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It has been awhile since I've really lost my infamous temper, for which I amgrateful, becausewhen-ever my anger gets the best of me, I end up making a real fool of myself and embarrassing everyone in the vicinity.

I mean, I can be a real ass, no question about it.

But, I came sooooo close to the edge last week. I'm always easily annoyed and usually downright cranky, but this really really, really irked me. I admit, I said some very unpleasant words and offered some graphic physical instructions before I threw my shoe at the wall and spent my adrenaline-fueled lunch trying to repair the cracked paint and chipped drywall. See, a real ass. Iwasn't kidding.

My only justification or excuse is the unlikely but toxic provocation which, oh just wait for it, came from a group of adult day care clients.

Yeah, I know. That makes my reaction even more untoward. I innocently opened a letter from two adult day care centers in the area, signed by, I presume, resi-dents or clients, who wrote that

winning things or special picnics.” Theywant a “goodnewspaper.” I almost choked on my antacid tablets.

What, if anything have they been reading? Not this paper, that's for sure. I checked three times tomake sure the envelopewas addressed to us, and sure enough, they did get that part right. Look, whoever you are----I'd address you by name but I can't read your signatures very well even with my glasses, there hasn't been a murder or hurricane in this paper for months and I haven't caught one single politician around here doing anything improper in years. Not that there might not be some improprieties, just that I either don't know about it or can't prove it, but that's beside the point. Hey, you guys, we've had the

d'Elegance, the Rotary clubs doing good deeds…we haven't had any bad news since that guy in Westland set his mother's house on fire weeks and weeks ago. So what the Ben-Gay are you folks on about?

You want a “good newspaper?” Well it has been the inside philoso-phy of journalism since papers began that “communities get the newspaper they deserve.” The eco-nomic constraints of this business caused by barely-out-of-adoles-cence managers and publishers running to the internet like a bunch of lemmings following their leader to certain death, have left us high and dry and without the resources to have a reporter in every community digging up improprieties and scandals, along

with the “good news” you say youwant.

Just don't get me going about that. Every time one of my fellow journalists wants to complain about the sorry state of the news business, I remind them, none too gently, that nobody killed off news-papers, it was suicide, pure and simple.

Newspaper owners left imma-ture, unseasoned and short-sighted executives in charge and then everybody followed these “leaders” over the cliff of technology which included giving away their product on the internet. Every publisher and editor had to have their news-paper on the internet because “everybody else does.” How long would McDonald's have lasted if

Recently, school board members both the Northville and Plymouth-Canton districts approved contracts with outside vendors to privatize student bus services.

The move toward privatization of services had been loom-ing large throughout districts in the state since the first round of per-pupil funding cuts was announced by the state and officials realized the huge budget cuts they would have to make to survive.

When the union membership in Northville rejected the latest round of concessions requested by the school district, the board and officials went ahead with the privatization. There will now be no union jobs for those employees as the district has, through the privatization, eliminated those posi-tions. The employees will be given hiring preference by the private contractor, it was reported, but it appears that the cuts the district requested might have been more beneficial to them than the wages, benefits and terms of employment the private contractor is offering.

In Plymouth-Canton, board members took the privatiza-tion issue seriously but realized that this was a cut that could help offset the tremendous deficit the district is facing. Just as in Northville, the current employees are expected to receive preferential treatment by the new contractor when hiring.

The arguments against the privatization of the service,

such as lack of experienced drivers unfamiliar with the com-munity and routes, criminal background checks, and others have all apparently been addressed with the private compa-nies who will now accept the responsibility for student trans-portation.

In both districts, the schools will maintain ownership of the buses and facilities.

While there hasn't been a public statement in Plymouth-Canton, Northville officials have already stated that they are looking at more such outside contracts to provide food servic-es, maintenance and janitorial work in the district, hoping they can savemoneywith those outside vendors, too. We're of twominds about this. First, we applaud the board members for taking the steps necessary, despite the anticipat-ed repercussions. We hate to see this happen, to see school districts without on-staff drivers, or janitors or lunch person-nel. We believe the arguments that having these individuals as employees gives the district more control and can even

provide a better atmosphere for students.

But the other side of the argument, that districts have to save every penny they can, in anyway they can, is the prevail-ing one, here. Without taking these cost-cuttingmeasures, the board members, we believe, would have been dilatory in their responsibility to the taxpayers, the parents and the stu-dents.

Last week, Gov. Rick Snyder said that officials in Washington, D.C. should look to Michigan as an example of balancing a budget and compromising with spending cuts and tax "enhancements."

We agree. We think those inWashington should take a look at the way these school board members conducted them-selves, facing these issues.

These local officials had some very difficult choices to make, and in some cases, faced some strong criticism. They did the job they were elected to do, made the best decisions they could and didn't allow personal ideology, ego or public pressure to interferewith their choices.

They put the welfare and betterment of those they were elected to represent before their ownpersonal prejudices. This wasn't an easy or uncomplicated issue and they deserve high marks for taking it on and doing what they felt provided the best use of the resources available.

Take a look,Washington, here's a good example, indeed.

We find the results of several new surveys and studies about our returning veterans disturbing, at best.

One survey reported last week than nearly 20 percent of all return-ing combat veterans from our armed forces end up homeless within two years. How can that be, we asked. Apparently, these veter-ans are returning from the horrors of war, many having seen atrocities most of us could not even imagine, to the worst economy since the Great Depression. They simply cannot find jobs with the skills they acquired before or during their service and eventually end up homeless, jobless, in need of med-ical treatment and on the streets. This is, to us, no less an atrocity of war.

That's why we applaud the efforts of the Canton Community Foundation and the Holbook Trust, in funding and organizing the sec-ond educational seminar for veter-ans and veteran advocates from throughout the area.

The seminars will provide valu-able information about benefits and help that is already available to many veterans----from agencies and sources most veterans are completely unaware exist. There is help available. There are resources out there to help the nearly 350,000 veterans who live in the metropolitan Detroit area. There is also a great deal of infor-mation available for those who attempt to find that help through legal channels for these former service men and women. That's why one full day of the workshop is devoted to the education of attor-neyswho represent veterans. Most of those returning from

To the editor;

We are tired of hearing about bad news, hurricanes, murders, floods and so forth.

Wewould like to hear goodnews like people winning stuff, special picnics, good politics, thing like that.

We would like a good newspa-per.