[Bydand]

Originally Posted by krock1dk

I DO know about that and know what I'm talking about.

So what you are saying is that because of your personal experience, there can be NO other possibility out there that people can and do follow a different path and have different experiences in the same areas. Must be nice to live in such a simple uncluttered world where there is only one outcome for everybody.

You clump the entire State in general, and Northern Michigan in particular into the same mold as one small town you have experience with. You must be very young and naive not to see how incredibly narrow and dumb that is. West Branch is like this, so the entire state must be the same. Yeah, 56,000 square miles is determined by one small town and how it was several years ago.

You and scolls should get together and have a ******fest.

[scolls]

Originally Posted by krock1dk

I DO know about that and know what I'm talking about. I lived in West Branch for 8 years and it was almost the worst 8 yrs of my life: nothing to do, not many people my age to hang with, only minimum-wage jobs available, and the only thing there was to do for the high-school kids was to do drugs, smoke, drink (even though they were underage) and go 'mud bogging'. As a result, the teen pregnancy rate is very very high. And yes, the young people move out by the droves once they graduate from high school. Those are the FACTS. Not much to do beyond the age of 18, until retirement.

I went to high school in Roscommon and that was the worst time of my life. Everything you said is dead on. West Branch is even better than Roscommon. At least you had the outlet mall. No one is going to side with you because northern Michigan is sacred grounds around these parts. Hardly anyone I went to high school with still lives in Roscommon. Teen pregnancy was so bad at Roscommon that the school forced the entire student body to take parenting classes.

[krock1dk]

Originally Posted by Bydand

So what you are saying is that because of your personal experience, there can be NO other possibility out there that people can and do follow a different path and have different experiences in the same areas. Must be nice to live in such a simple uncluttered world where there is only one outcome for everybody.

You clump the entire State in general, and Northern Michigan in particular into the same mold as one small town you have experience with. You must be very young and naive not to see how incredibly narrow and dumb that is. West Branch is like this, so the entire state must be the same. Yeah, 56,000 square miles is determined by one small town and how it was several years ago.

You and scolls should get together and have a ******fest.

Did I ever say the ENTIRE state of Michigan? No. So please dont put words in my mouth. Please go back and read my post again. I was simply saying that NORTHERN Michigan does not offer very much opportunity for young people. Period. That is a fact. Young people are moving out by the droves for opportunities in the cities 'down below.' Your attacks against me wont change the facts.

[krock1dk]

Not only are young people moving out of northern MI by the droves, but almost EVERYONE I graduated high school with (only attended there a year) has either moved 'down below' or out of state. There are a few people I remain in contact with and its almost the same thing: nothing has changed and there still is no opportunities for people my age (late 20s).

[scolls]

West Branch has a horrible hospital to. I went there with a gallbladder attack and they told me I had indigestion.

The people who disagree with you are the ones who never had to endure growing up here. They just can't wrap their head around the fact that northern Michigan has a lot of shortcommings. Notice how they attack you and me instead of actually stating reasons why the economy has any future or hope. The economy was never good.

[Peter B]

I work in Munson Hospital (Biggest employer in the area) and have as much overtime as I can physically handle. My wife is a paralegal at the largest law firm in Traverse City (home office is Grand Rapids). Life in Northern Michigan is VERY good

Originally Posted by scolls

West Branch has a horrible hospital to. I went there with a gallbladder attack and they told me I had indigestion.

The people who disagree with you are the ones who never had to endure growing up here. They just can't wrap their head around the fact that northern Michigan has a lot of shortcommings. Notice how they attack you and me instead of actually stating reasons why the economy has any future or hope. The economy was never good.

[michmoldman]

Originally Posted by krock1dk

Not only are young people moving out of northern MI by the droves, but almost EVERYONE I graduated high school with (only attended there a year) has either moved 'down below' or out of state. There are a few people I remain in contact with and its almost the same thing: nothing has changed and there still is no opportunities for people my age (late 20s).

Again...most people do not want northern Michigan filled with huge factories and shops. There are pockets of very good places to work, and decent money. If it was filled with to the brim with employers, that would mean it would not be up-north to most of us. We go there to get away from it all in the great forests, rivers and lakes. If you love it in northern Michigan, you can make it work somehow, even if its by the skin of your teeth. If you dont like it and see no chance of making a living.....leave.
and Scolls.... I wish I could afford you a one way ticket out of this state, Id do it in a second. You are the most negative, downer, complainer I have ever seen. You would complain you didnt have an umbrella if it was raining money.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by krock1dk

Not only are young people moving out of northern MI by the droves, but almost EVERYONE I graduated high school with (only attended there a year) has either moved 'down below' or out of state. There are a few people I remain in contact with and its almost the same thing: nothing has changed and there still is no opportunities for people my age (late 20s).

