A Piece of the Case Summary

The summons and complaints were served today on the
City of Iron River and Iron County, and the entire package
mailed to the Court of Appeals with the filing fee. A "case
summary" was included, part of which I reproduce below.

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Although this case is about the violations of the Headlee
Amendment, Michigan Constitution Article IX § 31, in the
interests of understanding how we came to be at this
juncture, the case is significantly assisted by knowing a
bit if the history of the mainstream lawlessness that began
with the earliest days of Iron County and persists almost
unabated through the modern day.
It began with the “stolen courthouse” from which
history the county clerk republished the events of  1885,
see Exhibit “R”.

(editor's note- this is a segment of the Iron County Directory
of 2013)

The next major event occurred  in 1920 during Prohibition
with the Scalcucci brothers commercially making and selling
wine in Iron River. When federal officers were dispatched
from Chicago to put a stop to the illegal practice, local
officials were ordered to fire on anyone attempting to
enforce prohibition, and in the end were driven out of the
area. The event is a matter for an annual local three day
celebration. See the last page of Exhibit “R”.
Without delving into the details of this case too heavily at
this juncture, Plaintiff must here point out that the July 31,
2013 acts of amending Iron River ordinances in order to
allow the city council to establish new utility rates by
resolution instead of by ordinance directly violates the
alleged charter’s § 2.11(e). Please see Exhibit “B”. The
charter that Defendant City is allegedly obeying says an
ordinance is required to regulate the rate charged by a
public utility for its services. It is clear, in this act, and
others too numerous to discuss here, that Defendant City,
just like Defendant County, ignores the laws that govern
them unless and until someone like Plaintiff calls them to
task in court.
In Exhibit “S” Defendant City acknowledges no provision
of utilities to Plaintiff, but charges for them anyway,
knowingly violating the laws of this state and forcing the
situation to this Court for resolution that already exists in
the laws of the state.
As part of the election in November 2013, Defendant City
included a measure requesting the elimination of “conflict of
interest” by elected officials from the Iron River City Charter.
The deciding vote in the city council for the resolution to get
this measure on the ballot was cast by an individual who, at
that time, was knowingly in the very conflict he was trying to
get removed. Subsequently, after your Plaintiff complained to
the governor and the attorney general, the county prosecutor
investigated and asked two members of Iron River’s city
council to resolve the conflict issue by resigning one post or
the other. The city council, itself, did nothing while all the
members were knowledgeable about the conflicts that should
have been sufficient to keep the two from being sworn into
office and seated.
Unfortunately, both City and County defendants are so
deeply entrenched in their illegal activities that they seem to
have no way of stopping because once the first lie is told,
and then another to cover that up, the entire scheme just
spirals out of control and the lies can never stop. In
Exhibit “Q” Defendant County acknowledges it know the
source for the bills it will attempt to collect by undertaking
a foreclosure action, and ignores the illegality in Plaintiff’s
case.
That is why we are here, in order to get a fair hearing and
to break the cycle of lies, subterfuge, and deception, by
local governments who are thus damaging the Plaintiff, and
many others, financially.
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It is well past time for municipalities to stop charging for
public utilities that are not delivered to citizens.

Bill Vajk

Is Futility our Hallmark?

This evening I posted Iron County's Strategic Plan for
the year 2000 at:

http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/plan-2000.pdf

I note that not one single goal in that plan has been
achieved. This particular strategic plan was put
together by the team that included Ruth Briney, John
MacPherson, Kenneth Phillips, Bette Premo, Thomas
Rorabaugh, and J. Cyrus Warmanen.

I have to wonder why they put forth the effort to put
together this plan, and then simply disappear into the
background noise of Iron County.

Is futility the hallmark of Iron County?

Bill Vajk

Common Sense

Why is there such a shortage of common sense in Iron
River? The following is a letter to the editor submitted to
the Reporter.

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To the Editor:

Last summer the Iron River City Council all but
announced their intention to permanently close
Blossom Street that has a failed pavement because
they lack funds to make repairs. Unfortunately there
is only one way to fund street repairs, taxes. Of
course once properly fixed, the street would be fine
for decades.

Then, in January, the same city was approached and
asked for help by funding the Iron Line Dog Race
through sponsorship, and they agreed. The level of
funding was more than half of what it would take to
fix Blossom Street. The city did this while finding
street lights to shut off because they’re trying to save
money. What for, in case there’s another dog race
asking for money? What about the requests of citizens
for street repairs?

How many sources are there for money to sponsor a
dog race? Thousands. How long does a dog race last? A
few days.

Perhaps if Blossom Street were made part of a dog race
route the City Council might see fit to fix it. But they
can’t seem to fix it for humans. Hmmm!

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Yesterday I became involved in a discussion with a local
business owner whose philosophy is that if no one is living
on a street it shouldn't be repaired, just close it. That's
another exhibition of a lack of common sense. After all,
nobody lives on the Mackinac Bridge, or any of the
arteries in the US, but we don't close them because they're
important routes for others. The myopic views held by the
clique I keep talking about are killing this region.

There's no justification whatever for any Michigan municipal
government to fund a dog race and every justification for
keeping the streets in good repair.

What's wrong with you people?

Bill Vajk