Friday, September 28, 2012
Ben Smith's latest letter - 9/28/2012
Associate Editor of this publication, Ben Smith,
has sent the following letter to the hard copy
news outlets in the Iron River region. Although
your humble correspondent disagrees with many
of his viewpoints, we give voice to them here on the
basis that our publication is as non-partisan as we
are able to make it and will endeavor to provide
for the dissemination of all viewpoints including
those I personally disagree with.Ben was appointed
associate editor for this publication with my full
knowledge of his political leanings because to do
otherwise would be a head-in-the-sand approach
to life.
To augment Mr. Smith’s viewpoint we publish,
without adding further political comment here,
the contents of the proposed constitutional
amendment.
==================================
To the Editor:
Yesterday I received a campaign flyer from
a group called " Protecting Michigan Taxpayers"
asking me to vote NO on Prop. 2. They cited
several letters as their reasons for opposing it
It turns out the letters were from the Mich. Atty.
Gen. and are only ONE MAN'S OPINION until
they are upheld by a court of law. This group is
located in Grand Rapids, Mich. @ 10 Monroe
Center, Suite 201.
Members of my family lived through the times of
the "Sit in strikes at Briggs Manufacturing" in the
Detroit area and the lockouts at other plants in
manufacturing areas, and the confrontations at
the "River Rouge Bridge" when the Michigan
Nat'l Guard was called out to disperse the strikers!
I encourage everyone to think carefully about the
purpose behind Prop 2. All the people of Iron
County have to do is look at their neighbors in
Wisconsin where their Govenor attemped to
balance the State budget on the backs of working
men and women!
Ben Smith
====================================
The proposed constitutional amendment appears on
the proof ballot at:
http://tinyurl.com/8p5f8rd
===================================
A PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE STATE
CONSTITUTION REGARDING COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING
This proposal would:
- Grant public and private employees the constitutional
right to organize and bargain collectively through labor
unions.
- Invalidate existing or future state or local laws that limit
the ability to join unions and bargain collectively, and to
negotiate and enforce collective bargaining agreements,
including employees’ financial support of their labor
unions. Laws may be enacted to prohibit public
employees from striking.
- Override state laws that regulate hours and conditions
of employment to the extent that those laws conflict with
collective bargaining agreements.
- Define “employer” as a person or entity employing one
or more employees.
Should this proposal be approved?
====================================
Please review the ramifications and choose well when
voting on every issue.
Bill Vajk
Iron BOC - 9/25/2012
Chicaugon Lake - Again
The Chicaugon Lake milfoil, use license, boat launch,
enforcement, and camera issues came up again at the
September 25 Iron County Commission open meeting.
At an earlier meeting it was disclosed that a camera
had been placed to capture images of the boat launch
and that no authority had been granted by the county
or Stambaugh Township for the device.
It took a few weeks to bring forth an individual to
assume all political and legal fallout that could result
from the placement of the camera that had been
removed before the September 11 meeting. On the
25th, John Archocosky, former Iron River City
manager and formerly on the County Road
Commission Board, (among other things) and a
lakefront property owner stated that he had, without
authority or support from anyone, installed the camera,
and subsequently removed it. But on Sept 11, Joe
Shubat, a Chicaugon Lake Association member,
informed the County Board that the camera had
been emplaced to discourage vandalism, and he also
stated that it had been removed.
While Archocosky acknowledged that he accepts
full responsibility for the acts, it remains clear that
there's more to this episode than he has stated,
because clearly at least one additional member of the
Lake Association knew all about it, and what two
people know usually rapidly becomes common
knowledge in a small community like the lakefront
property owners.
But then, some of us have witnessed Mr. Archocosky's
antics before. Your humble correspondent believes that
the “idle hands are the devil's workshop” might have
played a role in this episode and we look forward to
more of the same now that Archocosky has “retired.”
Fortunately for all, the events took place on public
property where any expectation of privacy is debatable.
A second issue regarding the current Stambaugh Township
ordinance and enforcement of the ordinance surfaced
during the meeting of the 25th that was well attended by
an estimated 60 citizens. One citizen stated he was filing
a lawsuit regarding the issuance of a complaint by
Stambaugh Township when his vehicle towing a boat
trailer was parked in the public access parking lot
without a requisite showing that township mandated
fees for boat launch had been paid.
The individual, inadvertently or otherwise, apparently
set a trap for township law enforcement by parking a
vehicle with a boat trailer while having left his boat at
home. Township law enforcement presumes, when
seeing a vehicle and trailer in those circumstances, that
an actual boat launch had been made. In this case that
premise was not true.
Unfortunately, for anyone who becomes involved in
any legal action in the Iron County Unified Trial Court,
appearing under these or any similar circumstances
before Judge Schwedler creates a very iffy situation
where trumped-up charges, at least as often as not,
results in a court finding favoring whoever is in the
court's good graces rather than on the actual merits
of the case.
And that, brings us to another issue. Schwedler is
elected only as probate court judge. The Michigan
Supreme Court assigns him the function of overseeing
trials in both a district court and a circuit court setting,
while the real courts of jurisdiction for Iron County
exist in nearby Iron Mountain. This assignment is
periodically made with a termination corresponding
to the election cycle.
The practice finds some authority in a state
constitutional amendment that is subsequently
misappropriated by the Michigan Supreme Court which
repeatedly assigns Schwedler a "temporary"
appointment that constructively becomes permanent.
Iron County Doings urges the state legislature to set a
one election cycle (4 years) term limit for any judge
who accepts an appointment to a "unified trial court"
position anywhere in the state with no possibility of
reelection to any judgeship in Michigan later on[1].
The concentration of judicial power to a single judge in
a county like ours is not good for its citizens, and long
term judgeships of this sort in a small community readily
lend themselves to the careless creation of fiefdoms
lacking appropriate oversight or correction. Lord Acton
was quite correct in his observation that “power corrupts”
and the conventional extensions of the concept are equally
true in this instance.
The fortuitous outcome of the September 25 meeting
relevant to Chicaugon Lake was the dissolution of any prior
agreements about lake use regulations between Iron County
and Stambaugh Township. So long as there are any lake
infection vectors available that cannot be regulated, such
as swimmers, wild animals, waterfowl, and others, there
cannot be a successful elimination of the milfoil pest in our
region.
Part of the price of enjoying the fruits of a world economy,
as we do, is the importation of nuisances that were
previously isolated from our region by the distance alone.
We’ve had plenty of warning throughout history that such
a phenomenon presents a danger to communities where
commerce connects people who, historically, had never
met. The “black death” of the middle ages provided a clear
example as did anthrax outbreaks that resulted in the
burning of entire villages with the scattering of survivors,
and on into the civil war period where “white man”
diseases found a foothold among native Americans.
Milfoil will eventually succumb to newly invented measures,
provided those measures don't create some altogether
new problem for us. The U.S. government expended
significant resources attempting to stop the spread of
the Japanese beetle when that insect first manifested on the
US east coast, but to no avail. Before we expend fortunes
on containing milfoil we might, as a human race that is
dependent on bees as part of the mechanism necessary
to our food supply, concern ourselves with the world
wide die off of the all important bees. I noticed it in my
garden this past summer. Didn’t you? My string beans
and tomatoes were hit by the September frost while still
bearing unfertilized flowers. Someone better find a
working solution for the bee problem, and do it fast.
Cameras indeed. What were you thinking?
Bill Vajk
[1] This would encourage qualified senior lawyers
who are approaching retirement to accept the position
and thus the appointed judge is less likely to have a
personal agenda to enhance their own power and
prestige. In the aging population of the United States
it should prove no difficulty to find suitable
candidates and the citizens of smaller counties
would never be stuck with a less than ideal judge
for long periods. Michigan should also reconsider
requiring the retirement of state judges at age 70 as
human longevity has provided many of us with highly
productive elder years.
The Chicaugon Lake milfoil, use license, boat launch,
enforcement, and camera issues came up again at the
September 25 Iron County Commission open meeting.
At an earlier meeting it was disclosed that a camera
had been placed to capture images of the boat launch
and that no authority had been granted by the county
or Stambaugh Township for the device.
It took a few weeks to bring forth an individual to
assume all political and legal fallout that could result
from the placement of the camera that had been
removed before the September 11 meeting. On the
25th, John Archocosky, former Iron River City
manager and formerly on the County Road
Commission Board, (among other things) and a
lakefront property owner stated that he had, without
authority or support from anyone, installed the camera,
and subsequently removed it. But on Sept 11, Joe
Shubat, a Chicaugon Lake Association member,
informed the County Board that the camera had
been emplaced to discourage vandalism, and he also
stated that it had been removed.
While Archocosky acknowledged that he accepts
full responsibility for the acts, it remains clear that
there's more to this episode than he has stated,
because clearly at least one additional member of the
Lake Association knew all about it, and what two
people know usually rapidly becomes common
knowledge in a small community like the lakefront
property owners.
But then, some of us have witnessed Mr. Archocosky's
antics before. Your humble correspondent believes that
the “idle hands are the devil's workshop” might have
played a role in this episode and we look forward to
more of the same now that Archocosky has “retired.”
Fortunately for all, the events took place on public
property where any expectation of privacy is debatable.
A second issue regarding the current Stambaugh Township
ordinance and enforcement of the ordinance surfaced
during the meeting of the 25th that was well attended by
an estimated 60 citizens. One citizen stated he was filing
a lawsuit regarding the issuance of a complaint by
Stambaugh Township when his vehicle towing a boat
trailer was parked in the public access parking lot
without a requisite showing that township mandated
fees for boat launch had been paid.
The individual, inadvertently or otherwise, apparently
set a trap for township law enforcement by parking a
vehicle with a boat trailer while having left his boat at
home. Township law enforcement presumes, when
seeing a vehicle and trailer in those circumstances, that
an actual boat launch had been made. In this case that
premise was not true.
Unfortunately, for anyone who becomes involved in
any legal action in the Iron County Unified Trial Court,
appearing under these or any similar circumstances
before Judge Schwedler creates a very iffy situation
where trumped-up charges, at least as often as not,
results in a court finding favoring whoever is in the
court's good graces rather than on the actual merits
of the case.
And that, brings us to another issue. Schwedler is
elected only as probate court judge. The Michigan
Supreme Court assigns him the function of overseeing
trials in both a district court and a circuit court setting,
while the real courts of jurisdiction for Iron County
exist in nearby Iron Mountain. This assignment is
periodically made with a termination corresponding
to the election cycle.
The practice finds some authority in a state
constitutional amendment that is subsequently
misappropriated by the Michigan Supreme Court which
repeatedly assigns Schwedler a "temporary"
appointment that constructively becomes permanent.
Iron County Doings urges the state legislature to set a
one election cycle (4 years) term limit for any judge
who accepts an appointment to a "unified trial court"
position anywhere in the state with no possibility of
reelection to any judgeship in Michigan later on[1].
