It is no secret that the population of this region is declining.
With respect to the present difficulties being experienced
by Iron River Township as regards their township hall not
being in compliance with disabled Americans access
legislation, there are two simple, and relatively inexpensive,
solutions.
But lets get one thing straight right up front. With a declining
population, the probability of near future consolidation(s) of
local governments is not only likely, it is a 100% predictable
future. It would be grossly irresponsible if the township board
chose the construction of a new building as a solution.
If the board decided to retain and use the existing building,
a simple ramp type entrance cut into either long side of the
building would make the basement level handicapped
accessible. Enclosing a separate room, either in the basement
or the main floor level, and moving the offices (assessor, clerk,
and treasurer) there would complete the necessary renovations.
It is a relatively inexpensive solution. Getting out of the building
would be better yet.
A less expensive solution would be to make bigger changes.
While Beechwood Hall was sold/donated to the historical
society, the building is now in a condition that the township
could rent it for the few monthly meetings that are actually
held. The actual governmental uses of the existing township
hall are very few. Rental of Beechwood Hall for governmental
functions would constitute a significant long term savings for
taxpayers and provide a solution that is at least as permanent
as our present day municipality is. In conjunction with this
move, with as much commercial space as is vacant in the
county, there is no reason the township cannot rent commercial
space for the offices mentioned above. The “Coffee Cup,” on
US2 at Smoky Lake Road, immediately springs to mind.
Doubtless there are a number of other possibilities.
Weather proofing the plumbing at the existing township hall and
closing the facility completely would provide a significant financial
advantage. Savings by the elimination of heating costs, and other
maintenance, would offset most, if not all, rental expenses. And
while the board is looking at divesting the township of the existing
township hall, it should also consider getting rid of other
unnecessary real estate. Does Iron River Township actually have
any use for an industrial park?
We have a new township board that hopefully takes a realistic
look at the current situation as well as the future of the township,
and makes decisions based on realities rather than some delusions
of grandeur. Iron River Township has a very limited current or
future need for meeting and office space. Your humble
correspondent believes this township board is well positioned to
break with past practices and finally begin to live within our means.
Bill Vajk
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Northstar Healthcare finances
This past week I was asked about the status of Northstar's finances.
It has been some time since we reported on the topic here.
Loss from operations for 2012 was 1,235,000.
Full details can be found at:
http://emma.msrb.org/EP736602-EP571595-EP972992.pdf
All the reports relevant to the municipal bond are available
at:
http://tinyurl.com/bofdfje
Bill Vajk
Is it the water, or....
As your editor began working on a lawsuit about Iron
River’s water ordinance we began to look at municipal
budgets in the county. Then I asked for a copy of the
county budget under the freedom of information act
(FOIA.)
I picked up the copy and I was presented with an
invoice that I paid based on faith that county
employees were doing the right thing, although
several elected officials were not (see recent articles
we published on the topic.) Imagine my surprise
when I got home and discovered the contents of the
invoice (below.)
So the misapplication of the FOIA statute MCL
15.234 (reported in full below) must be caused
by something in the water. Or is it perhaps the
almost universal inability of public employees
to read and comprehend (an educational problem?).
Or is it that once they become public employees, the
corporate culture of local government dictates that
they ignore the laws they swore to uphold? We
would really like to discover what, in particular,
ails these people we pay with our taxes, that has
them believing that they do not need to serve the
public that employs them.
MCL 15.234 (quoted in full below) very clearly states:
"(1) A public body may charge a fee for a public
record search, the necessary copying of a public
record for inspection, or for providing a copy of
a public record. Subject to subsections (3) and (4), the
fee shall be limited to actual mailing costs, and to the
actual incremental cost of duplication or publication
including labor, the cost of search, examination,
review, and the deletion and separation of exempt
from nonexempt information as provided in section
14. A search for a public record may be conducted
or copies of public records may be furnished without
charge or at a reduced charge if the public body
determines that a waiver or reduction of the fee is
in the public interest because searching for or
furnishing copies of the public record can be
considered as primarily benefiting the general public.
A public record search shall be made and a copy of
a public record shall be furnished without charge for
the first $20.00 of the fee for each request to an
individual who is entitled to information under this
act and who submits an affidavit stating that the
individual is then receiving public assistance or,
if not receiving public assistance, stating facts
showing inability to pay the cost because of indigency.
"(2) A public body may require at the time a request
is made a good faith deposit from the person
requesting the public record or series of public
records, if the fee authorized under this section
exceeds $50.00. The deposit shall not exceed 1/2
of the total fee.
"(3) In calculating the cost of labor incurred in
duplication and mailing and the cost of
examination, review, separation, and deletion
under subsection (1), a public body may not
charge more than the hourly wage of the lowest
paid public body employee capable of retrieving
the information necessary to comply with a
request under this act. Fees shall be uniform and
not dependent upon the identity of the requesting
person. A public body shall utilize the most
economical means available for making copies
of public records. A fee shall not be charged for
the cost of search, examination, review, and the
deletion and separation of exempt from nonexempt
information as provided in section 14 unless failure
to charge a fee would result in unreasonably high
costs to the public body because of the nature of the
request in the particular instance, and the public body
specifically identifies the nature of these unreasonably
high costs. A public body shall establish and publish
procedures and guidelines to implement this subsection.
"(4) This section does not apply to public records
prepared under an act or statute specifically
authorizing the sale of those public records to the
public, or if the amount of the fee for providing a copy
of the public record is otherwise specifically provided
by an act or statute."
End MCL.
The 30 cents a page is a significant overcharge in a
world where regional copy shops charge 10 cents a copy
(including the public library in Crystal Falls.) And the
words “unreasonably high costs” are simply ignored.
Please also understand that at 10 cents a copy, the
regional commercial copy shops actually make enough
of a profit to make the effort worth their while. Where
on earth did Iron County come up with an "incremental
cost" of 30 cents per copy?
We have highlighted the pertinent sections appropriate
to the details of this event. They were written by the state
legislature for the average citizen of the state to
comprehend. In short, you don't have to be a trained
lawyer to appreciate the nuances.
We cannot understand why, if the county employees are
well intentioned, they cannot understand what the average
citizen can, and does, understand. Unless, of course, our
county employees are not well intentioned?
Perhaps the county board of commissioners can answer
that question. Are the county employees well intentioned?
If the commissioners don’t provide the answer or take
corrective actions, the courts most certainly will provide
an opinion, that counts, on the matter.
Bill Vajk
Monday, April 15, 2013
A Funny Thing Happened
In a discussion with a local resident recently, a reference
was made to this publication as "your underground paper."
When I replied "an underground paper?" the reply was,
"well it isn't the Iron County Reporter."
I took all this to mean that there is an element in the local
population that attempts to minimize the impact of this
publication by using diminutive labeling that circulates
through the community. I would expect nothing less from
those who feel threatened by our efforts. They're so very
used to having the local press being supportive of every burp
and utterance that they are unable to deal with a real analysis
of their actions. And to top it all off, they depend heavily on
the local rumor mill to support their agendas.
Here's what makes the comment so funny. We publish our
ISSN number (that's the number the Library of Congress
issues to serial publications) at the head of this web page.
I don't see that anywhere in the Reporter. And we openly
subscribe to the Journalism Code of Ethics. Don't see that
in the Reporter anywhere, do you? It isn't there as a promise,
and it sure isn't obvious in their work. Finally, our Associate
Editor, Ben Smith, was granted White House press
credentials for President Obama's visit to Marquette last
year. We didn't see anyone from the Reporter there either.
We know what an "underground paper" is. Those were
published in Romania under the Ceausescu regime. That
certainly isn't the case for this publication, not by a long
shot. But calling it an underground paper does show how
desperate some of the people comprising the Iron County
political machine have become of late. And that's truly
funny.
That presents us with the next funny rumor making the
rounds. We've heard from several sources that Judge
Schwedler intends to resign before the end of his term
and recommend Melissa Powell, our current prosecutor,
for the position.
If this "rumor" happens to be true, well that wouldn't be
very funny, would it.
Bill Vajk
was made to this publication as "your underground paper."
When I replied "an underground paper?" the reply was,
"well it isn't the Iron County Reporter."
I took all this to mean that there is an element in the local
population that attempts to minimize the impact of this
publication by using diminutive labeling that circulates
through the community. I would expect nothing less from
those who feel threatened by our efforts. They're so very
used to having the local press being supportive of every burp
and utterance that they are unable to deal with a real analysis
of their actions. And to top it all off, they depend heavily on
the local rumor mill to support their agendas.
Here's what makes the comment so funny. We publish our
ISSN number (that's the number the Library of Congress
issues to serial publications) at the head of this web page.
I don't see that anywhere in the Reporter. And we openly
subscribe to the Journalism Code of Ethics. Don't see that
in the Reporter anywhere, do you? It isn't there as a promise,
and it sure isn't obvious in their work. Finally, our Associate
Editor, Ben Smith, was granted White House press
credentials for President Obama's visit to Marquette last
year. We didn't see anyone from the Reporter there either.
We know what an "underground paper" is. Those were
published in Romania under the Ceausescu regime. That
certainly isn't the case for this publication, not by a long
shot. But calling it an underground paper does show how
desperate some of the people comprising the Iron County
political machine have become of late. And that's truly
funny.
That presents us with the next funny rumor making the
rounds. We've heard from several sources that Judge
Schwedler intends to resign before the end of his term
and recommend Melissa Powell, our current prosecutor,
for the position.
If this "rumor" happens to be true, well that wouldn't be
very funny, would it.
Bill Vajk
Rumors, An Iron County Pasttime
Soon after I became a permanent resident of Iron County,
a rumor was spread that West Iron School District was in
such dire financial straits that the band was going to be
dismantled. Presently, we have a repeat of that model of
misinformation spread by rumor. Neither, in the opinion
of your humble correspondent, has validity beyond a
passing acquaintance with facts. The school district
always has need of more funds, while presently the
City of Iron River, with a collapsing population and
economy, has a budget that’s somewhat out of kilter
with realities.
For comparison to Iron River, I was able to find real
numbers for the iron workers union local 16 at Baltimore,
MD[1]. Their journeyman ratio of fringe benefits to
payroll is about 64%. The Iron River police department
is currently experiencing a ratio expressed by 106%
according to numbers I got from city hall last week.
Total payroll is $275,000 and fringe benefits (labeled
as such) are $291,460. Depending on how (I must add,
unclearly) the spread sheet is constructed, that ratio
might be even worse. In fact, the fringe benefit to
payroll ratio appears to be over 100% of all city
employees.
So the rumor being spread around the area is that
the city intends to dismantle Iron River’s police
department without a public hearing on the subject.
Letters have apparently been sent to the Reporter
and the Iron Mountain paper on these topics. It
seems that the topic of services in the context of the
next annual budget will be covered in a scheduled
public hearing in May, 2013.
