Basketball Teams, Dredging, Mortgage Crisis Are Among Topics as Rep. Stupak Visits
Congressman Speaks to Residents at Cedarville
By Amy Polk and Dave Latva

The Cedarville Trojans basketball teams were honored by Congressman Bart Stupak Wednesday, March 26, during a ceremony in the John Duncan Gymnasium at Cedarville. Pictured are (front, from left) Billie McLeod, Jessie Duncan, Jillian Collins, Rachelle Hansen, Ashley Sweeney, Mr. Stupak, Katie Bowlby, Caitlin Wright, Kacie Simpson, Brittany Lee, Stephanie Leach, Brittany Kelley; (middle row) Zach McFarlane, C.J. Paquin, Taylor Smith, Sheldon Tassier, Matt Nelson, Adam Dingman, Jason Duncan, Jordan Duncan, Andrew Jaroche, Joey Duncan; (back) Coach David Duncan, Cody Thompson, Scott McGreevy, James Mitchell, Jason Nam, Luke Murray, Alex McMaken, and Kevin Thompson.

United States Congressman Bart Stupak covered a lot of ground for a one-hour session, meeting with area residents in Cedarville Wednesday, March 26. Residents discussed false pharmaceutical advertising, cormorant control funding, appropriations, the War in Iraq, a new lock in Sault Ste. Marie, food safety, the national mortgage crisis, oil prices, dredging through the Les Cheneaux Islands, and diverting wastewater discharge from Cedarville Bay. Mr. Stupak had last hosted a local town hall meeting in St. Ignace a year ago.

Apologizing for the short notice of the Wednesday meeting, Mr. Stupak said his scheduled town hall meeting was originally set for Friday, March 28, but he moved it up in the week to catch the Cedarville High School boys and girls basketball teams before school closed for spring break. He presented a proclamation to commend each teams' Class D state semi-finalist status.

In the first season of girls and boys basketball playing concurrently in the Michigan High School Athletic Association, Cedarville was the first school to qualify both teams to the final four, in any class.

"We are here to honor the 21 young women and men, and five coaches, who showed incredible determination, character, work ethics, and professionalism in their run to the Class D final four," said Congressman Stupak. "Every girl and boy and coaches can hold their heads high as they represented the community of Cedarville and the entire Upper Peninsula with pride."

The girls accomplished the school's first quarterfinal win and a 24-2 overall record. The boys recorded the third-longest winning streak in the Upper Peninsula, with 51 wins during the last three years, setting a 25-1 mark this season.

Both teams won the Eastern Upper Peninsula Conference, district, regional, Upper Peninsula quarterfinals championships, and U.P. Teams of the Year.

Boys basketball Coach David Duncan was named Class D Coach of the Year, and girls Coach Sonja Duncan received the Class D Upper Peninsula Coach of the Year.

Mr. Stupak took questions from the players.

"Never lose track of what really matters," he said to the players. "It does not matter how many points you earn, medals you win, or trophies you take home. What really matters is what kind of competitor you are, what kind of daughter or son you are, what kind of student you are, and what kind of adult you become."

During the school day, Mr. Stupak also discussed political issues with Cedarville high school and middle school students during an assembly. He spoke to Les Cheneaux Elementary students in a separate assembly.

He was invited to visit the school by a Cedarville High School student. Mr. Stupak met with students in Pickford earlier that day, at the invitation of a Pickford Public Schools student.

A dozen people attended the Wednesday town hall event in Cedarville, including Clark Township Supervisor Linda Hudson and State Representative Gary McDowell.

Opening the meeting with a discussion about government appropriations, also known as "earmarks," Mr. Stupak said he met with Pickford residents who inquired about a possible appropriation for a new town hall.

Clark Township submitted an application for dredging and Cedarville Bay improvement appropriations. Mr. Stupak said he passed along an appropriations request to Congress for the dredging project.

If approved, Congress would earmark millions to dredge the navigational channel through the Les Cheneaux Islands. The channel was previously maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, but some public opposition stopped the dredging in the 1970s, and the channel has not been maintained since.

John Torsky and Bob Dunn of the Cedarville Bay Committee, which helped Clark Township write the application, also met with Mr. Stupak before the meeting to discuss the appropriation request.

Mr. Stupak explained that government appropriations often go to public improvement projects like new town halls, water systems, and sewer systems. Appropriations are a controversial use of public money, and are being debated nationally, Mr. Stupak said. Some contend that earmarks are a way for politicians to secure special favors for their home state.