The concentration of judicial power to a single judge in
a county like ours is not good for its citizens, and long
term judgeships of this sort in a small community readily
lend themselves to the careless creation of fiefdoms
lacking appropriate oversight or correction. Lord Acton
was quite correct in his observation that “power corrupts”
and the conventional extensions of the concept are equally
true in this instance.
The fortuitous outcome of the September 25 meeting
relevant to Chicaugon Lake was the dissolution of any prior
agreements about lake use regulations between Iron County
and Stambaugh Township. So long as there are any lake
infection vectors available that cannot be regulated, such
as swimmers, wild animals, waterfowl, and others, there
cannot be a successful elimination of the milfoil pest in our
region.
Part of the price of enjoying the fruits of a world economy,
as we do, is the importation of nuisances that were
previously isolated from our region by the distance alone.
We’ve had plenty of warning throughout history that such
a phenomenon presents a danger to communities where
commerce connects people who, historically, had never
met. The “black death” of the middle ages provided a clear
example as did anthrax outbreaks that resulted in the
burning of entire villages with the scattering of survivors,
and on into the civil war period where “white man”
diseases found a foothold among native Americans.
Milfoil will eventually succumb to newly invented measures,
provided those measures don't create some altogether
new problem for us. The U.S. government expended
significant resources attempting to stop the spread of
the Japanese beetle when that insect first manifested on the
US east coast, but to no avail. Before we expend fortunes
on containing milfoil we might, as a human race that is
dependent on bees as part of the mechanism necessary
to our food supply, concern ourselves with the world
wide die off of the all important bees. I noticed it in my
garden this past summer. Didn’t you? My string beans
and tomatoes were hit by the September frost while still
bearing unfertilized flowers. Someone better find a
working solution for the bee problem, and do it fast.
Cameras indeed. What were you thinking?
Bill Vajk
[1] This would encourage qualified senior lawyers
who are approaching retirement to accept the position
and thus the appointed judge is less likely to have a
personal agenda to enhance their own power and
prestige. In the aging population of the United States
it should prove no difficulty to find suitable
candidates and the citizens of smaller counties
would never be stuck with a less than ideal judge
for long periods. Michigan should also reconsider
requiring the retirement of state judges at age 70 as
human longevity has provided many of us with highly
productive elder years.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Michigan Proposed Constituional Amendments
The proof ballots, as to the candidates and other issues to be
voted on November 6, 2012 currently stands, can be seen at:
http://ironmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/General-Ballot-Proofs1.pdf
or
http://tinyurl.com/8p5f8rd
A careful reading and analysis of the proposed constitutional
amendments shows the requested changes to be demonstrably
driven by private interests that, if approved, will profit them
at public expense.
We also recommend voting against entrenched machine
politicians. We have received word that a few individuals
intend to file as write in candidates running against machine
politics that pervades Iron County. As they are non-partisan
candidates, we are able to support their endeavors and urge
all voters to NOT vote the party line on election day, but
carefully select candidates for office based on who will
best represent your interests.
Bill Vajk
voted on November 6, 2012 currently stands, can be seen at:
http://ironmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/General-Ballot-Proofs1.pdf
or
http://tinyurl.com/8p5f8rd
A careful reading and analysis of the proposed constitutional
amendments shows the requested changes to be demonstrably
driven by private interests that, if approved, will profit them
at public expense.
We also recommend voting against entrenched machine
politicians. We have received word that a few individuals
intend to file as write in candidates running against machine
politics that pervades Iron County. As they are non-partisan
candidates, we are able to support their endeavors and urge
all voters to NOT vote the party line on election day, but
carefully select candidates for office based on who will
best represent your interests.
Bill Vajk
Friday, September 14, 2012
Iron River City Is Insane
Today, September 14, was property tax day for summer taxes
here in Michigan. I paid mine and then drove down the
alleyway behind 413 Plum Street in Iron River to find an
exact repeat of the situation I wrote about here a while back.
The pavement has deteriorated. Instead of repaving, as would
be a permanent repair, Iron River City filled in the washouts
with gravel.
And of course this past summer it washed out once again.
Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results. On this basis one can
properly understand that Iron River City is insane.
This isn't the only section of pavement washed out, but it
is representative. Through the trees you can see that the
gravel that washed away is in the back yard of a house
on a lawn that the city requires be mowed to suit their
ideas. But the city doesn't see any need to maintain
public property in a safely usable way for the public,
so the insanity grows as we understand that the public
must obey ordinances, but the city has no responsibility
to maintain infrastructure the public has paid for dearly.
This is a simple form of corruption, where tax monies are
spent not on what the public needs, but rather on things
the city council, and the DDA, take a personal interest in.
I'm happy to pay justly due taxes. I'm not at all satisfied
with the way Iron River City spends that tax money. I'm
looking at and discussing one bit of infrastructure because
it adjoins my property in Iron River. Doubtless there are
hundreds of similar places where infrastructure is regularly
permitted to deteriorate by a city council that refuses to see
past their personal interests.
Bill Vajk
here in Michigan. I paid mine and then drove down the
alleyway behind 413 Plum Street in Iron River to find an
exact repeat of the situation I wrote about here a while back.
The pavement has deteriorated. Instead of repaving, as would
be a permanent repair, Iron River City filled in the washouts
with gravel.
And of course this past summer it washed out once again.
Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results. On this basis one can
properly understand that Iron River City is insane.
This isn't the only section of pavement washed out, but it
is representative. Through the trees you can see that the
gravel that washed away is in the back yard of a house
on a lawn that the city requires be mowed to suit their
ideas. But the city doesn't see any need to maintain
public property in a safely usable way for the public,
so the insanity grows as we understand that the public
must obey ordinances, but the city has no responsibility
to maintain infrastructure the public has paid for dearly.
This is a simple form of corruption, where tax monies are
spent not on what the public needs, but rather on things
the city council, and the DDA, take a personal interest in.
I'm happy to pay justly due taxes. I'm not at all satisfied
with the way Iron River City spends that tax money. I'm
looking at and discussing one bit of infrastructure because
it adjoins my property in Iron River. Doubtless there are
hundreds of similar places where infrastructure is regularly
permitted to deteriorate by a city council that refuses to see
past their personal interests.
Bill Vajk
Sunday, September 9, 2012
The Happiness Factor
Where do we find life's pleasures these days in Iron County.
How about in the USA? These questions come to mind
because we enjoyed guests this summer, some folks we had
never met before.
Rob Shaver came to his 50th high school reunion, and
brought along his wife Sharon. They dropped by as a complete
surprise to me one summer evening just as we were about
to leave to go over to another of our properties, but as Rob
announced his name to me I knew right away who he was
and why he was here as I had heard a bit of the history of
the property we now call our home. Rob had grown up in
the house where I now live.
Gloria spent time chatting with Sharon as I showed Rob
around the property and part of the house. Quite a lot has
changed here since Rob left in 1964. In fact his first take was
that what is here now is a completely different house. It isn't.
It merely had some additions and a new overcoat, making
things look completely different. It came as news to me that
the first of the additions was built before the Shaver's arrived
here in 1951. The original house was approximately 20 feet
by 20 feet and built as a vertical log structure of 2 stories. It
is my understanding that such construction is in the Finnish
tradition.
About a month later I received a letter from the Shavers. You
can find that at:
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/shaver-letter.pdf
I have published it because there may be interest by others
who knew Rob during the years he was here and he wrote a
very informative letter.
The great delight Rob and Sharon took in being here brought
to mind that whole in the 20th and 21th centuries the moments
of universal delight were few and far between. I wasn't around
for the end of World War 1, but I know rather a lot about the
end of WW2, the removal from the living of bin Laden, and
the moon landing (for those who understand that we actually
did do it--including folks like me who had a direct hand in the
achievement,) moments that were pretty much universally
appreciated and celebrated with great gusto around the world.
But for the most part our delights are personal and private. To
me that means that as a human race we're not experiencing
very many exemplary giant steps in progress that we aspire
to, and perhaps the relative dearth of such achievements
could be improved by fanning some flames under those
clearly able to achieve great things.
Instead we see politicians ripping one another to shreds.
I am not alone in wanting to hear what politicos are going
to achieve for all of us rather than the 8&1/2 by 11 glossy
card I just received from the Michigan Democratic Party
telling me how evil, in their opinion, Dan Benishek has
become since going to Washington on our behalf.
What is wrong with you people who write and spend money
sending out this trash? Doesn't any political party have an
agenda or plans for the state or our region that are worthy of
disseminating to the population? Someone does, so why are
you keeping that a secret?
In the meanwhile I was pleased to meet the Shavers. I had
a similar experience a few years ago revisiting my boyhood
home, so I have some idea of how he felt. I was pleased to
be party to assisting him enjoying this period of reminiscing,
Rob and Sharon's happiness added happiness and value to
our lives. It is catching.
Bill Vajk
How about in the USA? These questions come to mind
because we enjoyed guests this summer, some folks we had
never met before.
Rob Shaver came to his 50th high school reunion, and
brought along his wife Sharon. They dropped by as a complete
surprise to me one summer evening just as we were about
to leave to go over to another of our properties, but as Rob
announced his name to me I knew right away who he was
and why he was here as I had heard a bit of the history of
the property we now call our home. Rob had grown up in
the house where I now live.
Gloria spent time chatting with Sharon as I showed Rob
around the property and part of the house. Quite a lot has
changed here since Rob left in 1964. In fact his first take was
that what is here now is a completely different house. It isn't.
It merely had some additions and a new overcoat, making
things look completely different. It came as news to me that
the first of the additions was built before the Shaver's arrived
here in 1951. The original house was approximately 20 feet
by 20 feet and built as a vertical log structure of 2 stories. It
is my understanding that such construction is in the Finnish
tradition.
About a month later I received a letter from the Shavers. You
can find that at:
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/shaver-letter.pdf
I have published it because there may be interest by others
who knew Rob during the years he was here and he wrote a
very informative letter.
The great delight Rob and Sharon took in being here brought
to mind that whole in the 20th and 21th centuries the moments
of universal delight were few and far between. I wasn't around
for the end of World War 1, but I know rather a lot about the
end of WW2, the removal from the living of bin Laden, and
the moon landing (for those who understand that we actually
did do it--including folks like me who had a direct hand in the
achievement,) moments that were pretty much universally
appreciated and celebrated with great gusto around the world.
But for the most part our delights are personal and private. To
me that means that as a human race we're not experiencing
very many exemplary giant steps in progress that we aspire
to, and perhaps the relative dearth of such achievements
could be improved by fanning some flames under those
clearly able to achieve great things.
Instead we see politicians ripping one another to shreds.
