Thuggery in Iron County politics?

Associate editor Ben Smith attended the Oct 9, 2012 meeting
of the Iron County Board of Commissioners. He filed the
following report that should be of concern to all residents:

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At the Oct 9. 2012 Iron County Board Meeting an incident 

occurred that should be extremely offensive to the residents 

of Iron County.

Lisa Masnova, Assistant to the County Administrator, stood 

up and said that she had applied for a position on the UP 

State Fair Board and that someone had come over to her house 

and told her that if she didn’t remove her name from 

contention that “under the new board her job would be in 

jeopardy”.

First. Congratulations Lisa for standing up to the bully. For 

that’s what he is. I hope everyone learns a lesson here and 

does the same. Second, I don’t know who this individual is, 

although a name was mentioned, but if he has this much 

influence with certain members of the County Board that 

he can threaten her job, we all better take a very close 

look at these Board Members and the way they vote on 

issues. Something doesn’t smell right.

Ben Smith

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Editor's note: Ben's report couldn't be better stated.

 In other news, Dr. Yarger, selected Chris Sholander as 

Deputy and Chris Sholander will be attending the 

"Medical Examiner's" Class November 9-ll 2012 in 

Lansing, Michigan.

While we appreciate that  Dr Yarger is a busy man, this

is another of those "smells funny" episodes here in Iron

County. Sholander's career has been with the Michigan 

State Police. The office of "coroner" in Michigan was

abolished by the legislature and the current requirements

for a "medical examiner" are that the office must be filled 

by a physician, which Sholander is not. In addition, the

statutes also state that, " Deputy county medical examiners 

shall be physicians licensed to practice within this state."

MCL 52.201a(1)

Furthermore, in a county with a total population smaller

than 13,000, it hardly seems reasonable that a deputy

medical examiner is necessary.

Ordinary logic, and state statute, prohibit Sholander from

holding the position of Deputy Medical Examiner and 

Mr. Sholander should, by action of the county board, be

advised that he is not sanctioned by Iron County for that

post, or to take the course in Lansing mentioned above.

Bill Vajk