House audio tapes that President Trump referred to in a tweet following his meeting with Director Comey. Let the people listen to the tapes!
Ken Blalack
La Mesa, Calif.
Where is Republican anger over this school?
Why isn’ t there some Republican outrage about a charter school closing its doors early, depriving students of two weeks of much-needed education? If it was a public school, Republicans would be up in arms, bashing public education, threatening sanctions of some sort.
Patrick Peirce
Clinton Township
Keep perspective about our drinking water
While we are rightly concerned about the presence of fluorinated compounds and other potentially toxic materials in our water supplies, and need to keep learning more about their effects, what’s also needed is perspective.
First, we cannot talk about the toxicity of a chemical without identifying the amount present. The vast majority of “toxic” chemicals identified in American water supplies are well below known toxicity levels — that is, they are present at parts per billion, parts per trillion, or even lowers levels.
A generation ago, we could not even detect chemicals at these levels. And though these chemicals are in no sense medicines, keep in mind that we ingest many chemicals that are medicinal at the prescribed amount and toxic at higher doses.
Meanwhile, the risks associated with driving to work, riding our bikes or getting a tattoo are vastly higher than drinking American tap water.
Thomas M. Doran
Engineering Society
of Detroit Fellow
Plymouth
Sinkhole a hard lesson for Macomb Co. voters
Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller is misrepresenting the Fraser sinkhole as a canary in a coal mine in Washington.
Not that our aging infrastructure doesn’ t need attention, but this case is a glaring exception. It actually is one of the newest interceptor sewers in the region. None of the collapses of that sewer were due to age, only bad management decisions. They were the consequence of cutbacks in staffing to achieve unrealistic rate goals promised by politicians with superficial technical knowledge of what it takes to make a system work.
It’s a shame that the burden is falling on the residents, but they took the Faustian bargain in electing her predecessor. A hard lesson is necessary for voters to be more responsible about the people they choose to run their water systems.
Dennis L. Green
Retired DWSD Head Water Systems Engineer
Farmington Hills
Please, DTE: Take your own MISS DIG advice
We keep hearing how contractors doing work have ruptured a natural gas line. We also have to listen to the commercials on how we should call MISS DIG if we’ re planning any outside digging projects — it’s the law.
With all of these occurrences, maybe DTE would be wise to heed its own advice and have MISS DIG check out construction sites before digging and rupturing anymore gas lines. They should practice what they preach.
Ken Sellers
Flat Rock
More education needed on opioid addiction
We face an opioid epidemic with opioid-related deaths having increased within the last decade and getting worse.
This epidemic doesn’ t discriminate. It affects a variety of individuals. There should be education related to the potential for addiction. Patients should be offered alternatives including non-narcotic medications, physical therapy and complementary therapies.