I am not alone in wanting to hear what politicos are going
to achieve for all of us rather than the 8&1/2 by 11 glossy
card I just received from the Michigan Democratic Party
telling me how evil, in their opinion, Dan Benishek has
become since going to Washington on our behalf.
What is wrong with you people who write and spend money
sending out this trash? Doesn't any political party have an
agenda or plans for the state or our region that are worthy of
disseminating to the population? Someone does, so why are
you keeping that a secret?
In the meanwhile I was pleased to meet the Shavers. I had
a similar experience a few years ago revisiting my boyhood
home, so I have some idea of how he felt. I was pleased to
be party to assisting him enjoying this period of reminiscing,
Rob and Sharon's happiness added happiness and value to
our lives. It is catching.
Bill Vajk
Friday, August 24, 2012
County Board Agenda Aug 28, 2012
The agenda may be found at:
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/12-08-28_County_Agenda.pdf
It will be removed by years' end.
Bill Vajk
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Northstar Hospital 2nd Quarter 2012
No matter what an organization puts into financial
reports about how it is doing, the rubber hits the road
when it comes to actual deposits. The only reason we
know of for not making deposits on schedule is if the
cash that is being reported isn't actually there. Of
course there possibly are other reasons, but the
report provided by Northstar Hospital doesn't grant
us the luxury of such a disclosure nor do they so
much as inform of of how long the delay in making
the deposit was.
On page 7 of the FY2011 report,
http://tinyurl.com/9zatl6c
Northstar discloses:
"In its letter dated April 30, 2012, the Master
Trustee notified the Obligated Group that its
tardiness in depositing its Quarterly Net Cash
Flow to the Supplemental Account for the quarter
ended December 31, 2011 has caused a Forbearance
Event of Default to occur, which Forbearance
Event of Default terminated the forbearance of
certain Specified Defaults, and which Forbearance
Event of Default has caused an Event of Default
under the Master Indenture."
Also of concern is that for FY2011 the deficit for
revenue/expenses only showed 22% of the total
achieved for FY2011 at the halfway, 6 month,
point. Ordinarily your humble correspondent
expects a more closely linear distribution of the
underlying facts, and believes that reporting may
be inaccurate.
The net effect is not of major consequence to the
current latest report to be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/8ppvqrr
The positive figures provided in this report can
simply shift to depict a loss by years end, but
we'll simply have to wait to see what falls out in
subsequent reports.
The Russian wisdom, adapted by Ronald Reagan,
"Trust but verify" is the reason that the financial
statements are required quarterly in the first place.
To date the numbers for the $23,150,000
municipal bond issued have never looked very
good. We hope they improve and defaults don't
continue.
Bill Vajk
reports about how it is doing, the rubber hits the road
when it comes to actual deposits. The only reason we
know of for not making deposits on schedule is if the
cash that is being reported isn't actually there. Of
course there possibly are other reasons, but the
report provided by Northstar Hospital doesn't grant
us the luxury of such a disclosure nor do they so
much as inform of of how long the delay in making
the deposit was.
On page 7 of the FY2011 report,
http://tinyurl.com/9zatl6c
Northstar discloses:
"In its letter dated April 30, 2012, the Master
Trustee notified the Obligated Group that its
tardiness in depositing its Quarterly Net Cash
Flow to the Supplemental Account for the quarter
ended December 31, 2011 has caused a Forbearance
Event of Default to occur, which Forbearance
Event of Default terminated the forbearance of
certain Specified Defaults, and which Forbearance
Event of Default has caused an Event of Default
under the Master Indenture."
Also of concern is that for FY2011 the deficit for
revenue/expenses only showed 22% of the total
achieved for FY2011 at the halfway, 6 month,
point. Ordinarily your humble correspondent
expects a more closely linear distribution of the
underlying facts, and believes that reporting may
be inaccurate.
The net effect is not of major consequence to the
current latest report to be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/8ppvqrr
The positive figures provided in this report can
simply shift to depict a loss by years end, but
we'll simply have to wait to see what falls out in
subsequent reports.
The Russian wisdom, adapted by Ronald Reagan,
"Trust but verify" is the reason that the financial
statements are required quarterly in the first place.
To date the numbers for the $23,150,000
municipal bond issued have never looked very
good. We hope they improve and defaults don't
continue.
Bill Vajk
Monday, August 13, 2012
An Open Letter To: Patti Peretto
Subject: Congratulations & Expectations
Dear Ms. Peretto:
Congratulations on winning the recent election to
become a member of the next Iron County Board.
As publisher and editor of Iron County Doings, I
read your newspaper advertisement and the letter I
received from “The Committee to Elect Patti
Peretto.[1]” In these public offerings I saw no
specifics promised to the electorate.
As you are aware, this nation is in a significant
state of change, primarily because of the national
and international economic crisis. Unfortunately
Iron County has been in that sort of economically
depressed state at least since the late 1970’s, and
while there never was a reasonable excuse for it,
there is certainly no excuse for Iron County to
remain permanently economically depressed. It
is in the spirit of seeing the county pull itself up
out of this state of depression by its own bootstraps
that I am presently writing to you. I’ve enclosed
some of our recently published articles relevant
to the topic.
This present day economic “faith of our fathers”
no longer suffices in Iron County. You are getting
a fresh new start on the Iron County Board, and
you’ve impressed the public with your leadership
skills as well as your personal popularity. In January
2013, that rubber will hit the road, and it needs
badly to have some traction to pull the county out
of the economic quagmire we find ourselves in.
Crivitz, with a population of only 984, (see attached
article,) a small town with some similarities to our
conditions, has managed to do so. In the meantime
Iron County and its other municipalities can’t get so
much as a police car or a pickup truck without a state
or federal grant assisting in the purchase. Any
purchases by our residents that go beyond the narrow
offerings of our relatively few local merchants
necessitates either a 50 (perhaps more) mile trip, or
ordering off the internet.
I don’t think there’s a single resident of Iron County
who would support a statement that goes, “I’m stupid
and I’m poor and I really enjoy it!” None of us enjoys
the need to go out of the county or to the internet to
purchase many necessities. So why do the county and
other municipalities continue on this well established
path to failure? Iron County has some natural features
that make us an excellent stopping point for travelers.
Why aren’t we welcoming them in ways that enhance
their lives while enriching ours while creating long
term jobs for our youth?
Merely being a caretaker of county government is not,
and will never again, be considered an adequate effort
by officials elected to positions here in Iron County.
Please help drive this county to become the economic
success that it can be. All that actually requires is a
change of heart, and the rest will follow naturally.
Bill Vajk
[1] The County Clerk’s office reports not finding an
assumed name certificate, required by MCL 445.1(1).
Dear Ms. Peretto:
Congratulations on winning the recent election to
become a member of the next Iron County Board.
As publisher and editor of Iron County Doings, I
read your newspaper advertisement and the letter I
received from “The Committee to Elect Patti
Peretto.[1]” In these public offerings I saw no
specifics promised to the electorate.
As you are aware, this nation is in a significant
state of change, primarily because of the national
and international economic crisis. Unfortunately
Iron County has been in that sort of economically
depressed state at least since the late 1970’s, and
while there never was a reasonable excuse for it,
there is certainly no excuse for Iron County to
remain permanently economically depressed. It
is in the spirit of seeing the county pull itself up
out of this state of depression by its own bootstraps
that I am presently writing to you. I’ve enclosed
some of our recently published articles relevant
to the topic.
This present day economic “faith of our fathers”
no longer suffices in Iron County. You are getting
a fresh new start on the Iron County Board, and
you’ve impressed the public with your leadership
skills as well as your personal popularity. In January
2013, that rubber will hit the road, and it needs
badly to have some traction to pull the county out
of the economic quagmire we find ourselves in.
Crivitz, with a population of only 984, (see attached
article,) a small town with some similarities to our
conditions, has managed to do so. In the meantime
Iron County and its other municipalities can’t get so
much as a police car or a pickup truck without a state
or federal grant assisting in the purchase. Any
purchases by our residents that go beyond the narrow
offerings of our relatively few local merchants
necessitates either a 50 (perhaps more) mile trip, or
ordering off the internet.
I don’t think there’s a single resident of Iron County
who would support a statement that goes, “I’m stupid
and I’m poor and I really enjoy it!” None of us enjoys
the need to go out of the county or to the internet to
purchase many necessities. So why do the county and
other municipalities continue on this well established
path to failure? Iron County has some natural features
that make us an excellent stopping point for travelers.
Why aren’t we welcoming them in ways that enhance
their lives while enriching ours while creating long
term jobs for our youth?
Merely being a caretaker of county government is not,
and will never again, be considered an adequate effort
by officials elected to positions here in Iron County.
Please help drive this county to become the economic
success that it can be. All that actually requires is a
change of heart, and the rest will follow naturally.
Bill Vajk
[1] The County Clerk’s office reports not finding an
assumed name certificate, required by MCL 445.1(1).
Monday, August 6, 2012
What is it about Crivitz?
Last week your humble correspondent had occasion
to travel to Green Bay by car. It had been about a
year since I last made the same trip. As a convenient
stopping point, a McDonalds with senior coffee and
restrooms, has existed there for some time now, I
usually stop for a few minutes and while there, smell
the local roses. Another stop to an interesting new
place is usually in order.
It is now well past obvious that Crivitz knows how
to build businesses. Properties on both sides of the
highway have been filling in with new businesses
that were not there just a few years ago. Considering
that the town is situated about 50 miles away from the
nearest regional shopping region (much like us,) Green
Bay, and the population of 984 (in the year 2000)
is significantly smaller than Iron River, we have to
wonder what it is that Crivitz gets right that Iron River
fails to do.
Once you begin to experience growth as Crivitz has,
the community becomes an attractive spot for people
driving through, as I do, to stop and to engage in
business. Obviously catering only to the local
population isn’t sufficient to attract the business
of those driving through. For one thing,
mom&pop style businesses that are closed
on Sundays and holidays, and keep 10AM to
5PM hours the rest of the time are losing a full
half, or more, of the peak traffic that passes
through.
What is there about Iron River that makes people
driving through want to stop?
In a word, nothing.
What catches the eye of the passer by? Is it
the swamp loving vegetation that chokes the
Iron River downtown? That’s one of the things
few things we’re noted for!
There are four gas stations on US2 available
to people passing through. And generally
speaking, they provide the highest price
gasoline along the US2 route in this region.
So that’s a reason to stop only for a bathroom call
or because the gas gauge is bouncing off the peg
at “empty.”
Other than that, we have the Riverside Mall and
McDonalds. So people who tend to stop, just passing
through, have nothing other than immediate necessity
to catch their eye and their imagination, and, really,
nothing worthwhile to come back to, just another bland
little town en route to the driver’s destination.
The most elementary marketing definition is, “the
process of developing, promoting, and distributing
products to satisfy customers' needs and wants.”
