To the Editor:

We should applaud Rep. Paul Opsommer’s (R-DeWitt) introduction of HB 4887. The Bill if passed into law will create the Freedom to Garden Act guaranteeing Michigan residents a legal right to grow and harvest fruits and vegetables in residential gardens.

A similar bill was introduced in Utah this year that would ensure that Utahans who want to share their garden bounty with family, friends and other state residents should be free to do so.  The sponsor stated “I think it is a basic right to grow your own food, grow your own garden.”

Why are such bills necessary? Here are two examples:  In July of this year the Bass family of Oak Park decided to grow a vegetable garden in five planter boxes in their front yard. They were ticketed by the code enforcement officers.  Oak Park city code requires home owners to plant grass, ground cover, shrubbery, or “suitable materials” in all unpaved portions of the front yard. A petition “Stop the Prosecution of the Bass Family for Growing Veggies” gathered 5000 signers in just a few days. That and phone calls to City officials prompted Oak Park to drop the charges.

In December of 2010, President Obama signed the federal Food Safety Modernization Act. The Act inundates food growers with new paperwork and subjects them to random inspection and fines if found in noncompliance. As originally written the Food Safety Modernization Act gave the Federal Government power to regulate all growers of food, including home gardens, farmers markets, roadside stands and community gardens.  After much debate the Bill was passed with an exemption from regulating the above groups.

Thank you Representative Opsommer. Our right to be self-sufficient is strengthened by your Bill. You are restoring a small portion of our lost liberty. I urge everyone to call their local State Representative and State Senator and urge them to support Paul Opsommer’s bill. Tell them you would like them to vote “Yes” on HB 4887.

Connie Lapham
Perrinton

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Dear Editor:

Arguments critical of the Gratiot County Board of Commissioners for implementing Public Act 88 of 1913 to fund economic development and promote agriculture are one dimensional; that voters should make decisions on taxation. A broader perspective – one of local control and self-determination – has been missing from this debate.

“Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society,” said Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in a 1904 speech. Civilized society gives us a high standard of living that requires roads, security and economic development. These are things we demand and expect, and some are best delivered by local government. Taxes pay for them. PA 88 gave the Board the ability to preserve key parts of our quality of life that are jeopardized by tightening state and federal purse strings, which constitute a noose around the necks of local government.

Critics of the Board’s decision to implement PA 88 imply that our democratic process has run amok. Referendum does not constitute a democracy. The Board made its decision within the scope of the law in an open, transparent and deliberative manner that considered public opinion and solicited additional public input.

Although PA 88 is an old statute, it is not antiquated. Nor is it a “loophole.” It’s authors limited the impact on taxpayers and restricted how the funds could be spent. We’re fortunate those restrictions – economic development and agriculture – are key and vital to Gratiot County and afforded the Board a tool to keep these services alive. Funding for Greater Gratiot Development, Inc. and MSU Extension has not been questioned. While the subjects of the debate, they have never been a part of it.

PA 88 was the right move at the right time; a stop gap measure that will provide two years of funding for these important local government agencies to provide services that citizens demand, at a time when state and federal government have left communities dangling over a financial cliff. Its structure and how it was implemented provide the checks and balances that have convinced this taxpayer that our interests are being looked after.

I have no doubt the Board will do the responsible thing and seek permanent funding for these services in the next budgeting process. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the democratic thing to do.

Gary Melow
Ithaca