But now that the realities have come to the
forefront, we question how the excessively high
rates have been approved by past city councils. We
need to bear in mind that those are the same bodies
politic that approved retaining the entire excess work
force in the public works department after
consolidation. The results of that decision are still
being paid for by the taxpayers. While before
consolidation, the work forces for the individual
entities were likely attuned to the amount of work to
be performed, once consolidation took hold, there was
a much larger work force than was effectively usable.
A new corporate culture took hold in public works
that had time to be wasted, and it was. As the work
force shrank through attrition, the corporate culture
did not keep pace, leaving the city with a public works
that has failed to keep pace with the workload all year
round.
The city’s correct solution would be to provide
supervision that did not rise through the ranks (in
other words, real supervision rather than a “pal” as
the boss) and to reduce the work force by
outsourcing work at peak periods. Unlike John
Archocosky's approach to supervision, the city manager
works for the people of the city, not as a defender of
the employees.
I was already a property owner in the county when
Genesee Street was improved in the 1980’s about 30
years ago. Today’s complaints about freezing pipes
and non-functioning valves have no excuse. The
elements of good design and maintenance were
already well established. Water system valves will
significantly outlast the water mains if they are
exercised as the manufacturer recommends.
Who failed to exercise the valves? Who hasn’t
flushed the water system and exercised the fire
hydrants? This publication isn’t in a position to
second guess all the other stuff that the city hasn’t
maintained as is necessary to keep it working. Rest
assured, given the track record we know about,
there are bound to be plenty of others.
The union contracts for city employees are supposed
to be in negotiation for the police and public works
departments. The city council, if they were actually
doing their job, would have already given instructions
to roll back fringe benefits. The next budget will give
us the answer to that measure of their competence.
That’s where the buck stops in Iron River. And as
was pointed out to me by a reader today, at least the
quorum of the city council will have to stand for
election in November 2013. This publication, and a
number of interested individuals, will make sure that
the voters will be well aware, and remember at election
time, the decisions that are made at the Iron River City
budget meeting next month.
Bill Vajk
[1] http://tinyurl.com/c7a23hs
a rumor was spread that West Iron School District was in
such dire financial straits that the band was going to be
dismantled. Presently, we have a repeat of that model of
misinformation spread by rumor. Neither, in the opinion
of your humble correspondent, has validity beyond a
passing acquaintance with facts. The school district
always has need of more funds, while presently the
City of Iron River, with a collapsing population and
economy, has a budget that’s somewhat out of kilter
with realities.
For comparison to Iron River, I was able to find real
numbers for the iron workers union local 16 at Baltimore,
MD[1]. Their journeyman ratio of fringe benefits to
payroll is about 64%. The Iron River police department
is currently experiencing a ratio expressed by 106%
according to numbers I got from city hall last week.
Total payroll is $275,000 and fringe benefits (labeled
as such) are $291,460. Depending on how (I must add,
unclearly) the spread sheet is constructed, that ratio
might be even worse. In fact, the fringe benefit to
payroll ratio appears to be over 100% of all city
employees.
So the rumor being spread around the area is that
the city intends to dismantle Iron River’s police
department without a public hearing on the subject.
Letters have apparently been sent to the Reporter
and the Iron Mountain paper on these topics. It
seems that the topic of services in the context of the
next annual budget will be covered in a scheduled
public hearing in May, 2013.
But now that the realities have come to the
forefront, we question how the excessively high
rates have been approved by past city councils. We
need to bear in mind that those are the same bodies
politic that approved retaining the entire excess work
force in the public works department after
consolidation. The results of that decision are still
being paid for by the taxpayers. While before
consolidation, the work forces for the individual
entities were likely attuned to the amount of work to
be performed, once consolidation took hold, there was
a much larger work force than was effectively usable.
A new corporate culture took hold in public works
that had time to be wasted, and it was. As the work
force shrank through attrition, the corporate culture
did not keep pace, leaving the city with a public works
that has failed to keep pace with the workload all year
round.
The city’s correct solution would be to provide
supervision that did not rise through the ranks (in
other words, real supervision rather than a “pal” as
the boss) and to reduce the work force by
outsourcing work at peak periods. Unlike John
Archocosky's approach to supervision, the city manager
works for the people of the city, not as a defender of
the employees.
I was already a property owner in the county when
Genesee Street was improved in the 1980’s about 30
years ago. Today’s complaints about freezing pipes
and non-functioning valves have no excuse. The
elements of good design and maintenance were
already well established. Water system valves will
significantly outlast the water mains if they are
exercised as the manufacturer recommends.
Who failed to exercise the valves? Who hasn’t
flushed the water system and exercised the fire
hydrants? This publication isn’t in a position to
second guess all the other stuff that the city hasn’t
maintained as is necessary to keep it working. Rest
assured, given the track record we know about,
there are bound to be plenty of others.
The union contracts for city employees are supposed
to be in negotiation for the police and public works
departments. The city council, if they were actually
doing their job, would have already given instructions
to roll back fringe benefits. The next budget will give
us the answer to that measure of their competence.
That’s where the buck stops in Iron River. And as
was pointed out to me by a reader today, at least the
quorum of the city council will have to stand for
election in November 2013. This publication, and a
number of interested individuals, will make sure that
the voters will be well aware, and remember at election
time, the decisions that are made at the Iron River City
budget meeting next month.
Bill Vajk
[1] http://tinyurl.com/c7a23hs
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Turning A Corner
Our title for this edition comes from the lead story
about the resignation of Al Perlongo from the Iron
River city council and city council member Bernie
Sacheck from the West Iron school board. Both of
these men had a conflict of interest between their
city council positions and outside interests. Sacheck
was a voting member of two boards that contract
with one another. Perlongo, whose service on
the Fire Department conflictd with his service on
the city council, was advised of his conflict much
earlier.
We complained, in this publication, about
Perlongo and because of his conflict and his
reticence to voluntarily do the right thing we
cited him with our lump of coal award. We clearly
spelled out the infraction in our issue of October
8, 2012, so even after attention was called to this
problem here, as well as during an earlier city
council meeting, it took till March 20 of this
year for Mr. Perlongo to accede to external
pressures.
The question this raises is whether or not any
individual who knowingly thwarts the law can
legitimately and honestly serve the public that
elected him. And what of the other city council
members? Shouldn't they have moved to expell
Perlongo as soon as he refused to relinquish his
fire department position? The mindset that
permitted the situation to continue for well over
a year cannot have concurrently served the public
as promised.
The county may have turned a corner to start
heading in the right direction because it was
pressure applied by the prosecutor, Melissa
Powell, that convinced the above named
gentlemen to finally take action. Of course
we had been pressuring in our publication,
and compalined to the Michigan Governor,
before our county prosecutor acted.
What we're hopeful of is that county officials
will now realize that there will be no negative
repercussions for doing the right thing, even
when that right thing doesn't make all
members of "the in group" (also called the
political machine) happy.
We hope that attention to misdeeds of local
politicians remains on the prosecutor's front
burner. This county would be a far better place
if action were swift and regular whenever
necessary. And once begun, it might even
spread to adjoining jurisdictions.
Our second story is about the Indian Lake plan to
maintain the water level. Even before Larry
Mellstrom wrote his guest editorial and a followup
letter a week later, there was a very elementary
discrepancy in the plans.
It does not require a second well to monitor the
water level. Only where the well driller's financial
interest prevails over common sense does such a
thing happen. The standard method of monitoring
water table level in an active well is to send
fractional inch tubing to the bottom of the well,
and connect a pressure gauge and a snifter valve
(just like the valve used to inflate car tires) to the
top end of the tubing. The after inflation, air pressure
gauge indication correlates to the height of the water
above the bottom end of the tubing. Every 1 psi on
the pressure gauge indicates 2 feet of water above
the bottom end of the tubing.
We have not undertaken any analysis of the realities
that Mr. Mellstrom has brought to light, but we trust
his analysis and suggest that much more engineering
work should have been undertaken before money was
spent on this poject.
Bill Vajk
about the resignation of Al Perlongo from the Iron
River city council and city council member Bernie
Sacheck from the West Iron school board. Both of
these men had a conflict of interest between their
city council positions and outside interests. Sacheck
was a voting member of two boards that contract
with one another. Perlongo, whose service on
the Fire Department conflictd with his service on
the city council, was advised of his conflict much
earlier.
We complained, in this publication, about
Perlongo and because of his conflict and his
reticence to voluntarily do the right thing we
cited him with our lump of coal award. We clearly
spelled out the infraction in our issue of October
8, 2012, so even after attention was called to this
problem here, as well as during an earlier city
council meeting, it took till March 20 of this
year for Mr. Perlongo to accede to external
pressures.
The question this raises is whether or not any
individual who knowingly thwarts the law can
legitimately and honestly serve the public that
elected him. And what of the other city council
members? Shouldn't they have moved to expell
Perlongo as soon as he refused to relinquish his
fire department position? The mindset that
permitted the situation to continue for well over
a year cannot have concurrently served the public
as promised.
The county may have turned a corner to start
heading in the right direction because it was
pressure applied by the prosecutor, Melissa
Powell, that convinced the above named
gentlemen to finally take action. Of course
we had been pressuring in our publication,
and compalined to the Michigan Governor,
before our county prosecutor acted.
What we're hopeful of is that county officials
will now realize that there will be no negative
repercussions for doing the right thing, even
when that right thing doesn't make all
members of "the in group" (also called the
political machine) happy.
We hope that attention to misdeeds of local
politicians remains on the prosecutor's front
burner. This county would be a far better place
if action were swift and regular whenever
necessary. And once begun, it might even
spread to adjoining jurisdictions.
Our second story is about the Indian Lake plan to
maintain the water level. Even before Larry
Mellstrom wrote his guest editorial and a followup
letter a week later, there was a very elementary
discrepancy in the plans.
It does not require a second well to monitor the
water level. Only where the well driller's financial
interest prevails over common sense does such a
thing happen. The standard method of monitoring
water table level in an active well is to send
fractional inch tubing to the bottom of the well,
and connect a pressure gauge and a snifter valve
(just like the valve used to inflate car tires) to the
top end of the tubing. The after inflation, air pressure
gauge indication correlates to the height of the water
above the bottom end of the tubing. Every 1 psi on
the pressure gauge indicates 2 feet of water above
the bottom end of the tubing.
We have not undertaken any analysis of the realities
that Mr. Mellstrom has brought to light, but we trust
his analysis and suggest that much more engineering
work should have been undertaken before money was
spent on this poject.
Bill Vajk
Monday, March 18, 2013
An Open Letter
Iron County Doings
William J. Vajk
Iron River MI 49935
18 March 2013
An Open Letter To:
Governor Rick Snyder
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing MI 48909
Dear Governor Snyder:
I recently sent you a carbon copy of a letter to Attorney
General Schuette regarding violations by the municipal
governments of Iron County and Iron River of state laws,
an Attorney General Opinion, and the Headlee
Amendment of the Michigan Constitution, asking his
intervention. For his part Mr. Schuette’s office has chosen
to shift the burden of enforcing the Michigan statutes and
the Michigan Constitution away from the State of Michigan,
where it rightfully belongs, to a private citizen who is
complaining about being currently illegally damaged.
