About Christmas in Iron River

Enough is enough!

The first year that Iron River celebrated the Christmas
Season with a parade, it was called Christmas in Lights.
Julie Melchiori was out of town when the decisions were
made and the name worked out just fine.

From the second year forward, Julie claimed that because
some aspects of the event were funded by the Downtown
Development Authority, that is government, the religious
word Christmas could not be used.

I went along with her despite my misgivings. In year 3
I offered (see letter to the editor in the Iron County
Reporter during that period) to donate the first $100 in
order to get government out of the celebration. But it
seems that the DDA doesn't have all that much going
on (perhaps part of the reason for the TIF lawsuit
between cities and Iron County?) and needed to spend
money for downtown "improvements" and the idea
never took root.

What remains, however, is that the federal holiday is
called Christmas, not Holiday. And US Postage stamps
are issued with Christmas and Hanukkah emblazoned
on them.


There is only one U.S. Constitution. The federal, all state, and
all local governments must abide by it. Special rules made up
by Julie Melchiori don't apply. They sure aren't applying over
in Florence, Wisconsin, a community nearby, just east of Iron
County on US2, where there is a Christmas parade today.
They're not hiding behind naming it "Holiday." Holiday is the
name of a petroleum distributor. Are we sure the parade isn't
free advertizing for them? If the gas station were funding the
parade I could see that name for the celebration.

We need to get this fixed for next year. Whether the name
came came about because of ignorance or secular progressive
ideology it doesn't reflect community values and it needs
to go.

And while on that "needs to go" topic, where's there any
report of original work or creative work performed on
behalf the people by Julie Melchiori? I'd like to know
about any original ideas she's brought to the table that
have improved the Iron County or the regional economy.

The people of this county cannot afford to support dead
weight that's doing us no good. When people invest money
with the promise of a return we deserve a report showing
what that return is. Skating along doing clerical work to
promote ideas from others isn't worth our investment. If
the EDC can be run by a clerk, then lets hire a clerk! With
the EDC's track record (or lack of,) as far as we can discern
without a formal report to the contrary, perhaps we don't
need an EDC at all. Is the Iron County EDC just another
useless money pit? Should I hold my breath while I wait
for an answer?

Bill Vajk