2016 June 29^th

This is parochial day. I shall be discussing an issue of particular importance to Traverse City and our, about to arrive, Cherry Festival. Of course it is the controversial performance of the “Blue Angels,” the traveling team of Navy fighter pilots who perform for whichever small town festival with enough government clout to merit their appearance. If necessary our Congressman, Dan Benishek (He likes to be known as Dr. Dan), will give a nudge to the appropriate Navy officials. It usually works.

So on three consecutive days we will have a spectacular air show to the delight of the festival-goers. Those who keep records tell us that when the Blue Angels perform attendance at the festival improves by over 100 thousand people.

Hey, we’re talking real money here. Traverse City has a population of just over 15 thousand people and the Cherry Festival with the Blue Angels performing can be counted on to bring is about 700 thousand visitors. The jets are controversial; they produce about 140 decibels of sound pressure and that, if sustained, will damage your eardrums. We routinely have some veterans and other patriots who claim that the jet noise is “the sound of freedom.” Then there are the more cynical citizens who claim that over and above the jet noise is the ka-ching, ka-ching of active cash registers in the shops of downtown merchants and the owners of motels and restaurants.

The festival has to pay something for this spectacle. A couple of years ago the cost was about 12.5 thousand dollars. Now it might have doubled but the cost to the government is well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many right-wingers deplore wasteful government expenditures but this isn’t wasteful they say, this is patriotic, this is a recruiting tool to get more Naval aviators.

Tragically, it also eliminates some Naval aviators. Marine Captain Jeff Kuss was killed on June 3^rd  in a practice for a Blue Angel air show in Tennessee. The Captain’s jet lost power and he did not eject. Some say he stayed with the aircraft to make sure it did not hit a populated area. Captain Kuss was 32 years old and leaves a wife and two young daughters. Their mother will try to explain to her daughters that their father did not die in combat with his country’s enemies but died trying to relieve the boredom of some civilians at an air show. Semper Fi!