In this letter, I on take the burden of pointing out to the
executive branch of Michigan State Government that:
1) Just because only one citizen is complaining about
violations of state laws and the state constitution does
not imply that only one individual is being damaged.
State laws apply to all equally, as does damage to any
one of us.
2) Similar ordinances and practices are common
throughout this state’s upper peninsula.
3) It is the responsibility of the executive branch of state
government to assert total control over all municipal
adherence to state laws and the state constitution. The
state creates the municipalities, and is ultimately responsible
for everything they do. If this is unclear, please see Dillon’s
Rule and all that implies.
4) It is clear that the state has abrogated this responsibility
for decades. The fearless violations by municipalities in this
region is testimony to that fact.
Attached are several articles I recently published on topics
pertinent to this discussion. Besides the city thumbing its
nose at state laws and the constitution, Iron River also has
a city councilman whose very presence on the council
violates (conflict of interest) the city charter, yet nobody
has done anything about it despite the fact that the violation
is common knowledge and discussions about it have
appeared in the minutes of the city council. Iron County
Doings awarded him a “Lump of Coal” award for this
conduct. Iron River, Iron County, and Iron River Township,
have been running amok in too many ways to detail in a
letter like this!
Please advise the undersigned just what the heck (remaining
polite in choice of expression) is going on here. Just because
there’s a long bridge between the main body of this state and
the upper peninsula does the state think that we can be cut
loose to become some third world backwater unworthy of the
same attentions the rest of the state receives? Is UP law
enforcement implicating local governments a joke to those
of you in lower Michigan? What law enforcement concerned
with municipal misbehavior has the state undertaken up here
in the past hundred years? Is the UP part of the United States
and Michigan?
Please take special notice of the article questioning the
complicity between the Treasury Department and local politics.
The response I received from Mr. Schuette is reminiscent of
the failure of the department of treasury to act in the case of
Mrs. King having two properties concurrently receiving
Primary Residence Exemptions. At the time of this writing I
have no reason to think that any department in the executive
branch is capable of acting independently of local politics,
which is the state’s primary mission.
In fact, as this letter is being mailed I am concurrently
publishing it for public consumption. I would have emailed
your office an advance copy but you have chosen isolation
from the daily troubles of the state by making yourself and
your office unavailable to the public through email. Did you
know that I can email the Pope (Francis, who just assumed
the office) at benedictxvi@vatican.va? There’s a man who
exposes himself to the entire world, including more than a
billion faithful congregants, but I can’t email you who answers
to less than 10 million? I find this amazing and inexplicable!
How can you possibly justify isolating yourself from the
people that way?
Dear Governor, I ask you, where does the buck stop in
Michigan if not at your desk? This is a serious question, so
please let me know. Any failure to address these issues is
taken as an answer that the State of Michigan doesn’t care
what its municipalities do, no matter what state laws and
what part of the state constitution your mignons, the
municipalities, chose to violate, the state will turn a blind
eye to it. If what appears to be true is really true, it is only
fair that the choice by the state to chose non-enforcement
should be formalized so all of us can understand the
situation during all future elections. I eagerly and
respectfully await your prompt reply to all the questions
above.
Best regards,
Bill Vajk
William J. Vajk
Iron River MI 49935
18 March 2013
An Open Letter To:
Governor Rick Snyder
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing MI 48909
Dear Governor Snyder:
I recently sent you a carbon copy of a letter to Attorney
General Schuette regarding violations by the municipal
governments of Iron County and Iron River of state laws,
an Attorney General Opinion, and the Headlee
Amendment of the Michigan Constitution, asking his
intervention. For his part Mr. Schuette’s office has chosen
to shift the burden of enforcing the Michigan statutes and
the Michigan Constitution away from the State of Michigan,
where it rightfully belongs, to a private citizen who is
complaining about being currently illegally damaged.
In this letter, I on take the burden of pointing out to the
executive branch of Michigan State Government that:
1) Just because only one citizen is complaining about
violations of state laws and the state constitution does
not imply that only one individual is being damaged.
State laws apply to all equally, as does damage to any
one of us.
2) Similar ordinances and practices are common
throughout this state’s upper peninsula.
3) It is the responsibility of the executive branch of state
government to assert total control over all municipal
adherence to state laws and the state constitution. The
state creates the municipalities, and is ultimately responsible
for everything they do. If this is unclear, please see Dillon’s
Rule and all that implies.
4) It is clear that the state has abrogated this responsibility
for decades. The fearless violations by municipalities in this
region is testimony to that fact.
Attached are several articles I recently published on topics
pertinent to this discussion. Besides the city thumbing its
nose at state laws and the constitution, Iron River also has
a city councilman whose very presence on the council
violates (conflict of interest) the city charter, yet nobody
has done anything about it despite the fact that the violation
is common knowledge and discussions about it have
appeared in the minutes of the city council. Iron County
Doings awarded him a “Lump of Coal” award for this
conduct. Iron River, Iron County, and Iron River Township,
have been running amok in too many ways to detail in a
letter like this!
Please advise the undersigned just what the heck (remaining
polite in choice of expression) is going on here. Just because
there’s a long bridge between the main body of this state and
the upper peninsula does the state think that we can be cut
loose to become some third world backwater unworthy of the
same attentions the rest of the state receives? Is UP law
enforcement implicating local governments a joke to those
of you in lower Michigan? What law enforcement concerned
with municipal misbehavior has the state undertaken up here
in the past hundred years? Is the UP part of the United States
and Michigan?
Please take special notice of the article questioning the
complicity between the Treasury Department and local politics.
The response I received from Mr. Schuette is reminiscent of
the failure of the department of treasury to act in the case of
Mrs. King having two properties concurrently receiving
Primary Residence Exemptions. At the time of this writing I
have no reason to think that any department in the executive
branch is capable of acting independently of local politics,
which is the state’s primary mission.
In fact, as this letter is being mailed I am concurrently
publishing it for public consumption. I would have emailed
your office an advance copy but you have chosen isolation
from the daily troubles of the state by making yourself and
your office unavailable to the public through email. Did you
know that I can email the Pope (Francis, who just assumed
the office) at benedictxvi@vatican.va? There’s a man who
exposes himself to the entire world, including more than a
billion faithful congregants, but I can’t email you who answers
to less than 10 million? I find this amazing and inexplicable!
How can you possibly justify isolating yourself from the
people that way?
Dear Governor, I ask you, where does the buck stop in
Michigan if not at your desk? This is a serious question, so
please let me know. Any failure to address these issues is
taken as an answer that the State of Michigan doesn’t care
what its municipalities do, no matter what state laws and
what part of the state constitution your mignons, the
municipalities, chose to violate, the state will turn a blind
eye to it. If what appears to be true is really true, it is only
fair that the choice by the state to chose non-enforcement
should be formalized so all of us can understand the
situation during all future elections. I eagerly and
respectfully await your prompt reply to all the questions
above.
Best regards,
Bill Vajk
Sunday, March 17, 2013
More Buffoonery?
Within the past year I have twice heard “but we have to make a
profit” when the County Clerk’s office was asked for copies of
documents registering business names. Last year the charge was
$10, this year it has gone up to $15. Multiple copies drop to $5
each. There was an article on the cover page of the Iron County
Reporter for January 2, 2013, about this topic. The headline says,
“County increases cost for copies of vital records.”
A little further in this article we’ll count the number of things that
are wrong between the “fee” and the discussions. The article goes
on to say,“Increases in supply costs have prompted the Iron
County Board of Commissioners to raise the price for copies of
vital records.”
Really?
Joan Luhtanen is quoted as stating that the adjustment to the
“fee” is a “financial necessity.” Also mentioned is that it has been
a number of years since the fee was last increased. That, in this
editor’s opinion, is the only real reason for the most recent
increase.
But what we need to look at is the basis for anything called a
“fee” by local government because that’s where our politicians
have found a place to cheat by overcharging. Interestingly enough,
overcharges land in a general coffer rather than being used solely
to pay local government the actual costs for the service being
provided. There’s no other place for that excess money to go.
Let’s analyze this little process. State law requires the county
clerk to maintain vital records. All the costs associated with
procuring, recording, and maintaining vital records are covered
in the budget allocated by the county to its clerk. That’s materials,
payroll, and secure infrastructure. So far, any request for copies
doesn’t implicate immediate costs, or any “increase in supply
costs.”
I just checked on the price of copy paper. It costs less than
$ 0.01 per standard 8.5 X 11 inch sheet. Walking into any
business that sells copying to the public, the cost of a single
copy is well under a dollar in all cases. Office Max copy
centers get just 10 cents per copy for small quantities with an
employee, costing them money, handling the originals. So paper
and copier costs can’t be the source of costs that increased
the current price of the first copy from Iron County by $5.
But vital records copies must be certified by the county clerk’s
office. That means that someone, certified by the state as a
notary public, has to take the time to stamp, seal, and sign the
document. Yes, and all those costs are already covered in
the clerk’s office budget paid through our taxes to Iron
County, Michigan.
Thus the real costs, not already paid for by the residents
and business of Iron County are the use of a copy machine
and the cost of less that 1 cent in paper, and fairly 10 cents
per commercial copy. That’s a far cry from $15 for the first
copy, let alone $5 for subsequent copies.
Having thus established that the actual uncovered cost to
the county clerk’s office is, at most a few pennies, we next
look to what the courts have had to say on this topic. We
really need to go no further than the case of Mapleview Estates
vs. Brown City[1] in 2003, where the court restated what had
already been established, “A `fee for service' or `user fee' is a
payment made for the voluntary receipt of a measured service,
in which the revenue from the fees are [sic] used only for the
service provided.” And very simply, any “fee” not included in
the definition is a (ta da!!!!) tax that must comport, in its
imposition, to the Headlee Amendment of the Michigan
Constitution.
The Headlee Amendment requires that any new tax or increase
in (that didn’t exist prior to adoption of the Headlee Amendment)
any tax imposed by local government must first be submitted to
all qualified electors for approval.
Should this tax ever be submitted to a court, it is likely that the
“fee” for copies of vital records will be rolled back to the amount
it was prior to November of 1978. And I’d be willing to wager
that even at those rates, whatever they were, the county clerk’s
office would still experience a profit of some sort.
So which is it? Did the outgoing county board not know, or not
care, about their complicity in violating the law and their oath of
office? Was it the simple consequence of mere buffoonery, or
was it more sinister than that? It was the outgoing board in 2012
that authorized the increase. Is the current board smart enough to
correct this issue without being sued?
