What's Wrong with Iron River 090706 - Part 2

I received the following email from Iron River
City Manager John Archocosky which I publish
intact in order to answer it in public:

=======================================
From: "John Archocosky"
To:
Subject: What's Wrong with Iron River 00706
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:01:33 -0500

Good morning Bill,

I received the hard copy of your article.

You’re right; the Rodeo banner crossing US2
after the wind caught it certainly did not
look good. The problem actually stemmed from
the fact that the banner was not designed to
fit between the supporting cables that have
been in place for years.

The city did not order the banner nor were
we asked what size it should be to fit the
cable arrangement. When the banner arrived,
the city crew did the best they could to
secure it with the ties that were provided
and it appeared to work fine for the first
few days that it was displayed.

Unfortunately, when the stronger wind started
to blow over the weekend, the ties provided
were not sufficient to hold the banner in place.
As soon as the DPW schedule permitted, the city
crew went back and had to reinstall the cable
system so it could accommodate the nonconforming
banner that was provided.

As I’m sure you know, it is not a simple task
to install anything over a US highway. Special
permits are required which must be processed
through MDOT. Permits require minimum ground
clearance as well as other safety related
conditions that needed to be met. As the crew
would have to be working in the middle of the
US2 traffic lanes to reinstall the cables, it
required coordinating the crew’s time with that
of the police department for traffic control
and our employees’ safety. Considering what
had to be done I feel the City of Iron River,
who was donating its time and effort, responded
to a non-emergency situation in a reasonable
timeframe.

When I received the copy of your article I
wasn’t sure if you wanted an explanation or
simply wanted to use it as an opportunity to
complain about the City of Iron River. In
either case "you now have the rest of the
story".

Criticism will always be accepted here and
even appreciated when it is offered in a
constructive manner for the betterment of
the City. It would be nice however, to
receive some positive reinforcement from
time to time for all the things done well
by the city staff and employees.

Thanks for your observation on the banner.
Sorry we never seem to meet your expectations.

John

======================================

I noticed that the initial repair was made to
the Rodeo Banner within a few days after John
Archocosky received the hard copy of my
previous article about this banner. This
is a busy season for me, so it took a few
days for me to have a camera along when I
drove through once again. From what I could
see, the city crew shortened the lower cable
somewhat and installed two spreaders to make
the cables, spreaders, and banner operate as
a single system as this photo shows:



It now works.

For comparison, here is one of my archive photos of a
Florence County Fair banner for 2007 hanging over
US2 with approximately the same length of cables.
I provide this as a model of what can be achieved. They
have exactly the same difficulties in Florence County
as we have in Iron River when it comes to this matter.



But on to other issues John raises.

If anyone cares to go back and look, every criticism I
have made concerning any Iron County governmental
unit always had a problem with an available solution.
Yet mostly my comments have fallen on deaf ears (meaning
solutions were not undertaken) with responsive complaints
at what appears to be an unending stream of criticism from
Bill Vajk co-mingled with the whispered rumor that "Bill
Vajk is out to destroy Iron River." That gives rise to a good
chuckle on my part.

I hasten to point out that my upbringing, including a
parochial school (St. Paul's at Princeton, NJ, see their
web page on the internet, still a fine school!) sent home
a report card every semester that had a comment at the
bottom in the beautiful script of the "Sisters of Mercy"
that said, "There's always room for improvement."

And so there is. The routine praise we received at the
hands of the nuns was the grades we earned. The same
thing is true of all employees, everywhere. They earn
a paycheck in exchange for which they are expected
to perform a "job well done." It is expected. In fact,
it is demanded, even more from government employees
than in any other setting.

Praise and positive reinforcement were, in the sane
society that existed before the "baby boomer culture"
came of age, reserved for extraordinary performance.
I identify this expectation of praise for doing what's
expected and what people are paid to do as a cultural
phenomena belonging to your generation, John. Are
prison guards expected to clap every prisoner on the
back every day and praise them for not having shanked
anyone in the past 24 hours? Where does all this
constant praise requirement come from?

Along with the classic report card footnote, there was
one other unremitting message that we were hammered
with that apparently fell by the wayside for your
generation. It is a brief statement that, "Anything worth
doing is worth doing well." A later version that I started
hearing in the 1970's went, "If you don't have time to
do it right now, when will you have time to do it over?"

As far as never meeting my expectations, I am alone
in these only insofar as voicing them goes. This
community is an old mining culture that was well
taught to shut up, do your job, and be grateful for
what the company provides. That paradigm continues
intact today with government replacing "the company,"
for the most part. There is a lot of seething undercurrent
in the region that remains silent for the most part rather
than risk getting labeled a troublemaker.

Look at the voter rejection of the Iron River Township
millage request in the last election. This is, for the most
part, the only protest the general population will mount,
and even then with great difficulty. And look at the
township's response, a move to create a new "fee" for
"sewer availability." Good grief, what's this community
coming to.

A label of "troublemaker" doesn't bother me because
my background includes not only a good educational
background, but also a personal history of successful
risk taking in military/industrial research and development
world. I found out at a young age that when you go for
the gold all the time, you make friends and enemies, and
the individuals in those positions are apt to shift back and
forth with as much volatility as the weather. I keep my eye
on the goal. The chips can fall as they will. In my opinion
if one worries about everyone's feelings, nothing is ever
achieved. There is some evidence in the history of our
personal interactions that you understand, and practice,
this same philosophy yourself, albeit sometimes mistakenly
(that's probably the consequence of your personal
experience being limited to typical midwestern cultures.)

In wrapping up this exchange it probably makes good sense
to tell the reader a bit more about the world outside Iron
County. I grew up at Princeton, New Jersey, and off and
on resided there till 1974 when I moved out of the region
permanently. Starting sometime in the 1960's, major
corporations that had midwestern and west coast operations
began promoting executives from Chicago, Detroit, St.
Louis, and the like, to their corporate offices in New York.
These folks settled mostly in New Jersey as daily rail
commuters into the city. By rail, a Princeton area resident
could find himself in most midtown Manhattan offices in
about an hour. Even in Chicago that's not considered a
bad commute.

Most of those promoted to New York corporate offices
lasted about a year, and then they packed up their homes
and returned to whence they had come. The New York
business models are a whole lot more demanding than those
of the midwest, and the midwesterners simply couldn't
acclimate themselves to the demands and the pace.

Anyone who grew up here in Iron County, let alone has
lived here better part of a lifetime, experiences pretty
much the same culture shock if they move to Chicago.

What I'm trying to say, John, is that I am two major
cultural paradigms away from living here contentedly
and quietly, because where I come from, and where I
live (internally) my expectations are those of a
mainstream progressive America that demands a
number of things that the folks who live here all their
lives all too often seem willing to give up. These are

> constitutions limit government powers

> the rule of law is necessary

> unless handicapped, earn your keep honestly and honorably

You'd think these are simple rules to live by, but
in Iron County it appears to be very difficult for
some.

Unfortunately, it seems I will soon be in litigation with
the City of Iron River as well as perhaps some officers
of the City and Iron County, and potentially with Iron
River Township as well if the currently envisioned
sewer ordinance revisions become a reality. These could
be settled at a much smaller cost to the taxpayers by
negotiations, but there's a generalized arrogance in Iron
County governments that seems to prevent such solutions.

best regards,

Bill Vajk

Buy Local

I tried.

I needed a replacement mirror for the passenger side
of my pickup truck. While backing up with a trailer
in the forest on my farm, I got the mirror up against
a tree and made a bunch of little mirrors out of the
large one. I got a price of about $225 for a
replacement mirror from Kevin's Auto Body.

So I went to the Auto Value parts store on US2 in
Iron River. They ordered a replacement mirror for
me, but when it arrived a couple of days later it
was the wrong one. So the clerk called in to his
supplier and came up with a price in the high $68
range but I also saw him write down his cost of
$ 31.89.

I haggled. In my opinion, the ordinary markups
(typically doubling the cost to the customer)
are not realistic for an item that a retailer
has not had to inventory. Here's how it works
for special order items.