Here’s the thing….we have traffic passing through the
region. That means that potential customers/consumers
are already here because of the highway. So how much
does it take to capture a few dollars in profit from each?
Marketing 101 strategy says, “not very much.” But
primarily you have to want to, and given some thought,
act to capture that income that presently complains
about the 25 mile per hour speed limit as their only
exposure to what Iron River has to offer to most of
them. If only they had something to actually look at
and enjoy as they drive through town! The situation
isn’t much different at Crystal falls. Once you’ve seen
the courthouse, you’ve seen the courthouse. 20 years
from now, if one repeats the experience, nothing of
visitor consequence will have changed. Everything
that can be said about Iron River can be said about
the experience of driving through Crystal Falls.
Obviously the powers that be don’t want additional
income for this community? Good grief, is it going
to hurt them economically? Or are they afraid of real
economic progress because their personal power
might be diluted? I suspect that personal power can,
in this instance, be equated to prestige.
Tell you what folks, if you had anything worthwhile
beyond personal power in the community, that personal
power wouldn’t be so very important to you!
We have a county Economic Development
Corporation that ignores profit centers that are,
given the Crivitz example, are ripe for the plucking.
And it, too, is run by the same “powers that be”
who hold back this community.
Wake up and smell the coffee folks. Expand your
horizons. Personal power isn’t all that it is cracked
up to be, especially once you get your noses out of
this community and into the real world. Those of you
who are interested in a new, bigger, airport can
easily have one once the tax base in this county
improves and usage justifies it to the taxpayer. How
will the tax base improve? Not by providing more
bedrooms in the forests and on the lakefronts. It
improves the most through creating an economic
advantage by bringing more businesses into the
community. Closing a Wardo’s and opening yet
another dollar store isn’t a wash, it is a step
backwards. The ball has been in your court for
some decades now. How come you haven’t done
a better job than this?
Hint to the local oligarchy: Making Iron County
your economic fiefdom doesn’t cut the mustard.
The only reason you’ve done that is because you
can’t make it elsewhere.
Prove me wrong.
Bill Vajk
Thursday, August 2, 2012
2012 - Men Who Cook
4th ANNUAL MEN WHO COOK for Kinship
of Iron County
GEORGE YOUNG RECREATIONAL COMPLEX
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8th
5:30 – 8:30 PM, FOOD TASTING FROM
6:00-8:00 PM
Kinship of Iron County provides adult mentoring for
youth throughout the county and welcomes your support!
150 sales. Half of the tickets are already sold so
don't wait!
To reserve your place, mail your check, payable to
“Kinship
of Iron County”, with your name and address
to:
Kay Anderson
135 N Trybom Dr
Iron Rive, MI 49935
Name Tags will be available at the door for all reserved
tickets. We do not send paper tickets to you.
Questions or reservation requests?
-or-
CALL: 503-380-6327
=======================================
Published as received by Bill Vajk
Friday, July 27, 2012
Invisible Universe Lecture Reviewed
On Thursday, July 24, 2012, the Iron County
Museum in cooperation with the Caspian DDA
hosted a presentation about the invisible universe
featuring Dr. Albert Holm, former resident and
retired staff member on the Hubble Space
Telescope. Dr. Holm is an astronomer.
The event was well attended and the presentation
started off well with slides of interesting visible
features in the universe. But the lecture began to
run into trouble as soon as the discussion turned
to the first of the invisible features, “black holes”.
It began with Dr. Holm attributing the prediction
of black holes to Einstein’s theory of relativity
when, in fact, the earliest recorded prediction of a
dark star was made by John Mitchell in a 1784
letter to Henry Cavendish of science fame.
Mitchell was a cosmologist who turned some of
his initiatives to earth science, a branch of
cosmology that later became the specialties today
known as geology and geophysics, the realm my
father made his life’s work because of his keen
interest in gravity. Mitchell, too, discussed his
interest in the topic and did some interesting work
in the geophysics of the British Isles.
By 1796, LaPlace, a mathematician and astronomer,
wrote a book that included a speculative discussion
about high gravity objects that trap light, including
some of the features of what we today call a black
hole.
So by the time Einstein came along with his works,
the concept that led to black hole theory already had a
long history. Major advances in this subject came about
when Roger Penrose took an interest in the possibilities
and arrived in Princeton (NJ) to collaborate with John
Wheeler on the topic of “singularities”. I had the good
fortune to spend an evening with Penrose in 1964,
which event triggered my ongoing work on an, as
yet, unfinished paper on this topic. Wheeler was the
one who came up with the name “black hole” that is
in common usage today.
Dr. Holm’s second insult to the topic came about
when he proposed that a star “…grazes the surface
of a black hole…” A black hole has no surface. That’s
one of the salient features of the “structure” which, as
we see it today, is a gravitational anomaly created by
a huge collapsed star and fed afterwards by whatever
material gets close enough to be eaten by the black
hole. Once material goes into a black hole, it is gone
forever as far as we know.
The lecture was well intentioned. It appears that the
excellent attendance was a result of Dr. Holm’s
popularity based on past lectures he has delivered
locally. Iron County Doings wishes him, and the
museum, well while hopeful that in future presentations
he will stick to topics that he can deliver with reasonable
accuracy[1]. I attended the event with a hope to hear
about advances in black hole theory, and I left shortly
after I discovered that the lecturer was out of his depth
on the topic of my interest.
Bill Vajk
[1] It is noteworthy that "The Science Channel" has
several excellent presentations on the topic of Dr. Holm's
lecture discussed above in the series called "How
The Universe Works." Iron County Doings commends
that series to all readers with any interest whatever in the
topics covered in this article. The science channel series
is available on DVD through Amazon.com and other
vendors. Further highly recommended popular science
genre presentations are available with Morgan Freeman
as host.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
August 2012 - County of Iron meeting schedule
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding their Finance Committee meetings every
Thursday at 1:00p.m. They will be held in the
Commissioners Meeting Room, Annex Addition,
Iron County Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Carl Lind, Finance Chair
The Iron County Courthouse Picnic will be held on
August 14, at noon, on the Courthouse lawn.
Joan Luhtanen, County Clerk
The lron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding their bimonthly Regular Meeting on Tuesday,
August 14, 2012,at l:30 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room, Annex Addition, Iron County
Courthouse Crystal Falls, Michigan
Wayne Wales, Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding their bimonthly Regular Meeting on Tuesday,
August 28, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room, Annex Addition, Iron County
Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Wayne Wales, Chairman
The Iron County Courthouse will be closed on
Monday,September 3 ,2012, for the LaborDay
Holiday.
Wayne Wales, Chairman
Copies to :
Iron County Board of Commissioners
Iron County Press
All Department Heads
Bulletin Board
-------------------------------------------------
Bill Vajk
holding their Finance Committee meetings every
Thursday at 1:00p.m. They will be held in the
Commissioners Meeting Room, Annex Addition,
Iron County Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Carl Lind, Finance Chair
The Iron County Courthouse Picnic will be held on
August 14, at noon, on the Courthouse lawn.
Joan Luhtanen, County Clerk
The lron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding their bimonthly Regular Meeting on Tuesday,
August 14, 2012,at l:30 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room, Annex Addition, Iron County
Courthouse Crystal Falls, Michigan
Wayne Wales, Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding their bimonthly Regular Meeting on Tuesday,
August 28, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room, Annex Addition, Iron County
Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Wayne Wales, Chairman
The Iron County Courthouse will be closed on
Monday,September 3 ,2012, for the LaborDay
Holiday.
Wayne Wales, Chairman
Copies to :
Iron County Board of Commissioners
Iron County Press
All Department Heads
Bulletin Board
-------------------------------------------------
Bill Vajk
Monday, July 23, 2012
July 24, 2012 County Board Agenda
PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING
CONSOLIDATION OF REGISTER OF
DEEDS/COUNTY CLERK OFFICES
IN 2016
TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2012 1:00 P.M.
COMMISSIONERS ROOM,
COURTHOUSE,
CRYSTAL FALLS, MICHIGAN
______________________________________________________________________________
AGENDA
IRON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2012
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE REGULAR
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING
COMMISSIONERS ROOM, COURTHOUSE,
CRYSTAL FALLS, MICHIGAN
REGULAR MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY
CHAIRMAN WALES
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
ROLL CALL: CAMP, LIND, KING, WILLS, WALES
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR
MEETINGS OF: June 26th and July 10th
SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEETINGS OF:
June 19th, 20th, 21st, 28th and July 5th, 12th
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
BRIEF PUBLIC COMMENT FOR AGENDA
ITEMS ONLY:
(3 minutes each/20 minutes maximum)
COMMITTEE REPORTS: Camp:
King:
Lind:
Wills:
Wales:
REPORTS: County Administrator
Clerk
Treasurer
Sheriff
Equalization Director
Cooperative Extension
Register of Deeds
Animal Control
Prosecuting Attorney
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Approval of Finance Committee’s 07/05/12
Review of Bills $ 89,814.21 (Lind)
2. Approval of Finance Committee’s 0712/12
Review of Bills $ 1,972,033.19 (Lind)
3. Consider Approval of Chicagon Lake Concession’s
Three (3) Year Contract for Pentoga Park Concession
Stand
4. Consider and Discuss An Increase of Monies
Given by the County of Iron to the Northwoods
Animal Shelter
5. Discussion on the Recreational Trail
6. Consider and Make Decision on Plat Book Photo Cover
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Presentation on the New NorthStar Ambulance
Garage (Tousignant)
2. Consider and Take Action on the Administration Fee
Disbursement to the Four (4) Senior Centers (Same Formula
as Last Year)
RESOLUTIONS:
1.
LETTERS AND REPORTS OF COUNTY OFFICIALS:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Our Courthouse Picnic is Scheduled for Tuesday,
August 14th at Noon on the Courthouse Grounds.
The Next Board of Commissioners Meetings will be
held on August 14th and August 28rd at 1:30 p.m. in
the Commissioners Room, Courthouse Annex, Crystal
Falls, Michigan.
PUBLIC COMMENT/VISITORS:
ADJOURNMENT:
Informational Letters and Reports:
1. Construction Code Report - June 2012
2. Northpointe Minutes - June 2012
3. Authority on Aging - June 2012
4, Iron County Fair Association - June 2012
5. Airport Committee Minutes - June 2012
6. Iron County Conservation District - June 2012
=====================================
Bill Vajk
CONSOLIDATION OF REGISTER OF
DEEDS/COUNTY CLERK OFFICES
IN 2016
TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2012 1:00 P.M.