And is our Iron County Clerk smart enough to stop charging the
high fee for documents not authorized by ordinance, and charge
only the fee for ordinary business copies?
Bill Vajk
[1] Mapleview Estates, Inc. v. Brown City, 671 NW 2d 572,575
Mich: Court of Appeals 2003
profit” when the County Clerk’s office was asked for copies of
documents registering business names. Last year the charge was
$10, this year it has gone up to $15. Multiple copies drop to $5
each. There was an article on the cover page of the Iron County
Reporter for January 2, 2013, about this topic. The headline says,
“County increases cost for copies of vital records.”
A little further in this article we’ll count the number of things that
are wrong between the “fee” and the discussions. The article goes
on to say,“Increases in supply costs have prompted the Iron
County Board of Commissioners to raise the price for copies of
vital records.”
Really?
Joan Luhtanen is quoted as stating that the adjustment to the
“fee” is a “financial necessity.” Also mentioned is that it has been
a number of years since the fee was last increased. That, in this
editor’s opinion, is the only real reason for the most recent
increase.
But what we need to look at is the basis for anything called a
“fee” by local government because that’s where our politicians
have found a place to cheat by overcharging. Interestingly enough,
overcharges land in a general coffer rather than being used solely
to pay local government the actual costs for the service being
provided. There’s no other place for that excess money to go.
Let’s analyze this little process. State law requires the county
clerk to maintain vital records. All the costs associated with
procuring, recording, and maintaining vital records are covered
in the budget allocated by the county to its clerk. That’s materials,
payroll, and secure infrastructure. So far, any request for copies
doesn’t implicate immediate costs, or any “increase in supply
costs.”
I just checked on the price of copy paper. It costs less than
$ 0.01 per standard 8.5 X 11 inch sheet. Walking into any
business that sells copying to the public, the cost of a single
copy is well under a dollar in all cases. Office Max copy
centers get just 10 cents per copy for small quantities with an
employee, costing them money, handling the originals. So paper
and copier costs can’t be the source of costs that increased
the current price of the first copy from Iron County by $5.
But vital records copies must be certified by the county clerk’s
office. That means that someone, certified by the state as a
notary public, has to take the time to stamp, seal, and sign the
document. Yes, and all those costs are already covered in
the clerk’s office budget paid through our taxes to Iron
County, Michigan.
Thus the real costs, not already paid for by the residents
and business of Iron County are the use of a copy machine
and the cost of less that 1 cent in paper, and fairly 10 cents
per commercial copy. That’s a far cry from $15 for the first
copy, let alone $5 for subsequent copies.
Having thus established that the actual uncovered cost to
the county clerk’s office is, at most a few pennies, we next
look to what the courts have had to say on this topic. We
really need to go no further than the case of Mapleview Estates
vs. Brown City[1] in 2003, where the court restated what had
already been established, “A `fee for service' or `user fee' is a
payment made for the voluntary receipt of a measured service,
in which the revenue from the fees are [sic] used only for the
service provided.” And very simply, any “fee” not included in
the definition is a (ta da!!!!) tax that must comport, in its
imposition, to the Headlee Amendment of the Michigan
Constitution.
The Headlee Amendment requires that any new tax or increase
in (that didn’t exist prior to adoption of the Headlee Amendment)
any tax imposed by local government must first be submitted to
all qualified electors for approval.
Should this tax ever be submitted to a court, it is likely that the
“fee” for copies of vital records will be rolled back to the amount
it was prior to November of 1978. And I’d be willing to wager
that even at those rates, whatever they were, the county clerk’s
office would still experience a profit of some sort.
So which is it? Did the outgoing county board not know, or not
care, about their complicity in violating the law and their oath of
office? Was it the simple consequence of mere buffoonery, or
was it more sinister than that? It was the outgoing board in 2012
that authorized the increase. Is the current board smart enough to
correct this issue without being sued?
And is our Iron County Clerk smart enough to stop charging the
high fee for documents not authorized by ordinance, and charge
only the fee for ordinary business copies?
Bill Vajk
[1] Mapleview Estates, Inc. v. Brown City, 671 NW 2d 572,575
Mich: Court of Appeals 2003
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Buffoons or Pinheads?
One of the things that has happened in
Iron County
has been a “brain drain” where the best and the
brightest growing up have fled to regions of the
world that offer
better opportunities and intellectual
challenges. Those who remained
have engaged in
professions and businesses that they find personally
rewarding, leaving average, and below average,
individuals the chore
of running local government.
In short, most of the elected officials
in Iron
County have no idea of what, precisely, their
position, and
authority, consist of. Generally
speaking, most of them have no idea
of the
relationships between their local government,
state
government, and the federal government.
On April 6, 2012, I sent a letter to
the mayor of
Iron River, Mr. Terry Tarci. Asking him for the
source
of the authority for the city council to
have enacted, and to
enforce, the “readiness to
serve fee,” and several other charges
in section
52 (special assessments effectively excise taxes)
of the
municipal ordinances. Since Mr. Tarsi
doesn't know, he did not
provide any response.
Instead, a letter best classified as unabashed
baloney (an effort on my part to keep this
discussion readable by
anyone) was offered by
the Marquette lawyer paid for by the MML
(Michigan Municipal League.) It is obvious
that the letter was a
subterfuge designed to
appear to be an answer, but it in fact it is
not.
I advised Mr. Tarci on April 23, 2012, that the
letter from the
lawyer is unacceptable.
Naturally, when faced with what was an
insurmountable obstacle to him, Mr. Tarci fell
silent on the matter,
“So if you have the
authority Mrs. MacGregor claims you have,
why
can't we resolve this simple question right
now?”
The only available conclusion is that
the city of
Iron River, through its city council, has
exceeded its
authority to enact and enforce
several of the water related
ordinances.
Attorney General Bill Schuette issued
Opinion
7263 on April 17, 2012, explaining how the
Iron County
Treasurer is prohibited from
collecting the “real property taxes”
(they're
not).
Despite showing them the error of their
ways,
the treasurer's office proceeded in the prohibited
activity
anyway. Although all this was brought to
the Attorney General's
attention with a formal request
that municipalities be required to
obey the laws of the
state, the Attorney General purposely misread my
request and has refused to intervene.
My patience is once again at an end. I
sued (and lost
the case) once before about these bogus “fees.” So
it
seems we must go into court once again, and so we
will. It isn't
as though I haven't communicated
extensively with the evil doers, so
they have no
reason to be surprised.
From the standpoint of the City of Iron
River and
Iron County elected officials, ignorance is bliss.
Would Bill O'Reilley call them buffoons
or pinheads?
Bill Vajk
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Until The Pain of Change
The Iron County Board passed a resolution during the February
12, 2013 meeting.
From the meeting minutes:
"Peretto made a motion, seconded by Aho, to approve the
Agenda as presented with the following additions: 1) A
resolution saluting the WIC school district; 2) A resolution
about the Medical Care Facility’s selection of a prescription
drug vendor, and 3) Discussion about travel to attend
seminars. On Voice Vote, the motion carried."
Later in the minutes, the following is found:
"Resolution: Brennan made a motion, seconded by Peretto, to
adopt a Resolution recognizing the West Iron County Public
Schools Earning Academic State Championship. (They ranked
42nd among 560 public and charter schools in Michigan.) On
Voice Vote, the motion carried."
Your humble correspondent had written about this "award"
recently, and subsequently submitted the following letter to the
editor of the Iron County Reporter that the paper published in
their February 27, 2013 issue: But of course, the Iron County
Board appears to be politically driven while handicapped by a
corresponding tunnel vision.
========
"I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the recently reported
award to West Iron School District (WI) for achievement needs
a reality check. The schools achieved better scores than the state
average in only three of seven measured academic categories
leaving sorely needed improvement. The school district as a
whole is behind most of the state in academic achievement.
Graduation rate: state-76 percent, West Iron -84 percent
(not an academic measurement)
College readiness (ACT proficiency): state-17 percent,
West Iron -14 percent
4th grade math: state-91 percent, West Iron-93.5 percent
8th grade math: state-78 percent, West Iron-63.5 percent
4th grade reading: state-84 percent, West Iron-88.7 percent
8th grade reading: state-82 percent, West Iron-69.8 percent
4th grade writing: state-47 percent, West Iron-69.8 percent
8th grade science: state-78 percent, West Iron-63.5 percent
I agree that the fourth grade deserves commendation, but the rest
of the faculty and students need a substantial nudge to improve
rather than a pat on the back for achievement they have not
earned. We really need to keep politics out of the children’s
education."
======
As a nonpartisan publication we don't expect the county board
to pay attention to us. It is far more important that the electorate
become more aware of the serial ineptness of our elected officials.
The February 6, 2013, issue of the Iron County Reporter published
an opinion letter from Jeremy Jones entitled "The Price of Apathy."
Jeremy wrote: "Personal conviction, history has proved; has time
and again produced tyrants, maniacal and bent on the personal
preposition of selfishness; simply because the populace they have
sworn to protect, and serve, have been silent."
Without the conscience of the populace asserting itself, our
elected officials (I refuse to call them leaders) run off half-cocked
following one another instead of looking after the interests of the
electorate.
There seems to be an almost universal sense in the US that it is
more important to make failures feel better about themselves than
it is to encourage improvement. Many of us did not grow up in
that sort of world and seriously disagree with such sentiments.
One of my friends in Illionis introduced me to a more appropriate
concept some years ago that belongs to the genre I find appealing
as did all generations before me.
"Until the pain of change is less than the
pain of same, change will not happen."
As publisher and editor in chief of this little news publication, I am
going to adapt that as our banner and hope that more folks in Iron
County Michigan will embrace it as their own.
When you read something in a newspaper, on the internet, or hear
it someplace, it is not safe to believe it unless you verify its
authenticity. This article clearly demonstrates that proposition.
Bill Vajk
12, 2013 meeting.
From the meeting minutes:
Agenda as presented with the following additions: 1) A
resolution saluting the WIC school district; 2) A resolution
about the Medical Care Facility’s selection of a prescription
drug vendor, and 3) Discussion about travel to attend
seminars. On Voice Vote, the motion carried."
Later in the minutes, the following is found:
"Resolution: Brennan made a motion, seconded by Peretto, to
adopt a Resolution recognizing the West Iron County Public
Schools Earning Academic State Championship. (They ranked
42nd among 560 public and charter schools in Michigan.) On
Voice Vote, the motion carried."
Your humble correspondent had written about this "award"
recently, and subsequently submitted the following letter to the
editor of the Iron County Reporter that the paper published in
their February 27, 2013 issue: But of course, the Iron County
Board appears to be politically driven while handicapped by a
corresponding tunnel vision.
========
"I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the recently reported
award to West Iron School District (WI) for achievement needs
a reality check. The schools achieved better scores than the state
average in only three of seven measured academic categories
leaving sorely needed improvement. The school district as a
whole is behind most of the state in academic achievement.
