Two months of covering Okemos
By: Andrew Atwal
Nov. 4, 2010
After two months of covering the Okemos community and also, in some regards, Meridian Township, I have learned a lot of things about the area that I had no idea would be the case going into this semester at Michigan State.
The people of Okemos, especially the ones that I talked to at one of the school board meetings are passionate. Passionate about their beliefs and what should or should not take place. The citizens that spoke up at the meeting had strong opinions on what they thought should be cut, or reduced, from next years school budget (some spoke about the Montessori program), and also had very strong opinions on the uproar that occurred at an earlier meeting stemming from a school board member being forced to resign.
As someone from the east coast, when I first came to visit Michigan State in high school I quickly got a taste of the mid western mentality. The people of the community in Meridian Township and Okemos embody this spirit as well; friendly, warm, and hospitable.
On Tuesday, the community had a decision to make about the future of Michigan. By rejecting the Headlee Amendment, citizens chose to not have their taxes increased, but which also might lead to more budget cuts. Citizens of Ingham County voted for a new governor of Michigan as well. The county voted for Democrat Virg Bernero, who previously was mayor of Lansing, by just about 400 votes. However, the citizens from the rest of Michigan chose Republican candidate Rick Snyder by a wide margin of about 18 percent. What this means for the future of towns like Okemos and Meridian Township is not yet known.
Although not the case in Ingham County, all across Michigan residents chose the republican candidates over democrats, which might mean a fundamental shift in the United States government for years to come.
However, not to divulge on everyone’s favorite subject of politics, I have thoroughly enjoyed covering Okemos over the past 2 months, and look forward to continuing to cover Okemos and Meridian Township for the next month.
The people of Okemos and Meridian Township have been nice enough to speak to me on many different issues and topics and have not been afraid to state their opinions on certain issues that they feel most strongly about.
OkemosJ 