The retailer orders the item that arrives a
couple of days later. The day the supplier ships
the item, the supplier puts the cost on the
retailer's account that the retailer receives,
on average, 15 days later, and then has about
20 more days to pay. So the wholesaler carries
the cost of the special order item on the books
for, on average, about 35 days. The retailer
generally has his money from the sale on the
second day. This means that any special ordered
item will, on average, result in the sale amount
of money in the retailer's account for 32 to 33
days, at interest. Given no outlay till well
after the retailer gets payment, a 100% plus
markup is, in my opinion, severely unreasonable.
The retailer experiences no risk whatever,
and that's one of the elements that goes into
retail markup!

Inventory costs (the cost of money and warehousing)
are built into the wholesale price for the item.

Anyway, I walked away from the Auto Value store
without ordering this item. As I told them I would,
I came home and got on the internet and found I
could buy the replacement mirror for $18 and
change with something under $13 for shipping
and handling, so the total price for ordering
off the internet came out to be a few cents
over $31.

The cost difference to the consumer, between
$31, and $68 is plenty big, but even larger yet
is the difference to the highest price of $225.

Is it any wonder so many people have abandoned
"main street" merchants in rural area like Iron
County? I don't mind paying a small premium, with
a limit of perhaps $45 tops for this mirror. That
would mean a 45% premium over what the internet
cost is, and a 15% markup based on what I know
the local merchant was going to pay for it. By
increasing his sales while charging reasonable
rates for special orders, any merchant could
make a nice living out of that.

The $68 cost to me would be a 119% premium over
what the internet wants to charge me and $225
would represent a 625% premium.

I'd like to help the local merchants, but they
won't let me, not when they do their customers
like this. I've had Kevin's do some work for me
in the past. They really do very nice work, and
as things happen, I'll continue to use them for
body work and painting. But as a parts supplier,
sorry!

Bill Vajk

Iron River Township money woes

Iron River Township is being financially squeezed
by the prison closure. However that does not afford
license to impose a new tax on the residents in
violation of the Headlee Amendment to the Michigan
Constitution. Here are some guidelines:

"There are three factors to consider when deciding
if a charge is a fee or a tax. Id. To be considered
a fee, a charge must: (1) serve a regulatory purpose
rather than a revenue-raising purpose, (2) be
proportionate to the necessary costs of the service,
and (3) be voluntary, in the sense that the payor may
choose not to avail himself of the benefit and thereby
avoid the charge.

MAPLEVIEW ESTATES, INC. v. CITY OF BROWN CITY, 2003.

It is clear to me that Iron River Township's proposed
revisions to the sewer ordinance, as reported, runs afoul
of case law as does Iron River's and the township's
"readiness to serve" charge in their water ordinance.

Bill Vajk

Iron County Road Commission Problems (1)

Recently I had complimented the Iron County
Road Commission for having done a good job
of maintenance grading Kallio Road. They
did the job right for the first time in
years by putting the proper crown back in
the road, and not building berms that keep
rainwater in the road, making it muddy even
after a light summer rain, and keeping spring
snowmelt runoff on the road that's a real mess
far too long into the season.

Unfortunately my congratulations on getting it
right was premature. They've regraded the road
and got it wrong again. The photo below, 4 July
2009, shows the brand new berms created by the
most recent maintenance work.

This isn't a difficult thing, grading a gravel
road. You get the results shown in the photo
below by turning the grader blade the wrong way,
as though the operator were plowing snow. To
grade a gravel road properly the blade must be
turned the other way, to move sand and gravel
away from the edges of the road towards the
middle, in order to create a proper crown that
assures water runoff instead of water retention.

Could we please, please, get the appropriate
training for the people sent out to do this work?


There's just no excuse for what's been going on
with Iron County's gravel roads for the past
several years.




Bill Vajk

What's Wrong with Iron River 090706

What's wrong with Iron River, I ask, with tongue
in cheek and a nudge-nudge-wink-wink-say-no-more.

I moved to Iron County in late 2003. I discovered
that there was a place on US2 to mount a banner
advertising local events near where the river
crosses the highway in town when the first postage
stamp banner for the "Christmas in Lights" parade
was put up.

The wind wrapped that around the support cables,
rendering the banner useless.

I've noted that nearby communities never have this
problem. Crandon's banners always look good as
do the ones in Florence. But Iron River, feh, it
always gets messed up because apparently those
in charge of maintaining the facility, as well
as those who install and take down the banner
don't seem to take the care necessary to do a
good job.

This article is also being mailed, in hard copy,
to the city manager, John Archocosky. The lack
of care and concern by the city for simple things
gives a really bad impression to those passing
through, folks who might otherwise decide to stay
and to spend some money here.



Bill Vajk

Rule of Men v Rule of Law - July 4

In terms of Rule of Men v. Rule of Law, today,
the 4th of July, is one of several important
dates as it is the birthdate of the American
Declaration of Independence. As important as
the event of the framing and signing of that
document was in American history, the ideas
in our Declaration had firm footing in earlier
struggles involving the English Crown.

The earliest codification of universal human
liberty was offered up by Henry I of England
at the time of his coronation. Henry was a
usurper. His brother Robert had been away,
involved in the First Crusade, at the moment
it became his turn to succeed to the Crown
of the combined England and Normandy. Henry,
next in line, took advantage of the absence
of his brother Robert, seized the treasury
and was crowned king on August 5, 1100.

Henry signed the Charter of Liberties, a
document that reads somewhat like the Magna
Carta (executed a little over 2 centuries
later) in order to assure the support of the
earls and barons of England, or perhaps better
states, to prevent the opposition of the barons.

He negotiated the other problems, with the people
within arm's, reach his ascendancy to the throne
by settling a long standing problem with the
Pope, and by marrying a woman of mixed Scottish
(her father had been Scotland's Malcolm III)
Anglo parentage. In those days signing the Charter
of Liberties was, for a king, giving up a
significant amount of power.

Unfortunately for England, the promises did not
descend through successive kings.

By 1215, the barons had had enough of the King's
antics. They went to London in an armed group on
June 10, 1215, and forced King John to agree to
their demands on June 15. The document took another
month to prepare, and that was completed on July
19, 1215, becoming the official and original
Magna Carta.

Even so, it became a requirement that a new copy
be agreed to at the coronation of new kings, and
the specific requirements in those successive
documents changed over time. The version that
remains the law in England and Wales is the
1297 edition with many individual clauses repealed
over the years. The critical parts, habeas corpus
and due process, remain intact.

Much as the Magna Carta had been based on the
Charter of Liberties in an earlier time, the
American Declaration of Independence found its
principles rooted in Magna Carta.

We celebrate the 4th of July as the beginning of
the United States of America. It led to the first
war in which Americans, as a people, fought so
that the Rule of Law replaced the Rule of Men. It
is just as important to recognize that every
single war we, as a people, have engaged in ever
since the signing of the Declaration of Independence
some 233 years ago today has been the very same
war. Each war has been to enforce the supremacy
of the Rule of Law where others have replaced it
with the Rule of Men. There will be more on this
topic in subsequent articles in this series.

I had mentioned earlier that my family came to the
USA after WWII precisely over this issue. The
document displayed below was one that my father
had to carry in Hungary after the war. On the
left is the Russian language version, stamped and
signed off by the Soviet official in charge of the
occupation forces. On the right is the Hungarian
language version, signed by the minister of natural
resources and a corporate official of the
Hungarian-American Oil Company. What the document
says is that my father is employed in a job that
is important to the state and must not be taken to
do other work.




TAKE NOTICE: Personal rights are not the
focal point! All that matters is the needs of the
state.

There was a real need for my father to carry this
with him at all times. In those days, when some
workers were needed to perform some task or another,
whoever was charged with getting the work done was
authorized to send armed men out on the streets to
round up anyone they saw and bring them back to do
whatever job that needed doing.

While today we understand that this is one of the
more extreme cases of Rule of Men prevailing over
the Rule of Law, the simple fact is that people
lived and died because of such conduct by the
state. And it also pays to understand that we,
the United States of America, condoned such
conduct by our allies, so long as it wasn't in
our face. Consider also the political perspecive
of President Obama who put political expediency
over the principles we have bled and died for
since 1776 when he remained quiet while Iran was
killing citizens involved in peaceful protests
in the streets of their capital.

Looking the other way.........a problem prevalent
in Iron County today, and our White House as well.

Bill Vajk

A Crane for Iron River?