COMMISSIONERS ROOM,
COURTHOUSE,
CRYSTAL FALLS, MICHIGAN
______________________________________________________________________________
AGENDA
IRON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2012
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE REGULAR
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING
COMMISSIONERS ROOM, COURTHOUSE,
CRYSTAL FALLS, MICHIGAN
REGULAR MEETING CALLED TO ORDER BY
CHAIRMAN WALES
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
ROLL CALL: CAMP, LIND, KING, WILLS, WALES
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR
MEETINGS OF: June 26th and July 10th
SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEETINGS OF:
June 19th, 20th, 21st, 28th and July 5th, 12th
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
BRIEF PUBLIC COMMENT FOR AGENDA
ITEMS ONLY:
(3 minutes each/20 minutes maximum)
COMMITTEE REPORTS: Camp:
King:
Lind:
Wills:
Wales:
REPORTS: County Administrator
Clerk
Treasurer
Sheriff
Equalization Director
Cooperative Extension
Register of Deeds
Animal Control
Prosecuting Attorney
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Approval of Finance Committee’s 07/05/12
Review of Bills $ 89,814.21 (Lind)
2. Approval of Finance Committee’s 0712/12
Review of Bills $ 1,972,033.19 (Lind)
3. Consider Approval of Chicagon Lake Concession’s
Three (3) Year Contract for Pentoga Park Concession
Stand
4. Consider and Discuss An Increase of Monies
Given by the County of Iron to the Northwoods
Animal Shelter
5. Discussion on the Recreational Trail
6. Consider and Make Decision on Plat Book Photo Cover
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Presentation on the New NorthStar Ambulance
Garage (Tousignant)
2. Consider and Take Action on the Administration Fee
Disbursement to the Four (4) Senior Centers (Same Formula
as Last Year)
RESOLUTIONS:
1.
LETTERS AND REPORTS OF COUNTY OFFICIALS:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Our Courthouse Picnic is Scheduled for Tuesday,
August 14th at Noon on the Courthouse Grounds.
The Next Board of Commissioners Meetings will be
held on August 14th and August 28rd at 1:30 p.m. in
the Commissioners Room, Courthouse Annex, Crystal
Falls, Michigan.
PUBLIC COMMENT/VISITORS:
ADJOURNMENT:
Informational Letters and Reports:
1. Construction Code Report - June 2012
2. Northpointe Minutes - June 2012
3. Authority on Aging - June 2012
4, Iron County Fair Association - June 2012
5. Airport Committee Minutes - June 2012
6. Iron County Conservation District - June 2012
=====================================
Bill Vajk
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Another Otiose Municipal Ordinance
First we discuss the proceedings that led to the
enactment of the Iron River ordinance prohibiting
the feeding of certain wild animals in the city of
Iron River. They're "strange" to say the least. The
second set of problems lies in the premises the
ordinance states in order to justify itself. Not one
single premise is proven in any acceptable fashion.
Even more, several are unabashed lies where the
situation in Iron River is concerned.
And we ask why the ordinance stopped short of
banning the sale of products, within the city
limits, that have a solitary use that is banned by the
ordinance. The question is, naturally, rhetorical,
because such an ordinance would never withstand
scrutiny by the purveyors of those products who also
have tremendous local political clout. As a matter of
fact, Iron County Doings believes they are unaware
of this enactment and the ordinance may yet be
repealed once they take notice and express their
commercial interest in it.The ordinance, as enacted,
is bound to reduce sales of some products by vendors
doing business in the City of Iron River.
We begin with March 21 where one individujal
decided the city should enact the ordinance. Iron
County Doings asks how he was representing the
interests of the community as opposed to some sort
of personal individual initiative.
"CITY OF IRON RIVER REGULAR MEETING
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 2 PM Minutes
"Deer Management: Mayor Tarsi wants an Ordinance
preventing the feeding of white tail deer in the City. A
sample ordinance was passed out for their review, and
will be discussed at the Workshop on April 3rd."
No minutes for an April 3, 2012 workshop are
available online at the time of publication of this
article. However, on April 18, a meeting was held to
accept public comment on the proposed ordinance.
"CITY OF IRON RIVER PUBLIC HEARING
Animal Feeding Ordinance
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 1:45 P.M. Minutes
Mayor Terry Tarsi opened the Public Hearing at
1:45 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Iron River
City Hall. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Roll Call: Alfred Perlongo, Ray Coates, Edward
Marcell, and Tarsi. Absent: Thomas King.
"Also present: Manager John Archocosky, Attorney
Mark Tousignant and Clerk Kathy Anderson. Public
in attendance: Jere Fritsche, Craig Richardson, Bernie
Sacheck, Bob Kostka, Char Soderbloom, Rosalie King,
and Reporters Marian Volek (WIKB/IC Reporter),
and Ben Smith (Iron County Doings).
"PURPOSE OF PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public
comment on a proposed Ordinance that prohibits the
feeding of certain animals, birds and waterfowl within
the City of Iron River. This Ordinance was introduced
on April 3, 2012, and will prohibit the feeding of the
following animals in the Iron River City limits: deer,
moose, bear, coyote, fox, wolf, raccoon, ducks, geese,
swans, seagulls, crows, turkeys and pigeons. Bob
Kostka asked how this will prevent deer from eating
from bird feeders, bushes, flowers and vegetation in
yards. Tarsi noted this is a first step towards keeping
hem out of town. The Code Enforcement Officer may
be directed by the Manager or Chief of Police to
enforce the ordinance. There being no further comment,
Coates moved to close the Public Hearing at 1:59 p.m.
Marcell seconded. All were in favor. Motion carried."
Partial trascript from:
"CITY OF IRON RIVER REGULAR MEETING
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 2 PM Minutes
[...]
"UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Adopt Ordinance Prohibiting the Feeding of Certain
Animals: Marcell moved to adopt as written, the
Ordinance published in the April 18, 2012, edition
of the Iron County Reporter. The Ordinance will
be published again and go into effect 30 days after
publication. Coates seconded. All in favor; motion
carried."
With some convincing by Mayor Tarsi, the
ordinance, published in full below, is now in effect.
Wherever you read, "it has been determined" there
is no reference available as to who the mystical
figures that made the determinations were. It
certainly was not Iron River's city council! A review
of the information made available to city council
members was limited to ordinances enacted by
several other communities in Michigan's upper
peninsula, at least one of which had clearly relied
on another by copying the entire ordinance from its
neighbor!
Reading the ordinance for content, we find that if
a person has a domesticated raccoon, they're
required to either take it outside of the city limits
to feed it, or starve it to death! The same is true
for racing pigeons. As your humble correspondent
has written before, if you're going to copy someone
else's work, city council, try to copy from an A
student instead of a failing one as you have done.
Recognizing some of the problems with this
ordinance, I wrote a FOIA to the health department
asking about any reports of contaminated drinking
water or private property because the ordinance
states that those are results arising from the feeding
of the listed wild animals. The Health Department has
no such reports. Deep wells, such as Iron River uses,
cannot be contaminated by the listed animals. The
reason for including the statements, unabashed lies,
in the ordinance, is to bring the act within the
acceptable "police powers" granted to cities to
protect the public health and welfare. The city
council is clearly willing to lie in order to achieve
its goals that have nothing to do with public health
and welfare. We'll probably never find out why
Mayor Tarsi railroaded the city council into
enacting this mess that is legally an enforceable
ordinance.
The text of the ordinance, as published in the Iron
County Reporter, follows:
==================================
PUBLICATION AFTER ADOPTION NOTICE
Ordinance No. __-2012 to the City of Iron River
Code of Ordinances, prohibiting the feeding of
certain animals, birds and waterfowl with the City
of Iron River, was adopted by the City Council for
City of Iron River at its regular meeting held on
April 18,2012
SECTION 1 DEFINITIONS
The following words, terms and phrases, when used
in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them
in this section, except where the context clearly indicates
a different meaning:
1.1 “Certain animals, birds and waterfowl” means
deer, moose, bear, coyote, fox wolf, raccoon, ducks,
geese, swans, seagulls, crows, turkeys and pigeons
which reside or otherwise spend time in this area on
either a temporary or permanent basis, both wild,
domestic, or held in captivity.
1.2 “Deer” means any ruminant animal of the family
of Cervidae having deciduous antlers, usually in the male
only.
1.3 “Feed or feeding” means:
A. The intentionally act of furnishing of, or otherwise
making available, any human food, pet food, hay, forage
product or supplement, or other substance which is likely
to be consumed by certain animals, birds and waterfowl;
or
B. To give or supply food to and/or providing items of
nourishment which are likely to attract certain animals,
birds and waterfowl.
1.4 “Natural unintentional feeding” means food or
other substances consumed by certain animals, birds
and waterfowl produced by, or existing in nature; not
items that are artificial or brought to or transferred to
a particular place from another location.
SECTION 2 PURPOSE
It is the purpose of this article to prevent such
conduct that may attract and concentrate certain
animals, birds and waterfowl within the city limits
of the city as it has been determined that the
presence of certain animals, birds and waterfowl
especially in large numbers, poses a public health
nuisance by contaminating drinking water supplies,
beaches, swimming facilities and the private property
of residents of the city. It has also been determined
that the congregation of certain animals, birds and
waterfowl create a hazard to motorists.
SECTION 3 FEEDING OR ENCOURAGING
PROHIBITED
A. It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly
or intentionally keep, maintain or cause to be fed or
provide or make available food or other substance
for the consumption by certain animals, birds and
waterfowl as described by this article within the
city, either on private property or on public property,
excepting that feeding activity further described in
subsection C of this section.
B. No person shall create or foster any condition,
or allow any condition to exist, or continue, which
results in a congregation, congestion or other grouping
of certain animals, birds and waterfowl as described by
this article.
C. This section shall not apply to feeding activities
supervised and conducted by the city in conjunction
with its city parks, or by the city in the conduct of
management practices for the control of certain
animals, birds and waterfowl as defined by this
article. This section shall not apply to a person
engaged in the feeding of songbirds so long as the
food and manner of feeding is not attracting certain
animals, birds, waterfowl as described in this article.
This section shall not apply to natural conditions
which result in unintentional feeding such as the
cultivation of a lawn, garden or landscaping, nor
shall it apply to natural, unintentional feeding as
described in this article.
SECTION 4 ENFORCEMENT, PENALTY, CIVIL
INFRACTION, NUISANCE.
A. Any person violating any provision of this
article shall be responsible for a municipal civil
infraction. The penalty for the first offense shall be
$50.00 and for the first repeat offense $150.00.
Repeat offense shall be determined as defined in
section 31.02 of the Iron River Code of Ordinances.
For any second or subsequent repeat offense, the
fine shall be no more than $500.00.
B. It shall be the duty of the chief of police of
the city or his authorized representative to enforce
the provisions of this article.