Graduation rate: state-76 percent, West Iron -84 percent
(not an academic measurement)
College readiness (ACT proficiency): state-17 percent,
West Iron -14 percent
4th grade math: state-91 percent, West Iron-93.5 percent
8th grade math: state-78 percent, West Iron-63.5 percent
4th grade reading: state-84 percent, West Iron-88.7 percent
8th grade reading: state-82 percent, West Iron-69.8 percent
4th grade writing: state-47 percent, West Iron-69.8 percent
8th grade science: state-78 percent, West Iron-63.5 percent
I agree that the fourth grade deserves commendation, but the rest
of the faculty and students need a substantial nudge to improve
rather than a pat on the back for achievement they have not
earned. We really need to keep politics out of the children’s
education."
======
As a nonpartisan publication we don't expect the county board
to pay attention to us. It is far more important that the electorate
become more aware of the serial ineptness of our elected officials.
The February 6, 2013, issue of the Iron County Reporter published
an opinion letter from Jeremy Jones entitled "The Price of Apathy."
Jeremy wrote: "Personal conviction, history has proved; has time
and again produced tyrants, maniacal and bent on the personal
preposition of selfishness; simply because the populace they have
sworn to protect, and serve, have been silent."
Without the conscience of the populace asserting itself, our
elected officials (I refuse to call them leaders) run off half-cocked
following one another instead of looking after the interests of the
electorate.
There seems to be an almost universal sense in the US that it is
more important to make failures feel better about themselves than
it is to encourage improvement. Many of us did not grow up in
that sort of world and seriously disagree with such sentiments.
One of my friends in Illionis introduced me to a more appropriate
concept some years ago that belongs to the genre I find appealing
as did all generations before me.
"Until the pain of change is less than the
pain of same, change will not happen."
As publisher and editor in chief of this little news publication, I am
going to adapt that as our banner and hope that more folks in Iron
County Michigan will embrace it as their own.
When you read something in a newspaper, on the internet, or hear
it someplace, it is not safe to believe it unless you verify its
authenticity. This article clearly demonstrates that proposition.
Bill Vajk
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Education Award for West Iron
The Center for Michigan (The Center) offered group meetings
last year to discuss education. Our discussion of those meetings
may be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/c8p7bfd and
http://tinyurl.com/bw54ao5
If you're going to read this article, we recommend you brush up
on what we reported there.
The report that resulted from the meetings all over the state was
recently released, with information going to our state legislators.
We have provided a copy at:
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/CFM_EDUCATION_REPORT.pdf
Equally important is an Iron County Reporter article that made
the front page in the February 6 issue with the banner headline,
"West Iron Schools selected 'Academic State Champion.'
Oh wonderful, yet another feel good piece presented to us by
Iron County Michigan's version of Pravda! Where is the
editorial explaining what the "award" really means? The
Center published something of an explanation at:
http://tinyurl.com/b7b3k52
We strongly recommend critical reading of that article.
The Center's article explains that all it takes in a small
school district is a few students to skew the results. In
fact, we can actually ignore, as reality dictates we do, the
newspaper's claim that "rank based on how much value
schools add to the students' expected achievement."
A few parents, adding to whatever the schools provide (as
reported earlier in this publication) can, and do, achieve
much more that the school system does where it comes to
the anticipaated achievement. And if you look at the actual
data that this current ranking of West Iron District is based
on, you can clearly see what is happening.
http://tinyurl.com/a8boge8
We urge the reader to type in "west iron" in the blank,
and then compare our "award winning" school district to
the rest of the state. What is immediately evident is that a
group of 4th graders has excelled in 4th grade math, 4th
grade reading, and that the rate for graduation is above
that for the state. Our award winning school district
falls short of the state averages for every other measured
category.
This hardly gives rise to any claims about how much
"value the schools add to the students' expected
achievement." Rather we point out that state wide some
17% of graduates are acceptably "college prepared" while
West Iron only musters 14% in that category. Do those
smart 4th graders go somewhere else to complete their
education? What happens to these children between the
4th grade and graduation from high school? And too,
look at our earlier articles about the percentage of
graduates attempting college that require remedial
courses before advancing into college level work. Alas
West Iron doesn't have a very good track record there.
Iron County Doings isn't saying that West Iron School
District cannot achieve the status already claimed, just
that the school district is far too hasty in claiming that
they're a silk purse when factually there's a lot of
work to be done before the claims already made come
to fruition. We politely ask the school district to stop
with the sort of propaganda we see in the newspaper
article and work harder to achieve more parental
involvement along much more assistance to those parents
presently unable to help their children to maximum
achievement.
Sad to say, in our opinion, the newspaper article presented
to readers is baloney. We can only hope that the newspaper
provides more accurate information in the future because
we discern that, as published, the information in the
referenced article is inadequate.
Bill Vajk
last year to discuss education. Our discussion of those meetings
may be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/c8p7bfd and
http://tinyurl.com/bw54ao5
If you're going to read this article, we recommend you brush up
on what we reported there.
The report that resulted from the meetings all over the state was
recently released, with information going to our state legislators.
We have provided a copy at:
http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/CFM_EDUCATION_REPORT.pdf
Equally important is an Iron County Reporter article that made
the front page in the February 6 issue with the banner headline,
"West Iron Schools selected 'Academic State Champion.'
Oh wonderful, yet another feel good piece presented to us by
Iron County Michigan's version of Pravda! Where is the
editorial explaining what the "award" really means? The
Center published something of an explanation at:
http://tinyurl.com/b7b3k52
We strongly recommend critical reading of that article.
The Center's article explains that all it takes in a small
school district is a few students to skew the results. In
fact, we can actually ignore, as reality dictates we do, the
newspaper's claim that "rank based on how much value
schools add to the students' expected achievement."
A few parents, adding to whatever the schools provide (as
reported earlier in this publication) can, and do, achieve
much more that the school system does where it comes to
the anticipaated achievement. And if you look at the actual
data that this current ranking of West Iron District is based
on, you can clearly see what is happening.
http://tinyurl.com/a8boge8
We urge the reader to type in "west iron" in the blank,
and then compare our "award winning" school district to
the rest of the state. What is immediately evident is that a
group of 4th graders has excelled in 4th grade math, 4th
grade reading, and that the rate for graduation is above
that for the state. Our award winning school district
falls short of the state averages for every other measured
category.
This hardly gives rise to any claims about how much
"value the schools add to the students' expected
achievement." Rather we point out that state wide some
17% of graduates are acceptably "college prepared" while
West Iron only musters 14% in that category. Do those
smart 4th graders go somewhere else to complete their
education? What happens to these children between the
4th grade and graduation from high school? And too,
look at our earlier articles about the percentage of
graduates attempting college that require remedial
courses before advancing into college level work. Alas
West Iron doesn't have a very good track record there.
Iron County Doings isn't saying that West Iron School
District cannot achieve the status already claimed, just
that the school district is far too hasty in claiming that
they're a silk purse when factually there's a lot of
work to be done before the claims already made come
to fruition. We politely ask the school district to stop
with the sort of propaganda we see in the newspaper
article and work harder to achieve more parental
involvement along much more assistance to those parents
presently unable to help their children to maximum
achievement.
Sad to say, in our opinion, the newspaper article presented
to readers is baloney. We can only hope that the newspaper
provides more accurate information in the future because
we discern that, as published, the information in the
referenced article is inadequate.
Bill Vajk
Sunday, February 3, 2013
First Annual Awards
Recent reading brought me to the partial contents of a letter
written by Supreme Court Justice Miller to his brother-in-
law in August of 1869:
"It is not to be denied, that the leaders of the radical party
in the Gulf states since the Rebellion have many of them
been men of bad character, and without principle, and
that still more of them have been ignorant, and unused to
the exercise of political power."[1]
In Iron County, Michigan, we have a plethora of that type,
with many seeking and holding local political office.
However, in selecting individual for awards for the year
2012, we have been forced to ignore Miller's observation,
with which we strongly concur, and stick to some single
characteristic deserving of the awards we have found it
prudent, and necessary, to award. I feel certain that were
I to have the time and energy necessary to read more ancient
texts, perhaps from Greeks and Romans contemporary with
the heights of those civilizations, I might find many similar
sentiments vocalized in those ages. In short, Iron County is
only special in the context of what is promised to us by the
form of governance we allude to have in the United States,
and the model demonstrated for all to see by less corrupt
communities.
That being said, the awards for 2012 number three in total
as follows:
Lump of Coal Award to John Alan Archocosky
Lump of Coal Award to Alfred James Perlongo
Meritorious Service Award to Wayne John Wales
We will not here explain the Lump of Coal awards as they
were obvious enough. Mr. Wales Meritorious Service
Award does deserve a bit of additional comment however.
Wayne demonstrated that a single individual, with the help
of a few friends, can break the stranglehold of machine
politics on a community like Iron County, Michigan. That
doesn't mean that Iron County Doings, or any individual,
agrees with each and every decision rendered by Wayne
during his tenure on the Iron County Board. The important
feature of his membership on that board is that the county
took desirable new directions not previously possible.
We hasten to add that other local government boards are
not free from the stranglehold of the local political machine.
We need strong individuals to run for office and take their
place on the various commissions in order to achieve the
same goal. All this takes time.
We hope that this year, or perhaps at some time in the
future, we can eliminate the Lump of Coal Award
entirely.
Bill Vajk
[1] American Constitutional Decisions, Charles Fairman,
Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1948
written by Supreme Court Justice Miller to his brother-in-
law in August of 1869:
"It is not to be denied, that the leaders of the radical party
in the Gulf states since the Rebellion have many of them
been men of bad character, and without principle, and
that still more of them have been ignorant, and unused to
the exercise of political power."[1]
In Iron County, Michigan, we have a plethora of that type,
with many seeking and holding local political office.
However, in selecting individual for awards for the year
2012, we have been forced to ignore Miller's observation,
with which we strongly concur, and stick to some single
characteristic deserving of the awards we have found it
prudent, and necessary, to award. I feel certain that were
I to have the time and energy necessary to read more ancient
texts, perhaps from Greeks and Romans contemporary with
the heights of those civilizations, I might find many similar
sentiments vocalized in those ages. In short, Iron County is
only special in the context of what is promised to us by the
form of governance we allude to have in the United States,
and the model demonstrated for all to see by less corrupt
communities.
That being said, the awards for 2012 number three in total
as follows:
Lump of Coal Award to John Alan Archocosky
Lump of Coal Award to Alfred James Perlongo
Meritorious Service Award to Wayne John Wales
We will not here explain the Lump of Coal awards as they
were obvious enough. Mr. Wales Meritorious Service
Award does deserve a bit of additional comment however.
