Iron County Social Reporter

The Iron County Social Reporter

That's what the name of the local newspaper
ought to be based on its content. To be sure
there are reports from some of the official
board and council meetings. The June 23rd
issue held information about the June 8 County
Board meeting, and even at that the article
ends in mid-sentence on page 5, the layout
was so poorly designed.

The county board thinks it will take a year
to create and pass a new solid waste disposal
ordinance. Guess what folks, except for the
favoritism showed to favored disposal firms
in the past, this county doesn't have any real
need for a solid waste ordinance. Just revoke
the thing and let state laws, which supersede
local mandates in every important way, control
what happens. The only reason for creating a
new ordinance is political without any real
benefit to the people of Iron County.

The Adeline Hazel article that graces page 1,
a story about a woman who lived in Iron River
for a while, mentions that "she became an avid
gardener, better known as the 'flower lady' on
the local radio station." Heaven forbid that
the rag mention the radio station by name!
Anyway, this was such an important story that
it graces page 1 complete with a color photo
of Adeline. But there wasn't enough room to
finish the story about the county board meeting!

Another page 1 story is about seeking Miss IC
contestants. "Application must be submitted
along with a $75 sponsor fee, to the Michigan
State University extension office." That smells
wrong to me, doesn't it bother you? It seems to
me that any single woman in the county ought to
be able to enter without paying a fee of any sort
if the winner is going to represent Iron County
officially for a year! The rodeo beauty pageant
doesn't have an entrance fee, why should the
county one? I'm certain that if asked, some
local business would gladly underwrite the
scholarship if only they were asked!

Last but not least, Marian Volek's "Opinion"
piece is another disaster of muddy thinking and
political correctness, heaven forbid any of the
monied friends be upset. A strong part of the
reason that roads in Iron County are in such bad
shape is the fact that the residents purchase
gasoline, as they are able, in other areas,
because usually the local prices have been as
much as 15 cents per gallon higher in Iron County
than they were at Iron Mountain. And why do the
local petroleum retailers charge more? Ask Krist
Oil to explain it. Nobody has ever officially asked
and reported! The problem isn't as Volek claims,
a federal and state issue.

Next Volek justifies the abandonment of segments
of township water systems, saying "but the reality
is, they probably shouldn't have been there in the
first place."

Ms. Volek needs to get facts in place before she
starts writing, sort of like the old admonition
to "engage brain before opening mouth." The reason
that municipal water systems were initiated is that
the mines, by pumping ever deeper and deeper shafts
dry, lowered the regional water tables such that
the people living in the region, all with wells,
ran dry. That's why the mines provided the materials
for the water systems in the first place, and the
reason why the townships gladly provided water service
to the people who lived in such far flung locations.
To voice a judgment of past behavior based on not
knowing, understanding, or caring about the reasons
for water systems being as they are speaks very badly
of our local paper and is a strong part of the reason
it should promptly be renamed the Iron County Social
Reporter.

Bill Vajk