Does the City of Iron River have a project using this
large crane? One would think it would have been
mentioned in City Council meetings.

For additional topics and discussions about Iron County
please click here

Bill Vajk

local critic isn't interested in doing what's best for Iron County's residents

>From: shadow_man4243
>Subject: [ironcountyindependent]
>Re: Fw: Ironcountydoings: Building Iron County Michigan
>To: ironcountyindependent@yahoogroups.com
>Date: Saturday, June 27, 2009, 2:30 PM

>I read this article in The Daily News' Speak Out
>section. What is the writer trying to say in this
>article?

>We know the county is going to appoint a committee
>to do a feasability study of building a new airport.

>We know the county is not at the point of building
>a new airport and looking for a builder/developer to
>build it. We know that the county had in the past
>had a study done as to where to locate a new airport
>if one was to be built and plans to build when it was
>dropped because of various obstacles.

>The writer mostly focuses on getting the EDC involved
>in the process by sitting down with a builder/developer
>to ascertain the staffing and manning of the project?

>Also the crafts and job skills needed to complete the
>project and if need be provide training for these skills
>at county expense. The writer seems to be advocating
>that the airport be built using all local (Iron County)
>builders and labor and if all local resources can't be
>used, that perhaps the workers would have to live
>within 100 miles of the project for a year after
>completion.

>If this project was to come to fruition and be built,
>the majority of the monies would be federal and state
>and having the requirement that the contractor(s) and
>labor be residents of Iron County or be within 100 miles
>of Iron County will not fly.

>The largest obstacle is acquiring the land and getting
>approval from all the entities that have jurisdiction
>on this project. If were not the objection of the
>military that the proposed airport northwest of Iron
>Lake was located in a MOA, the airport may or may have
>not have been built.

>Shadow

Bill Vajk's answers:

1) Where a feasibility study is concerned, we know in
advance that the outcome of such a feasibility study
will find justification for building a new, better,
Iron County Michigan airport. To entertain even the
remote possibility of any other outcome is absurd. The
County Board is 100% predictable in such matters.

2) I suggest that the selection of a developer/builder,
or a small pool of candidates, has already been done.
It is in the best interest of the County Board to
do such a selection early because there's a lot of free
lobbying work available (in Lansing, Washington, and
even in Iron County) from those people if they have
a reason to believe that they could benefit by being
the builder/developer selected to do the project.

Shadowman, if he or she is knowledgeable about such
matters (and I have reason to believe that's true)
is being disingenuous in making a statement that is
designed to mislead the local population into
believing otherwise.

3) Who better than an experienced reputable builder/
developer to smooth the way through obstacles like
getting the military relocate their practice areas.

4) Iron County, including our EDC, has a recent
history of ignoring the needs of the local population
where it comes to significant projects. The operative
word in EDC is, ta-da, DEVELOPMENT. Why
was an out-of-state contractor hired to dismantle
the Cloverland Hotel by hand? Was there some special
secret technique used to do that job? No, of course
there wasn't.

4a) There is nothing significantly high tech about
building an airport that places such construction
out of reach of ordinary tradesmen. Radar equipment
and the like is generally installed by the manufacturer,
with the infrastructure (structures, conduit, wiring,
and so forth) provided by regular trades contractors

5) The US Government can and does write grants and
RFQ's (request for quotation) and RFB's (request for
Bids) carefully crafted to designate a targeted set
of contractors/bidders. To state out of hand that
because federal monies are probably going to be
used prevents targeting where the workers live is,
at best, incorrect. Such things are done with
great regularity.

6) I believe, therefore, that "shadowman," whoever
he/she is, does not have the interests of the local
population at heart, but has self-interest as his/her
primary motivation. Otherwise why not support "the
home team"? You fight for them without first throwing
in the towel and misleading people by saying what we
need to get done cannot be, without even trying! That's
not what shadowman is doing. That's not what shadowman
ever does!

Shadowman, whoever you are, come out-come out!

If you have legitimate issues to discuss, then stand
up and be counted, without hiding behind that stupid
pseudonym. Plug the name into google images and see
what nonsense that brings to your screen. But then,
who would expect legitimate discussion from someone
who calls themselves shadowman?

Bill Vajk

Building Iron County Michigan

It is apparent that despite the earlier failed attempt
to build a new county airport, Iron County has
never given up on the idea. In the long term picture,
I think the County Board has this one right. It is
my guess that a builder/developer, or at least a pool
of them, has already been chosen. This is the moment,
perhaps the last possible moment, to get the rest of
the project right.

This is the time for our EDC to sit down with a
builder/developer or few to figure out the manning
and staffing for the airport project from this point
forward. We need to know as soon as possible
precisely the type, caliber, and number of skills
and crafts necessary to complete the project, and
we need to immediately provide, at county expense,
such training as is necessary to complete the skill
sets required for the project so that from the
moment that ground is broken, we can assure
that local people are building their own airport.

Ideally this would also be true for all major con-
struction projects in Iron County's future. There's
no reason why it can't be.

As a practical matter, they will doubtless not all be
Iron County residents. We, as a community, need to
set some distance limit on how far away the workers
live as a permanent feature in their lives, meaning
where they live from today to a year after completion
of the new airport building project. I suggest a 100
mile distance limit. Perhaps less is better?

And finally, even more important, I think the public
needs assurance that this is not some "cargo cult"
(use your favorite internet search engine on the
words) project where a means is provided for
commerce that has no hope of success. The need for
any new airport for Iron County needs to be justi-
fied in advance. I'm in favor of it, but I too want
proof.

Bill Vajk

New Iron County Airport - Chapter 2

Dateline June 23, 2009. Iron River, Michigan

The Iron County Commission met today. In a fairly
routine meeting they agreed to allow the Township
Association to use Pentoga Park for their annual
picnic and meeting free of charge by a vote of
three to one. Commissioners Black, Brunswick, and
Wills voted to allow the free use of the park.
Commissioner King voted no and Commissioner Lind
was absent.

The same issue was discussed approximately one year
ago and the Township Association was denied free
use of the park. This time after a somewhat lengthy
discussion, they decided to allow its use at no
charge.

Other items discussed were:

The Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development
Region will be holding their annual convention in
Iron County on Sept.21, 2009 at a still undecided
location.

Some discussion was held concerning the fact that
Houghton County has at least three incubator projects
underway and Iron County has none.

The commissioners voted to take no action on a
resolution forwarded to them by the Director of
the County Medical Facility supporting health care
reform. The implication was that the subject was
too complicated.

The new tenant of the Cooks Run Trout Hatchery did
send in his check per the agreement , but they have
not received the insurance policy which was part of
the agreement. On advice of civil attorney Tinti
they decided to set a deadline for its receipt.

They appointed commissioner Brunswick to the U.P.
State Fair Board.

Also, on the advice of civil counsel Tintil and EDC
Director Melchori they decided to draw up a contract
with the governmental units of the county outlining
their agreement to cooperate with the funding of the
EDC program and its director.

This reporter was told that he misreported the total
number of people attending the special meeting held
at Iron River Township Hall to gather support to
oppose the state's plan to close the prison camp in
the township. This reporter reported approx. 40
people in attendance, EDC director Melchori claimed
the figure was 60 +.

And finally on a suggestion by EDC director Melchori
and the county Chair King a motion was passed to
appoint a committee to study an airport feasibility
for Iron County.

Ben Smith publicly reported the existence of this
news organization to the Iron County Board.

Ben Smith

=========================================

Editor's comment:

We gladly report corrections to errors, or even possible
errors, that we publish.

I have previously commented on the need to simplify
the Economic Development Corporation's Mission Statement
to stick to creating jobs for county residents. The
fact that the Iron County Board commented, with a
negativity (in MY opinion) on the Houghton
incubator projects is unfair to the EDC given the broad
discretion the board itself has granted to the EDC. I
recommend that our earlier published Mission Statement
be formally adopted.

"If the mission statement stuck to "increasing job
opportunities for our residents" I'd be a whole
lot happier." (April 18, 2009) and apparently so
would the County Board.

Projects like Disk Golf need to be undertaken by Parks
and Recreation instead of the tourism negative projects
like a fee charging boat wash complete with enforcement
patrols by police officials.

