This
news outlet has been silent for a
while since your editor has been
busy
suing the City of Iron River and Iron
County under the Headlee
Amendment.
Original jurisdiction lies with the Court
of Appeals. In
my opinion, the court's
finding does not comply with Michigan
laws ,
any system of morality and ethics,
or any modern laws.
The
ultimate evil, I think, is to hold a
person responsible today for
what some
random unknown stranger may do in
the future. Avoiding all
religious
trappings normally associated with the
word “evil,” I
only contemplate ethical
and moral meanings devoid of any
organized
religion. There is no historical
ethic, let along a formal legal
system
since the classical Greeks that allowed
one person to be
punished for the acts of
another. So far as I know, the last one to
permit such injustice was Hammurabi in
about 1750 B.C. That's more
than 3,700
years ago! Yet here we are today, in
Michigan, reverting
to ancient forms that
have long been abandoned as unjust.
Still,
the Michigan Court of Appeals
found it provident to impose the City
of Iron River's financial interests over
those of its citizens, and
make that
citizen financially responsible for what
someone might do
in the future. How
far in the future? They didn't say. It
could be
next month, or a hundred years
from now, but your humble
correspondent is financially responsible
for such speculative people
performing
such speculative acts as asking that the
water be turned
on.
As
if that isn't bad enough, there's a
kicker. It isn't just me, but if
you read
the water ordinances for Iron River, and
it is found in just
about all towns and
cities, anyone who owns property near a
water
main can be held responsible to pay
for water they don't use on their
vacant lot
because the city is required to provide water
to you in 48
hours after request! It's right
there in ordinance §
52.18, “Written notice
given not less than 48 hours in advance
shall be made to the city by
the property
owner and/or occupant of the premises when
water service
is desired.” You don't have to
have a house or any other structure!
Here's
what the Court of Appeals, at the
instigation of the City of Iron
River, wrote:
“Plaintiff
provides no authority from which
it may be inferred that, by turning
off the
water at curbstop, the City is released from
its continuing
obligation to maintain the
capacity to provide water and sewer
services to the Plum Street property
should
plaintiff or a successor owner
request a resumption of the water
supply. Under such circumstances,
plaintiff receives the benefit of
use of
the municipal water distribution and
sanitary sewer systems,
albeit to a lesser
degree than other users of these systems,
and the
City's allocation of maintenance
costs to those like plaintiff who
are
connected to these systems constitute a
fee for service for
purposes of the Headlee
Amendment.”
As
the cornerstone for the Court of
Appeals finding, it is morally,
ethically,
and legally bankrupt in my opinion. I
filed my motion for
reconsideration.
Anyone with access to a computer has
only to ask for
a copy and I'll gladly
provide it since all court documents
are
public unless a judge issues an
order privatizing it in some form or
another.
You
can find the court's complete
order at: http://tinyurl.com/opxaafu
Another
significance of what happened
here is what will this do to our
future?
How long will it be before this mindset,
that government can
do simply anything
to us that they want, finds its way into the
criminal laws? Hammurabi's code
authorized the killing of an innocent
child of a builder whose shoddy
construction collapsed and killed the
child of the homeowner. Is that what we
want? No sir!
Like
it or not, that's where this thing is
headed unless I manage to stop
it.
Please
join me by pestering the city
fathers with your objections, all in
the
legal way, of course, by writing letters
and speaking at City
Council meetings.
Iron
River, you're back on the map again.
But sorry, it isn't for any
reason we should
be proud of.
Bill Vajk
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