"There's a whole new system we have in place, and Congress is very particular about what kind of earmarks it will approve. Earmarks are going to be very limited," Mr. Stupak said. "First of all, we have to demonstrate that there will be no financial gain for the person sponsoring the earmark."

Earmarks or appropriations are line items added to budget bills by representatives or senators for a specific program, project, activity, institution, or place in their state.

Ahistory littered with abuse and approval of projects considered wasteful or inappropriate by some have sparked more public scrutiny of earmarks in recent years, he added.

Appropriations can be beneficial, Mr. Stupak said, like increasing the amount of money for veterans' services, which need to be expanded, he said, to serve the many Iraq War veterans who need readjustment counseling.

"Over 20,000 people have been severely wounded in this war, and there are close to 4,000 deaths. Suicides are way up among veterans when they leave service, and divorce rates are out of sight," he said.

Another appropriation is the more than $300 million in funding allocated in 2007 to pay for a new lock at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie.

The lock will be built, Mr. Stupak said, despite presidential efforts to veto the funding bill last year.

On the subject of food safety, Mr. Stupak said stricter standards must be imposed, and he complained that the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) law, passed by Congress in 2002, has not yet been implemented because President George W. Bush refuses to do so.

He opposes a proposal to move a contagious animal disease research facility on Plum Island, New York.

The federal government has proposed moving it off the island to a new, mainland facility in Mississippi, Kansas, North Carolina, or Georgia, claiming the research facility needs to be expanded, but cannot be enlarged at its current site. Mr. Stupak thinks the facility should remain where it is, to contain the possible spread of the highly infectious diseases that are tested in animals there.

"The idea for having it on an island was that if an animal escaped from the facility, it would have nowhere to go," he said.

Some of the meeting participants asked questions about some popular prescription drugs, and Mr. Stupak described current investigations into false advertising charges, quality control in foreign production facilities, and unregulated online drug companies.

He warned against ordering prescription medications online, noting that some prescriptions are not what they claim to be. Eighty percent of medications sold in the United States are made overseas, he said, where laboratories are not inspected as often as American laboratories.

"We inspect labs here every 2.7 years, but in China, at the rate they're going, it's every 40 years," he said.

Mr. Stupak said he and other lawmakers are pushing for more inspections, licensing fees, and other measures to ensure safer prescription medications.

Answering questions about the national mortgage crisis and oil prices, Mr. Stupak blames speculators and investors for artificially inflating both property values and oil prices. He supports requiring appraisers to be licensed, "so they at least know what they're talking about" when they appraise property, he said. Lenders should be encouraged to "forgive" a portion of a home's value, he said, if the property has depreciated.

"If you paid $125,000 for a home that's now worth $75,000, the bank could forgive part of the difference," Mr. Stupak said.

Oil prices would most likely drop, he said, if people asked more questions about how the market came up with those prices. Mr. Stupak introduced legislation called the Prevent Unfair Manipulation of Prices (PUMP) act to regulate energy trading and prevent traders from artificially driving up energy prices.

Funding for cormorant control consumed much of the discussion time, and Cedarville resident Dave Altmaier of Islands Wildlife distributed letters the committee sent to Mr. Stupak, State Representative Gary McDowell, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Natural Resources Commission (NRC) Chair Keith Charters, and Department of Natural Resources officials.

The letter commends the lawmakers' support of Michigan cormorant control projects, and states "It would be a crime to see it end for lack of funding. We are seeing very positive returns in the size and numbers of fish, and we should let the NRC know how fishing affects our community's recreation and tourism."

The State House passed a $150,000 supplemental funding bill for cormorant control two weeks ago.

It is awaiting senate approval, said Representative McDowell, who was at the March 26 meeting.

Mr. Stupak said it would be nice if the state could provide funding to match the federal contribution to cormorant control.

Michigan was planning to spend $150,000 on control last year, but the funding was cut due to budget constraints.

Mr. McDowell commended the cooperative effort among state, federal, and private groups who make Michigan's cormorant control project "something Bart [Stupak] and Debbie [Stabenow] can go back to Congress with and report as a real showcase."

They have demonstrated how volunteer effort can stretch public grants to get the most for the money, he added.

The success of the project has attracted about $1 million in federal funding over five years, Mr. Stupak said.