Bill Vajk

Rule of Man v. Rule of Law, Page 3

Rule of Man v. Rule of Law, Page 3

Ludwig von Mises wote:

"The only certain fact about Russian affairs under
the Soviet regime with regard to which all people
agree is: that the standard of living of the Russian
masses is much lower than that of the masses in
the country which is universally considered as the
paragon of capitalism, the United States of America.
If we were to regard the Soviet regime as an experiment,
we would have to say that the experiment has clearly
demonstrated the superiority of capitalism and the
inferiority of socialism."

Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis by
Ludwig von Mises.

Found at: http://www.econlib/org/library/Mises/MsSApp.html

This was originally published in German in 1922 and
through several reprints in German as well as English
the last edition appeared as late as 1951. The impetus
of the book was socialism whereas this discussion is
about the Rule of Law. There is an overlap that occurs
naturally enough where, as in socialism, social, political,
and economic power are all focussed in a relatively few
individuals or at best a small group instead of being
spread across all of society as is normal for a capitalistic
democracy.

Von Mises work approached socioeconomic-political
problems from the viewpoint of discussing socialism
opposing capitalism. For our purposes the reader can
legitimately substitute "rule of man" in place of
socialism, because in the end that's how it works out.

For our discussion we also substitute Iron County compared
to the rest of the USA (or if one prefers, Iron County
compared to nearby economically successful counties) for
those used by von Mises.

The ONLY difference between Iron County and Dickinson,
or Vilas or Onida Counties is the effective operation of the
ruling political structure. While today's population in Iron
County is very low, that was brought about by how the
oligarchy operates and is kept that way by that same
oligarchy continues to operate.

Let's take a look at two proposed projects that are
supposed to help progress in Iron County, one favored
by the oligarchy, and one opposed by them.

Several years ago I proposed a trolley project

www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river

for Iron River that upon initial presentation was
favored by John Archocosky, City Manager, with the
following comments: 1: I like it, it will be good
for the city and the county. 2: Your timing is
perfect, streets and alleyways are going to be
redone and we'll include this project in that
planning and, 3: I'll help in any way I can.

Armed with this, I promoted the project for several
months until it became apparent that the project was
disapproved by the oligarchy because success would
mean they stood a chance of losing control of the
county, of their political power, when competitive
individuals became part of the political landscape
as a result of the money coming into the county and
an increase in the management caliber population

In the end, Archocosky used two mechanisms to defeat
that which he had initially promoted. He determined
that the trolley project would not be self-sustaining
out of generated revenue. Nothing in Iron County has
been able to achieve that status for the last 50 years.
Even such routine purchases as replacement police
cars depend on federal government grants. Armed with
that bit of information, Archocosky had the raw
information published by the local press (before this
organ was established) and he fed it through the well
established rumor mill as though a successful project
bringing prosperity into the city and county were an
unspeakable evil.

Compare this to the airport project that the population
spoke harshly against the last time the proposal was
made public. Despite the fact that the population was
generally opposed, the project has been ongoing all
the while. Even when a discussion about the new airport
ensued in a public meeting of the Iron County Board, it
was not reported in the newspaper or on the air of our
local radio station, WIKB.

Now the reason for not discussing it in the broad
distribution media was based on "not getting the
local gentry riled," but the disservice to the local
population is huge and is one aspect of "rule of
man v. rule of law."

A couple of years back I got myself in trouble with
the editor of the Iron County Reporter for calling
her function in the county that of a puppet controlled
by the puppet master. Well the best of all possible
forms of control happens when the person being
controlled has no sense of that reality. But here,
in the case of the airport project, you can see it
plainly enough. What was that about, "the wife is
always the last one to know"?

Here's the crux of the matter. It is the "rule of
men" intent on maintaining their own petty political
and economic power that holds Iron County in such a
grip of controlled poverty that also keeps our
population low and forces your children to leave the
community where they grew up in order to find work.

I keep showing you how it works. When will you, the
public, do something about it? Even those third world
Iranians aren't sitting still for precisely the same
sort of control that's being exercised over you, you
who allegedly live in a democratic society.

No, I'm not recommending insurrection in the streets,
but an active participation in government by more of
the population would easily wrest control of your
lives and economy from those who currently use it to
bolster their own egos and line their pockets at your
expense.

Drive by 766 Penetoga Trail to see how John Archocosky
lives on the income you provide him. And while you're
at it, ask him why he doesn't live in the City of Iron
River as the City Charter requires a City Manager to
do. The idea was that he should have to live under the
same ordinances and rules as the people he represents
in City Hall every day. Why have you permitted him to
skate on this?

Bill Vajk

County Commission Meeting & New Airport Discussion

This reporter attended the Iron County Commissioners
first monthly meeting.

Among other things discussed was the evaluation of
the veteran county administrator Jan Huizing, which
will be done as a committee of the whole. Mr. Huizing
told the board the he had asked them many times to set
some goals and targets for him, but as yet no metric
has been established.

County Planning Commission Chairman John Faccin reported
that the members his commission have refused to discuss
a plan for a new County Airport as requested by County
Commission Chair Rosalie King. Ms. King, the chair,
told Faccin that HE, not the members of the committee,
sets the agenda and directs which tasks are to be
undertaken by the Planning Commission.

In other matters, the chair informed other members of
the commission that she was authorized to make an
appointment to the County Housing Authority and it wasn't
necessary for her to advertise for applicants. Therefore
Ms. King appointed former associate and county
commissioner Lawrence Harrington to the post. Also
mentioned was the re-appointment of Michael Henschel to
the soldiers relief fund by Probate Judge C. Joseph
Schwedler .

Director of the Iron County Economic Development
Corporation (EDC), Julie Melchiori, gave the
commissioners copies of the new rules set by the
State of Michigan for the revolving fund managed
by the local EDCs.

Ben Smith

=======================================================

Commentary by Bill Vajk:

Neither WIKB news nor the Iron County Reporter has
discussed the re-emergence of planning for a new
airport.

The new airport issue, shouted down by some of the
Iron County population a few years ago, is back for
review and possibly implementation. I moved to Iron
County after the last big dispute over a new airport.

If you'll look at your Iron County plat book at
T.45N-R.33W you will find in Section 20, 4 quarter
sections marked "State of Michigan Airport." There
had been some discussion a while back about
attempting to bring this area into functional use
as a real airport. Older plat books do not show this
land as an airport.

It seems to me that there is a significant anti-
progress faction in this county, a faction that is
afraid of change of any sort. They do not represent
a significant voting block, but they are very vocal.
They need to appreciate that stopping progress is
much like trying to stop time itself. Things are
already very different in Iron County than they were
the day you were born, and change marches on, hand
in hand with time. The only one able to stop it is
the all powerful. In the history of mankind that
hasn't seemed to have ever happened.

Let's take another look at the basics. Building a
new airport isn't going to use money belonging to
anyone living in Iron County. It isn't going to be
on land belonging to anyone who lives in Iron County.
It will provide services to all living in Iron County,
either directly or indirectly. It is bound to bring
several new jobs to Iron County. And it will support
economic growth here.

You can't often get such a good deal.

Look in the back of a recent plat book. See how much
land is owned by the State of Michigan in Iron County.
Compare this list to any plat book from the 1970's or
1980's. Given the growth instate ownership of land in
the county, what is it you would have the state do with
the land in section 20 mentioned above? Leave it unused?
Or since it is possible to get a modern airport in Iron
County, and that isn't going to deplete even once cent
of your disposable income or alter your lifestyle in any
way, why not let that land become an airport that could
someday save your life with an emergency flight out of
our wonderful backwoods to Marshfield or perhaps to the
Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota? How about your child
or grandchild who could be saved if only we could get
them to one of those places in time?

I moved to Iron County because generally speaking the
people are friendly and the scenery is beautiful. I
certainly didn't come here to deal with people who have
issues locked into the 1880's. Perhaps the state would
lend us a nice piece of land and those who are afraid of
progress could live, for a month or two, in tents without
TV, radio, computer, electricity, automobile, prepared
ready-to-cook foods, to see how they like no progress
from the time the community was settled.

A new, up to date airport, with better runways, would be
of great benefit to Iron County. It is possible that
there is a conflict between the proposed airport site
and a military exercise zone.