Wayne demonstrated that a single individual, with the help
of a few friends, can break the stranglehold of machine
politics on a community like Iron County, Michigan. That
doesn't mean that Iron County Doings, or any individual,
agrees with each and every decision rendered by Wayne
during his tenure on the Iron County Board. The important
feature of his membership on that board is that the county
took desirable new directions not previously possible.
We hasten to add that other local government boards are
not free from the stranglehold of the local political machine.
We need strong individuals to run for office and take their
place on the various commissions in order to achieve the
same goal. All this takes time.
We hope that this year, or perhaps at some time in the
future, we can eliminate the Lump of Coal Award
entirely.
Bill Vajk
[1] American Constitutional Decisions, Charles Fairman,
Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1948
Sunday, January 27, 2013
The Gun Debate
The gun debate seems to me to have been unrelenting
during my lifetime. We do have a nation to look to
for an example of even more gun keeping households
than the United States. That nation is Switzerland.
The Swiss are a neutral nation. Still they maintain a
military and require universal military service of all
their male youth. Roughly 66% of their young men
are deemed suitable for military service, the remainder
are required to participate in other national programs
that benefit the country as a whole.
When men have completed their mandatory service,
they are reqired to take home and maintain the equipment
they were issued. That equipment, in the case of military
personnel, includes a firearm. So some 66% of all male
Swiss citizens have, in their posession, a military grade
firearm, for the rest of their lives.
Still, the crime rates in Switzerland are significantly
lower than some of their neighbors. Ergo, it is not the
availability of firearms alone that leads to crimes. If
we learn to manage the other factors, the presence or
absence of firearms in the home will no longer have
any impact on crime rates.
We have to bear in mind that criminals will always be
criminals, and we're only talking here about the
general population, mostly law abiding citizens, the
ones who some elements of Congress are wanting to
further regulate in their ownership of firearms.
The unspoken problem with gun control is that the
crazies, with guns unavailable, would revert, as they
have in the past, to bomb making. Can you imagine
the additional carnage had the Newtown mas murderer
built a sizable bomb? And if you remain unconvinced,
please take the time to read about the Rwandan Genocide
where in 100 days somewhere between 500,000 and
1,000,000 people were killed by machete.There is no
question that a disarmed population is vulnerable to
the most primitive threats.
Please note that your humble correspondent here publicly
advocates neither for nor against "guns," but merely
publishes "the rest of the story" that seems to be going
unnoticed and undiscussed in all the hype that is flying
around these days.
Bill Vajk
during my lifetime. We do have a nation to look to
for an example of even more gun keeping households
than the United States. That nation is Switzerland.
The Swiss are a neutral nation. Still they maintain a
military and require universal military service of all
their male youth. Roughly 66% of their young men
are deemed suitable for military service, the remainder
are required to participate in other national programs
that benefit the country as a whole.
When men have completed their mandatory service,
they are reqired to take home and maintain the equipment
they were issued. That equipment, in the case of military
personnel, includes a firearm. So some 66% of all male
Swiss citizens have, in their posession, a military grade
firearm, for the rest of their lives.
Still, the crime rates in Switzerland are significantly
lower than some of their neighbors. Ergo, it is not the
availability of firearms alone that leads to crimes. If
we learn to manage the other factors, the presence or
absence of firearms in the home will no longer have
any impact on crime rates.
We have to bear in mind that criminals will always be
criminals, and we're only talking here about the
general population, mostly law abiding citizens, the
ones who some elements of Congress are wanting to
further regulate in their ownership of firearms.
The unspoken problem with gun control is that the
crazies, with guns unavailable, would revert, as they
have in the past, to bomb making. Can you imagine
the additional carnage had the Newtown mas murderer
built a sizable bomb? And if you remain unconvinced,
please take the time to read about the Rwandan Genocide
where in 100 days somewhere between 500,000 and
1,000,000 people were killed by machete.There is no
question that a disarmed population is vulnerable to
the most primitive threats.
Please note that your humble correspondent here publicly
advocates neither for nor against "guns," but merely
publishes "the rest of the story" that seems to be going
unnoticed and undiscussed in all the hype that is flying
around these days.
Bill Vajk
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Greetings!
Unfortunately the dearth of activity by this publication was
unavoidable, necessitated by health difficulties that were
surgically corrected early in December of last year. Recovery
has not been without complications but hopefully your
publisher is finally on the mend.
Picking up where we left off, the first order of business will be
to publish and award two kinds of certificates for the calendar
year 2012. Those will be "Meritorious Service Awards" and
"Lump of Coal Awards" issued to several appropriate groups
and individuals. I plan to have them prepared and delivered
before the end of January, instant.
Along with that the usual fare will occupy us in the immediate
future along with a new initiative designed to improve the
economic conditions in this region. One of the difficulties
encountered over the years has been the drive by private interests
to feather their own nests with nobody looking at the overall
picture, thereby failing to present a proposal that can gather all
the present day private interests under one umbrella while allowing
for future growth by embracing and incorporating such future
growth as develops over time.
Also, considering the long term failure of the regional economics,
we, along with the general public and the state, need to study the
regional political structures with an eye to modernizing the
arrangements of all subdivisions of the state in this region, most
especially those that have proved themselves incapable of
following the laws of Michigan where it comes to acting on
behalf of the state, and the citizens, in local matters.
This is a very tough duty, but such a review must be undertaken
in order to save the region for the ongoing degradation of
public services that has become the standard in this region. Indeed,
I have trouble comprehending that this region is part and parcel
of the United States of America. The pledge of allegiance that is
recited by local political bodies at the beginning of every meeting
has lost all meaning and is nothing more than a recitation as a
matter of form More than one local political body has refused to
look at what it is doing with a view to the legitimacy and legality
of its acts. I must add that in one limited circumstance, the
administration of Iron County has corrected an inadvertent
illegal act when it was called to their attention, but several others
remain unfixed.
Such practices must end promptly. Since they has been ongoing
for a number of years, with the undersigned pointing out illegalities
to those involved, the time has come to take the problem to
authorities capable of making permanent corrections.
Bill Vajk
unavoidable, necessitated by health difficulties that were
surgically corrected early in December of last year. Recovery
has not been without complications but hopefully your
publisher is finally on the mend.
Picking up where we left off, the first order of business will be
to publish and award two kinds of certificates for the calendar
year 2012. Those will be "Meritorious Service Awards" and
"Lump of Coal Awards" issued to several appropriate groups
and individuals. I plan to have them prepared and delivered
before the end of January, instant.
Along with that the usual fare will occupy us in the immediate
future along with a new initiative designed to improve the
economic conditions in this region. One of the difficulties
encountered over the years has been the drive by private interests
to feather their own nests with nobody looking at the overall
picture, thereby failing to present a proposal that can gather all
the present day private interests under one umbrella while allowing
for future growth by embracing and incorporating such future
growth as develops over time.
Also, considering the long term failure of the regional economics,
we, along with the general public and the state, need to study the
regional political structures with an eye to modernizing the
arrangements of all subdivisions of the state in this region, most
especially those that have proved themselves incapable of
following the laws of Michigan where it comes to acting on
behalf of the state, and the citizens, in local matters.
This is a very tough duty, but such a review must be undertaken
in order to save the region for the ongoing degradation of
public services that has become the standard in this region. Indeed,
I have trouble comprehending that this region is part and parcel
of the United States of America. The pledge of allegiance that is
recited by local political bodies at the beginning of every meeting
has lost all meaning and is nothing more than a recitation as a
matter of form More than one local political body has refused to
look at what it is doing with a view to the legitimacy and legality
of its acts. I must add that in one limited circumstance, the
administration of Iron County has corrected an inadvertent
illegal act when it was called to their attention, but several others
remain unfixed.
Such practices must end promptly. Since they has been ongoing
for a number of years, with the undersigned pointing out illegalities
to those involved, the time has come to take the problem to
authorities capable of making permanent corrections.
Bill Vajk
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Is Michigan Government Complicit?
Associate Editor Ben Smith originally uncovered a fraud
that appears to be a continuing crime by Rosalie King
against the people of Michigan.
On December 13, 2001, Rosalie and the late Kenton King
purchased 221 Ruby Street, Iron River. Subsequently an
application for Homestead Exemption was filed and the
property has not contributed to West Iron Schools ever
since, although neither Rosalie nor Kenton appears to have
actually lived there at any point in time.
On July 28, 2003, they mortgaged the property in the
amount of $46,000, while continuing the homestead
exemption and while concurrently living in Caspian at
6 Berkshire Avenue and concurrently experiencing the
tax advantage of a homestead exemption there.
Michigan law permits only one homestead exemption, and
that is based on where the person, or couple, lives.
There is another piece of paper floating around that alleges
to be a land contract for 221 Ruby Street, which we have not
included in the copies of pertinent documents since it is
neither signed, nor is it filed with the Register of Deeds
for Iron County. But when Ben complained to the Department
of Treasury about the apparent double dip by Ms. King, that
alleged land contract was the document relied on to make
enforce the claim that two homestead exemptions are justified.
But even that makes no sense, since the taxes are billed to
Rosalie, not to the actual occupant of the property, Tom. And
Tom was elected to Iron River's City Council based on his
residency on Ruby Street.
In short, they are not justified based on the documents we
provide the reader at:
bill-vajk.angelfire.com/evidence-docs.pdf
The mortgage for 221 Ruby precludes any other
consideration. Liber377 Page 548 expressly states that "...the
Property is unencumbered, except for encumbrances of record."
and that the borrower will defend the title.
If the borrower, Ms King, had actually executed the land
contract to convey the property to her son, then she would,
under the terms stipulated and agreed to on Page 555, be in
default of this mortgage section 18.
Your humble correspondent believes that the apparent
discrepancy is based on the fact that Rosalie King has been
an appointed or elected local government official in Iron
County for all or most of the duration of this apparent
criminal activity, and that the Treasury Department has
turned a blind eye to this difficulty by failing to make a
proper investigation. But I would gladly be proved wrong.
Is there complicity between the Michigan Treasury
Department and corrupt local officials? Things certainly
seem to point in that direction.
Bill Vajk
that appears to be a continuing crime by Rosalie King
against the people of Michigan.
On December 13, 2001, Rosalie and the late Kenton King
purchased 221 Ruby Street, Iron River. Subsequently an
application for Homestead Exemption was filed and the
property has not contributed to West Iron Schools ever
since, although neither Rosalie nor Kenton appears to have
actually lived there at any point in time.
On July 28, 2003, they mortgaged the property in the
amount of $46,000, while continuing the homestead
exemption and while concurrently living in Caspian at
6 Berkshire Avenue and concurrently experiencing the
tax advantage of a homestead exemption there.
Michigan law permits only one homestead exemption, and
that is based on where the person, or couple, lives.
There is another piece of paper floating around that alleges
to be a land contract for 221 Ruby Street, which we have not
included in the copies of pertinent documents since it is
neither signed, nor is it filed with the Register of Deeds
for Iron County. But when Ben complained to the Department
of Treasury about the apparent double dip by Ms. King, that
alleged land contract was the document relied on to make
enforce the claim that two homestead exemptions are justified.
