Year in Review: Thumbs Down

To the American Transmission Company. When the utility applied to run new lines alongside Door County’s doorstep in Sturgeon Bay, they failed to publicize the fact that they intended to mimic Gary, Ind. with the towering new power poles along Highway 42/57.

To our nation’s inadequate measures for judging school performance, which fail to address how our schools are preparing the more than 60 percent of their students who won’t get a university degree.

To the blanket smears of teachers and public employees. We should be better as a society than to denigrate people for fighting for wages and benefits that make for a middle-class income. We can solve our biggest problems with respect, despite the example set by our elected representatives.

To the state of Wisconsin for putting the breaks on alternative energy and high-speed rail projects. Madison talks about creating the jobs of the future, but re-invests in the technology of the last century. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize transportation by making better saddles.

To the new voter ID law, which adds cost and confusion to the most basic of American rights, while combating the relatively few documented cases of voter fraud.