C. If, after investigation, the chief of police of
his authorized representative determines that a
violation of this article exists, he shall be authorized
to issued a municipal civil infraction notice and/or a
municipal civil infraction citation to any person that
is responsible for violating the provisions of this
article. Service of said civil infraction citation or
civil infraction notice shall be made in accordance
with section 31.04 of the Iron River Code of
Ordinances. Permitting a violation of this article on
private premises is hereby declared to constitute a
nuisance per se. Upon application to any court of
competent jurisdiction, the court may order the
nuisance abated and/or the violation restrained and
enjoined. The enforcement of this article by
abatement of any nuisance by the enforcing officer
or by application to any court of competent
jurisdiction for abatement by judicial decree or
writ shall not preclude enforcement of this article
by the issuance of a municipal civil infraction and
the imposition of fine and costs herein provided.
SECTION 5 EFFECTIVE DATE
This Ordinance shall be effective thirty (30) days
after publication. R184/25
================================
Bill Vajk
enactment of the Iron River ordinance prohibiting
the feeding of certain wild animals in the city of
Iron River. They're "strange" to say the least. The
second set of problems lies in the premises the
ordinance states in order to justify itself. Not one
single premise is proven in any acceptable fashion.
Even more, several are unabashed lies where the
situation in Iron River is concerned.
And we ask why the ordinance stopped short of
banning the sale of products, within the city
limits, that have a solitary use that is banned by the
ordinance. The question is, naturally, rhetorical,
because such an ordinance would never withstand
scrutiny by the purveyors of those products who also
have tremendous local political clout. As a matter of
fact, Iron County Doings believes they are unaware
of this enactment and the ordinance may yet be
repealed once they take notice and express their
commercial interest in it.The ordinance, as enacted,
is bound to reduce sales of some products by vendors
doing business in the City of Iron River.
We begin with March 21 where one individujal
decided the city should enact the ordinance. Iron
County Doings asks how he was representing the
interests of the community as opposed to some sort
of personal individual initiative.
"CITY OF IRON RIVER REGULAR MEETING
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 2 PM Minutes
"Deer Management: Mayor Tarsi wants an Ordinance
preventing the feeding of white tail deer in the City. A
sample ordinance was passed out for their review, and
will be discussed at the Workshop on April 3rd."
No minutes for an April 3, 2012 workshop are
available online at the time of publication of this
article. However, on April 18, a meeting was held to
accept public comment on the proposed ordinance.
"CITY OF IRON RIVER PUBLIC HEARING
Animal Feeding Ordinance
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 1:45 P.M. Minutes
Mayor Terry Tarsi opened the Public Hearing at
1:45 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Iron River
City Hall. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Roll Call: Alfred Perlongo, Ray Coates, Edward
Marcell, and Tarsi. Absent: Thomas King.
"Also present: Manager John Archocosky, Attorney
Mark Tousignant and Clerk Kathy Anderson. Public
in attendance: Jere Fritsche, Craig Richardson, Bernie
Sacheck, Bob Kostka, Char Soderbloom, Rosalie King,
and Reporters Marian Volek (WIKB/IC Reporter),
and Ben Smith (Iron County Doings).
"PURPOSE OF PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public
comment on a proposed Ordinance that prohibits the
feeding of certain animals, birds and waterfowl within
the City of Iron River. This Ordinance was introduced
on April 3, 2012, and will prohibit the feeding of the
following animals in the Iron River City limits: deer,
moose, bear, coyote, fox, wolf, raccoon, ducks, geese,
swans, seagulls, crows, turkeys and pigeons. Bob
Kostka asked how this will prevent deer from eating
from bird feeders, bushes, flowers and vegetation in
yards. Tarsi noted this is a first step towards keeping
hem out of town. The Code Enforcement Officer may
be directed by the Manager or Chief of Police to
enforce the ordinance. There being no further comment,
Coates moved to close the Public Hearing at 1:59 p.m.
Marcell seconded. All were in favor. Motion carried."
Partial trascript from:
"CITY OF IRON RIVER REGULAR MEETING
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 2 PM Minutes
[...]
"UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Adopt Ordinance Prohibiting the Feeding of Certain
Animals: Marcell moved to adopt as written, the
Ordinance published in the April 18, 2012, edition
of the Iron County Reporter. The Ordinance will
be published again and go into effect 30 days after
publication. Coates seconded. All in favor; motion
carried."
With some convincing by Mayor Tarsi, the
ordinance, published in full below, is now in effect.
Wherever you read, "it has been determined" there
is no reference available as to who the mystical
figures that made the determinations were. It
certainly was not Iron River's city council! A review
of the information made available to city council
members was limited to ordinances enacted by
several other communities in Michigan's upper
peninsula, at least one of which had clearly relied
on another by copying the entire ordinance from its
neighbor!
Reading the ordinance for content, we find that if
a person has a domesticated raccoon, they're
required to either take it outside of the city limits
to feed it, or starve it to death! The same is true
for racing pigeons. As your humble correspondent
has written before, if you're going to copy someone
else's work, city council, try to copy from an A
student instead of a failing one as you have done.
Recognizing some of the problems with this
ordinance, I wrote a FOIA to the health department
asking about any reports of contaminated drinking
water or private property because the ordinance
states that those are results arising from the feeding
of the listed wild animals. The Health Department has
no such reports. Deep wells, such as Iron River uses,
cannot be contaminated by the listed animals. The
reason for including the statements, unabashed lies,
in the ordinance, is to bring the act within the
acceptable "police powers" granted to cities to
protect the public health and welfare. The city
council is clearly willing to lie in order to achieve
its goals that have nothing to do with public health
and welfare. We'll probably never find out why
Mayor Tarsi railroaded the city council into
enacting this mess that is legally an enforceable
ordinance.
The text of the ordinance, as published in the Iron
County Reporter, follows:
==================================
PUBLICATION AFTER ADOPTION NOTICE
Ordinance No. __-2012 to the City of Iron River
Code of Ordinances, prohibiting the feeding of
certain animals, birds and waterfowl with the City
of Iron River, was adopted by the City Council for
City of Iron River at its regular meeting held on
April 18,2012
SECTION 1 DEFINITIONS
The following words, terms and phrases, when used
in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them
in this section, except where the context clearly indicates
a different meaning:
1.1 “Certain animals, birds and waterfowl” means
deer, moose, bear, coyote, fox wolf, raccoon, ducks,
geese, swans, seagulls, crows, turkeys and pigeons
which reside or otherwise spend time in this area on
either a temporary or permanent basis, both wild,
domestic, or held in captivity.
1.2 “Deer” means any ruminant animal of the family
of Cervidae having deciduous antlers, usually in the male
only.
1.3 “Feed or feeding” means:
A. The intentionally act of furnishing of, or otherwise
making available, any human food, pet food, hay, forage
product or supplement, or other substance which is likely
to be consumed by certain animals, birds and waterfowl;
or
B. To give or supply food to and/or providing items of
nourishment which are likely to attract certain animals,
birds and waterfowl.
1.4 “Natural unintentional feeding” means food or
other substances consumed by certain animals, birds
and waterfowl produced by, or existing in nature; not
items that are artificial or brought to or transferred to
a particular place from another location.
SECTION 2 PURPOSE
It is the purpose of this article to prevent such
conduct that may attract and concentrate certain
animals, birds and waterfowl within the city limits
of the city as it has been determined that the
presence of certain animals, birds and waterfowl
especially in large numbers, poses a public health
nuisance by contaminating drinking water supplies,
beaches, swimming facilities and the private property
of residents of the city. It has also been determined
that the congregation of certain animals, birds and
waterfowl create a hazard to motorists.
SECTION 3 FEEDING OR ENCOURAGING
PROHIBITED
A. It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly
or intentionally keep, maintain or cause to be fed or
provide or make available food or other substance
for the consumption by certain animals, birds and
waterfowl as described by this article within the
city, either on private property or on public property,
excepting that feeding activity further described in
subsection C of this section.
B. No person shall create or foster any condition,
or allow any condition to exist, or continue, which
results in a congregation, congestion or other grouping
of certain animals, birds and waterfowl as described by
this article.
C. This section shall not apply to feeding activities
supervised and conducted by the city in conjunction
with its city parks, or by the city in the conduct of
management practices for the control of certain
animals, birds and waterfowl as defined by this
article. This section shall not apply to a person
engaged in the feeding of songbirds so long as the
food and manner of feeding is not attracting certain
animals, birds, waterfowl as described in this article.
This section shall not apply to natural conditions
which result in unintentional feeding such as the
cultivation of a lawn, garden or landscaping, nor
shall it apply to natural, unintentional feeding as
described in this article.
SECTION 4 ENFORCEMENT, PENALTY, CIVIL
INFRACTION, NUISANCE.
A. Any person violating any provision of this
article shall be responsible for a municipal civil
infraction. The penalty for the first offense shall be
$50.00 and for the first repeat offense $150.00.
Repeat offense shall be determined as defined in
section 31.02 of the Iron River Code of Ordinances.
For any second or subsequent repeat offense, the
fine shall be no more than $500.00.
B. It shall be the duty of the chief of police of
the city or his authorized representative to enforce
the provisions of this article.
C. If, after investigation, the chief of police of
his authorized representative determines that a
violation of this article exists, he shall be authorized
to issued a municipal civil infraction notice and/or a
municipal civil infraction citation to any person that
is responsible for violating the provisions of this
article. Service of said civil infraction citation or
civil infraction notice shall be made in accordance
with section 31.04 of the Iron River Code of
Ordinances. Permitting a violation of this article on
private premises is hereby declared to constitute a
nuisance per se. Upon application to any court of
competent jurisdiction, the court may order the
nuisance abated and/or the violation restrained and
enjoined. The enforcement of this article by
abatement of any nuisance by the enforcing officer
or by application to any court of competent
jurisdiction for abatement by judicial decree or
writ shall not preclude enforcement of this article
by the issuance of a municipal civil infraction and
the imposition of fine and costs herein provided.
SECTION 5 EFFECTIVE DATE
This Ordinance shall be effective thirty (30) days
after publication. R184/25
================================
Bill Vajk
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
What's Wrong With This Picture?
Patti Peretto threw her hat into the political arena
recently, announcing her run for a seat on the
County Board. We memorialized the event in an
article about machine politics, "One machine
candidate as announced that 'I don’t care for
the direction the county is headed in.'"
IronCountyDoings stands against machine politics
regardless of party, so we're non-partisan in all
regards. The distribution of machine politics has
run the gamut crossing all party lines around the
world.
So here's Ms. Peretto's ad in this week's edition
of the Iron County Reporter:
What's wrong with this picture? Let's take it line
by line.
"10 years experience, served as chair and finance
chair."
And still the county is economically distressed
with a continuing population decline.
"6 years Department of Human Services Board."
Yet today insufficient use is being made of the senior
centers. Indeed, more decline.
"Team Player"
_______________________What???????????????____
The elective position for which Ms. Perretto is running
is to represent the people of her district! This isn't a
team sport! In fact, she's supposed to place the concerns
of the voters in her district above those of other areas
of the county, especially where they conflict.