But even that makes no sense, since the taxes are billed to
Rosalie, not to the actual occupant of the property, Tom. And
Tom was elected to Iron River's City Council based on his
residency on Ruby Street.
In short, they are not justified based on the documents we
provide the reader at:
bill-vajk.angelfire.com/evidence-docs.pdf
The mortgage for 221 Ruby precludes any other
consideration. Liber377 Page 548 expressly states that "...the
Property is unencumbered, except for encumbrances of record."
and that the borrower will defend the title.
If the borrower, Ms King, had actually executed the land
contract to convey the property to her son, then she would,
under the terms stipulated and agreed to on Page 555, be in
default of this mortgage section 18.
Your humble correspondent believes that the apparent
discrepancy is based on the fact that Rosalie King has been
an appointed or elected local government official in Iron
County for all or most of the duration of this apparent
criminal activity, and that the Treasury Department has
turned a blind eye to this difficulty by failing to make a
proper investigation. But I would gladly be proved wrong.
Is there complicity between the Michigan Treasury
Department and corrupt local officials? Things certainly
seem to point in that direction.
Bill Vajk
Thursday, November 15, 2012
2012 Election Roundup - Chapter 1
William B. Dixon III was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on
Christmas day in 1939. He was the grandson of a Methodist
minister who anchored the family including Bill's father
and mother, a pair of ne'er do wells who, once unfettered by
the death of the minister grandfather, rose to ever greater
heights of human malfeasance.
When I met Dixon in the 1970's he weighed in over 350 pounds,
an imposing physique for a man not quite 6 feet tall. Somehow
he had kept weight off long enough to join the US Navy and
serve a stint that provided him with funding for an education
at the University of Maryland.
Bill Dixon provides us with a wonderful example worthy of
use as an introduction to corruption.
Transparency.org defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted
power for private gain. It hurts everyone who depends on the
integrity of people in a position of authority. They, of course,
have their own axe to grind but the definition, if extended to
incorporate "entrusted power" to include all that we, as a
society, expect from the average person we meet socially or
pass by on the street, then it is suitable for daily use.
Dixon and I worked in a three story office building in Wilmette,
Illinois, in 1974. There was a lunchroom provided by the
building owners at that time, comprised of several tables
and chairs and a number of vending machines. This was well
before the dollar bill changer was developed and deployed in
such settings.
Dixon didn't eat lunch, but joined us in the lunch room rather
than sitting at his desk for that hour. Being his parents'
son, an apple that fell not far from the tree, Bill worked out
that by leaving all his change, save about 85 cents, in his desk,
he could profit those roughly 15 pennies by exchanging a
lesser amount for a dollar to anyone who was desparaate to
have something to eat from the vending machines. And he
had a taker every day until his reputation in the building spread
enough that the ploy became a trickle of one or two events a
week instead of the 5 that he had experienced in the beginning.
This example of corruption is a clear demonstration of how
cheaply some, perhaps many, people sell their souls. At
the peak of his little scam, Dixon didn't accumulate so much
as $5 in a month, and the scam began to fail after a few
weeks. The number of people without sufficient change
dropped dramatically once they figured out the scam. But
then, his scam was obvious.
On the 10th of this month, on a dreary rainy Saturday, I
attended Angeli's Central Market in order to buy a few
food essentials. Since I had 13 items in my cart, I went
to the "about 12 items" checkout line, and my wife
Gloria, fell in second behind me with the three items
she had selected up.
After I unloaded my cart, the checker, somewhat
confrontationally, said, "You know this is the twelve item
line....." I answered, "I have 13 items, and if you like, I
can hand one to my wife who has the 2nd cart behind me.
Please let me know how you want to handle this." He
then checked me out without any more protest. Now I've
seen folks with 20 and 30 items occasionally checking
out in that lane in the past without comment from the
checker. So the corruption, if you will, arose out of some
emotion that the employee brought to work that day, not
the style of premeditated corruption that Bill Dixon
demonstrated. Or that's the way it appeared to me om
Saturday last.
Nevertheless the effects are similar, because good treatment
by those we encounter in daily life is expected and rarely
noticed, while poor treatment is remembered for long
periods. At this juncture, fairness dictates that I point out
that Angeli's ranks right at the very top for the excellent
"service model" they extend to customers, among all the
places I've done business in my lifetime. But this example
of what I consider poor treatment at the hands of that
employee will linger, and come to the forefront if ever I
encounter similar treatment in the future. I fully anticipate
excellent shopping experiences at Angeli's in the future just
as almost every experience in the past has been.
Of these two types of corruption, the example of Bill Dixon
was never correctable, and he died never quite achieving
age 60, some time back. The Angeli's example should be
self correcting because, one assumes, the employee was
having a bad day. But a periodic gentle reminder to all
employees of the reason they are there usually reinforces
an excellent service model such as Angeli's works to
maintain.
The third type of corruption we discuss here today is that
of the electorate as a whole. It has occurred, in my opinion,
for two reasons. First, the public education system has failed
to impart in the electorate the sense of civic responsibility
being taught when I was in school. The second has to do
with societal changes. In the past, people used to gather
and discuss current events. Today that's been replaced by
television news, most of which, according to author and
commentator Bernie Goldberg, biased in countless ways.
The day after our recent national election, Google.com
reported that the most frequently used search term on
election day was "who is running." Just in case it isn't
clear to any of our readers that election day is far too late
to become involved in understanding the situations facing
our nation, I'll say it here. Election day is far too late to
start understanding the situation.
Even so, events in the week since the election demonstrate
that basic deception, dishonesty, and corruption were
involved in the news that was given to the electorate
during the campaigning season.
Unemployment, based on a trend only recently established,
was expected to have about 375,000 applicants, but instead
rose to more than 439,000 the week after the election, amid
much speculation that the earlier numbers had been cooked
in orde to present a better presidential image before the
election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average of certain, indicative,
stocks, fell by more than 12,500 points (dollars.)
The attack on the US by Islamist militants on 9/11/2012 at
Benghazi, Syria, was afforded a cover story to divert
attention, and responsibility, from the president, to such
an extent that two months later it requires congressional
hearings to get the real story, whatever that will become,
to the public. This, dear reader, is being done in the age of
instant communications with a 24 hour news cycle.
And the David Patraeus story achieved plausible deniability
through the efforts of a large group of people, all working to
provide insulation for the president from the negative aspects.
Two facts emerge clearly. The first is that with a huge portion
of the electorate unaware of the situation facing all of us, the
election became one off Pied Piper Politics, partly attributable
to the electorate, and part to the president and his adminis-
tration. The first part is, in your humble correspondent's opinion,
the ultimate corruption, because we, the electorate, have hurt
ourselves. That politicians, as a group, are often deceptive, is
to be expected, most especially when they are lawyers as well.
But as always, we deserve the fruits of our labor. And, as it
turns out, voting isn't enough. It is no longer enough to sit back
and let those running for office tell us what's on offer.
We need to spread our own opinions in our communities and
make sure that out friends and neighbors have, at the very least,
a thorough exposure to the problems facing all of us, and our
take on them. No, I'm not suggesting peer pressure, but true
peership. Never has investing your ideas, hopes, and dreams,
in your friends and neighbors, been more important. It is
obviously too late to have an effect on the 2012 election, but
the next cycle has already begun, as has the time to participate
in it.
Bill Vajk
Christmas day in 1939. He was the grandson of a Methodist
minister who anchored the family including Bill's father
and mother, a pair of ne'er do wells who, once unfettered by
the death of the minister grandfather, rose to ever greater
heights of human malfeasance.
When I met Dixon in the 1970's he weighed in over 350 pounds,
an imposing physique for a man not quite 6 feet tall. Somehow
he had kept weight off long enough to join the US Navy and
serve a stint that provided him with funding for an education
at the University of Maryland.
Bill Dixon provides us with a wonderful example worthy of
use as an introduction to corruption.
Transparency.org defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted
power for private gain. It hurts everyone who depends on the
integrity of people in a position of authority. They, of course,
have their own axe to grind but the definition, if extended to
incorporate "entrusted power" to include all that we, as a
society, expect from the average person we meet socially or
pass by on the street, then it is suitable for daily use.
Dixon and I worked in a three story office building in Wilmette,
Illinois, in 1974. There was a lunchroom provided by the
building owners at that time, comprised of several tables
and chairs and a number of vending machines. This was well
before the dollar bill changer was developed and deployed in
such settings.
Dixon didn't eat lunch, but joined us in the lunch room rather
than sitting at his desk for that hour. Being his parents'
son, an apple that fell not far from the tree, Bill worked out
that by leaving all his change, save about 85 cents, in his desk,
he could profit those roughly 15 pennies by exchanging a
lesser amount for a dollar to anyone who was desparaate to
have something to eat from the vending machines. And he
had a taker every day until his reputation in the building spread
enough that the ploy became a trickle of one or two events a
week instead of the 5 that he had experienced in the beginning.
This example of corruption is a clear demonstration of how
cheaply some, perhaps many, people sell their souls. At
the peak of his little scam, Dixon didn't accumulate so much
as $5 in a month, and the scam began to fail after a few
weeks. The number of people without sufficient change
dropped dramatically once they figured out the scam. But
then, his scam was obvious.
On the 10th of this month, on a dreary rainy Saturday, I
attended Angeli's Central Market in order to buy a few
food essentials. Since I had 13 items in my cart, I went
to the "about 12 items" checkout line, and my wife
Gloria, fell in second behind me with the three items
she had selected up.
After I unloaded my cart, the checker, somewhat
confrontationally, said, "You know this is the twelve item
line....." I answered, "I have 13 items, and if you like, I
can hand one to my wife who has the 2nd cart behind me.
Please let me know how you want to handle this." He
then checked me out without any more protest. Now I've
seen folks with 20 and 30 items occasionally checking
out in that lane in the past without comment from the
checker. So the corruption, if you will, arose out of some
emotion that the employee brought to work that day, not
the style of premeditated corruption that Bill Dixon
demonstrated. Or that's the way it appeared to me om
Saturday last.
Nevertheless the effects are similar, because good treatment
by those we encounter in daily life is expected and rarely
noticed, while poor treatment is remembered for long
periods. At this juncture, fairness dictates that I point out
that Angeli's ranks right at the very top for the excellent
"service model" they extend to customers, among all the
places I've done business in my lifetime. But this example
of what I consider poor treatment at the hands of that
employee will linger, and come to the forefront if ever I
encounter similar treatment in the future. I fully anticipate
excellent shopping experiences at Angeli's in the future just
as almost every experience in the past has been.
Of these two types of corruption, the example of Bill Dixon
was never correctable, and he died never quite achieving
age 60, some time back. The Angeli's example should be
self correcting because, one assumes, the employee was
having a bad day. But a periodic gentle reminder to all
employees of the reason they are there usually reinforces
an excellent service model such as Angeli's works to
maintain.
The third type of corruption we discuss here today is that
of the electorate as a whole. It has occurred, in my opinion,
for two reasons. First, the public education system has failed
to impart in the electorate the sense of civic responsibility
being taught when I was in school. The second has to do
with societal changes. In the past, people used to gather
and discuss current events. Today that's been replaced by
television news, most of which, according to author and
commentator Bernie Goldberg, biased in countless ways.
The day after our recent national election, Google.com
reported that the most frequently used search term on
election day was "who is running." Just in case it isn't
clear to any of our readers that election day is far too late
to become involved in understanding the situations facing
our nation, I'll say it here. Election day is far too late to
start understanding the situation.
Even so, events in the week since the election demonstrate
that basic deception, dishonesty, and corruption were
involved in the news that was given to the electorate
during the campaigning season.
Unemployment, based on a trend only recently established,
was expected to have about 375,000 applicants, but instead
rose to more than 439,000 the week after the election, amid
much speculation that the earlier numbers had been cooked
in orde to present a better presidential image before the
election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average of certain, indicative,
stocks, fell by more than 12,500 points (dollars.)
The attack on the US by Islamist militants on 9/11/2012 at
Benghazi, Syria, was afforded a cover story to divert
attention, and responsibility, from the president, to such
an extent that two months later it requires congressional
hearings to get the real story, whatever that will become,
to the public. This, dear reader, is being done in the age of
instant communications with a 24 hour news cycle.
And the David Patraeus story achieved plausible deniability
through the efforts of a large group of people, all working to
provide insulation for the president from the negative aspects.
Two facts emerge clearly. The first is that with a huge portion
of the electorate unaware of the situation facing all of us, the
election became one off Pied Piper Politics, partly attributable
to the electorate, and part to the president and his adminis-
tration. The first part is, in your humble correspondent's opinion,
the ultimate corruption, because we, the electorate, have hurt
ourselves. That politicians, as a group, are often deceptive, is
to be expected, most especially when they are lawyers as well.
But as always, we deserve the fruits of our labor. And, as it
turns out, voting isn't enough. It is no longer enough to sit back
and let those running for office tell us what's on offer.
We need to spread our own opinions in our communities and
make sure that out friends and neighbors have, at the very least,
a thorough exposure to the problems facing all of us, and our
take on them. No, I'm not suggesting peer pressure, but true
peership. Never has investing your ideas, hopes, and dreams,
in your friends and neighbors, been more important. It is
obviously too late to have an effect on the 2012 election, but
the next cycle has already begun, as has the time to participate
in it.
Bill Vajk
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Finance Committee Meeting Cancelled
NOTICE
The Iron County Board of Commissioners has
CANCELLED their Finance Committee meeting
scheduled for Thursday, October 18, 2012. The
next Finance meeting will be held on Thursday,
October 25, 2012, at 1:00 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room, Annex Addition, Iron County
Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Carl Lind
Finance Chair
Bill Vajk
The Iron County Board of Commissioners has
CANCELLED their Finance Committee meeting
scheduled for Thursday, October 18, 2012. The
next Finance meeting will be held on Thursday,
October 25, 2012, at 1:00 p.m. in the Commissioners
Meeting Room, Annex Addition, Iron County
Courthouse, Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Carl Lind
Finance Chair
Bill Vajk
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Senior Advanced Education
Most seniors, age 62 and over, I've run into since living in Iron
County have no idea that an advanced education is available to
them at no to little expense. You don't have to sign up for a
complete university degree, you can take a course at a time in
topics that interest you.
Northern Michigan University provides all on campus coursework
for free to seniors. From their webpage:
"Senior Citizen Scholarship
"Senior citizen applicants, aged 62 or older, are provided a full
tuition scholarship by Northern Michigan University. The
scholarship covers tuition only for on-campus classes; it does
not provide for books, fees or tuition for off-campus or Web-
based classes. To be eligible for this program, the senior
citizen should submit an application for admission (no
application fee) to the Admissions Office. Students should
then register for courses in the Student Service Center, where
they will be asked to provide proof of age."
http://www.nmu.edu/admissions/node/299
Even the travel and books wouldn't be very expensive if
several people sign up for a course at the same time since
rides and textbooks can be shared.
I haven't been searching for other "senior" advantages
locally, and hope there are others like this available to us.
If any reader finds others, please let the editor know.
Bill Vajk
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Proposed Constitutional Amendment Prop 12-4
We wrote earlier favoring voting NO to all the Michigan
constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot this
year because as we interpreted that each and every one
is driven by private interests attempting to get a leg up
over the Michigan legislature. Why should we, the
electorate, restrict ourselves, and our elected legislature,
by making private interests part of our constitution?
That premise fails to pass the stink test.
Our take appears to be well supported by the respected
non-partisan group "The Center for Michigan." As we
review what they have written on the topic, we will issue
multiple articles here, referring to information in the
original assessment published by them.
Prop 4 is merely an attempt to shift state responsibility
to a union, the SEIU, because in the past the state failed
to assure that home care workers are reliable by nature of
not having a criminal record. Alas. not only does the state
remain involved because SEIU cannot access the criminal
registries, but the union, under the natural outcome of
the voters approving this constitutional amendment, reaches
into the pockets of workers and plucks out part of their
paycheck.
It must be borne in mind that many of these workers are
looking after a (note the singular) family member or a
friend who qualifies for monetary assistance. This is
part-time work and is usually limited, in nature, to a term
of a few years. For most of these workers it isn't a
lifetime career, and is most often a matter of receiving a
bit of compensation to ease the financial burdens imposed
by assisting a friend or family member.
The entire program, state-wide, appears to cost taxpayers
about $2 million a year. With the imposition of a union,
this price is bound to escalate, costing Michigan citizens
more providing a service that is a state responsibility in
the first place, and part of those funds can be used to
promote further political action by the SEIU for their
own benefit.
Ask yourself this, as you enter the voting booth. In the
final analysis, has a labor union ever promoted anything
that didn't involve money?
The publisher and editor of this periodical agrees that
labor unions are a necessity to balance power between
employer and employee. That was their original intent
and that remains, in our opinion, their purpose forever.
It is our opinion that the state cannot oppress home care
workers who only work for a relatively short period
at a part-time endeavor to assist, usually, the elderly.
If there is to be a constitutional amendment on this
topic it should, instead, be one that defines the state's
responsibilities on this matter, while providing the
clients a free and easy telephone call channel to rapid
response assistance should things run amok.
For further information on this subject from The Center
for Michigan please see:
http://tinyurl.com/98o545u
Bill Vajk
constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot this
year because as we interpreted that each and every one
is driven by private interests attempting to get a leg up
over the Michigan legislature. Why should we, the
electorate, restrict ourselves, and our elected legislature,
by making private interests part of our constitution?
That premise fails to pass the stink test.
Our take appears to be well supported by the respected
non-partisan group "The Center for Michigan." As we
review what they have written on the topic, we will issue
multiple articles here, referring to information in the
original assessment published by them.
Prop 4 is merely an attempt to shift state responsibility
to a union, the SEIU, because in the past the state failed
to assure that home care workers are reliable by nature of
not having a criminal record. Alas. not only does the state
remain involved because SEIU cannot access the criminal
registries, but the union, under the natural outcome of
the voters approving this constitutional amendment, reaches
into the pockets of workers and plucks out part of their
paycheck.
It must be borne in mind that many of these workers are
looking after a (note the singular) family member or a
friend who qualifies for monetary assistance. This is
part-time work and is usually limited, in nature, to a term
of a few years. For most of these workers it isn't a
lifetime career, and is most often a matter of receiving a
bit of compensation to ease the financial burdens imposed
by assisting a friend or family member.
The entire program, state-wide, appears to cost taxpayers
about $2 million a year. With the imposition of a union,
this price is bound to escalate, costing Michigan citizens
more providing a service that is a state responsibility in
the first place, and part of those funds can be used to
promote further political action by the SEIU for their
own benefit.
Ask yourself this, as you enter the voting booth. In the
final analysis, has a labor union ever promoted anything
that didn't involve money?
The publisher and editor of this periodical agrees that
labor unions are a necessity to balance power between
employer and employee. That was their original intent
and that remains, in our opinion, their purpose forever.
It is our opinion that the state cannot oppress home care
workers who only work for a relatively short period
at a part-time endeavor to assist, usually, the elderly.
If there is to be a constitutional amendment on this
topic it should, instead, be one that defines the state's
responsibilities on this matter, while providing the
clients a free and easy telephone call channel to rapid
response assistance should things run amok.
For further information on this subject from The Center
for Michigan please see:
http://tinyurl.com/98o545u
Bill Vajk
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Thuggery in Iron County politics?
Associate editor Ben Smith attended the Oct 9, 2012 meeting
of the Iron County Board of Commissioners. He filed the
following report that should be of concern to all residents:
==========================================
of the Iron County Board of Commissioners. He filed the
following report that should be of concern to all residents:
==========================================
At the Oct 9. 2012 Iron County
Board Meeting an incident
occurred that should be extremely offensive
to the residents
of Iron County.
Lisa Masnova, Assistant to the County
Administrator, stood
up and said that she had applied for a position
on the UP
State Fair Board and that someone had come over to her
house
and told her that if she didn’t remove her name from
contention that
“under the new board her job would be in
jeopardy”.
First. Congratulations Lisa for
standing up to the bully. For
that’s what he is. I hope everyone
learns a lesson here and
does the same. Second, I don’t know who this
individual is,
although a name was mentioned, but if he has this much
influence with certain members of the County Board that
he can
threaten her job, we all better take a very close
look at these Board
Members and the way they vote on
issues. Something doesn’t smell
right.
Ben Smith
========================================
Editor's note: Ben's report couldn't be better stated.
In other news, Dr. Yarger, selected Chris Sholander as
Deputy and Chris Sholander will be attending the
"Medical Examiner's" Class November 9-ll 2012 in
Lansing, Michigan.
While we appreciate that Dr Yarger is a busy man, this
is another of those "smells funny" episodes here in Iron
County. Sholander's career has been with the Michigan
State Police. The office of "coroner" in Michigan was
abolished by the legislature and the current requirements
for a "medical examiner" are that the office must be filled
by a physician, which Sholander is not. In addition, the
statutes also state that, " Deputy county medical examiners
shall be physicians licensed to practice within this state."
MCL 52.201a(1)
Furthermore, in a county with a total population smaller
than 13,000, it hardly seems reasonable that a deputy
medical examiner is necessary.
Ordinary logic, and state statute, prohibit Sholander from
holding the position of Deputy Medical Examiner and
Mr. Sholander should, by action of the county board, be
advised that he is not sanctioned by Iron County for that
post, or to take the course in Lansing mentioned above.
Bill Vajk
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