Remembering a Christmas 'Past'

   Three spirits visited Scrooge on what would be, for him, a life-changing Christmas Eve. They were the ghosts of the Past, Present, and Future.

   As we find ourselves in the midst of another Christmas, with all of the anticipation and excitement it brings—or should bring—I doubt many of us will spend much time wondering what future holidays might hold in store for us. Nor will many of us expend much effort taking measure of whether currents actions and attitudes might adversely impact our coming tomorrows. Such contemplation, if undertaken at all, seems better suited for another day.

   

Winter Adventures

    I debated about going outside for my early morning walk. The cold weather had finally arrived, and the memory of the sharp, piercing wind that had greeted me the day before was still fresh in my mind.

  “What hurt would it do to skip a day of exercise,” I told myself. Or perhaps, I thought, I could wait to take my stroll this afternoon, after work.”

   Familiar with my urge to procrastinate or equivocate, I fought the temptation, got dressed, and headed outside. As it turned out, the weather—at least for this outing—was not nearly as frightful as I’d feared.

The Paths That Loom Before Us

On the Saturday morning after the recent election, as I delivered the newspaper to the residents of northwest Conway Township, I listened to a program on National Public Radio—On the Media. The show’s overarching theme was the outcome of the presidential vote, with much of the conversation dealing with the incorrect, off-the-mark prediction by many pundits that Hillary Clinton would win the election. It was among the many post-mortems being offered by one and all in the days.

   The polling, while tightening in the final days, had given her around a three percent lead. However, that was nationally. Of more importance were the battleground states, including Michigan, where the race was close but where she still seemed (according to the experts) to hold the advantage.

Some History of Hastings & Fowlerville United Methodist Churches

    On the Sunday morning before the recent election, we drove along Vermontville Highway on our way to a worship service in Hastings. The maples still held a fair number of leaves, mainly yellow ones. These softer hues, mixed in with the shades of green, brown, and occasional red, provided us with a still decent color tour.

   It would not last much longer, I realized as I enjoyed the visual feast. A hard frost or a wet and windy day and the remaining leaves (except those on the oak trees) will fall earthward in a steady drizzle, turning a picturesque countryside into a more somber, dreary landscape.

The Way Forward...for Our State's Auto Industry & Michigan

    During my younger years one of the familiar sights on the I-96 expressway, driving to or from metro Detroit, was the Ford Wixom plant. Opened on April 15, 1957, it would eventually encompass 4.7 million square feet and produce over 6.648 million automobiles—most of them Lincolns and Thunderbirds.

    In January 2006, Ford Motor Company—suffering from sagging sales, coupled with having too much manufacturing capacity and too many employees, and foreseeing problems in the future if it didn’t realign itself to become leaner and more efficient--announced its intention to close 14 North American plants by the year 2012. Of that total, seven of them were assembly plants and the rest were power train and stamping facilities. One of the sites on the list was Wixom. Ford’s overall work force, as a result of this downsizing, would be trimmed by 25,000 to 30,000.

     They called their plan ‘The Way Forward.’

Creative Destruction

   It’s the kind of news that’s no longer news.

   Emergent BioSolutions, which manufactures the Anthrax vaccine at a plant in Lansing, announced plans to eliminate 91 jobs, reducing the size of its labor force at this facility by 24 percent.

     The reason? The company has installed a newer manufacturing process that incorporates more automation, thus requiring fewer workers. Previously, the plant produced nine million doses a year. Now, with the new operational system, housed a newer facility, it can turn out 20 million doses.

   More production with less staff.

You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

    In 1968, the Phillip Morris Company introduced Virginia Slims, a cigarette aimed at young, professional women. The idea was that female smokers would embrace the idea of having their own brand. A Virginia Slim cigarette--being thinner and slightly longer--was supposedly more eloquent looking when held in a lady’s hand. It also produced less smoke. These attributes, the company felt, that would make it more appealing to the fairer sex.

   Other than height and width, there was little to distinguish this brand from the other cigarettes. But that’s true of a lot of products. To encourage consumers to purchase your product rather than a competitor’s offering requires marketing and advertising. To that end, the promoters of Virginia Slims used the slogan: “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

Legislation would allow corporations the opportunity to pursue philanthropic goals as part of their business

 Representatives Vaupel & Greig hold panel discussion on proposed Benefits Corporations

  Doing too much of a good thing, such as buying materials exclusively from local vendors or earmarking part of the profits for a social cause, can get a corporation in trouble with its shareholders.

  With current law, an incorporated company is supposed to maximize its profits.  While that doesn’t preclude a company from doing such things as sponsoring community events or awarding scholarships to students, if a shareholder feels such activities are hurting the bottom line too much, they can go to court. 

The News of August 29, 1951

  I was looking at old copies of The Fowlerville Review, searching for information on a planned column, when an article on the front page of the August 29, 1951 edition caught my eye. There near the bottom of the page was an obituary of Elizabeth Duncan Horton, my great great grandmother.

    I learned from reading this piece that she was born on October 2, 1862 in Ontario, Canada, and at a very early age came with her parents, John and Mary (Brown) Duncan to Michigan. The obituary adds that “she has spent her entire life in this vicinity.”

Two Events Highlight September: Fowlerville Dawn Patrol & Leroy Township Fireman's Field Days

A couple of special events occur each September in this neck of the woods. This past Sunday nearly two thousand people came out to Maple Grove Airfield, located north of town, to attend Dawn Patrol, while this coming weekend several hundred people will enjoy the various activities scheduled over a three-day period at the Leroy Fireman’s Field Days & Ox Roast in Webberville.