Bill Vajk

Rule of Men v. Rule of Law: Enabling Rule of Men

It looks like this "Rule of Men v. Rule of Law"
discussion must naturally grow into a series of
articles because it deserves further discussion.
This article is not the last in the series, but
the second of many.

Subtitle: Enabling Rule of Men: groupthink as a mechanism

It begins with groupthink replacing individuality
and the healthy self-interest necessary for the
diversity that leads to economic success for a
community. The identified (and often published)
8 characteristics common to all groupthink
societies have been identified as:

1. Illusion of invulnerability
Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking
extreme risks.

2. Collective rationalization
Members discount warnings and do not reconsider
their assumptions.

3. Belief in inherent morality
Members believe in the rightness of their cause and
therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences
of their decisions.

4. Stereotyped views of out-groups
Negative views of “enemy” make effective responses
to conflict seem unnecessary.

5. Direct pressure on dissenters
Members are under pressure not to express arguments
against any of the group’s views.

6. Self-censorship
Doubts and deviations from the perceived group
consensus are not expressed.

7. Illusion of unanimity
The majority view and judgments are assumed to be
unanimous.

8. Self-appointed ‘mindguards’
Members protect the group and the leader from
information that is problematic or contradictory
to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions.

Here's the current specific example.

Ben Smith posted my first article about "Rule of Men
v. Rule of Law" to the local discussion group known
as Yahoo's IronCountyIndependent. That brought a
person identifying themselves as "Shadowman" out
of a very long period of silent lurking to make
the following posting:

"You know I do believe Bill is fighting a losing
battle here. His FOIA case has been dismissed along
with having the judge removed. By the way here's
the document that is missing from the SC web site."

He posted the wrong file, later corrected by Ben
Smith who posted my copy at:

www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/ADM_file_no_2007-01.pdf

To this "Shadowman" replied:

"Sorry for the wrong file. Thanks for posting the
correct one for it kind of blows Bill's argument
that Schwedler is not the judge of record and
should not be hearing his case. Shadow"

And as if it weren't enough, John Faccin was unable
to pass up the opportunity by piping in:

"Hi Shadow,
It’s been a long time, I knew you were reading the
site, we may be of different persuasion, but your
opinion or facts are always welcome here. Good to
hear from you."

(John's posting begs the question, whose opinions
and facts are NOT welcome at the IronCountyIndependent?
That's answered by items 4 and 5 in the list above.)

John is the little pest best ignored. I've included
him in this article to demonstrate how it is that
even the bottom feeders like him fit into the
groupthink/rule-of-men scheme.

But back to the main topic, what we see is "Shadowman"
distracting the readers on IronCountyIndependent by
misleading them to think that the main issue is
Judge Schwedler and the FOIA lawsuit against
John Archocosky. Actually, very few of them have
any idea what that aspect of the discussion is about.
It hasn't been in the news.

This pair of "Shadowman's" short little "humble"
postings are active propaganda demonstrating how items
1 and 2 in the list above work . And when you get right
down to it, this sort of activity is the only reason
for "Shadowman" participating in any way in
IronCountyIndependent, to catch such political items
and to misguide the readers there to believe in the
viewpoints most beneficial to the political crooks in
charge of Iron County politics.

The referenced web page is actually evidence of
wrongdoing by the Michigan Supreme Court. If
you, the reader, is interested in how that could
be, please read Article VI of the Michigan
Constitution. If you're still having a problem
with it, wait a few weeks since the details will
be posted on the newly promised web page.

It is obvious from John Faccin's comments (he can
sometimes be useful despite himself, kind of like
Iron County's own Joe Biden) that "Shadowman" has
not been participating in the discussions for
a long time period. It is thus obvious that
"Shadowman" only comes out of hiding to guide
people's thinking back to what is in his, and
his political cronies interests. That's what
groupthink is all about.

In this community, the original political power
was in the hands of the agents of the mining
interests. And since they held the purse strings,
control of the population was really easy. The
mines did what they always did, control everything
to best maintain the peace, high production, and
maximize profits. Once the resources are all
used up, or the economy changes, they move on.

Once the mines left, those who didn't flee the
region when the mines closed were already accustomed
to being told what to think and what to do. It took
very little for their successors to step in and take
over. It continues through today. "Shadowman" is
enabling the Rule of Men by convincing the readers
to believe that his position is what is best for
them. Needless to say, it isn't.

Here's by far the best part. "Shadowman" and his
political cronies (including John Faccin) are
lining their pockets with your money and working
to promote their personal wealth, while I have
only the politics expressed by the Founding
Fathers as a weapon, and have no personal political
or financial advantage available from expressing my
beliefs.

I do have to wonder why anyone would give any
attention to a ;ocal politician who hides behind
a name like "Shadowman." If he had honest and
honorable intentions, shouldn't he or she be
posting under their own name. Shouldn't that
person be taking credit, in his or her own name,
for all ideas they claim are righteous?

Bill Vajk

What Does Jim Dellies Know that we do not?

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

click here

displays a copy of the latest warranty deed for
the Travelur's Motel on US2 just west of the
City of Iron River.

The motel has 18 shabby units (I last stayed there
as a visitor to Iron County in December of 2000)
and an old trailer/family unit in the back along
with a regular owner/manager home at the front of
the motel.

The place has been unused for several years. All
the through-the-wall air conditioners are over
sized which leaves the rooms cold but muggy in
the summer. The bathrooms are dated to the 1950's
and the tile work and plumbing fixtures are in
poor condition throughout. The beds vary from
unit to unit, with room #1 having the worse of
everything, as though the worse was gathered into
one place an let only as a last resort when the
place was full. Maintenance was the lowest
priority with the Panero couple who last owned
and opwerated the place.

After their deaths, the "gallery" that had at one
time in the distant past been the original Alice's
Restaurant was torn down as it had rotted to such
an extent from the leaking roof that it was not
repairable.

It is clear that Dellies paid only $60,000 for the
motel and the property. In better economic times
that would have been a bargain if the new owner
could make repairs and upgrades over a longer
time period while some reasonable number of
rooms could be let to tourists. The outdoor in the
ground pool has not been used in some years, thus
its condition is unknown.

But today the tourism that could support the motel
is almost non-existent. One has only to routinely
pay attention to the number of vehicles at the
AmericInn in town to discover that we have very
few guests staying in Iron River. Most of the
year the Ice Lake Motel has many vacancies.

And look at the number of shuttered motels in
Iron County. All of this points to a dismal
future for tourism in Iron County. But Mr.
Dellies bought the motel anyway.

So what does Jim Dellies know that we do not?
And is that knowledge "insider", being
unavailable to the general public? I cannot
imagine that Mr. Stupak's congressional aid
is a fool, so he must have some sort of an angle
for buying the place, some reason that he believes
the investment will make him a profit where the
opposite is conventional wisdom.

I don't begrudge anyone being clever enough to
legitimately see an opportunity that others
miss, and I sincerely hope that's what's
happening.

Bill Vajk

Senator Carl Levin Ignores the Voters

I sent Michigan's Senator Carl Levin a letter discussing
the Michigan court system. In response I received a very
patronizing letter that can be found at:

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

It is clear to me that Senator Levin did not have any
concern for the problems in his home state. This is
NOT what we want from our elected representatives.

If he can't get something this simple right, what can
we expect of him when it comes to the bigger issues?

Bill Vajk

Rule of Men v. Rule of Law

Today is the anniversary of D Day, of 1944 when the
Allies stormed on to the Normandy beaches starting
the major offensive that ended World War II.

I was a child of 4 at the time. We didn't hear about
it because the Germans had forced the surrender of
all radio equipment capable of picking up allied
broadcasts. The Germans maintained complete control
over what news the people living under their rule
could receive. But the events of that day reshaped
the future, all our futures.

When the World War II ended, my mother did the
paperwork and got us, her three children, transported
to the USA by military transport. First to Paris
aboard a military version of the DC3 airplane, and
subsequently to New York abord the M.S. Gripsholm on
her final journey as a confiscated (from the Swedish-
American lines) troop carrier and a war bride transport
after the war.

With the outbreak of war in Europe in September of 1939,
a mere 3 months before I was born, such rule of law as
existed instantly converted to the rule of men for the
duration of the war, and for much of Europe, for a
period totaling 50 years under various regimes controlling
the different regions.

