LSJ Blogs: John Schneider

Tool man found

A round of applause, please, for Susan Smith, who found the owner of a bag of tools dropped on a Lansing street — and perhaps saved the guy’s job.

Put down the phone and drive

Allow me to suggest a New Year’s resolution for the State Legislature: Make it illegal in Michigan to drive while using a cell phone. In any way.

The abominable snow job

It was all over the Internet last week, relayed by a local township official, who got it from her aunt, in Oscoda —  a story, and accompanying photo, about a huge cougar hit on M-65, just north of Long Rapids.

Illogical exemptions?

 Ray Latham of Eaton Rapids couldn’t help but notice that the new bathroom-access law  — the one that forces retailers to make their rest rooms available to people with certain medical conditions — includes some glaring omissions.

Cruel and unusual

In the teeth of Sunday’s vicious wind, a half-dozen or  so wretched souls stood out on Grand River Avenue, in East Lansing, holding signs advertising Steve & Barry’s going-out-of-business sale.

What’s in YOUR Christmas bonus?

I’m not saying it’s good or bad; I was just trying to discover the truth:
Do GM retirees get Christmas bonuses?

That’s what readers were telling me — that retirees are getting $700 bonuses this month.
Finally, I got a return phone call from the guy who could straighten it all out — Mike Green, president of UAW Local 652.
Green lectured me, first of all, on the fact that I should be writing about something else entirely.
I told him that I really wasn’t seeking his advice on topics — just an answer to a simple question: Do GM retirees get Christmas bonuses?
His answer: “I don’t know.”
I then asked him who WOULD know.
“I don’t know,” he said.
In fact, annual retiree bonuses of up to $700 are part of the current contract.

Tip thieves on the loose

I won’t blame hard times  for what happened to Chis Ostler.
A low-life is a low-life, in good times and bad.

Bad news at the doorstep

I realize the dissemination of news isn’t what it used to be.
But as a journalist and Detroiter, I weep at the prospect of no home delivery of the Detroit newspapers four days a week.

One flaw in the plan

A local businessman had what seemed like a brilliant advertising idea —  turn every bill of U.S. currency that came his way into a business card.

Somebody stop me

I just added it up. Over the two-day weekend, in the course of two holiday gatherings, I consumed eight different desserts.