Pubdate: Sat, 28 Jan 2012
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2012 The Detroit News
Contact:  http://www.detroitnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126

QUICK HITS: DUMP PARKING BILL

Even opposition from House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, couldn't 
stop the House from passing legislation that would block any motorist 
with three or more parking tickets from renewing their driver's 
license. Under current law, drivers with six parking tickets can be 
prevented from renewing their licenses. Vehicle owners would have to 
pay what they owe for the three or more parking tickets, plus a $45 
penalty, to get back their driving privileges. Assuming this proposed 
law scared more drivers into settling up and paying the penalty, it 
would create revenue for municipalities. Detroit says it has $30 
million worth of unpaid parking tickets. But the more likely prospect 
is that it would add to the number of motorists who will drive 
without licenses because they can't afford the penalties but need 
their vehicles to get to work each day. This example of proposed 
government overreach also violates the principle of having the 
punishment fit the crime. The Sen! ate, where it goes next, should 
kick it to the curb.

Poor economy hurts kids

The annual Kids Count in Michigan report released this week shed some 
light on the challenges facing the state's children. The report is a 
joint effort of the Michigan League for Human Services and Michigan's 
Children. Child abuse and neglect rose by 34 percent in the past 
decade, an alarming trend the report pegs on prolonged high 
unemployment and insufficient social programs. Nearly half of the 
public school children in Michigan qualify for free and reduced price 
lunches. In Detroit, that number spikes to more than 80 percent. 
Abuse and neglect rose partly because more children battle chronic 
conditions like obesity and feel the stress of financial difficulty 
at home. The report's authors point to the state's new, stricter 
limits on welfare and reduced unemployment assistance as harmful to 
the neediest. The report illustrates the need to improve the economy 
and help create jobs.

Cox pot admission should spark reform

So Mike Cox smoked pot when he was in college? That gives the former 
attorney general, who made the admission during a forum on legalizing 
marijuana at Wayne State University on Friday, something in common 
with most men his age who attended college. The widespread 
recreational use of marijuana at one time or another by people across 
the demographic spectrum should provide an opening for a serious 
discussion of a petition drive to legalize pot.

It would be a fine time for leaving entrenched positions and 
examining the cost/benefit ratio of continuing the futile war on 
marijuana. At the very least it should move the needle on revising 
this state's confusing legislation on medical marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom