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repealed once they take notice and express their 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Public Education Wrap-up

The title to this article is a misnomer. Every social
structure, public education is assuredly part of that
genre, is in a permanent state of evolution and,
hopefully, improvement. In that context, we certainly
hope that Michigan’s public education system never
stops evolving in that direction. I’ve written before
about the nuns who taught me in grammar school
universally adding the note, “There’s always room for
improvement” to the bottom of all report cards, even
the ones that had straight A’s.

After publishing the article of May 23, we spoke with
a number of people about it and the topic of public
education. Those discussions, coupled with several
news stories appearing in the national news recently,
are incorporated.

Within this same culture called Iron County, we have
two school systems. Forest Park’s graduates experienced
16.1% requiring remedial courses when starting college
while 27.8% graduating from West Iron had the same
needs. But other information is missing from these
statistics that might shed some light on the reason for
this disparity.

Frankly I was rather surprised at the results of the
ongoing local discussions. There was a consensus
amounting to 50% that the reason for so much
remedial work being necessary when graduates of
our public school system enter college is because the
colleges set their admissions policy too low. They’re
routinely admitting students who achieved only a 2.0
average. Never the less, 2.0 graduates are still graduates
being sent out into the world less prepared than they
should and could be.

On the other side of that coin, the questions become
interesting. Why is it that students with low grade point
averages believe that they are ready for college in the
first place? Is it not the function of the public school
system to graduate students ready for a successful life?
Isn’t a public education supposed to help all students
achieve the direction necessary for success?

Ideally, if the school system is functioning correctly,
the guidance counselors should have done better,
with students who attempt college and requiring
remedial work not exceeding a very low number,
probably below 5%, ideally none at all. As we wrote
in an earlier article, not everyone is ready for college
at high school graduation. I offer my own children as
such examples. One of my children has graduated,
achieved advanced studies, and has even taught at the
university level. Another is currently pursuing graduate
studies. Do I consider them successful? Yes. Should
they have attended college straight out of high school?
No. Despite all the help and guidance that was available
in their home, they simply took longer than the usual
case to be prepared for college. There were good
reasons, but those are beyond the scope of this article.

The point is that high school graduates with a grade
average of 2.0 should, at graduation, know that they
are not, at that moment, college material. Actually,
even excellent grades standing alone provide no
assurance either.

When I was a freshman in high school, the editor of the
yearbook was a young lady earning all A’s across the
board throughout her high school career. On graduating,
she attended an excellent university, but was home again
having suffered a nervous breakdown before
Thanksgiving. In order to achieve those A’s in high
school, the girl had poured almost her entire existence
into earning those grades. But when she got to college,
she could not put enough effort into her studies even at
the cost of little to no sleep, because the demands were
that much greater, and she had already been tapped out
with her high school endeavors. She regrouped,
reassessed her priorities, found a satisfactory career, and
became a productive and admired member of the
community, and a college community at that. College
was clearly not for her. It is unfortunate that in the state
and national political narratives such simple facts are
ignored. That's the nature of a system holding thee very
objects of its attention at arm's length.

25% of the folks I had discussions with about education
are happy with the local school systems. Naturally enough,
these are parents whose children were/are successful in
the public school system. And these are generally the
sort of parents who attended the March 22 meeting
referred to in our earlier article. I wouldn’t expect
otherwise, and statistically 25% approximates the top
end of the bell curve distribution of grades that we
expect in any large enough random group. This, by the
way, is the group most able to achieve improvements to
all socio-economic conditions locally, and alas is the
group least likely to undertake local initiatives because
of the huge personal costs of activism.

The other 25% are individuals who referred to their
own school experiences, and those of their children,
who said that they were “given” passing grades for
course work in which they did not achieve competence
so that they would not have to repeat courses and they
could graduate on schedule. None of this 25% attempted
college. Some did go on to a specialized trade school

It is interesting to note that 50% blamed “others” for the
local school system failure to graduate college ready
children who are bound for college despite the fact that
those “others” have no input or responsibility for
providing our youth with a public education. Our school
boards are charged with that duty! This is in a setting
where the current federal executive branch is unrealistically
pushing for 100% of the children to attend college. I didn’t
seek to level the playing field in undertaking these
discussions, but just took information as it was presented
to me in my usual rounds. Another person talking to
members of the same community could easily come up
with different numbers.

But what of the underlying meeting, and discussions, of
March? What, specifically, does “improve public education
in Michigan” mean in the first place? Very little attention
was given to “at risk” and dropouts, and they weren’t part
of the presentation by the facilitator. Does “improve”
include changes to those numbers? Or does “improve”
mean more knowledge imparted to the students? Does it
mean better grades? Should more C students be B students?

Those who have studied private and Catholic School
education compared to public education have historically
found superior performance by private and Catholic school
students. In 1993 the University of Chicago published an
article about the topic, reporting some interesting results.
We commend that article to our readers.

http://tinyurl.com/7gbq558

“The authors attribute Catholic schools' academic
success to four characteristics: a common core of
academic work for all students; a supportive,
communal style of organization; decentralized
governance; and an inspirational ideology.”

But by far the most fascinating tidbit was:

“The academic success of Catholic schools can be
replicated at public schools and non-Catholic
private schools if those institutions adopt some
of the successful principles used in Catholic
education, contends Anthony Bryk, Professor
in Education.”

We also commend this web page as indicative
of the successes available in the non-public
education models.

http://tinyurl.com/7k7zd94

In recent days, the name Dr. Rebecca Kenny has
once again come to the forefront with her “Harlem
Village Academies.” Please see:

http://tinyurl.com/7zk5qzg

Many similar examples abound.

In this author’s opinion, a simple study of incomes for a
large number of randomly selected publicly educated vs.
Catholic school educated adults at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50
years after graduation should flesh out the data very
nicely. It is just as interesting that magnet schools, and
charter schools,  typically demonstrate significantly
improved results over the standard public education.

Surely there is room for improvement for all students.
Also, should education cost less? What is the specific
target when seeking improvement? Is the legislature
going to act on undefined targets, just to do something?

Your humble correspondent attended one meeting
representing 26 individuals out of the announced
eventual statewide goal of 5000. As far as I could tell,
the group in that meeting was dominated by a
combination of local educators and parents of
successful children.

Iron County Doings urges the Center for Michigan to
conduct a second set of focus groups designed to ask
parents of failing and at risk children about their views
on the school systems in this state. What do those
individual perceive their needs to be? Does anyone
really know?

There is, by comparison, little  improvement available
for those already achieving success. The level of success
can often be improved even near the top. The area that
needs the most work is improvement for students in the
failing and the marginal sectors of the spectrum. Those
groups had no obvious representation in the March 22
meeting. Or if they were present, very little was said about
them. That’s probably inherent in the way that the focus
group was designed, and not a failing on the part of the
individuals whose diligence and hard work enabled the
Iron County meeting in the first place. And too, this
article, and the preceding one we published, are
outgrowths of the efforts so graciously donated to the
community by the Bassos. So it isn’t as though those
who fail, or could achieve better results, are completely
unrepresented because here we are, writing about them.

But of course the non-attending or otherwise silent
parents are anticipated to be non-voting members of
society, and often ignored for that reason where political
initiatives are concerned. Isn’t this the usual case of
oppression by the vocal majority? However, in America,
the land of opportunity, what we are discussing is
precisely the sort of “hand up” that would allow
transition for some significant portion of the students
to a higher level, perhaps even a socio-economic status
step up, the real promise of our nation. That’s the segment
of society that could benefit the most by improving the
public educational system. And in the end, everyone
benefits because, like it or not, we’re all in this together.

We haven’t even touched on another harbinger of failure
of our youth to achieve, that being social issues. Mind
altering substance abuse by parents and/or students,
bullying, and alcoholism take their significant toll, and
such issues are barely addressed at the point of contact,
let alone in legislation. So long as there are no visible
signs of child abuse, absolutely nothing is done.

While I personally support all initiatives to improve
public education by every possible vehicle, it is not
solely the Center for Michigan’s function to provide the
legislature with information on which to base legislation.
It is, rather, the legislature’s duty to the citizens to become
as knowledgeable as possible on all issues that they
regulate. I look forward to the day when hearings
conducted by Michigan’s legislative committees form
one of a number of bases for decision making.

In the context of any discussion about educating our
children, all of the issues are complex. Einstein, as history
tells us, was extremely difficult to educate. More than the
atom bomb, which his theoretical work enabled, it was
Einstein’s addition to the knowledge base in the realm of
quantum mechanics that formed the basis for solid state
electronics and everything that has grown out of the
resulting discovery of the transistor. We could not have
the world we have today were it not for the success of
Einstein’s education in the face of the challenges he
presented.

Nevertheless, till the end of his days, Einstein was quirky.
He remained, till the end, a person who, if translated into
a school age child, would be considered “difficult” if not
ineducable. What a shame it would be to our world if
Einstein had remained completely dismissed as a youth.
Can we, as an enlightened society, fail to work with such
children? So very often all it takes is a brief flash of
insight by a child to make a silk purse out of what,
just moments before, had appeared to be sow’s ear rather
than the intellect that was suddenly lit up.

As a society, and a state, we need to unleash the inherent
good that exists in teachers in order to achieve the domino
effect that is often seen in such cases.

Bill Vajk

Iron County Board-Meeting Schnedule Revision-June 2012

The Iron County Board of Commissioners has 
cancelled the 9:00 a.m. bimonthly Regular 
meeting at PentogaPark on Tuesday, June 12, 
2012. This meeting is now scheduled for 1:30 
p.m. on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, to take place 
in the Iron County Board of Commissioners 
Meeting Room in the Annex Addition, Crystal 
Falls, Michigan.

Thank Goodness

Iron County has been in need of a better judge
for quite some time now. I've been hearing about
Mark Tousignant running for the post for a while,
but this is the first signal that it is a fact.

We wish Mr. Tousignant Godspeed.

Bill Vajk

June 2012 County Meetings Schedule

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, June 12, 2012, at
9:00 a.m., at Pentoga Park on Chicaugon
Lake, Crystal Falls, Michigan.

Wayne Wales
Chairman

The Iron County Board of Commissioners
will be holding their bimonthly Regular
Meeting on Tuesday, June 26, 2012, at
6:00 p.m., at the Hematite Township Hall,
109 W. Pine Street, Amasa, Michigan.

Wayne Wales
Chairman

The Iron County Courthouse will be closed
on Wednesday, July 4th, 2012, in observance
of the holiday.

Wayne Wales
Chairman

No Reappointments

                                                                          Ben Smith
                                                                          Iron River  MI  49935
                                                                          May25, 2012
SpeakOut Editor
C/0 Daily News
215 Ludingfon
P.O. Box 460
Iron Mountain MI 499801

To the Speak Out Editor:

Please find enclosed evidence that the NERD is now a
politician first class. (Editor’s note: Governor Snyder has
dubbed himself “ one tough nerd”.)

The following documents 'were obtained directly from a
recipient and may be used by your dept. any way suitable to show
the desire of the Authors of the instructions contained in them.

Sincerely

Ben Smith

(The following document contains the new requirement,
"current state appointees will not be eligible for reappointment
in 2012.")


STATE OF MICHIGAN
Department of Human Services

Memo

Field Operations Administration
Tel: 517 373 3570 Fax: 241 7526

To: County Directors                           Date:  May 15, 2012
From: Terrence M. Beurer, Director
Field Operations Administration.

Subject:  DHD Board Appointment Procedures

The terms for the current state appointees for all Department
of Human Services (DHS) County Boards expire on October
30, 2012. In anticipation of the vacancies we are seeking
qualified candidates who share the Governor's vision and goals.
The process for filling vacancies is slightly different than in 2009.

• In some counties potential appointees have been identified,
  therefore these counties will not receive the application and
  will not need to seek potential appointees.

• Also current state appointees will not be eligible for
  reappointment in 2012.

For filling me October 2012 vacancies, the following timeline
will be utilized:

1. Applications will be provided to me counties electronically,
so that the applications can be printed for hard copies or emailed
to requestors. All applications will be due to the DHS Director
office on July 20.2012.

2. By June 5, 2012, a letter will be sent to state legislators or
other government officials notifying them that the DHS Board
applications will be available at the local DHS office and asking
the legislators to direct any individual that wishes to apply for
a DHS board to obtain an application by contacting the local DHS
office.

3. DHS Communications will develop advertising materials to
notify interested persons that applications are available from their
local DHS office and to submit their application to the DHS
Director's Office, 235 S. Grand Ave. Suite 1514, P.O. Box 30037,
Lansing MI, 48909, no later than July 20,2012.

4. DHS Directors are also encouraged to advise individuals who
are interested in the DHS Board position and who share the
Governor's values and visions to request an application from the
local DHS office.

5. Once applications are received, a three person selection team
will screen the applications and interview the nominees to
determine interest and capacity for the DHS Board member role.
The top candidate and an alternate for each county will be
selected and provided to the Director for final selection.

 6. Once the appointment has been made, the appointee will
receive an appointment letter from Director Conigan. The
Selection Team will then generate a notification to the applicants
who were not selected. A copy of those communications will be
forwarded to the County Director.

7. Because County Commissioners are also providing funding for
the State Appointees, county directors are asked to share a copy
of the appointment letter with their commissioners.

Editor's Note: IronCountyDoings recognized the issue at the core
of Ben Smith's comment to be a partisan one. Former appointees
were named by  Democratic governor. The decision to deny
reappointment has been made by a Republican state administration.

IronCountyDoings is a non-partisan publication, but news must be
reported whether the content is partisan or not, and it is on that basis
we bring the facts reported above to the attention of our readers and
we encourage open discussion about the topic. We provide no
commentary about the facts.

Bill Vajk

Public Education & Iron County

On March 22, I attended a meeting at the George Young
complex that addressed education in Michigan in a setting
similar to a focus group. The program was run by “The
Center for Michigan” with Amber Toth the facilitator for
the session. While Ms. Toth did an admirable job in
presentation and facilitation, I left with the same sense I
always experienced after participating in a focus group,
that being that the essence of the problems were never quite
touched on even when that essence was mentioned by
participants. That’s actually, in my opinion, the shortcoming
of any gathering where the agenda does not permit the
discussion, and the results, to go where the participants think
the emphasis should take the discussion. The group attending
this meeting was erudite. Given the time to expound on the
problems of public education absent specific intended
directions, the discussion might have been much broader in
scope.

In this case, the questions were narrowly construed with
the obvious intention to advise the legislature and/or the
education department about improving the education
situation here in Michigan. And, I think, the fundamental
concepts about what a public education was, is, and should
be, were glossed over with an essential misunderstanding
holding that everyone agrees about those issues. That is
not necessarily true.

To begin at the beginning, compulsory public education
in the United States was a relatively late invention,
responding to a political and economic problem created
by New England factory owners who provided a box for
child machine operators to stand on so they could reach the
controls. Child labor was cheaper than adult labor, and the
factories took advantage of the situation.

In 1852, Massachusetts passed laws compelling all
children between the ages of 5 and 16 to attend a public
school for 3 months of the year. This effectively deprived
the factory owners of inexpensive labor just long enough
that they were forced to hire adults instead. Internet
research today reveals that history revisionism has damaged
this information with many web pages avoiding these
historical realities. However, the closer one gets to the
date of the original problem when seeking source
information, the more likely one is to find the real reasons
for the compulsion of public education in the United States.
Information that is today swept under the carpet was
common knowledge and the topic of ordinary grammar
school textbooks on the topic in the 1950’s when I first
became aware of the information. Even 20 years ago,
internet web pages discussed these matters more openly
than one can find it today.

How did the philosophy what a public education should
provide evolve from those beginnings into what people
today seem to think it should provide? Well perhaps it
hasn’t evolved quite so much as one would hope.

American educator and philosopher John Dewey
promoted the idea that the purpose of a public
education is to “create good citizens.” Would the matter
be resolved so easily, because even what is meant by “good
citizen” depends significantly on who is defining that term.
The American Education Association appears to continue to
hold Mr. Dewey’s teachings in high regard today. Here and
there I’ve been able, over the years, to see that Dewey’s
ideas regarding the purpose has leaked through just enough
to assure me of its continuing validity.

For those who hold with Dewey’s understanding, it doesn’t
matter what level of education any child achieves, or even
whether the child graduates from high school. The premise,
in those circumstances, can be considered as being met if the
child becomes a “good citizen,” whatever that might mean. I
suppose if that child doesn’t end up in jail, the purpose could
be said to have been fulfilled, and the compulsory education
systems has achieved its goal even if the child becomes
dependent on the state for a lifetime of complete financial
support!

On the other hand, I believe I am representative of most
Americans today who believe that the compulsory education
system is supposed to provide such benefits as are the result
of the maximum achievement level possible for each
individual student. Does that mean that a child of 14 or 15,
if they are intellectually ready for college, should be able to
attend a university? I don’t believe so, because it is the
whole child we should be educating, not just the intellect.
Children mature at their own, individual, rate. My children,
for example, achieved lousy grades in high school, but
became ready for a college education somewhat later, and
saw to completing their education then.

So it appears, at the outset, that there is a disconnect where
it comes to what various categories of people believe a
compulsory public education should, or must, provide. To
begin at a new beginning, we should probably formally
decide, and legally define, a set of goals for public education,
and get everyone on the same page.

Some time back, a wise aunt told me that a child’s education
begins, under the parents’ tutelage, the day the child arrives
home from the hospital. After that, IMO, it is a lifelong
process, with every interaction between a parent and child an
opportunity. Even playtime is learning time for a young child.
In the modern western world, that interaction becomes reduced
to the time a family can usually share the evening meal, making
dinner the most important time spent together, a time when
values are instilled. And please make no mistake, a strong,
effective, personal value system ranks very high among
educational goals while providing all individuals with the keys
to happiness and success.

I refer the reader to a Michigan Department of Education
web page that discusses parental involvement in terms that
make a lot of sense.

http://tinyurl.com/9p9jj

Because some time ago the Lindwalls had written a letter to
the Iron County Reporter commending the West Iron School
District for the excellent job done with their child, while
preparing to write this article, I sought out Sylvia Lindwall
to have a brief conversation about the topic. Primarily I
wanted to ask her about how much interaction the parents
had with that child. It turned out that she and her husband
had significant involvement with their child’s education. In
fact, Sylvia reported that she had been a home economics
teacher, and that subject had been dropped by most school
systems across the country, thus she mirrored a comment made
at the March 22 meeting by Sara Jane Basso (Sara and Ron
were responsible for organizing the session, a belated thanks
to you both). Sara commented twice on the importance of
nutrition as an aspect that has an effect on the success of
education.

Historically the children that most needed a home economics
course as part of their formal education were those who lacked
the interaction with their parents who had traditionally taught
those skills. The inattention to teaching basic living skills today
appears to involve the entire socio-economic spectrum.

Historically, the very poor had never acquired any such skills,
and the middle class with increasingly two working parents, or
one divorced parent who has to work is rapidly gaining on the
same status. The very wealthy who remain busy with economic
advance sometimes have been equally guilty of neglecting
important aspects of their children’s education.

When I addressed the group, off the provided program that
The Center for Michigan plans to present to the legislature as
the result of meetings such as the one I attended, I brought up
several topics:

1) The best group of teachers I ever had were nuns teaching in
parochial grammar school. Those nuns did not have, or need,
teaching certificates. They were so good because they were
dedicated in ways you cannot legislate or in any way regulate.

2) The worse teacher I ever had in high school was the most
beloved, and continued in her career well into her 90’s. She
was, in her later years, a gifted administrator, but made a
lousy classroom teacher.

3) A child’s education begins when they are brought home
from the hospital.

4) Of all the communities where I have lived, this one, Iron
County, has the worse parent involvement in their children’s
education. Unfortunately that includes the “dinner table”
interaction that doesn’t exist for many local children.

Shortly after my comments, another participant mentioned that
he had just attended a gathering honoring the Forest Park children
who had made honor roll. He said it had been well attended by
parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. The fact that there are
parents involved, as all should be, with their children’s education,
was echoed by Sylvia who, with her husband, had recently
attended a dinner the top 10 students in both of Iron County’s
school districts.

I believe that the community interaction and rewards for
success are good for those families because success breeds
success, good going, and Godspeed. Like so many other things
with good intentions, this unfortunately leaves a disaster, an
unintended consequence, in its wake. All the relatives of the
children achieving educational success are the very same
people in a position to do something for those who are not
doing very well in school, b ut most of them appear to be
blind to those problems. In the March 22 meeting, several
mentions were made of “at risk” children and those who had
already dropped out, but no solutions were offered to improve
those situations. Those who have successful children are left
with good feelings about their own case, felt encouraged to
continue their work with their own children, but generally
become blind to the problem(s) that the less successful
children will be creating for the community as they reach
majority.

I found a published report about another meeting facilitated
by Ms. Toth at Hastings, Michigan. The published report
presents results that sound very much like the highlights of
the meeting I attended, and can be found on line at: 

http://tinyurl.com/79hc4ot

The legislature can do nothing to improve the dedication of
teachers. But the two critical aspects that would make a
significant difference to the future of education can be
addressed by lawmakers. The first is to reinstate “life skills”
courses at least as electives in high school. Those are
consumer education, home economics (for both boys and
girls,) remedial reading, and letter writing. The second is to
create, mandate, and fund a mentoring system for all
children who are not achieving at least “C” level grades
in all their courses and not reading “at grade level.” “To
provide everything essential for the successful education of
children” must be taken to heart at all official levels.

During my tenure here in Iron County, I have run across one
individual who offers to teach young illiterate people who are
out of school, either as dropouts or graduates, to read. The fact
that we have young illiterates among us in the 21st century is
disgraceful as well as unnecessary. It need not happen, and it
should never happen. But the simple fact is that it does happen.
And if they can’t read, how much of an education did they
actually receive in the public school system? How did they
manage to achieve any sort of score on the state mandated tests?

Rewards and competition at the top end of the student scale is
important. But even more important is that no child should
be left handicapped for their entire lives by an educational
system and parents who fail to provide them with essential
skills. Those are the children who, left to their own ignorant
devices, eventually engage in antisocial behavior that lands
them as guests, sometimes permanent guests, of the justice
system where they are provided an altogether different sort
of education.

It makes much better sense to the undersigned to fund such
educational mandates as will reduce the next generation of
justice system guests, to say nothing of improving the
earning capacities of all those who presently flounder for
lack of caring and concern for them.

Among those who actually graduate high school in Iron
County and undertake some sort of an advanced education,
the percentage requiring remedial coursework to bring them
up to a college ready level is, in this writer’s opinion,
abysmal. Forest Park graduates requiring further
development represent 16.1% of the graduating class of
479 (2011) while for the same period  27.8% of West Iron’s
920 graduates fell into the same category. This makes it
clear that a goodly portion of the middle, as well as the
bottom end of the student success scale, needs performance
improvement in ways not presently available.

Bill Vajk

What's With the Iron County EDC?

It took a while to get the Iron County EDC's corporate charter but
an excerpt appears below after being processed through an optical
character recognition and scanner program. Blame the original typist
and the scanner for any errors! I reformatted it to fit this publication.

But first, let's look that the "mission statement" the EDC has been
promoting ever since I moved to Iron County:

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

see:   http://www.iron.org/business.php

That's nowhere near what the corporation charter, the official document
I got from the Iron County Clerk's office says in the excerpt below. I've
reproduced Article II.

One of the aspects of the authority granted by this charter, in in
this writer's opinion a very important one, has received no attention
of which I am aware. Item J is authority to advertize. There should be
a huge advertising budget every year, in markets like New York, LA,
Chicago, and any other region that has a concentration of corporate
headquarters where decisions to expand are made. It doesn't end
there, of course, but this is the most crucial example of a shortcoming
by the EDC.

And according to this charter, the EDC is supposed to be pro business
even where it bucks the desires of local government officials.

Obviously you're not going to get very good mileage out of an  EDC
that has the same people running it that have been running everything
else in Iron County during the County's declining decades. A new, full
time, visionary, hands on, director needs to be hired and given a budget
that will allow growth and progress. The EDC, as it has been organized
and operated since I've been in Iron County (since 2003) is nothing
more than a social club lacking a positive agenda. Where is the
public dissemination of the minutes of the public meetings? Where
are the constant invitations for the Iron County public to participate?

A working, positive, growth oriented EDC is important to this
County and indeed to this region. All that requires is a County
Board and an EDC board willing to put in whatever it takes
to achieve positive, significant, results. All I've seen has been
coasting and the traditional grant searching that has become
the hallmark of Iron County. Isn't it time to actually do something
about the economic depression that's been here for 35 years?

Bill Vajk

Excerpt from EDC's corporate charter follows.

                                       Article II

Purpose: The corporation Is organized pursuant to Act 338 of the
Public Acts of 1974 as amended. Its purpose will be to alleviate
and prevent conditions of unemployment, to assist and retain local
industries and commercial enterprises, to strengthen and revitalize
 the economy of the County of Iron, to provide means and methods
for the encouragement and assistance of industrial and commercial
enterprises, including small business concerns, in locating, purchasing,
constructing, reconstructing, modernizing, improving, maintaining,
repairing, furnishing, equipping, and expanding in the County of Iron
to encourage the location and expansion of commercial enterprises
in the County of Iron, to more conveniently provide needed services
and facilities for the commercial enterprises in the County of Iron
and its residents, and to accomplish the foregoing by the following
means:

A) Construct, acquire by gift or purchase, reconstruct, improve,
maintain or repair projects and acquire the necessary lands for
the site therefor.

B) Acquire by gift or purchase the necessary machinery,
furnishings, and equipment for a project or projects.

C) Borrow money and issue its revenue bonds or revenue notes
to finance part or a11 of the cost of the acquisition, purchase,
construction, reconstruction, or improvement or a project or any
part thereof, the cost of the acquisition and improvement of the
necessary sites therefor, the acquisition of machinery, furnishings,
and equipment therefor, and the costs necessary or incidental to
 the borrowing of money and issuing of bonds or notes for such
purpose.

D) Enter into leases, lease purchase agreements or installment
sales contracts with any person, firm, or corporation for the use
or sale of the project or portions thereof.

E) Mortgage the project in favor of any lender of money to the
corporation.

F) Sell and convey the project or any part thereof for a price
and at a time as the corporation determines.

G) Lend, grant, transfer, or convey funds, received pursuant
to Section 27 of Act 338 of Public Acts of 1974, as amended,
as permitted by law, but subject to applicable restrictions
affecting the use of those funds.

H) Assist and participate in the designation of the land area
which will be acquired in the implementation of a project
or projects.

I) Prepare, assist and aid in the preparation of plans,
services, studies and recommendations relative to the
public purposes of the corporation and secure approval
of the same by the affected municipalities.

J) Encourage citizen participation and assistance in
industrial and commercial enterprises, housing and
community improvements and,to disseminate
information to the general public concerning the purposes
and objectives of the corporation.

K) Aid, assist and participate in the acquisition,
rehabilitation or construction of industrial and
commercial improvements, dwelling units or other
structures or matters incidental thereto.

L) Hold, demolish, repair, alter and improve or otherwise
develop, clear, and dispose of real property.

M) Enter into agreements and contracts with and accept
grants from any state or Federal agency or department,
its political sub-divisions and agencies or departments
thereof, or any other official public body and any individual,
corporation or other organization in connection with or in
furtherance of the purposes of the corporation, subject to
applicable laws and regulations.

M) Accept, hold, own and acquire by bequest, devise, gift,
purchase or lease any property, real or mixed, whether
tangible or intangible, without limitation as to kind, amount
or value.

N) Sell, convey, lease, rent, and mortgage of any such
property, or any interest therein or proceeds therefrom, and
to invest and reinvest the principal thereof and receipts
therefrom, if any, subject to applicable laws and regulations.

O) In general, and subject to such limitations and conditions
as are or may be prescribed by law, to exercise such other
powers which now are or hereafter may be conferred by law
upon a corporation organized pursuant to Act 338, Public
Acts of 1974, as amended, and for the foregoing purposes.

P) This corporation shall not, however, exercise jurisdiction
over any project within a municipality which has been or may
hereafter authorize the organization of an economic development
corporation for such municipality, unless said constituent
municipality and its corporation each specifically consent to
such jurisdiction.

Goodbye Hello

In his farewell manager’s report to the mayor and city council, 

John Archocosky wrote: 

“The title ‘City Manager’ is an overstatement as it 

suggests that the individual in that position is in 

control. In reality however, that’s seldom the case. 

The City Manager is there only to follow the direction 

of the Council and the individuals that elect them to 

office.” 

Theoretically that’s correct, however in the case of Iron River, 

that has not been the active model. Since my arrival, in most 

cases the city manager simply ran away with decisions and the 

city council has been no more than a rubber stamp providing 

approval. 

Will that now change? Is this past behavior significantly ingrained 

in the local culture? The stronger a city manager that is hired, the 

more likely such practices will continue. 

“Much of what occurs in small towns like this is the 

mirrored reflection of its ‘citizens’. Citizens have the 

ability to affect every major and minor decision that is 

made on their behalf. The catch however, is that they 

have to show up, speak up, and participate in their city’s 

government. From time to time, decisions are made 

which may reflect the wishes of only a small group who 

let their feelings be known. As Council members and 

staff, we need to be mindful that we are here to serve 

the entire community and all decisions must be made 

which will benefit the majority. I’m pleased to say that 

every Council that I have worked for has demonstrated 

that ability.” 

Here again, nice in theory, but absent in practice. More on this in 

future articles. One needs to read Archocosky's statements for what 

are called “hedges.” That is to say, statements carrying meaning not 

immediately obvious to the casual reader. Archocosky’s writings are 

rife with such things as, “has demonstrated that ability.” 

Really? They demonstrated that ability? How so? If they had 

“exhibited” that ability wouldn’t the writer, who is clever with words, 

simply said so? By writing, as he did, “demonstrated that ability” the 

author has placated his intended, dare I say it, victims, and mislead 

them into a sense of complacency for his future intentions, whatever 

those are. 

This is called "critical reading."

When I was a young man, the local lumberyard and builder supply firm 

was in trouble because of infighting by family members after the death 

of one of its two founders. A salesman who had worked for the firm 

for a couple of decades quit them and opened a hardware and builder’s 

supply right across the street. Because he knew how his former employer 

made business decisions, and the entire customer base, he was able to 

make short work of putting them completely out of business, and 

subsequently purchased his former employer’s property, soon moving 

his operation back to where he began. 

This is the model of seeing an opportunity and taking the risk to one’s 

personal advantage. This is the underbelly of the “free market.” Wherever 

there is a weakness, someone is usually ready and able to take advantage 

of the situation. 

The present experience in Iron River and this county will doubtless exhibit 

a similar game plan. John Archocosky now knows all the political players, 

their strengths and weaknesses, and with great precision, how decisions 

are made at both the municipal as well as state levels. In keeping with the 

history your humble correspondent has watched unfold over the past 8 

years, he will maximize the benefit of this knowledge for himself. 

Don’t forget what he wrote, “As you know, this will be the last Regular 

City Meeting that I will be attending as the City Manager of Iron River.” 

Like MacArthur, he’ll be back. No, he won’t be the city manager, but 

he’ll have advantages of knowledge that a newly arrived city manager 

won’t. John Archocosky is changing his hat, nothing more. And it is to be 

expected that the city council, and others, will listen and obey as they have 

become accustomed to do. 

Bill Vajk 

This ‘n That and a Tale Of Two Kings

About Pentoga Trail:

On March 22, 2012 I attended a conversation about education,
k-12, at the George Young Complex in partnership with The
Center for Michigan. That event is engendering another article.
This one has to do with a road I took while going to that
meeting, Pentoga Trail.
I had used that street before, but hadn’t noticed what, to me, is
normal, that being a “good road.” Unfortunately it is an unusual
state for a road in Iron County. Pentoga Trail isn’t anything like
Lynx Lane, or heaven forbid FFH 16 that was completely
repaved just a few years ago, let alone Old Beechwood road
that residents have been waiting some 28 years to get fixed.
No indeed, that’s a smooth road from one end to the other, and
not a single bump or dip did I encounter.

Of course there’s a possible explanation for the wonderful state
of the road. A former Iron County Road Commission chairman,
John Archocosky, just happens to live there. Could there be any
connection between the quality of the pavement and the
status of the individuals who reside there?

See also: http://tinyurl.com/d4kcgxp

That said, we leave it to the readers to decide.

Building a Blight:

So the three story building at the corner of Genesee and Third
Avenue is experiencing an “Act of God” deterioration and
crumbling of the facade above the third story.


The recent photo in this article shows that there was an
infiltration of water that apparently froze and cracked some
of the bricks, which then fell. The City of Iron River has
determined that this represents a blighted building under
ordinance 91.16. The City Attorney, in a council meeting of March
21, 2012, suggested that the current owner might bankrupt or
otherwise transfer ownership of the building.

Well why wouldn’t they? This is a reasonably good 3 story
building that could have rental apartments on the upper two
levels, except for some very narrow minded for actions by the
City of Iron River that make reasonable use of the property
impossible. That solution could be simple enough, but the City
refuses to acknowledge its culpability in the continuing
deterioration of the downtown. It appears that despite the lip
service given to improving the downtown (as expressed in the
Cool Cities project, which see) it is anti-business whenever the
slightest inconvenience to the city appears.

This building would be well maintained if economic viability
were made possible by designating some parking areas as
available for overnight parking to downtown residents and their
guests. If the Iron River City Council and the City Manager
weren’t so narrow minded and obstinate, the downtown could
be much more inhabited and at least have a chance of economic
redevelopment instead of experiencing the deterioration that
presently has buildings being sequentially torn down.

The only reason for the ongoing deterioration apparent to your
humble correspondent is that the City of Iron River would
actually prefer a completely vacant downtown, otherwise the
city would take those steps, within its power, that are
necessary to redevelopment, economic growth, and vitality of
the downtown.

This building is not the only evidence of the anti-business
mindset of the City Manager and the City Council. Recently
David Sankey, who operates an auto repair business on
Washington Avenue up on the hill, approached the City
Council the second time in a year to ask that the two hour
parking restriction be removed.

On 10/19/2011, the minutes of the meeting report that, “Dave
Sankey, owner of K&D Service, requested the Council lift the
two hour parking restrictions on Washington Avenue. Manager
Archocosky will meet with Chief Mike Goriesky and report back
to the Council.” Subsequent meeting minutes of the city council
indicate that the promise was not kept, or, at the very least, not
reported in meeting minutes.