Again with the experience of one little town and it just HAS to apply to the entire Northern Michigan area.

Originally Posted by scolls

West Branch has a horrible hospital to. I went there with a gallbladder attack and they told me I had indigestion.

The people who disagree with you are the ones who never had to endure growing up here. They just can't wrap their head around the fact that northern Michigan has a lot of shortcommings. Notice how they attack you and me instead of actually stating reasons why the economy has any future or hope. The economy was never good.

Listen to you two, sounds like you should be a couple somewhere.

What I find amusing with both of you in particular and with most of the ones who post all the negative here on the site about either the entire state or Northern Michigan, is that you claim that only your experiences are valid and that everybody else who isn't struggling must either be stupid or lying. There is two side to the area, I haven't seen one post yet that is saying that times are great, and that jobs are overflowing and waiting for people to fill them. Everybody is saying that times are tough right now, all across the State, heck all across the Nation. What is being posted though is the other side of the coin, the positive side, which is just as truthful and valid as the negative side. Most of us in Northern Michigan are NOT unemployed, or under-employed. Most are NOT druggies, drunks, or sex-offenders. Most are NOT living in a house that is facing foreclosure. As soon as somebody posts otherwise, you jump all over it as a lie, or the person is hiding their head in the sand. What posting the other side; like I do as well as several others, does to the conversation is add balance and the true whole picture of the area.

Of course there will be the regular snide remarks and posts about how my viewpoint is false and cannot be true because YOUR personal experiences have been different. So be it, I think others are smart enough to know what sad individuals it takes to always post how inbred and backwards an area is if they don't like it.

I really do feel bad for you two the most, because you are so vocal about your narrow minded, seething hatred of an area that is far larger than a couple little towns you have personal experiences with. It makes me wonder how bad it must be for you, that you have to come on a forum and deny that there are any good things in an area. I've seen posts to individuals that if they move to Northern Michigan that their kids will turn out to be unemployable partiers and druggies. I really hope you can get out to wherever will calm your nerves and you'll find at least a glimmer of the happiness Northern Michigan brings me and my family. Wherever it is, I wish you the best, and hope not to see your one sided arguments as much when you do get there.

[Peter B]

Only because they are not able to adapt and aquire skills that are NEEDED to make a good living in Northern Michigan. If they are not able to , then yes, they need to move

Originally Posted by krock1dk

Not only are young people moving out of northern MI by the droves, but almost EVERYONE I graduated high school with (only attended there a year) has either moved 'down below' or out of state. There are a few people I remain in contact with and its almost the same thing: nothing has changed and there still is no opportunities for people my age (late 20s).

[krock1dk]

Originally Posted by Bydand

Again with the experience of one little town and it just HAS to apply to the entire Northern Michigan area.



Listen to you two, sounds like you should be a couple somewhere.

What I find amusing with both of you in particular and with most of the ones who post all the negative here on the site about either the entire state or Northern Michigan, is that you claim that only your experiences are valid and that everybody else who isn't struggling must either be stupid or lying. There is two side to the area, I haven't seen one post yet that is saying that times are great, and that jobs are overflowing and waiting for people to fill them. Everybody is saying that times are tough right now, all across the State, heck all across the Nation. What is being posted though is the other side of the coin, the positive side, which is just as truthful and valid as the negative side. Most of us in Northern Michigan are NOT unemployed, or under-employed. Most are NOT druggies, drunks, or sex-offenders. Most are NOT living in a house that is facing foreclosure. As soon as somebody posts otherwise, you jump all over it as a lie, or the person is hiding their head in the sand. What posting the other side; like I do as well as several others, does to the conversation is add balance and the true whole picture of the area.

Of course there will be the regular snide remarks and posts about how my viewpoint is false and cannot be true because YOUR personal experiences have been different. So be it, I think others are smart enough to know what sad individuals it takes to always post how inbred and backwards an area is if they don't like it.

I really do feel bad for you two the most, because you are so vocal about your narrow minded, seething hatred of an area that is far larger than a couple little towns you have personal experiences with. It makes me wonder how bad it must be for you, that you have to come on a forum and deny that there are good things in an area. I really hope you can get out to wherever will calm your nerves and you'll find at least a glimmer of the happiness Northern Michigan brings me and my family. Wherever it is, I wish you the best, and hope not to see your one sided arguments as much when you do get there.

there are just some people in this world who will argue argue argue about anything, no matter what substantial proof and facts you give them. Once again, bydand, the FACTS speak for themselves.