The Iron County Poison Pen Chronicles

It is to the misfortune of Iron County residents
that we have a number of poison pen chronicles
in our midst. Although the definition of poison pen
usually invokes cowardly anonymity as a hallmark,
that isn't always the case.

As usual Wikipedia is on target with their
discussion of this topic:

"A poison pen letter is a letter or note containing
unpleasant, abusive or malicious statements or
accusations about the recipient or a third party.
It is usually sent anonymously. Poison pen letters
are usually composed and sent to upset the
recipient."

Our own local "Shadowman" has reared its
nastiness once again. I probably shouldn't
give this coward a second thought, but its
rantings have actually become slightly amusing
of late.

The quotes that follow were posted on a discussion
forum that's run by "Mr. not ready for prime time
John Faccin," under the auspices of Yahoo's
IronCountyIndependent. Reading what's been
written there lately there's nothing "independent"
about it.

Shadowman professed: "Reading the minutes of
the February 25th and March 4th Special Meeting,
it is not hard to draw a conclusion as why the Board
wanted to eliminate the Animal Control ordinance
and that was expressed by John in his post. There
was no notice of a hearing or acquiring input from
the public on this issue just present a resolution,
accept it and bingo.....problem solved..."

Here's an alert for Shadowman. If the meeting had
been held with no notice, that would be in violation
of Michigan's open meetings act, and Shadowman
should be filing a complaint with the county
prosecutor. But being as anonymous as he deigns
to remain, that becomes impossible, leaving
Shadowman merely a low caliber blowhard.

The facts are, as usual, somewhat different from
the poison pen rantings from Shadowman. Ben
Smith knew of the meeting in advance because
it was announced, and he was able to attend,
thereafter promptly filing his report for this
publication. The Iron Mountain Daily News
published a story about the meeting the very
next day. By the bye, that newspaper justified
the termination of the position by recognizing
two things that are important.

First, the position of dog catcher in Iron County
does not require a full time employee dedicated
to that work. After all we have fewer than 12,000
souls living here.

The second aspect is that a beginning deputy
sheriff in Iron County earns a good bit less than
Tom King was being paid.

Mr. "not ready for prime time" Faccin let loose
with irrational rhetoric, stating among other
nonsense that, "Mr King is Certified by the
State of Michigan to be qualified to do the job."

Let's remember that Tom King was, till recently,
the dog catcher and he most certainly was not
certified as qualified to do the job. Nor did Iron
County obey state law in creating the position
in the first place. The complete record needed to
understand that unlawfulness is available in two
files that IronCountyDoings provides:

www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/certification.pdf

Be sure to read all three pages, including the state
law in MCL 287.289b that's included for your
convenience.

and

www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/foia-no-education.pdf

that clearly shows that Tom King did not have the
requisite education essential to the certification by
the State of Michigan regarding his qualifications for
the job.

I want to note for the record that Ben Smith and I
are as opposite in political philosophy as is possible.
Ben is an idealistic Democrat and is active in
supporting the Democratic Party and agendas.

Although we disagree on almost everything political,
we share one commonality that makes friendships
by polar opposites not only possible but also
necessary in Iron County. We share an extreme
dislike, dare I say disgust, of the political corruption
we experience in this region. To compare Iron
County politics to those of Boss Hogg in the once
popular TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard" would
be unfair to Boss Hogg.

Shadowman and John Faccin are supporters of
the corrupt administrations that the rest of us
in Iron County hope will soon be nothing but a
bad history. Having participated in support of
that past, they hope to be eventually rewarded
because they believe that similar corruption will
arise again

Newsflash: Not in the lifetime of anyone who is
reading this publication in real time.

Bill Vajk