It was this rule of men that my mother escaped fairly
quickly, though my father, who was not yet an American
citizen, followed as soon as he was able to acquire
sufficient funds to bribe the Russian officer charged
with determining who could leave the country, and who
could not.

If the rule of men had not existed, he never could have
escaped what ensued. But then, if it hadn't been a rule
of men, none of us would have needed to escape in the
first place.

When my dad arrived many months after we did, he was
fortunate enough to be well educated and have saleable
skills that resulted in him picking up right where he
left off, in the petroleum business as an exploration
geophysicist for EXXON (in those days, ESSO.)



So we escaped the rule of men by coming to the USA where
the rule of law guides our lives.

Or does it?

It seems to me that the rule of law is in control of most
of the United States of America.

However I have become aware that once I moved into Iron
County Michigan, the rule of men that I had escaped in
1945 by moving to the USA, has found me again. And just
as my parents found it intolerable in 1945, I now find
it intolerable inside the USA, specifically in Iron County,
in 2009.

Beginning some time next week I will have a new web page
dedicated to discussing how the rule of men stands in
opposition to the rule of law here in Iron County, Michigan,
as a prelude to building the legal complaints that will
be brought against various government entities in Iron
County before the federal courts since it is impossible
to achieve rule of law court verdicts in the present
circumstances in Iron County, Michigan.

Before I undertook my FOIA lawsuit against John Archocosky
in Michigan's 41st Judicial Circuit I provided ample warning to
Archocosky and the city mayor Zanon. They ignored my
warnings just as Judge C. Joseph Schwedler in Iron County
has chosen to do. I also advised Mike Cox, the Michigan
Attorney General, Judge Celello of Iron Mountain, Governor
Jennifer Grandholm (Michigan) as well as the Michigan
Supreme Court. Nobody is paying attention.

For their part, the Supreme Court has removed some of the
evidence against them from the internet, a document called
"ADM File No. 2007-01" but no matter, others besides
myself have seen it before it was removed and copies are
extant.

So this is a combined disclosure about my past as well
as a promise of some of what the future holds for
those personally invested in imposing the rule of
men on this community, and on me.

Bill Vajk

Local Prison to Close.

6 June 2009:

The State of Michigan has decided to close all their
minimum security prisons, including the one in Iron
River Township.

Bill Vajk

Iron River Twp. Town Hall Meeting

I attended the "old fashioned Town Hall Meeting"
last night at the I.R. Twp. Hall. The purpose
was to solicit support of the people for keeping
the local state prison, Camp Ottawa, open during
this period of cutbacks.

A very thorough discussion about the prison and
what that facility means to the township and the
county was presented by several people.

Officials in attendance were:

Gov. Grandholm's U.P. Rep.
State Representative - Mike Lahti
Lobbyist - Ron Basso
Supervisor - Mark Polley
Twp. Treasurer - Clements

The only Township official not introduced was
a Mr. Piwaraski,

Commander Shovald of the MSP.
Sheriff - Mark Valesano
City Mgr. Caspian - Richard Frighetto
Mayor of Iron River - Roger Zanon
Iron River City Councilman - Ray Coates
Iron River City Manager - John Archocosky
Former City Manager (Stambaugh) - Silven
Iron County Edc=A0Director - Julie Melchori
Iron County Commissioner - Rosalie King
Chamber of Commerce & EDC - Bill Leonoff
Township Attorney - Steve Polich

The Warden from Marinisco Prison Camp,
that oversees Camp Ottawa.

Notable by his absence was George Brunswick, the
district representative on the Iron County Board
of Commissioners. Four reporters from various
information media were also in attendance.

If your humble reporter has inadvertently omitted
anyone who was present, please phone Ben Smith.
The number is listed.

These (20) twenty listed above, there as a natural
business matter, comprised almost 50% of the forty-
three people I counted in attendance.

An unnamed City of Iron River official could not
confirm or deny that they were being paid for
attending. The Township Supervisor confirmed that
all Township officials attended gratis.


Ben Smith

==================================================

According to the 2000 census, Iron River Township
had 1585 people. We can safely assume that there
has not been a major change in that number. If all
43 people in attendance had been township residents
(and only about 1/2 of them were) we had a
representation of 2.7% of the total population
showing support by caring enough to attend a meeting.
That's not a very large showing and in my opinion
not very convincing of local support for the prison.

Bill Vajk

Faccin's Fit of Pique

John Faccin has been working for some time now as chairman
of Iron County Parks and Recreation in order to move the
presently free boat landing into Pentoga Park, install a
boatwash, and charge a launching fee. This has been a makework
project for John who was hired to fill a position on a new
political entity made necessary by the County Board's desire
to sell of some recreational property. John's group was to
meet once or twice a year and essentially be nothing more
than a silent window dressing as a political expedient. Instead
John grabbed the bit between his teeth and has been running
hard in an attempt to gain some political clout.

As recently reported in the Iron Mountain Daily News, Faccin
laid out his plans at a recent County Board of Commissioners
meeting, but the plans were inadequate. The Board decided to
seek engineering proposals, a move that displeased Faccin.

Later in the meeting, with the agenda item he under which he
had made his presentation already exhausted, he returned
during the "public comment" period to state his displeasure
at the board's decision. Some of the newspaper text on this
aspect follows"

"During the public comment section, Faccin expressed his
disappointment at the board's decision. 'We do have the
funds for this,' he said. 'We need to get started on
construction, or this will not get finished this year.'

"He pointed out that the $10,000 estimate for the boat
wash construction was likely an over estimate, and that
the extra money could be put toward other parts of the
project."

How much longer will it be before Faccin wears out his welcome?
Faccin has no project planning or management experience that
we know of, but he's insisting that the County Board give him
a free hand to run a project he apparently little understands.

Thank heavens the County Board got this one right.

Bill Vajk

Prison and Thanks to the Road Commission

Because of previous commitments I had only a brief
time to devote to the Friday (May 29th) Iron River
Township Town Hall Meeting in support of retaining
the state prison. Thanks to Mark Polley and Ron Basso
who allowed me to collar them for a brief hallway
meeting that allowed me to present the outline of
a proposal I had to make to them about the prison.

I had previously never heard that there is sawmill
training operation at the prison till this prison
closing discussion brought the information into the
wider public sphere. I think it is a shame that a
state owned facility like that is only available
to prisoners when industrial training is invaluable
to people living in this region. So I have urged
Messrs. Polley and Basso to work quickly to field
a plan, perhaps in concert with Michigan Works, to
improve the utilization of the sawmill as a trade
school for the region in addition to training
prisoners. Improved utilization of the state owned
facility might be what it takes to keep the prison
open.

While I have your attention, I want to thank and
congratulate the members of the new Iron County
Road Commission (elected last November.) For the
first time in several years, after the spring
grading of Kallio Road, it was not only a super
good job but it also has the crown it is
supposed to have and doesn't have water retaining
berms at the road edges. I believe the situation
with our Iron County roads is looking up.

Bill Vajk

About Our Lobbyist

So we have a lobbyist in our midst. This brings to mind the
elementary question, how does he fit into the scheme of
things? Even more basic is the question, "Who does
Ron Basso work for?"

Well Ron works for himself. His income derives from work that he
does, so in order to generate a better income he has to sell himself
and the benefits of his work. Then he runs to Lansing, and attempts
to sell whatever his client wants to achieve.

If there aren't enough projects about to make ends meet, Ron is
forced to invent some. Is that what we want?

What did this community do before Ron and his wife came "home"
to Iron River? Are we better off having Ron intercede on our
behalf? And how does anyone measure the results? Are the people
who hire Ron incapable of achieving the same results with a bit
of work on their own part? If not, are they the right people for the
job they're in?


Bill Vajk

Irrational Hatred has an underlying cause

Some years ago while bopping about in the Government Printing
Office Bookstore in Chicago I happened on a book called "Drug
Abuse and Drug Abuse Research. The Third Triennial Report to
Congress from the Secretary, Department of Health and Human
Services." This book has proved to be such a treasure trove
of information that the Department of HEW simply reissued the
same book when the next two editions were due to be published.
And now, fortunately, it is available on line for free.

You can find a description and a hot link to download the
entire book at click here

The PDF version of the book is some 20 megabytes so a high
speed broadband connection is desirable.

