Dear Editor:

I moved into town in December and have found it a harsher environment for pets than country living. I have lost three cats in the last 10 days, and my neighbor has lost two.

Another neighbor is baiting live traps with tuna fish as his garden matures and he’s trying to keep coons and possums out of it. He tells us he releases any cats he catches, which is the decent thing to do, but where are my cats going?

Another neighbor told me lots of people trap cats in Ithaca and maybe they don’t release theirs due to the feral cat problem.

I have a simple proposal for the City Council to consider. If a trapper catches a cat which is clearly a family pet (i.e., with a collar and tag with contact info), he or she should be required to turn it into Animal Control so that it can be reunited with its family. Dogs have protection in this town; cats have none.

But what makes a cat a less valuable family pet? It is not. My children and I are heartbroken.

To the public: please contact members of the City Council, your vets, your neighbors and let them know we need to change the law – your cat is not safe if it leaves your yard – anyone can do anything to it!

Thank you,

Marilee J. Mouser
Ithaca

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Dear Editor:

A few weeks ago our county commissioners imposed a tax without a vote of the public under an arcane 1913 law ( PA 88). The commission did the same thing last year because we were told they did not have enough time to get the issue on ballot.

Those who supported the commission imposing this tax have attempted and continue to frame the argument in the following manner: that you either support Greater Gratiot Development and 4H or you don’t. Apparently the issue of funding these organizations is so fundamentally important that you and I as voters are not smart enough or farsighted enough to support the good things these organizations do.

During the public hearing regarding the imposition of PA 88 the commissioners heard from many of us in the crowd who opposed the use of PA 88. Even though we opposed the commission imposing a tax, we were very clear in our support for Greater Gratiot Development and 4H. We were told by the chairman of the commissioners that there was “widespread support for PA 88.” I respectfully disagree with the chairman’s statement. What happened, in my opinion, is they successfully flew under the radar of the hardworking taxpayers of Gratiot County. I have personally spoken to numerous people over the past year, and they were unaware that their property tax bills contained this new tax.

Government is supposed to protect the property rights of individuals, not abuse their powers to extract money from our pockets when we are not looking, and that is the real issue at hand. Two of the commissioners thankfully had the courage to vote no on the measure.

The actions we have witnessed over the past weeks by bureaucrats and elected officials prove what most of us already know. Government, even at our local level, will confiscate our hard earned money at their convenience when we are not looking, if given the opportunity.

Respectfully,

Scott Showers
Ithaca