Sankey returned to another meeting later and asked again. The
ensuing discussion indicated that the restriction had been
created so that employees of the “Call Center” would not park
on the street, and that since no one other than Mr. Sankey had
complained, the restrictions would remain.

Here’s the simple fact. The two hour parking restriction was
not emplaced on Washington Avenue as a consequence of any
actual problems in the area caused by all day parking, it was
brought about because the City thought that perhaps there
might be a problem at some time in the future.

Now that an exactly opposite difficulty has been brought to
the City Council’s attention by an individual who has actually
invested his time and money into operating a business within
the city limits, but the City Council has determined that its
suspicion that there might be a problem in permitting all day
parking as it does almost everywhere else in the city should
prevail rather than seeing what problems might develop and
addressing them should any real problems actually occur.

So if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and talks like a
duck, it probably is a duck! Similarly, the parking restrictions ,
as they exist, must surely be an anti-business strategy because
we cannot discover any other reasonably rational possibility!

Given the long term close relationship between the current (soon
to be ex) City Manager and the Michigan Economic Development
Corporation, the Iron County Economic Development
Corporation, and the Michigan Municipal League,
Mr. Archocosky must surely be conversant with the municipal
practices that yield successful municipal strategies, and apparently
none have been implemented in the City of Iron River during his
tenure as City Manager. We have only to look at the ongoing
deterioration of the downtown and recognize the negative growth
that has taken place there under Archocosky's tutelage.

Once again, we leave it to the readers to decide the truth of this
matter.

A King Tale #1:

Your humble correspondent recently attended the Iron County
Board of Commissioners special meeting that approved a
municipal bond for the Iron County Medical Care Facility. Since
the population of Iron County is aging at a rate faster than the
average for the rest of the nation, we need to improve and expand
this resource.

Just before the close of the meeting, Chairman Wales reported
that all prior difficulties with the Iron County Fair Board had
been resolved. Once the meeting was adjourned, former chair,
and current board member, Rosalie King verbally attacked Mr.
Wales by repeating some of the allegations that had been the
topic of published advertising supporting her as part of the recent
recall election Mrs. King and her cohorts had undertaken, and lost,
against Mr. Wales.

The election is over. Mrs. King’s faction failed to unseat Mr. Wales
at the polls, and lost by a good margin. Votes to retain Wales
amounted to 381 while votes to unseat him were 237. It is our
opinion that Mrs. King is a sore loser who needs to work with the
rest of the county board to benefit those who elected her to that
position rather than to continue the grammar school caliber
theatrics and useless infighting I witnessed after the meeting.

King Tale #2:

Tom King is Rosalie’s son, former county dogcatcher, and
currently holds the position of City Councilman in Iron River.
He was elected in a three way split of votes amounting to 6, 5,
and 4 votes for the candidates vieing for the position. In his place
I would have had the personal pride to decline the seat under
those circumstances because there was no clear simple majority.

Because I own property in the neighborhood Tom King lives in,
I pass by his home frequently. Recently I noted that he is
violating some provisions of the blight ordinance, section 91. See
the relevant photo.




“No person shall maintain or permit to be maintained
any of the following cause of blight or blighting factors
upon any property in the city, owned, leased, rented,
or occupied by the person”

[…]

“Storage of junk, refuse, and the like in residential
areas. In any area zoned for residential purposes, the
storage or accumulation of junk, junk motor vehicles,
trash, rubbish, or refuse of any kind, except domestic
refuse stored in a manner as not to create a nuisance”

Defined: “JUNK MOTOR VEHICLE. Shall include,
without limitation, a motor vehicle which is incapable
of being self-propelled upon the public streets, or which
does not meet the requirements for operation upon the
public streets, including a current license.”

The photo provides all the necessary evidence. So
does the city provide special treatment for elected
officials? Let’s see how long this particular blight
prevails.

Bill Vajk

A Periodic Reminder To Our Readers

We remind readers once again that the entire function of
this publication is to provide news and analysis of events in
Iron County that are either not covered by other press
members reporting about Iron County, or are misreported
as part and parcel, members if you prefer, of the imbedded
socio-political power structure.

For "feel good" stories about Iron County, this publication
refers readers to the Iron County Reporter or radio station
WIKB. Both those entities have a significant internet
presence as well as reporting some of the available
information in their medium of choice.

And while sharing a reporter/newsreader, those two entities
perform an exemplary service in providing only the "good
news." That includes reporting the misfortune and
misconduct of the public at large in their court reports, with
purposeful, conspicuous, absence of reporting of official
misconduct or potentially unpopular information such as the
exorbitant salary demanded from, and paid by, the city
council to Iron River's city manager.

We generally report news rather than make it. There have
been, and will be, exceptions, when we directly confront
local government behavior and practices. The long and the
short of is is that to hear the pleasantries, attend to the
Reporter and WIKB. But come here to get significant
information about issues that affect all of us.

Bill Vajk