The reason I recommend this book is because, among other
things, it describes the prevalence of mental illness among
substance abusers, from alcohol through the really hard
stuff. The book also points out that for the most part,
those who abuse substances had an underlying mental illness
before they added the burden of substance abuse to their
problems. Not only that, but that there is a statistical
correlation between the type of substance of choice, and
the specifics of the related mental illness.

What the book doesn't cover, but I have found in a
limited number of cases I've personally observed, is that
deep seated long term irrational hatred is invariably
comorbid with a dual diagnosis of substance abuse and
mental illness. The saddest part, in my opinion, is that
such hatred only manifests in high functioning individuals.
And since this is an opinion of mine, I'll go so far as
to say that such hatred is quite simply a redirected
self-loathing that allows the individual with the problems
to function as well as they do.

I could easily name a handfull or two of such individuals
I've encountered in my lifetime, but to do so would be of
no benefit to anyone. I mention this matter here because
I've seen it in Iron County in a higher proportion than I
have in other places I've lived. I suspect this is because
there is less of an opportunity for success in this
economically depressed region.

Bill Vajk

slowed down a bit

I apologize to the readers of this publication that the postings
have slowed down a bit of late. I've had a busy April with my
FOIA lawsuit against John Archocosky in the Iron County
Circuit Court.

The present flap has to do with whether or not the Honorable
C. Joseph Schwedler sits on the Circuit Court Bench legally or
not. I have moved to disqualify him from that judicial position
because he has been elected Probate Judge for Iron County,
and his appointment falls outside the methods permitted by
the Michigan Constitution.

For obvious reasons, I will not get into the details, but
there is a public record available to anyone at the Iron
County Courthouse. Since the information there is a part
the public record, I have put that document, asking that
Judge Schwedler be disqualified, on a publicily accessible
web page at:

click_here

Other articles will finally wind their way through the
process here at IronCountyDoings and should appear
next week.

Thanks for your patience.

Bill Vajk
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Anonymous Comments

I got another anonymous diatribe last night, on
Friday evening, April 17th, from someone who
apparently has nothing better to do with a
Friday evening. It was a local politico
sock-puppet expounding all the great things
achieved by our illustrious Economic Development
Corporation. I can see where some people might
be convinced that all is marvelous in Iron
County, Michigan, but those folks are easily
misled.

One of my complaints about the Iron County EDC
has been the mission statement.

"To implement strategies that will increase job
opportunity, tax base and quality of life within
the county of Iron."

If the mission statement stuck to "increasing job
opportunities for our residents" I'd be a whole
lot happier. An analysis of the other segments of
the existing mission statement yields some not-so-
very-nice stuff.

First we need to recognize that the Iron County
EDC is 100% government funded, so whatever the EDC
does is the county government doing it. Looking at
what they do to increase the tax base, what we see
is programs that take state money and spend it
locally in order to increase property values in
order to collect more in property taxes. When a
business person improves the facade on their
building, does that improve their sales and profit
pictures? Not when nothing else happens! In fact
a nice looking up to date building is less apt to
draw tourist dollars than a somewhat run down one.

Tourists generally live in regions where all the
buildings they see daily are attractive and up to date.
Why would they come to Iron County to experience the
same things they already have at home? What do we have
that's unique enough to be worth visiting?

The last part of the mission statement is strictly
none of the government's business in the first place.
Where does Iron County get off improving the quality
of life anyway? That's never an appropriate expenditure
of our tax dollars.

Iron County needs only one thing that will accomplish
the entire mission statement, and that is good paying
jobs. Not minimum wage stuff and part time work like
the Call Center, but real, productive jobs paying at
least $50,000 a year with the usual (for the rest of
the USA) fringe benefits. Increased property values
and an improved quality of life will follow naturally.

And contrary to the opinion of our local Economic
Developer, those jobs don't even need to be inside
Iron County! Anywhere that our residents are willing
to commute to a job works just fine. After Niagara
Mill closed it was discovered that about half the
employees live in Dickinson County, and some live
in Florence County. Mrs. Melchiori's stated view
that our economy isn't regional is severely myopic.

As I read down the list that the Julie Melchiori
sock-puppet typed in as an anonymous comment, all
I see is the repetition of the same old story about
all the busy work that the Iron County EDC has
engaged in, while there's no mention of even a
single job that's been created in recent times.

Remember the "Where's the Beef?" commercials on TV
a few years back? I see EDC spending its budget on
all sorts of things, but:

Where's the jobs?

Bill Vajk
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Meeting April 14, 2009 at Bay College West

The Upper Menominee River Entrepreneurs and Inventors
Club is an organization supported by the economic
development organs of three counties, Dickinson in
Michigan, and Florence and Marinette in Wisconsin. I
am pleased to support their endeavors in trying to improve
the economic situation in this part of the world.

Their next meeting is in Iron Mountain on April 14, 2009.
I've scanned in their most current blurb and posted it at:

http://www.angelfire.com/planet/iron-river/e_igrp004.pdf

I am convinced that economics are regional, not local.
Unfortunately for those of us living in Iron County, our
Economic Developer, Julie Melchiori, believes that our
economy stops at the county border and said as much
in a public meeting I was running last summer. It might
be helpful if the local news media played to what Julie
and the Iron County Economic Development
Corporation actually achieved in the last six months
rather than replaying the old story of the Amasa
sawmill that took too long to bring on line and
repeating how wonderful the mostly minimum wage/no
fringe benefits "Call Center" has been for the community.
Aggrandizing the people in various county offices doesn't
do anything to help the situation. It would be far better
for all of us if our other media (that means besides this
publication you're reading right now) were critical of the
continuing failures instead of grasping on to every minor
straw of success that floats by and republishing those
stories again and again.

In the end it is up to us, individually. All that is really
available is self-help and the only idea machine in the
region seems to be, in my opinion, outside of
Iron County in the group I'm referring the reader to
in this article.

For some time I've been an advocate of an exploratory
discussion group that would discover how to go about
recognizing business opportunities that are available to
us without a major capital investment. I'm going to work
towards organizing something like that in the near future.

In the meantime, please attend the April 14th meeting at
6PM at Bay College West in Iron Mountain. Perhaps some of
your hopes and dreams of success can get a jump-start there.

Bill Vajk
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Teaser? Not Really.

In the next few weeks this blog will reveal, with direct
evidence, illegal acts of some public officials. While we
have several ready to go, it will take a bit of time to
write them up and have the evidence in hand in a
publishable format.

Please welcome Ben Smith of Iron River as an associate
editor on this web site. The first report on the illegal
doings will come from Ben.

We also welcome reports of illegal activities by pubic
officials from the public. Your name can be part of the
story, or not, as you wish. But clear evidence of the
wrongdoing must be available and you must provide
proof along with the story before it can be published
here. All stories will be verified by us before
publication for the obvious reason that false accusation
could result in being the defendant in a lawsuit.

In between, we will continue with our regular genre.
The first of those has to do with Orwell's 1984 and
our increasingly rapid advance to the point that such
a life becomes very easily possible. Contributions to
and ideas relevant to that story are welcome. Please
feel free to send email to bill.vajk@gmail.com on
the matters discussed here, and any other stories you
think relevant to this venue.

Bill Vajk
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Now a Registered Serial Publication

This web site, IronCountyDoings received its
National Serials Data Program registration
as a serial publication. The registration
number will become a permanent fixture on
the web page. That number is ISSN 1947-1475

Bill Vajk
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City of Iron River Management Commentary

I decided to memorialize the January 21, 2009,
comments issued by the City of Iron River
City Manager without further comment until
the lawsuit is finally settled. They are
posted here as a matter of record.

The following text is publicly available on
the City of Iron River' web page at this time.

