Tamack Song, Catholic Golddigger

Isn't that just rich? In this letter to the editor, Tamarack Song advises the citizens of Three Lakes Wisconsin on protecting stolen land. When he says "our" he means whites. He has no intention of recognizing the land as belonging to Ojibwe people by both treaty and tradition. He only wants to use snatches of Ojibwe language and old way culture to give his Playing Indian outdoor school that ring of Native American authenticity only white, new age burnouts would buy.

Throughout the world, the Catholic Church illegally owns tremendous amounts of stolen indigenous land. In this letter to the editor, Dan Konen the Catholic does nothing to remind white, Amerikan squatters of this fact. Dan Konen DOES live in a gated community! Anywhere outside an Indian reservation, barrio, ghetto, battered women's shelter, or prison is a gated community protecting marauding, Anglo thugs from those they have subjugated and dispossessed.

Don't be fooled. Except maybe his own image, there is nothing Tamarack Song loves more than other people's land and money.

Catholic archdiocese could havespent gold to protect creation

Dear Editor:

As a born and raised Catholic, acolyte and former seminarian, I would like to comment on the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago’s sale of its 900-acre parcel surrounding Clearwater Lake in the town of Three Lakes.

Because the archdiocese utilized the property only for a youth camp, the lake has remained largely undeveloped. In this day of intense shoreline development, this 358-acre crystal-clear lake stands out like a rare jewel — a pristine relic of what all of our North Woods waters were once like.

Would it not seem reasonable to preserve Clearwater Lake for our children and our children’s children, so they, too, could experience the serenity and majesty of nature that lured our parents and grandparents northward?

Instead, the archdiocese chose to go the route of a hush-hush sale to a developer. Yes, the proposed low-density condominium development is better than the squeeze-out-as-many-lots-as-possible approach. However, you and I will never see that lake — it is going to be a gated community, with no public access.

“Look at the money it will bring into the area,” I hear over and over. Are we ever going to stand up and say, “Enough! Our children’s birthright is worth far more than just another bag of gold.”

I understand the financial troubles of the Catholic church. My home diocese is going bankrupt, and my parish is merging with three surrounding parishes, in hopes that together they can keep the doors of one church open. Meanwhile, one of our local North Woods parishes is putting the finishing touches on a brand-new $9.6 million church.

Do we really believe that pieces of gold and an extravagant new building are going to buy our salvation? I wonder how much more it would count if we were to spend some of our gold on protecting the glory of God’s creation.

Tamarack Song

Three Lakes