What does "team player" really mean in the context of
an individual running for office? It means she's willing
to trade the interests of the people who elected her in
exchange for something that benefits others. "What
others?" is heard from the galleries observing this
event. The answer is plain enough, those she's announced
she's already on a team with, the local political machine
that looks after its own at the expense of the electorate
and the taxpayers.
She goes on to say, "I believe we all have to work
together to make our county a great place to live and
work." Well, Ms. Perretto, in the 10 years you served
during your last stint on the county board, what did
you achieve? I don't count grants from state or federal
sources as amounting to anything worthwhile. I don't
count patronage jobs that you've had a hand in over
the years. I don't count the grooming of your successors
who have presently failed the machine politics cause.
"Your support will be greatly appreciated."
Really? How did you demonstrate that appreciation after
former elections? What did you achieve, Ms. Peretto, in
appreciation of being elected? The voters should be asking
themselves, "Was I any better off at the end of Patti's last
turn at the helm than I was before?"
The answer is obvious.
Machine politics places the politician's wishes above the
needs and wants of the taxpayer. The vast majority of us
living in Iron County don't want that.
Please remember all this at the ballot box. And remember
that not voting is a vote favoring the political machine that's
out to benefit itself at your expense.
This article is the opinion of its author.
Bill Vajk
recently, announcing her run for a seat on the
County Board. We memorialized the event in an
article about machine politics, "One machine
candidate as announced that 'I don’t care for
the direction the county is headed in.'"
IronCountyDoings stands against machine politics
regardless of party, so we're non-partisan in all
regards. The distribution of machine politics has
run the gamut crossing all party lines around the
world.
So here's Ms. Peretto's ad in this week's edition
of the Iron County Reporter:
What's wrong with this picture? Let's take it line
by line.
"10 years experience, served as chair and finance
chair."
And still the county is economically distressed
with a continuing population decline.
"6 years Department of Human Services Board."
Yet today insufficient use is being made of the senior
centers. Indeed, more decline.
"Team Player"
_______________________What???????????????____
The elective position for which Ms. Perretto is running
is to represent the people of her district! This isn't a
team sport! In fact, she's supposed to place the concerns
of the voters in her district above those of other areas
of the county, especially where they conflict.
What does "team player" really mean in the context of
an individual running for office? It means she's willing
to trade the interests of the people who elected her in
exchange for something that benefits others. "What
others?" is heard from the galleries observing this
event. The answer is plain enough, those she's announced
she's already on a team with, the local political machine
that looks after its own at the expense of the electorate
and the taxpayers.
She goes on to say, "I believe we all have to work
together to make our county a great place to live and
work." Well, Ms. Perretto, in the 10 years you served
during your last stint on the county board, what did
you achieve? I don't count grants from state or federal
sources as amounting to anything worthwhile. I don't
count patronage jobs that you've had a hand in over
the years. I don't count the grooming of your successors
who have presently failed the machine politics cause.
"Your support will be greatly appreciated."
Really? How did you demonstrate that appreciation after
former elections? What did you achieve, Ms. Peretto, in
appreciation of being elected? The voters should be asking
themselves, "Was I any better off at the end of Patti's last
turn at the helm than I was before?"
The answer is obvious.
Machine politics places the politician's wishes above the
needs and wants of the taxpayer. The vast majority of us
living in Iron County don't want that.
Please remember all this at the ballot box. And remember
that not voting is a vote favoring the political machine that's
out to benefit itself at your expense.
This article is the opinion of its author.
Bill Vajk
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Recent Arrivals
I recently purchased and received three volumes of
Corpus Juris Secundum: Complete Restatement Of
The Entire American Law As Developed By All
Reported Cases (1936-current.) These volumes
deal with Municipal Government and provide very
helpful legal insights with an eye to resolving the
issues your humble correspondent has been experiencing
with the City of Iron River for the past several years.
These volumes, along with other legal library texts
are available for review and loan to others involved
in action involving local governments within easy
driving distance of Iron River.
When I lived in Illinois I attended the law library at
the Skokie Courthouse which was very well stocked
and includeed the entire CJS set along with other
series that complimented these texts, so I have a
working familiarity with the books I purchased. I
suppose such convenience is part of the cost of living
in this rural environment.
Living here has many advantages that offset most of
the inconveniences. I do wish that many of our local
officials were better educated, it would make
dealing with basic issues much easier for everyone.
Bill Vajk
Corpus Juris Secundum: Complete Restatement Of
The Entire American Law As Developed By All
Reported Cases (1936-current.) These volumes
deal with Municipal Government and provide very
helpful legal insights with an eye to resolving the
issues your humble correspondent has been experiencing
with the City of Iron River for the past several years.
These volumes, along with other legal library texts
are available for review and loan to others involved
in action involving local governments within easy
driving distance of Iron River.
When I lived in Illinois I attended the law library at
the Skokie Courthouse which was very well stocked
and includeed the entire CJS set along with other
series that complimented these texts, so I have a
working familiarity with the books I purchased. I
suppose such convenience is part of the cost of living
in this rural environment.
Living here has many advantages that offset most of
the inconveniences. I do wish that many of our local
officials were better educated, it would make
dealing with basic issues much easier for everyone.
Bill Vajk
Iron County Schedule - July 2012
The Courthouse Complex will be closed on Wednesday-
July 4, 2012, in observance of the Holiday.
Wayne Wales Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding their Finance Committee meetings every
Thursday at 1:00 p.m. They will be held in the
Commissioners Meeting Room, Annex Addition.
Iron County Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Carl Lind Finance Chair
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding their bimonthly Regular Meeting on Tuesday.
July 10, 2012. at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room, Annex Addition, Iron County
Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Wayne Wales Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding a special meeting as a Committee of the
Whole (Policies & Procedures) on Thursday, July 12,
2012, at 12:00 p.m.
Wayne Wales Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be holding
a Special Meeting on Monday. July 16, 2012, at 4:30 p.m.
at Camp Batawagama in Crystal Falls, Michigan, to
review and discuss issues relating to Camp Batawagama
and to tour the facility.
Wayne Wales Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be holding
a Public Hearing for the purpose of Combining the Offices
of the Register of Deeds and Clerk in the Year 2016, prior
to the Board of Commissioners bimonthly Regular Meeting
on Tuesday, July 24, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room. Annex Addition, Iron County Courthouse,
Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Wayne Wales Chairman
Copies: Iron Co. Board of Commissioners, Iron Co. Press.
All Dept. Heads, Bulletin Board
Published as received this date - Bill Vajk
July 4, 2012, in observance of the Holiday.
Wayne Wales Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding their Finance Committee meetings every
Thursday at 1:00 p.m. They will be held in the
Commissioners Meeting Room, Annex Addition.
Iron County Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Carl Lind Finance Chair
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding their bimonthly Regular Meeting on Tuesday.
July 10, 2012. at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room, Annex Addition, Iron County
Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Wayne Wales Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be
holding a special meeting as a Committee of the
Whole (Policies & Procedures) on Thursday, July 12,
2012, at 12:00 p.m.
Wayne Wales Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be holding
a Special Meeting on Monday. July 16, 2012, at 4:30 p.m.
at Camp Batawagama in Crystal Falls, Michigan, to
review and discuss issues relating to Camp Batawagama
and to tour the facility.
Wayne Wales Chairman
The Iron County Board of Commissioners will be holding
a Public Hearing for the purpose of Combining the Offices
of the Register of Deeds and Clerk in the Year 2016, prior
to the Board of Commissioners bimonthly Regular Meeting
on Tuesday, July 24, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room. Annex Addition, Iron County Courthouse,
Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Wayne Wales Chairman
Copies: Iron Co. Board of Commissioners, Iron Co. Press.
All Dept. Heads, Bulletin Board
Published as received this date - Bill Vajk
Monday, July 2, 2012
Machine Politics Runs Iron County, Michigan
I spent about three decades living in the suburban
Chicago region. In the beginning I was thoroughly
astonished that in 1974 no one could buy fresh
meat at the local supermarket in the evening. The
meat cutters union had a rule that no meat cutter
worked past 5PM on weekdays, and they didn’t
work on the weekends either. The union contracts
required a union member to be on duty at the store
where fresh meat was sold in order to service the
customers. So if you worked a normal workweek,
you could never buy fresh meat in Chicago or the
collar counties surrounding that city.
The mayor of Chicago was a fellow named Richard
J. Daley, father of the mayor who more recently
retired in order to make room for Rahm Emanuel,
a machine politics guru who jumped out of his high
ranking White House job into the top political
(machine) job in Illinois, his home state, that being
the mayor of Chicago.
The elder Daley, late in his life and late in his multi-
decade career as mayor of Chicago, had a meeting
with the union heads, and quite suddenly the union
rules changed with fresh meat available in the
supermarkets just like the rest of the United States.
Wherever it exists, machine politics reaches, and
controls, every aspect of life! What legitimate
interest did the City of Chicago have in private
business dealings between the union and the regional
supermarkets? Sorry, that’s another of my rhetorical
questions, the answer being “none.” But it didn’t matter,
because Daley thus ingratiated himself to the public at
large. And that love of the man wasn’t limited to the
city alone, it affected everyone in the collar counties,
the bulk of the population of the entire state. Of course
restrictions on the sale of fresh meat should never have
been imposed in the first place, but that’s another story
in itself.
It was the same elder Daley who, without reservation,
told the press “I’m wearing mistletoe on my coattails”
when pressed for some information Daley was not
willing to give up. And surprisingly, to someone only
recently arrived to the region at the time, that resolved
the issue, effectively shutting down any possibility of
getting any answer at all to the question originally
asked.
Having lived in an overtly machine politics region,
that is a place where the machinations of machine
politics weren’t concealed, it became obvious, soon
after I moved here, that the same sort of control
system is at play in Iron County. The first signal I
saw that “the fix was in” happened at an Iron River
DDA meeting when Hovey company was in contention
for being named as the developer of the Central School.
The DDA chairman, Gibula, threw the discussion open
to decide among potential candidates. From the floor
came information that other experiences with had been
favorable. Without further discussion Gibula moved that
Hovey be accepted as the developer of the property, a
vote was rushed through, and the deal was done. But
Hovey’s trip to that Iron River meeting was partly
enabled by the dispatch of Julie Melchiori, then
EDC developer, to Kingsford airport, the facility to
which Hovey had flown his own aircraft from downstate.
Naturally none of the other contenders, if there even were
any, received such favorable attention.
It came as no surprise that Julie took the occasion to
promote a new Iron County airport, a facility that the
public had voted down with its feet, somewhat earlier.
Julie said the county airports were too small for a plane
like the one Hovey flies to land. Thus it has become clear
that a new Iron County Airport is part of the agenda that
the Iron County political machine is promoting on behalf
of one of the machine’s members, and that Julie Melchiori
is, in your humble correspondent’s opinion, one of the Iron
County political machine’s most willing operatives.