================================================

On December 29th, I was served personally at my home,
with a Summons and Complaint from the Circuit Court
for the County of Iron. Plaintiff, Mr. William J. Vajk,
filed a Freedom of Information request on December 1st
with the City Clerk, requesting 5 different pieces of
information relative to City ordinances, along with
substantial supporting documentation. Following the
City’s FOIA Policy, the staff estimated the costs of
researching, locating, and copying the information
requested. As required in the FOIA Policy, we advised
Mr. Vajk that we believed the information he requested
would cost approximately $60 to try to locate, and
then produce copies. Mr. Vajk responded by complaining
the costs were too high. Much of the supporting
information he was requesting however, required that
it be located and retrieved from the City’s document
storage area, which had been packed away during the
consolidation of the three communities back in 2000.
Keep in mind that at the time of consolidation, the
files from all three communities were simply placed
in unmarked boxes, delivered to 2nd level of the
former City Fire Hall and stacked on the floor.
There were literally thousands of documents deposited
in this fashion to the storage area. Mr. Vajk
apparently believed the City was being unreasonable
in estimating the cost of retrieving the information,
and filed a law suit against me personally. This
matter has now been turned over to Attorney Susan
MacGregor from Marquette who will be representing
the City of Iron River in this litigation.
Apparently Mr. Vajk, who is a land owner but not
a resident of the City, claims this is the first
of “many” such demands and suits he plans against
the City. It is unfortunate that the FOIA law,
that was intended to provide access to our
government, is often abused by some individuals
and ends up costing taxpayers both time and
dollars to satisfy the whims of one or two
individuals who simply have an “axe to grind”.
Hopefully the legal matter will be satisfied
without excessive expenses to our City residents.
====================================================

Posted by Bill Vajk on March 22, 2009
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The Death of Yahoo's IronCountyWatch group

It seems that the Iron County Watch discussion group
has finished its run. It existed for about 5 years. I
quit the group some time back in November of 2007
because it was, for me, a waste of time better spent
in other ways. The best responses ever mustered there
were based in what I considered to be ignorant dissent,
the worse were truly vacant hate pieces.

I looked in on the group the only way a non-member could,
at the top page that gives the mission statement, the
size of the membership, and the number of posts by month.
The final record I have was from March 3, 2009 when there
were 182 members (down from a long term stable membership
of 183). By March 9th there were 27 postings for the month
which is slightly over 3 per day. The group, unless I was
a member and posting there, never did very well with the
usual level of participation resulting between 2 and 3
posts a day with a national election cycle peak of more
than 8 per day during September of 2008. I guess it is
possible to excite a few folks in Iron County after all.

The good news is that I saved an older posting I was
directed to while I was still a member. It was posted
on November 28, 2005 by the alias

"gustlehtin" .

It was signed at the bottom by "Poor Richard."

"Poor Richard's Almanac" was published in colonial
America by Ben Franklin.

I was told that the original of this piece, that has
an date of February 1996, was distributed around the
region by someone slipping copies into mailboxes in
Iron County. The main villain in the piece is
John Archocosky, currently the City Manager of
Iron River.

It was a tad on the offensive side, that is to
say--it was a severely critical piece, so I hesitate
to post it to a public page in my name. I would put
it on an angelfire web page, but the difficulty
there is that at the first "terms of service"
complaint from anyone, Lycos/angelfire kills the
web page. I am not going to sacrifice any of
those pages I've had up for several years now.

If you'd like this Poor Richard piece I'll be
glad to email it on request. I will ignore random
unidetifiable email addresses. I'll have to know
who you are before I'll send it to you as an HTML
file.

As far as the death of IronCountyWatch goes, it
was poorly managed and I am told that someone
posted a bunch of naked porn pictures there,
causing the owners to pull the plug on it.

Please note that the long term membership had
been stable for at least a couple of years so
far as I could tell looking at the stats page.
So it seems likely to me that someone who took
exception to the contents of the group wrecked
it on purpose. One of the issues that caused it
to almost be killed off a few years back was an
explicit discussion about homosexuality. In fact
the mission statement was modified at that time
to include the following statement:

"You will notice the yahoo chat icon...use it for
issues that don't really belong here, to talk to
other members, those issues being the
"homosexuality issue" as one of them."

What became the IronCountyIndependent was spun
off at at that time as a place where all discussions
were permitted. So it seems very strange to me that
that web page became a bastion of fundamental
Christian discussions.

These events lend validity to my decision to keep
a greater degree of control over the several blogs
I offer to the community. It doesn't take many
warped minds to wreck a good thing, and heaven
knows we have our share of them in the county,
with a goodly representation of them in political
offices in Iron County.

Well written emailed articles will find a home
here. I'll post them even if I disagree with them,
but I reserve the right to reply.

Bill Vajk
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About Patriotism

I've had a number of concerns about WLUC TV6's
management of the public blog they've created
to allow people to voice their opinions. Here
are "the rules" at the top of their page:

"Below, you will find letters to TV6. They could be
anything from a story written by you which we were
unable to cover, to comment or complaint about a
story TV6 has done.

"Readers will also have the option to comment on
the letters that are posted.

"We will not post any letters written under an
anonymous name. Also, the letters should contain
no profanity or personal attacks."

They can make up any rules they want to. And they
have, but there's some sort of other agenda they
play with that isn't state or obvious. Here's an
example of what I mean. Take a look at:

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=272355

That's a story by a Vietnam era veteran, wheelchair
bound from his service to our country. He went to
some local athletic events and the team disrespected
the national anthem and the salute to the flag. He
objected to their coach, and he's objecting in writing
on their web page.

WLUC posted personal attacks and dissent, but nothing
supporting the veteran's viewpoint. I sent something
supportive but otherwise neutral, and it was rejected.

Their statement that "Readers will also have the option
to comment on the letters that are posted" is not true.
Readers who write what WLUC thinks should be the story
will have the option to comment. Not very clever at all.

When Iron County had a recall effort against several
members of the County Board because of the poor treatment
that board afforded veterans here, WLUC came out against
the recall.

I have no further use for WLUC. They could never survive
as a commercial entity in any situation where they had
to compete with other TV stations. I've offered other
things in the past that were rejected for no real reason
other than what I wrote didn't meet their agenda.

We have a similar problem with our local newspaper. Both
these "media outlets" are as much in the business of
making local news as they are in the business of creating
and slanting it to fit some arbitrary paradigm of their
choosing.

Bill Vajk
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Help Get That Rumor Started! (modified Mar 3, 2009)

A funny thing happened the other day. I heard a rumor about

myself. "Bill Vajk is out to destroy Iron River," it said. I

confess to a few things I do want to destroy.

A good starting point is to destroy a city government

mentality that has city crews out mowing grass they decide

is "unsightly" instead of concerning themselves with child safety.

Why aren't the sidewalks up and down US2 from the Middle

School cleared of snow? Will it take a child slipping down

one of the snowbanks and being killed or maimed before

city government decides to prioritize child safety?

I also want to destroy the mindset that has the city charging

10% late charge, compounding to 314% per year, to the

poor soul that loses his job and suddenly can't pay his

monthly water/trash bill. And when someone doesn't pay

it because they're suddenly out of work, not only does the

city shut off your water, but they keep charging $25 a

month for water you're not using, right along with the

mounting late fees. It doesn't take long for the city to

totally wreck a homeowner's finances, and for what? To

make sure they have the money to mow your grass if

it gets a little high while not 50 feet away the weeds

grow 6 feet tall on city property?

Yes, I confess to having some amount of desire for

destruction in my heart, probably the very same things

you want to see destroyed, while keeping the good

things we have. The trouble is that if my concern about

these things spilled over and people started voicing their

concerns in City Council meetings, the next rumor would

be, "Bill Vajk is inciting a riot."

Please, please, help get that rumor started!

====================================

The above was submited to the Iron County Reporter

and the Iron Mountain Daily News newspapers. On

Saturday, February 27, 2008, the Daily News published

my letter with a minor omission. The cut out the part about

6 foot weeds growing withn 50 feet on City property.

We'll know tomorrow how the Iron County Reporter felt

about it the letter.

Bill Vajk

Modification - March 3, 2009

Not too long after I arrived in Iron River I had a

discussion with Allyce Westphal, now the editor

of the Iron County Reporter. She told me she's

always looking for a well written piece.

While the Iron Mountain Daily News published

the above as an opinion letter, it was decided

"not fit to print" by the Iron County Reporter.

Well that came as no surprise. The Reporter

seems to be just as sensitive about criticism

of local governments as the elected officials

who are misbhaving.

The press needs to be independent to be

effective as one prong in the balance of

power between the people and the

government. Instead, it seems to me that

the local paper merely wants to be

profitable. That's par for the course in

Iron County, Michigan.

Bill Vajk

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