    According to the organizers, this marks the 66^th straight year that Dawn Patrol has been held. The fly-in initially took place in mid-August at Newton Field, an airstrip on Sargent Road south of Fowlerville, with the Sunday morning breakfast served by the Fowlerville Commercial Club.

At the Straits of Mackinac--The Island, the Bridge & Soapy Williams

   This past Labor Day weekend we celebrated Pure Michigan at the Straits of Mackinac. In our itinerary included a visit to Mackinac Island on Sunday and then a walk across the Mackinac Bridge on Monday. If you don’t like crowds, this was not the place to be.

  

 It had been five years since our last visit. We noticed a few changes, mainly in the presence of new buildings and businesses at Mackinaw City (where we stayed), but otherwise the sights and our activities had a familiar ring. We’ve come here several times over the past quarter of a century, and so have become acquainted with the various amenities and assorted activities that are offered.

The Day 9-11 Occurred

   This Sunday will be the 15^th anniversary of the 9-11 attack.The term 9-ll is, of course, shorthand for Sept. 11, 2001 when an organized band of terrorists simultaneously hijacked four airliners and proceeded to crash two of them into each of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and another one into the Pentagon in Northern Virginia. The target of the fourth air plane was believed to be either the White House or the Capitol, but several passengers—learning of what was happening from family and friends via their cell phones—took matters into their own hands, resulting in the plane crashing into a Pennsylvania field, well short of its planned destination.

Tuesday’s Terrorist Attack

   This column was originally written on Sept. 12, 2001—the day after the 9-11 Attacks.

   You’re watching TV when suddenly the tall building, struck earlier in its upper floors by a plane, billowing with fire and smoke, collapses, comes tumbling down.  And you realize that in those moments hundreds of people who had been working in or were visiting that World Trade Center tower, perished.  As did many of the fireman and police officers who were attempting to evacuate the building. 

   You watch other fireman, equipped in their Darth Vader like helmets, heading towards that building the smoke and debris, and then awhile later you realize some of them may have died at that very instant in their rescue effort.

Remembering a Long Ago Visit to the State Capitol

   In early December of 1994 my wife and I drove to the State Capitol to meet Fred Dillingham who was then serving as the area’s State Senator. I had called him earlier and pitched my idea of doing a story detailing one of his last days as a Michigan legislator. This article would include a retrospect of his career. He had decided not to run again and a new senator, Mike Rogers, would be taking his place in January.

     A Fowlerville native, he had started out on the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, winning a four-year term in the 1974 election. He was subsequently elected as a state representative in 1978, serving in that position for eight years. Then in 1986 he ran for the State Senate seat and won.

A Dream Delayed

    Among my many personal keepsakes, accumulated from years gone by, is a letter from The State Journal. The top of the document features a drawing of the building in Downtown Lansing where this daily newspaper is headquartered and the salutation reads: Dear Mr. Stephen Horton. It’s dated September 14 was signed by the then managing editor, Ben Burns. Mr. Burns was in the early stages of a distinguished journalistic career that would include a long tenure at The Detroit News.

   This letter was part of a packet that he had mailed to me. In it were the articles I had sent him, offering an example of my writing. I had heard through a pressman who worked at the daily paper, a gentleman who had recently met my mother, that a reporter position was open.

William Milliken: A Light That Still Shines

     Among the news stories of this past week was one about former Gov. William Milliken, a moderate Republican from Traverse City, endorsing Hillary Clinton for president rather than the GOP nominee Donald Trump. In a written statement, Milliken said:

  

    “This nation has long prided itself on its abiding commitments to tolerance, civility and equality. We face a critically important choice in this year's presidential election that will define whether we maintain our commitment to those ideals or embark on a path that has doomed other governments and nations throughout history. I am saddened and dismayed that the Republican Party this year has nominated a candidate who has repeatedly demonstrated that he does not embrace those ideals.

Our Public Discourse Has Become More Sophistry & Less Socratic

   Back in the pre-internet age, anyone who wished to learn more about a given topic generally utilized reference books. These fact-filled texts came in various forms—almanacs being a favorite with readers—but by far the most popular option when I was a young lad was the encyclopedia—or, more accurately, a set of volumes with topics ranging from A-to-Z.

    My grandmother (who taught fourth grade) purchased a set of the World Book Encyclopedia sometime in the early 1960s with the invitation that we, her grandchildren, could borrow a volume as often as any of us needed. I took her up on that offer quite frequently.

Lively Interest in Local Races a Good Sign

  If you had the time and ambition to wade through last week’s edition of our newspaper, you’d have come across the statements by the various candidates running for contested seats on the area and local boards and offices. There were a total of 17, including the county prosecutor, the open seat for District 4 of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, the supervisor’s post in Conway Township, and the trustee positions for the townships of Conway, Handy, and Iosco.

A Separate Peace

     As much as we desire an orderly and predictable life in which we can go about our daily business and face our future, events can and do occur that set off a chain reaction that—at the very least--cause uncertainty and trepidation, but can also lead to cataclysmic consequences for us and those around us. The cause of the calamity, the reason for the change in trajectory of unfolding history, can be an individual act; one seemingly unrelated at the time to our situation and circumstance.

  

    A case in point. 

    On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to that country’s throne, along with his wife Sophie. The royal couple was paying a state visit to Sarajevo in Bosnia.

What's It All About?

“What’s it all about, Alfie?”

  

  That was the opening lyric of a popular song from the mid-1960s, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and sung by Dionne Warwick.

   Only recently, many years later, did I realize that it also qualified as a metaphysical question.

   Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and fundamental properties of being. What is existence? and What is it comprised of? would be two basic questions to start out with in a metaphysical inquiry.