Once disclosed, the breadth of the operations of the Iron
County Political Machine becomes somewhat transparent,
with tendrils reaching everywhere. The problem is, of
course, that some good emanates. But the real problem is
that private initiatives, meaning resulting in private benefit
with no significant impact to the good of the general
population, is the strength of all machine politics. And
that’s always done at public expense.
Saving the “Middle School” to be put to “public use” was
one such project. Having personally toured the building, I
see nothing there worthy of continuing to maintain at
public expense. The building should have been torn down
when it became surplus to the needs of the school district.
It isn’t as though we don’t already have plenty of viable
vacant commercial property in Iron County. So privately
owned commercial property remains vacant while the Middle
School is operated at a loss by a consortium of local
municipal governments at public expense, leading to a
further decline of commercial property in Iron County
because of private interests by the local political machine.
Please see our earlier article about parking regulations in
Iron River destroying the commercial viability of the upper
floors in Iron River’s commercial buildings.
That’s precisely the problem with machine politics. It
doesn’t allow for the political and economic freedoms that
our form of government promises, placing the political
machine’s interests ahead of public need. And it is far
worse when the machine operates in secret where the
general public cannot seem to get a handle on it. That’s
the case here in Iron County.
What we are now witnessing is the re-emergence of
stronger political operatives into the current election cycle
because partial control, at the county level, has been lost.
One machine candidate as announced that “I don’t care for
the direction the county is headed in.” Of course not. Tom
King got fired from his cushy dogcatcher job. Operative
Julie Melchiori has been more or less forced to seek
legitimate employment, although there is some doubt at
to her entrepreneurial skills. And there’s probably no
end to the political machine toes that have been stomped
upon by the reform government that managed to wrest
control at the county level. “Not ready from prime time”
Faccin was also forced out, but is now, once again, in
contention for an elective position.
Patronage hiring by government is always necessary to
maintain control by machine politics, and in counties such
as this, people sell out remarkably cheaply. But of course
taxes fund all our government functions rather thinly in the
first place, so rather than to hire a Tom King whose
functioning as a county employee is severely limited, it is
far better from the public’s perspective to spend just a little
bit more to hire and retain a fully qualified sheriff’s deputy
who is qualified to do more good when the chips are down.
But Tom is the son of a county board member who is also a
machine politics operative.
You may have noticed that I didn’t name, or locate, the
background organization that’s running Iron County through
a political machine. I’ve done this to entice the reader to think
about this problem, and to figure it out for themselves. On
that journey you may discover things I cannot put into print,
and we’ll all be ahead for your thought and concern. But
please think about the problems, and decide whether you’re
in favor of enriching the members of the political machine
at public expense whenever you’re in a voting booth this
year.
Bill Vajk
Chicago region. In the beginning I was thoroughly
astonished that in 1974 no one could buy fresh
meat at the local supermarket in the evening. The
meat cutters union had a rule that no meat cutter
worked past 5PM on weekdays, and they didn’t
work on the weekends either. The union contracts
required a union member to be on duty at the store
where fresh meat was sold in order to service the
customers. So if you worked a normal workweek,
you could never buy fresh meat in Chicago or the
collar counties surrounding that city.
The mayor of Chicago was a fellow named Richard
J. Daley, father of the mayor who more recently
retired in order to make room for Rahm Emanuel,
a machine politics guru who jumped out of his high
ranking White House job into the top political
(machine) job in Illinois, his home state, that being
the mayor of Chicago.
The elder Daley, late in his life and late in his multi-
decade career as mayor of Chicago, had a meeting
with the union heads, and quite suddenly the union
rules changed with fresh meat available in the
supermarkets just like the rest of the United States.
Wherever it exists, machine politics reaches, and
controls, every aspect of life! What legitimate
interest did the City of Chicago have in private
business dealings between the union and the regional
supermarkets? Sorry, that’s another of my rhetorical
questions, the answer being “none.” But it didn’t matter,
because Daley thus ingratiated himself to the public at
large. And that love of the man wasn’t limited to the
city alone, it affected everyone in the collar counties,
the bulk of the population of the entire state. Of course
restrictions on the sale of fresh meat should never have
been imposed in the first place, but that’s another story
in itself.
It was the same elder Daley who, without reservation,
told the press “I’m wearing mistletoe on my coattails”
when pressed for some information Daley was not
willing to give up. And surprisingly, to someone only
recently arrived to the region at the time, that resolved
the issue, effectively shutting down any possibility of
getting any answer at all to the question originally
asked.
Having lived in an overtly machine politics region,
that is a place where the machinations of machine
politics weren’t concealed, it became obvious, soon
after I moved here, that the same sort of control
system is at play in Iron County. The first signal I
saw that “the fix was in” happened at an Iron River
DDA meeting when Hovey company was in contention
for being named as the developer of the Central School.
The DDA chairman, Gibula, threw the discussion open
to decide among potential candidates. From the floor
came information that other experiences with had been
favorable. Without further discussion Gibula moved that
Hovey be accepted as the developer of the property, a
vote was rushed through, and the deal was done. But
Hovey’s trip to that Iron River meeting was partly
enabled by the dispatch of Julie Melchiori, then
EDC developer, to Kingsford airport, the facility to
which Hovey had flown his own aircraft from downstate.
Naturally none of the other contenders, if there even were
any, received such favorable attention.
It came as no surprise that Julie took the occasion to
promote a new Iron County airport, a facility that the
public had voted down with its feet, somewhat earlier.
Julie said the county airports were too small for a plane
like the one Hovey flies to land. Thus it has become clear
that a new Iron County Airport is part of the agenda that
the Iron County political machine is promoting on behalf
of one of the machine’s members, and that Julie Melchiori
is, in your humble correspondent’s opinion, one of the Iron
County political machine’s most willing operatives.
Once disclosed, the breadth of the operations of the Iron
County Political Machine becomes somewhat transparent,
with tendrils reaching everywhere. The problem is, of
course, that some good emanates. But the real problem is
that private initiatives, meaning resulting in private benefit
with no significant impact to the good of the general
population, is the strength of all machine politics. And
that’s always done at public expense.
Saving the “Middle School” to be put to “public use” was
one such project. Having personally toured the building, I
see nothing there worthy of continuing to maintain at
public expense. The building should have been torn down
when it became surplus to the needs of the school district.
It isn’t as though we don’t already have plenty of viable
vacant commercial property in Iron County. So privately
owned commercial property remains vacant while the Middle
School is operated at a loss by a consortium of local
municipal governments at public expense, leading to a
further decline of commercial property in Iron County
because of private interests by the local political machine.
Please see our earlier article about parking regulations in
Iron River destroying the commercial viability of the upper
floors in Iron River’s commercial buildings.
That’s precisely the problem with machine politics. It
doesn’t allow for the political and economic freedoms that
our form of government promises, placing the political
machine’s interests ahead of public need. And it is far
worse when the machine operates in secret where the
general public cannot seem to get a handle on it. That’s
the case here in Iron County.
What we are now witnessing is the re-emergence of
stronger political operatives into the current election cycle
because partial control, at the county level, has been lost.
One machine candidate as announced that “I don’t care for
the direction the county is headed in.” Of course not. Tom
King got fired from his cushy dogcatcher job. Operative
Julie Melchiori has been more or less forced to seek
legitimate employment, although there is some doubt at
to her entrepreneurial skills. And there’s probably no
end to the political machine toes that have been stomped
upon by the reform government that managed to wrest
control at the county level. “Not ready from prime time”
Faccin was also forced out, but is now, once again, in
contention for an elective position.
Patronage hiring by government is always necessary to
maintain control by machine politics, and in counties such
as this, people sell out remarkably cheaply. But of course
taxes fund all our government functions rather thinly in the
first place, so rather than to hire a Tom King whose
functioning as a county employee is severely limited, it is
far better from the public’s perspective to spend just a little
bit more to hire and retain a fully qualified sheriff’s deputy
who is qualified to do more good when the chips are down.
But Tom is the son of a county board member who is also a
machine politics operative.
You may have noticed that I didn’t name, or locate, the
background organization that’s running Iron County through
a political machine. I’ve done this to entice the reader to think
about this problem, and to figure it out for themselves. On
that journey you may discover things I cannot put into print,
and we’ll all be ahead for your thought and concern. But
please think about the problems, and decide whether you’re
in favor of enriching the members of the political machine
at public expense whenever you’re in a voting booth this
year.
Bill Vajk
Sunday, June 24, 2012
August 7, 2012 Primary
We thank the Iron County Clerk for proof copies of the Iron
County ballots for the August 7, 2012 primary election.
For your convenience and access, we have published the
proof ballots at the internet web locations listed below.
Please be registered and vote!
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/bates-township.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/caspian-city.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/crystal-falls-city.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/gaastra-city.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/hematite-township.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/ironriver-city-4_precincts.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/ironriver-township.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/mansfield-twp.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/Mastadon-Twp.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/stambaugh-township.pdf
Bill Vajk
County ballots for the August 7, 2012 primary election.
For your convenience and access, we have published the
proof ballots at the internet web locations listed below.
Please be registered and vote!
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/bates-township.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/caspian-city.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/crystal-falls-city.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/gaastra-city.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/hematite-township.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/ironriver-city-4_precincts.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/ironriver-township.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/mansfield-twp.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/Mastadon-Twp.pdf
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/ballots/stambaugh-township.pdf
Bill Vajk
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Friends of Camp Batawagama - July 2012
“Always Patsy Cline”
has enjoyed great
success all over the country, including
off-Broadway,
and this uplifting musical
production is on its way to Iron County!
Friends of Camp Batawagama have
scheduled this show for Wednesday,
July 18, 2012, 7pm at the Windsor
Auditorium. For only $15, you can help
support Camp Batawagama and enjoy
a top notch evening of entertainment.
An afterglow at Alice’s Supper Club,
immediately following the show, will
provide theatre goers with an opportunity
to meet the cast – only $10 extra for this
bonus feature.
“Always Patsy Cline”
is more than a
tribute to the legendary Patsy. The show
is based on
Cline’s friendship with a fan
from Houston named Louise Seger, who
befriended the star in a Texas honky-tonk
in 1961 and continued
corresponding with
Cline until her tragic death in a plane crash
in
1963.
Enjoy yourself for the evening and help
secure many years of camping fun for our
area youth. Support the Friends of
Camp Batawagama!
For tickets: email me
( sara@bassoandbasso.us ) or call and
leave a message at 906-265-4410. (The
afterglow event at Alice’s is limited to
100 – so don’t delay.)
Sara
Sara J. Basso
Basso & Basso
PO Box 63
Iron River MI 49935
Phone: 906-265-4410
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